Legacy employee Jonah Goldberg's regular Tuesday column in the local Chicago-owned fishwrapper is again upon us, as the calendar continues its inexorable move to the end of all things. Today's typing is very up to date, a mess of : "Karl Rove should have gotten out when he was on top" platitudes, seasoned w/ the usual snide little cracks at anyone to the left of Attila the Hun. Take a deep breath, 'cause here we go:Rove is not a bloody-minded invader or a dictator with scant regard for civil liberties -- though you might think otherwise if you get all of your news from left-wing blogs.
Bush traded his political capital for the magic beans of Social Security reform, but the ground was too frozen for the seeds to take hold."Magic beans" don't work, no matter what shape the ground is in, or how much fertilizer you dump on them. And there was a lot of fertilizer dumped on those beans.
Bush's two most important domestic accomplishments in the second term have been the appointments of John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel Alito Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court. But even these masterstrokes ran at least partly against the first instincts of Bush and Rove. If they'd had their druthers, Miers and Alberto Gonzales would be on the court today -- a calamity from which neither the republic nor the Republican Party would soon have recovered.Sad but true. Other than, perhaps, the inevitable legion of homeless, crazed veterans of the Iraq "project," as Jonah refers to it, the two shitheels Bush has gotten on the SCOTUS are probably the greatest harm Bush/Rove have done to the country. (Though let's not forget the national debt.) Oh, if only Miers & Fredo had gotten on the Court. Probably wouldn't have been confirmed, even by a Republican Senate, but the hearings alone would have been comedy gold.
Rove engineered Bush's victory in 2000 by promising a different kind of Republican, a.k.a. a "compassionate conservative." That meant generally staying mute on racial issues, luring Latinos into the GOP fold by any means necessary and advocating federal activism on everything from single motherhood to education.Well, that's a relief. Now we'll see a return to the age old, time tested conservative principles of race baiting, more race baiting, public stoning of single mothers and de-funding of public schools.
[...]
But the central point remains: Rove's strategic vision involved securing a Republican victory at the expense of conservative principles.
Partisan victories are nice, but they aren't an end in themselves.Unless you're a member of 1984's Inner Party, where power is the only end.
The net-root "fighting Dems" who care about partisan victory above all else are in many respects the children of Karl Rove.Uh-huh. Let's see, there are two parties, one of which has started & lost an illegal occupation, lost an American city, and misplaced civil rights & those "liberties" to which they pay so much lip service, and there's a party that really is only a "dime's worth of difference" from the other one, but even that 10¢ may prove the difference between a fascist nightmare of terrorism paranoia & authoritarian assholery (Giuliani/Mittens) but it's all partisan lust for power, not concern for the nation or even "liberal" values. They call it projection, Jonah.
Bonus Awkward Phrase: "...a man remembered as one of the great political master-tacticians of the last half a century." Try it this way: "...one of the great political tacticians of the last half century." Or even "...last 50 years."
Get a copy of Strunk & White, DoughBob, or do you get paid by the word?
2 comments:
Goody, I only had to try three times before Blogspot let me leave a comment.... hey, as far as that dime is concerned, I learned long ago (1981 to be exact) that there is only one party with two wings, both of which represent Korporate Amerika. Of course, with a Democratic cur for pres., we may not have gone to Iraq, the executive branch may not have assumed imperial dimensions, and FEMA may not have been led by a horse breeder. But I voted for Ralph Nader in the last three pres. elections, and I'd do it again (as long as my vote doesn't really matter in Calif. anyway).
P.
"Editor's" Reply:
Not to one up anyone, but Just Another Blog™ learned it when George Wallace used the "dime's worth of diff." line in the '72 (?) election. Well, not really. I think there was still a quarter's worth then. The "dime" might be for alliterative purposes as much as anything. Of course if triangulator H. Clinton gets in, we may be seeing "Bush lite," and plenty of vetoes, esp. if a somewhat lefter Congreƒs gets in. (Like that'll even happen. Just Another Blog™ is so glad it'll be dead w/in, say, 30 yrs.)
We don't know what's w/ Bugger, we haven't had any trouble responding here, or commenting elsewhere, though there've been some serious delays trying to change the title section. Do you have to authenticate the comments? We don't think we have it set up that way, but it may be different for non-"owners".
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