Warlords
Attacking America: Tom Delay, Karl Rove and Grover Norquist
By
Sandi Magathan Droubay
OpEdNews.com
"Politics
is war conducted by other means... You do not fight just to prevail in
an argument, but to destroy the enemy's fighting ability." In
political wars, the aggressor usually prevails... In political
conflicts, the goal is not to refute your opponent's argument, but to
wipe him from the face of the earth."
The
above quote is from The Art of
Political War: How Republicans Can Fight to Win, a pamphlet
written by David Horowitz, a conservative activist. During the 2000
election this pamphlet was handed out to all Republican members of
Congress by the head honcho known as “The Hammer;” Tom DeLay. He is
referred to as “The Hammer” because he runs the U.S. House of
Representatives like a thug wielding an iron hammer. Most of the
Representatives are at his beck and call out of fear for the enormous
power he wields and his prodigious abilities at fundraising for
which he is now being investigated.
”The Hammer” is not above bribing his fellow politicos to win votes
for any legislation he hopes to pass; and he is also not above
“hammering” corporations for significant ”donations” to his
causes .DeLay was noticeably absent from the Republican convention
during this last week and for a very good reason-- many believe
that he is one of the most if not the most corrupt politician in
the United States. According to DeLay; “Money is not the root of all
evil in politics. In fact, money is the lifeblood of politics.” And
he, apparently, is receiving transfusions of this “lifeblood “on a
regular basis. It would not do to have him front and center at their
convention at least for the first few days, until they pulled out all
the stops and got medieval on us. He was spotted not long after Zell
Miller’s speech, like a moth to a flame or a fly to ****
Tom DeLay is an interesting character. There is a story about him, could
be myth, could be true, but here is how it goes: DeLay is dining in a
restaurant in Washington D.C. when he lights up a cigar. A
waiter approaches him and informs DeLay that he is in a government
building therefore there is no smoking allowed on the premises; DeLay
replies “I am the government.” HE is the government? I thought our
government was “for the people, of the people and by the people,” I
did not know HE was the GOVERNMENT. I am a citizen of this country and
our politicians are hired and payed by OUR tax dollars to represent us,
as WE, the people, are the government, therefore DeLay is an employee of
the citizens of this country. I think he needs to be fired. Who are his
constituents that keep hiring him? DeLay is the Representative of an
area in Texas known as Sugar Land, a misnomer if there ever was one. The
area is full of Industries that pollute the environment full tilt with
no shame. DeLay made his fortune in pesticides, killing bugs. Not only
was he up to his eyes in pesticides during his hey days as bug killer
but he is also, at present, wallowing in the muck and slime of
industrial pollution. Perhaps he has experienced brain shrinkage due to
the environment he finds himself in and apparently he wants you and
yours to have the same experience. He considers DDT ‘safe as
aspirin” and the Endangered Species Act the “greatest threat to
Texas after illegal aliens.” He has never met a pesticide that he
didn’t love. He protects his industrialist buddies and that is why he
is still in congress. Money, slime and pollution -- he revels in it.
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On the cover of that infamous pamphlet on the” art of political
warfare” was an endorsement by Karl Rove, whom I will refer to as
“The Screw.” According to Rove, this “tasteful” pamphlet is
a “perfect pocket guide to winning on the political battlefield
from an experienced warrior.” Back in the 1970’s the young
Rove, a dedicated Republican since the age of nine, showed up at the
headquarters of a democrat who was running for a local office in the
state of Illinois. No one paid him (Rove) any mind and
so he lifted several hundred pages of campaign stationary. Later the
following week “invitations” began appearing bearing the name of
that democrat running for office which promised everyone “free
beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing” when they
showed up at the democratic headquarters. Ha! Ha! What a guy, such a
promising beginning.
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When Rove met Bush Jr. he just fell in love with the guy,
according to Rove, Bush had “Huge amounts of charisma, swagger,
cowboy boots, flight jacket, wonderful smile -- just charisma…you
know, wow!” Hmm, love at first sight. Bush loves him so much he
calls him his little “Turd Blossom;” must be a Texas
thing. So, Rove hooked up with Bushie and helped him run his
campaign for Governor of Texas against Anne Richards. It was Roves
idea to do a little “push-polling,” using a leading question, a
favorite slime ball technique. They hired volunteers to call
potential voters and ask this following question: “Would you be
more or less likely to vote for Governor Richards if you knew her
staff is dominated by lesbians?” There was no evidence
whatsoever that anyone in her staff was lesbian. But, why
should little things such as that bother anyone; the damage was
done. The implication
was all that was needed.
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Rove the “Turd Blossom” was the mind behind the attacks on John
McCain during the 2000 presidential campaign questioning McCain’s
ability to be a leader due to his” instability” as a result of
his experience as a POW. Rumors were also spread regarding
McCain’s wife being addicted to pills as well as implying that his
adopted daughter, who is black, was actually his illegitimate child
with a woman “of color.” Of course Rove and Bush claimed they
were not responsible for these egregious attacks but the attacks
sure smelled of turd blossoms. Very few people are as dirty in
politics as Karl Rove.
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In early 2001 during the formation of Bush’s cabinet Rove still
owned $ 250,000 in Enron stock as well as tens of thousands more in
companies such as Amoco, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell. Was Rove
involved in any discussions involving these companies? Why yes, of
course, according to the White House he is involved at all levels of
discussion including those which are clearly a conflict of interest.
The White House had no problem with that. Should we? I think
so.
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Roves fingerprints are all over the latest scandal involving the
Swift Boat Veterans campaign against John Kerry. There
is some concrete evidence that Rove was in charge of directing this
smear campaign against Senator Kerry from
the White House. We’ll never see most of that evidence, of course.
