Once again, Bill Maher manages to channel Bill Hicks and come up with a screed that pretty much perfectly sums up the The Right's lack of brains and The Left's corresponding lack of balls. His recent piece in Salon.com contains this choice paragraph:
"...As usual, we've been sucked into a phony controversy about who said what and how it hurt George W. Bush's feelings. Because when you hurt George W. Bush you hurt America's feelings, and when you hurt America's feelings, you hurt the troops. And when that happens, Tinkerbell's light goes out and she dies..."
Last week's congressional democratic capitulation to George Bush was essentially foreordained the moment Democratic Leadership sipped the "Support The Troops" kool-aid. Much like the 9/11 Kool-aid, this beverage is a powerful psycho-active toxic that leaves one bereft of will power and inclined to believe just about anything.
It is time to get past the notion that "the troops" are some sort of sacred victim and that the scoundrels of this administration have continued Carte Blanche to hide behind their sacrifice. The only meaningful way to "support the troops" is to bring them home.
Depending on how you look at it, the war in Iraq is either an obscene and meaningless war of choice, a naked resource grab by a brutal and materialistic empire, or a crusade to save western civilization. Those who believe the latter should spend this Memorial Day contemplating the wonders of The Creationist Museum. It is far past time they were permitted to continue shaping public policy.
This week's Sunday Talking Head Funnies kicked off with a 'debate' on Meet The Press between a couple of guys who could easily pass for each other in a police line-up:
Neither Newt Gingrich nor his sparring partner, Chris Dodd, managed to bring anything new to the debate over Iraq Policy. For every sober assessment of unfolding disaster Dodd had to offer, Gringrich had a classically Republican comeback--smug, smirking, and at variance with the facts. Click here for all the boring, tedious, details.
Somewhat more interesting was the exchange that followed on Face The Nation between Diane Feinstein and Arlen Spector on the ever-lively topic of the worst attorney general in U.S. History. Spector's continued refusal to call for the resignation of the man he has described as single-handedly responsible for rendering the US. Department of Justice 'dysfunctional' tells you everything you need to know about why Republicans have no business running this country. Regarding the upcoming vote of no confidence against Gonzales, Spector seemed to believe that Gonzales would resign before facing such a vote. Why? If Alberto Gonzales had the self-esteem of a two-peso crack whore, he would've resigned months ago.
The morning's festivities ended with appearances on ABC's This Week by Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell that were not any more likely to change anyone's mind than the preceding discussions. Pelosi sounded vibrant and confident, McConnell sounded like a dispirited hack and a loyalist to a failed cause.....which, of course, he is. The only thing standing between this country and virtual one-party rule by Democrats in a year and half is the American preference for divided government.
For me, the 'Sunday Funnies' are the major network talking head shows--Meet The Press, Face The Nation, and This Week with George Stephanopoulos. I'm sure that 'Garfield' is endlessly entertaining to some, but I have a hard time finding anything more entertaining that the spectacle of a senior Republican Senator lamely defending the most incompetent attorney general in U.S. history.
The consensus from senators Hatch, Leahy, Schumer, and Spector (sounds more like the law firm from hell than a partial roster of the Senate Judiciary Committee) is that 'Berto Gonzales is either doing a heckuva job, lying to congress, overdue to resign, or has some explaining to do.
Giving that Patrick Leahy is refusing to budge from Gonzales's originally scheduled testimony on April 17th, given that Arlen Spector has already described that testimony as a 'make or break' situation, and given that the specific reason for keeping the scheduled date is to obtain confidential sworn testimony from DOJ employees, I think it's a fair bet that Chuck Schumer's blunt call for a resignation is a far better predictor for events of the next two weeks than Orrin Hatch's faint praise and reiteration of GOP talking points.
My predictions at this point are that:
- Gonzales will resign before being called in to testify.
- Harriet Miers and Karl Rove will privately testify--transcripts, no oaths.
- Karl Rove will subsequently be given a choice between testifying under oath or being charged with lying to congress.
