Holte's corner

Hubris and Heaven

I am still worried about November. Until the American people speak up, and this corrupt administration is thrown out of office I can't put anything past these people. I was really sure there'd be an "October Surprise" to destroy the Democrats at the Polls. Fortunately there was an October Surprise, but not the one that was planned.

Fortunately, "heaven", [God, Universe, whatever you want to call it], builds self-punishments into the hubris of us human beings. I'm still afraid that the Republicans will pull of a miracle through a combination of sleazy attack advertizements, "Candidate Research", and just plain dishonest advertizing, but instead they seem to have shot themselves in the foot with the Foley Affair, and then instead of putting away the gun, they decided to start shooting at each other. But don't worry, they have a knack for blaming Democrats for everything (example), and this issue does carry a load of poison with it, so I'm not entirely happy at the way things are turning out.

The reason for caution is threefold. One the Press and the Far Right are going to focus on the fact that Mark Foley labels himself as "Gay" rather than his pedophilia. The issue for the Country should be abuse of power, cover-ups, and pedophilia behavior. The issue for the far right is going to be about the cover-up and his "Gayness." The sheer number of closet gays involved in Republicanism should not be a source for joy for liberals, for us strait folks, and expecially for the Gay community. These people, as evidenced by Roy Cohn and others, can be the most repressive members of society. Unfortunately, exposing these people only makes the volume of hatred greater, not less. Folks like Foley reinforce the stereotypes whether they are busy expressing them in their public personae, or are caught for the hypocrits they are. Therefore this publicity, while it will suppress Republican turnout, isn't going to change people's minds about the underlying issues. They think that homosexuality is something contagious, and not understanding what "sin" is, make the mistake of assuming they are doing something right and righteous by persecuting those unfortunate souls who are born that way. Eugene Robinson talks about this in his collumn today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501548.html

Second, I don't doubt that the Republicans, by treating each race as a separate race, and by doing "candidate research" and propaganda, won't find a way to dazzle people into voting Republican anyway. Money talks because it can buy advertizing. Unless some long term projects can fund counters to the far right BS machine, there is every chance they can still pull it off. When George Allen runs attack advertizements that savage his opponent he uses that tactic. Every human being has skeletons in his closet. Heck, that is why most of us stay out of politics in the first place. Who of us wants our dirty laundry displayed for all to see. But of course people have trouble wrapping their heads about complex issues like corruption or Iraq until some graphic images focuses their attention. The Foley case and Abu Gharaib spring to mind. The Republicans count on the naivity, ignorance, and refusal to accept any evidence not proven in a court of law to bamboozle us. They think we are stupid. Are we? The last two elections shook my confidence, but not completely.

Third, until the Democrats actually come to power and do something, nothing is going to be set right. If they merely become the majority again and like the "BGP" that Libertarian Anarchists call them start doing business as usual, then nothing good will have come out of this. As I think the Democratic Minority leader has said, the Democrats have to play the role of conservative and liberal and look at things from both views, and reform the process. They need to conduct hearings, issue subpoenas, and repeal laws passed in the name of stepping on liberty, and at the same time do what is needed to protect the homeland, wind up the war in Iraq, and restore sanity to the economy. This is nearly an impossible task, and even if they do their level best they can pretty much expect that the Republicans will block their efforts, propagandize and mischaracterize what happens and then come back in 2008 or 2012 with Allegations that put the blame for all this mess on the Democrats. And they could wind up being partly right if we Democrats dont' work together. David Ignatius writes a good article on this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501574.html

I hope that the Republicans don't "throw Hastart off the sledge to slow down the wolves" because I really hope we can stop that sled; In the name of the victims of 9/11. In the name of the US Constitution and the principles of this country, and in the name of all the needless deaths that have occurred due to the incompetant way this struggle with terrorism has been waged and our "coin" has been squandered.

Reference:
Prior post:
Unitary executive theory: http://www.fraughtwithperil.com/blogs/holte/archives/000807.html

Chris

Posted by cholte at October 6, 2006 07:04 AM