Republican Shame

Are you a republican who’s ashamed to admit it? I understand, Bunkie, really I do. I mean, for eight years you’ve been arguing for the policies of the Bush administration, and about now, they’re all starting to look pretty much like silly failures, aren’t they?

So what do you do?

Well, if you’re the republican presidential ticket, you call yourselves “Mavericks”. That’s right, we’re republicans, be we’re REPUBLICANS GONE WILD! We don’t have to stick to any freaking party platform. (Except of course for changing the presidential candidate’s views on abortion, tax cuts and Christian extremism for public consumption.)

Or, if you’re Washington representative Dave Reichart, you call yourself an “Outsider”! How very sci-fi of you, Dave. As near as I can tell, you’ve supported every policy of the Bush administration, all the way down to literally being struck dumb at the debate over the question “Is there ever a case where you could see yourself raising taxes?” But hey, let’s face it… those of us in your DISTRICT only hear your name when it’s time to run for reelection, so it’s really not all that hard to imagine you as an “outsider”. Hell, from where I’m sitting, you hardly seem to exist at all.

Or, if you’re Washington gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, you have your party affiliation listed as “GOP” instead of “republican” on the state ballots. Not that it matters a huge amount – members of the republican party have referred to it as the “GOP” (Grand Old Party) since it’s inception. It hasn’t really been used in recent years, but I guess that if you HAVE to distance yourself from your party somehow, that’s the best way to do it.

Look, my republican brothers and sisters… if you don’t like what your party’s doing, speak out about it. CHANGE THE PARTY. Now if, on the other hand, you STILL agree with the policies of the Bush administration and are simply trying to avoid being tarred with the same brush as Bush, then go hide your heads in shame. These policies have failed miserably. Bush, Rove and Cheney have done far more damage to the reputation of the GOP than Clinton did to the democratic party.

One final thought… the republican die-hards keep talking about “Winning In Iraq”. Reasonable republicans (like Colin Powell) are now saying “we did a bad thing and we need to end it.”

The reason that I say this is that there’s an organization out there with the same party line called “Move America Forward”. Their e-mail is info@MoveAmericaForward.org. I sent an e-mail to them with the following text…

Hello. I recently saw Ms. Morgan on Penn and Teller's Bullshit on the Showtime network and have a question for her.

First off, since you present yourself as a pro-troop organization, please allow me to establish my bona fides. I come from a military family. My paternal grandfather served in the Navy in the Pacific theater in WWII. One of my paternal uncles was in Korea with the army. My father was in the Air Force in Bermuda during the Cuban missile crisis. Two paternal uncles served in Viet Nam, one of whom did not return. My older brother served in the Army. I served four years of ROTC and was then denied military service for medical reasons. My nephew served in Kuwait for the first several years of the current engagement in Iraq. Now that you know my history with the toops, please allow me to proceed with my question.

In her appearance on Bullshit, Ms. Morgan said "Move Forward America supports our troops and their mission... we wish for victory for our troops and our soldiers." So my question to Ms. Morgan (or anyone else who would care to address it) is "What is the mission of our troops? What is victory in Iraq?" As near as i can tell, and all of my friends who have served agree with me, Iraq is a mission without an objective. When no objective is given, there can be neither victory or failure - only the endless death and destruction of the young people valiant enough to serve their country to no positive means. One conservative friend to whom i addressed this question said "Well, when you put it straight out like that, i just don't know. I suppose get the oil and get out." Then he shook his head, realizing, i think, that he has adopted the party line that this war ISN'T about oil.

If you can answer this question for me, i'd appreciate it. I support our troops and the thought that they are being fed into a meat grinder for no noble purpose sickens me. Thank you.

Randal Schaffer

I sent this e-mail two months ago today and have received no response. So please… anyone out there with the same concerns that I have, please bombard the e-mail address of these morons until we get an answer. If we let them get away with their rhetorical bullshit, they’ll just keep doing it while more American kids die and more money gets pissed away pointlessly.

Peace.

Randal