On the 2008 Presidential election, and the blatantly bigoted and increasingly dictatorial “Rush Limbaugh inspired” platform of the republicans, Digby saidbest:
In spite of their paeans to patriotism and religion, I have always believed that the heart of the conservative movement was really just simple racism and authoritarianism and all their bleating about “values” is a nothing more than a weapon with which to hit Democrats over the head. After all, the highest rates of divorce, single motherhood and abortion are in the deepest of conservative red states. There’s a lotta preachin’ but not a lot of practicin’.
And on Rudy Guiliani in particular:
He has to go straight for the Republican id. And unsurprisingly the polls indicate that the Republican base is liking what it hears. And why wouldn’t they? Rudy’s campaigning as if he were a right wing talk show host. They didn’t care that Rush was a thrice married drug addict and they don’t care that Rudy’s a thrice married, pro-choice cross dresser. They just hate Democrats, period, and they don’t care what you do or even what you believe, as long as you hate Democrats too. Rudy is the first full-blown dittohead presidential candidate.
We’ll have to see if the country at large wants to take a trip to Limbaughland in the general, but if I had to guess, I’d say Rush’s schtick is way tired except to the hardocre talk radio haters. To the public at large it sounds like political Hootie and the Blowfish — a bunch of bad songs that were way overplayed and are now hideous reminders of an era that’s mercifully passed.
I do hope she’s right, but we have been waiting for the right’s implosion for far too long now For some strange reason the left continues to bail them out — witness their most recent capitulation on the TSP bill Bush pushed through Congress. Whatever happened to “When your opponent is drowning, throw the son of a bitch an anvil.”
I knew it, and wished I would have said it then. Can someone, anyone, please tell me why we now must find the “facts” buried on the opinion pages, while innuendo and spin masquerade parade unchallenged by the truth?
Digby, as usual, cuts through the clutter and puts the entire Bush presidency into focus (my emphasis in bold):
We can impeach and maybe we will. And maybe we’ll remove Bush and Cheney and Gonzales and send a powerful message about the usurpation of the constitution. But no matter what, this is ultimately something the people have to rectify at the ballot box. All constitutional power derives from us. We are the ones who have to make a stand, not just 67 men and women in the Senate. We must vote them out. And we must keep them out until this radical conservative movement is so discredited that they can never again take the radical step of ruling this nation with one president and 34 obedient senators as if they were ordained by God instead of the people of this nation.
I would hope that everyone can see that presidential impeachment isn’t an end in itself. It’s a very serious intervention by the congress into the heart of our democratic system — it seeks to remove a duly elected president and it simply must be ratified by the people or we will have weakened the constitution even more by doing it. It is elections that are the foundation of democracy and what gives real legitimacy to the government. Surely if we believe it is the Democratic congress’ duty to impeach, we must also believe it is our duty to ensure that these people are repudiated by the citizens in no uncertain terms.
No matter what happens in the congress over the next year, I hope that everyone recognizes that the single most important thing that has to happen is that we kick the Republican party so far out of power they have to have a passport to get back in.
I am far from a student of history, but even I now realize that we must never rest when it comes to projecting our voices, protecting our rights, and protesting endlessly when either one is trampled.
This is not a Democratic issue, this is an American issue. They — meaning Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, and the entire Republican party — have so fundamentally perverted what it means to be an American. We cannot and must not let it stand. The truth must be told, the air must be cleared; then we must continue to tell the truth and keep the air clear, so that we are never again confronted with such a brazen attack on our way of life.
These men are not patriots, they are criminals. But they have not only wrapped themselves in the flag, they have justified their actions with God and the Bible. It will not be easy to break their spell on a good portion of America, but it must be done.
On the subject of the war in Iraq and the desire of George W. Bush and his Republican party to cling to some semblence of success, even if it takes decades to materialize, Digby saidbest:
To blithely wave away the current horror on the ground and say that the death and destruction in Iraq will someday be seen as “worth it” and rest easy believing that future generations will thank us for our generous decision to invade their country and unleash hell is morally repugnant. I would say it is far more likely that they will never forgive us.
I sincerely hope that the American people wake up in time to see what the Bush presidency has done to them, so that we do not elect another Bush clone (or worse) to replace him.
On the subject of the Republican Party and the anti-choice movement, Digby saidbest:
So let’s not fool ourselves. It’s not about children. It’s about women. And that means it is simply more conservative resistance to the long march of progress this country has made toward equal rights for all its citizens. The same philosophy that fought tooth and nail against every advance made to ensure that this is truly a free country by denying equal rights to all its citizens also animates those who argue that the rights of the fetus are paramount. It’s just another way of ensuring that the rights of women aren’t.
And once you recognize that you realize that there is no way to fudge this or work around the edges. Every time you forget that you create the rhetorical space for the other side to make their argument more explicit —- which is now happening in all its full frontal glory on the Supreme Court of the United States. Women are either free citizens or they’re not.
I remember talking with Vernon Ferrier prior to the 2000 election, and being shocked at his insistence that George W. Bush would slowly but surely turn back the clock on women’s rights. I wrongly assumed that the law was settled, even we as a society were not. But after the past six plus years, it’s clear that is the goal of his policy. And because of that I now know there is no other way to see this battle: “Women are either free citizens or they’re not.”
On the subject of Digby revealing her identity, Michael Shaw saidbest:
Not only have our gender assumptions been tested and exposed; and not only has the blogosphere gained another influential women; and not only has a blow been struck against the stereotyping of strength (and tone, and written voice); but clearly, nobody can read Digby again without the now verifiable confirmation that she speaks to, and for, all of us.
Admittedly, I was surprised at first, in retrospect I should have known, but in the end it makes no difference to me. She was one of the first bloggers to really grab my attention, challenge my assumptions, and push my understanding of the world. None of that will change, if anything it will only intensify. Digby is an absolute must-read each and every day, and I sincerely hope that her voice continues to resonate on the left and soon reverberates across the entire political spectrum. We should be so lucky…