Bush protects his own through executive privilege and a compliant
media. But some other folks have done research from sources that law
stipulates must be available to all. The major contributor for this
smear campaign is Bob Perry, a homebuilder from Texas who
contributed $100,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans. Perry is part of a
group of Texas bad boys for Bush that are controlled by Karl Rove
(surprise!). Altogether Perry has handed over close to $1
million to the Republican party in Texas through a group called Texans
for a Republican Majority which is an offshoot of Tom
DeLay’s Americans
for a Republican Majority. A connection between
DeLay and Rove and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: wow, who would
have imagined? Two sleezeballs getting together to promote
lies against a fellow citizen because they believe that all is fair
in war and politics, even misleading the citizens of our country. If
we allow ourselves to be manipulated like this we deserve the
government we get.
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Tom DeLay thinks he is
“The Government,” Karl Rove believes “The Government” is
nothing but a dirty cockfight and he is the Rooster King. The third
Warlord I identify is Grover Norquist. What does he think of “The
Government?” He hates the government; Norquist has dedicated his
life to shrinking “The Government” down “to the size where we
can drown it in the bathtub.” How does he feel about
bipartisanship? Norquist refers to bipartisanship as “another form
of date rape.” His definition of the ideal citizen: “The
self-employed, homeschooling, IRA-owning guy with a concealed-carry
permit…Because that person doesn’t need the goddam government
for anything.” Any questions?
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Horace Cooper, a former aide to House majority leader Dick Armey
refers to Norquist as “our Field Marshall.” I like to
think of him as the “Axeman.” Field Marshall Norquist has
been holding meetings at the office of his organization Americans
for Tax Reform located in Washington D.C.
every Wednesday morning since 1992. These meetings are very popular,
standing room only, and attended by all the leading conservative and
corporate honchos. It’s almost like going to church. Bushie
attended meetings there before he
even announced his intention to run for president. Now that he is
the president he has a White House aide attend these sessions every
week. Cheney sends his own man as do most of the GOP leaders and
wannabees. At this meeting they network and discuss strategy, they
decide on whom to put pressure and what phone calls need to be made
to radio talk shows and how to generate activity for their
grassroots organizations. These meeting have been a very effective
tool for the Radcons and their minions. Guess who also attends these
meetings? Karl Rove.
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What does Norquist’s organization advocate? They want to abolish
taxes, especially “death taxes,” and capital-gains taxes. They
are anti-regulation fundamentalists. They want to do away with
minimum-wage laws, affirmative action programs, environmental laws
and gun controls. Why stop there, they also want to kill student
loan programs, state pension funds, Americorps and the National
Endownment for the Arts. They are also anti-guy and anti-abortion,
anti-welfare and anti-union. Norquist once compared the taxing of
the wealthiest 1% of Americans as the moral equivalent of selecting
Jews for genocide during the holocaust. Whew. Norquist refers to his
group of like-minded fellows as the “Leave-Us-Alone Coalition.”
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According to the president of People
for the American Way, Ralph G. Neas “If the American
people really want to know what George W. Bush is up to, the best
place to look is the candor of Grover Norquist.” Norquist is
very blunt regarding
his intentions for government in the United States and
very dedicated into bring that vision about. He wants the rich and
the poor to be taxed at the same rate, no government regulations and
government services turned over to the private sector. Where have we
heard this before? I believe they call these Bush’s “talking
points.”
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In June 2003 Norquist wrote “In crafting its agenda for economic
reform the Bush administration has the luxury of being able to think
and plan over a full eight years…This guarantee of united
Republican government has allowed the Bush administration to work
and think long-term….Republicans are looking at decades of
dominance in the House and Senate and having the Presidency with
some regularity.” According to Norquist “every time the
government gets smaller there are fewer Democratic precinct workers
in the world…It is a virtuous
cycle.” So much for democracy.
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We have seen the damage these men are capable of, look what they
have done to John Kerry during the RNC in the last
week. Make no mistake-- though not present during the convention
DeLay, Rove and Norquist were very much involved in the
“assassination” of John Kerry. I’m not sure what they did to
Zell Miller, perhaps he was sampling some of DeLays pesticides, but
I believe they got to him in some way. These are the Warlords and
they are not to be underestimated, politics is war to them, they do
not believe in a democracy, they are dedicated to an oligarchy of
government, military and corporate power. We citizens are nothing
but hampsters in a cage running on a wheel for them. We keep it
going so they can prosper.
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According to Robert f. Kennedy, Jr. in his latest book Crimes
Against Nature “Our greatest politicians have accepted
the tougher task of appealing to our sense of community, asking
Americans to transcend their own self-interest…..they have
persuaded us to find the hero in ourselves, and to make sacrifices
on behalf of future generations—and for the principals that
underpin America’s unique mission.” In Kennedy’s book he
quotes from a sermon of John Winthrop from 1630. Our
mission, according to Winthrop, was to build a “city on a
hill—an example to the world of what nations can accomplish if we
work together in community….” He called on his fellow citizens
to “steer away from the greed and power politics that had
corrupted the old-world culture” and to build a land that would
be” a model for Christian charity.”
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It is obvious that these are not the policies of the present
administration which appeals to greed, selfishness and fear, and
Americans are responding to their message or so it appears. The RNC
was very successful and they have pulled ahead in the polls. Those
of us who believe in a different America have our work
cut out for us.
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By the way “Go to
hell Zell,” retire already.
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- Sandi
Magathan Droubay can be reached at droubay2@cox.net
Read her other articles at Sandy
Magathan Droubay Archive
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