Two Cheers for Two Republicans (One Apiece)

Spymaster McConnell admitted he misled Congress? And General Petraeus admitted he doesn't know if the surge has made us safer? What's wrong with these guys? Didn't they read the manual? Do they go over the talking points, or not? God Almighty. They need to be brought in for some self-criticism and some vigorous retraining, fast.

Or could it be that both of them have some small particle of decency? Some vestigial honesty, the kind we expected from Colin Powell, say, when he lied at the UN? He taught us not to count on decency and honesty even from "good" Republicans.

I know that all the stories about this Republican administration are terrible, but these little McConnell/Petraeus glitches in the seamless Big Lie are not entirely terrible, are they? "Admitted." When have you seen that verb attached to any lie, great or small, that any Republican leader has told us? They don't admit things even when they're caught flat-footed: they just claim they didn't say what they said, and then, later on, in front of the right audience, they tell the original lie all over again. (I'd like to suggest a name for this process: "to cheney," as in "the senator cheneyed again" or "I changed the channel because all they were doing was cheneying." )

Thank you, Director McConnell, for "withdrawing your assertion" when you were caught. And thank you, General Petraeus, for saying the most important thing that everyone knows but no Republican would ever say. Come on, can't we muster two cheers for these guys because they didn't stoop to cheneying? In fact, I'm going farther, in a spirit of bipartisanship that is very rare for me: two cheers for all Republicans who are, however reluctantly or belatedly, even partially honest.

Comments

[Joseph A. Palermo - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you for commenting on my "I Am So Sorry" blog -- I've seen from my backstage page that it has been picked up on some right-wing cites and they are ridiculing me in the most personal ways because I felt the need to apologize for my government killing a million people. That is where some of the rightwingers are at -- accepting the 4 million refugees and 1 million deaths as acceptable -- what kind of country have they turned us into?

[yellowdogSC]

"Or could it be that both of them have some small particle of decency?"

OR...

as we say in the South:

"Even a blind pig finds an acorn every now and then." (Admittedly, this doesn't really fall into the category of statistical probability, but maybe they just grew weary of being bad. Statistically, they WERE due.)

We also say, "Even Charlie Manson has a mama."

[Clayton]

How come no one is talking about Rep. McHenry (R-NC)??

[marignymitch]

I'm not willing to give Patraeus a pass for honesty on this issue.

The correct answer to question of whether the escalation (or the war) has made us safer is 'No', not "I don't know'.

[DemandTruth]

But the lie (set up by LIEberman himself) rolled so easily off McConnell's tongue. It was almost as if the question and it's answer had been planned (oh, I'm SUCH a conspiracy theorist!).

Had he not been called on his statement, noone would ever have been the wiser that he LIED.

Pathetic pathetic pathetic.

[Zenobius]

Actually, it's not General Petraeus's job to know whether or not the surge made us safer. He's not even a theater commander, much less a federal elected official.

The general is a specialist in counterinsurgency, sent over to command a fight against insurgents {numerous separate groups}. Figuring out whether or not a fight is in the interest of the US is not the job of an army officer, winning it is.

The question of whether or not the surge has made us "safer" leads into issues like "what is safety?", "safety from what?", "who are us?". These are all political, not military, issues. I assume the general has an opinion, but his opinion doesn't count any more, or any less, than any other citizen's.

So his response was proper. He was there to testify about what he had accomplished as commander of the surge; in the process he revealed that he is a loyal supporter of the President's policy. What to do about the President's policy is up to us as citizens, though, not him as an army officer.

[nippersdad]

So true, so true. And it was a crime, A CRIME! I tell you that all of those Nazi officers were hung after the Nuremberg trials. So many strong, upright, blonde, one might even say superior, people wasted in front of a firing squad or whatever was done to them. Really, Petraeus was only doing his job; following his orders, so to speak.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

[Zenobius]

Yes, but we're not a court trying him for war crimes. The issue is how important his views on whether or not the war has made us "safer" are.

I contend, not very.

[yellowdogSC]

Actually, most of the German officers WEREN'T hanged.

A few were. Most went to prison. One or two died there, the rest went free after relatively short sentences.

Or was that the point you were making? (If so, I apologize.)

[gardengoddess]

What has happened to America? We were such a wonderful country at one time. We were a great country at one time. Republicans and Democrats had different views of things, but the country had statemen in Congress, people who loved America more than they loved their political party, and because of that, they worked together for the good of the country.

No one in the Justice Department took an oath to uphold the President; they took an oath to uphold the Constitution. People in the Justice Department believed the department should be blind, not stupid.

Military officers had honor. They told the truth, even if it made them look bad. They had courage. They had personal integrity that made them take a stand and tell the White House "No, Mr. President, that won't work, you're going in the wrong direction".

If anyone is to blame for all the shortcomings of our government, our Justice Department, our military, it's us...the American public, who've been asleep at the wheel for too long.

It's time for Americans to wake up, demand - yes DEMAND, not ask, more from our elected representatives, more from our Justic Department, more from our military leaders.

If we don't our children and grandchildren will be living in a fascist dictatorship, and the world will be making plans to attack us.

[seawolf77]

There is nothing you can do. The end game has been set in motion. Our once great country is but a shell. I ask you this: How in the hell did the Supreme Couurt decide George W Bush won the 2000 election. Exactly what criteria did they use. Did they say well the Dems held it for 8 years, time for a cool change. Was it Florida was called for Gore first AND THEN called for Bush last. Or was it the other way around. Or because Bush was a Christian and Cheney an oil man. How is they did not "decide" on Gore.

[yellowdogSC]

gg,

Remember the expression:
"It doesn't really matter who's elected president. One man(?) doesn't have enough power to really do much damage in such a short time."

THAT'S what destroyed us. We underestimated the ignorance of the greedy.

It's just STUPID to "spend" an entire country in just 8 years. But they did. THAT'S what happened.
We didn't believe ANYONE would "sell" their entire nation, their own HOME for a pocket full of money. Certainly not to "frenemies" like China. (HE gave China the power to own us outright at a moments notice, should they choose.) I wouldn"t be surprised if North KOREA owned part of us.

We didn't imagine ANYONE being that STUPID and SELFISH. (Even the robber barons established colleges and stuff. At least they believed in the future. Bush can"t even comprehend his own children"s future.)

[realitytrumpsbull]

The GOP has bet the farm on Iraq, and its' outcome, and will tell any story under the sun to try and shore up support for it. Hopefully, whoever's next in the Big Chair will be either Independent or Democrat, and will go to work shoveling out this mess immediately...

[TexasDem0]

If General Petraeus can"t determine if the surge has made us safer, he"s not qualified for the job. If he resigns, he"ll be replaced by yet another BushCo cheerleader, possibly more timid and more devoted to BushCo than he is.

[indypete]

You know, not ALL repubs are assholes... it's a case of 99% giving the rest a bad name.

[eidhsubplz]

"Or could it be that both of them have some small particle of decency?"

I'm certain they both DO have small particles...just not of decency.Sorry,couldn't resist that one.

[Spookcatcher]

This Fascist (McConnell) has facilitated enough treason and committed traitorous acts against our Constitution that the next administration will nave no problems in the prosecution of his future "obligation" to serve society. (in prison)

[queenie]

Petraeus got caught telling the truth but was properly "cheneyed" during break and back peddled to the big lie once hearings resumed.

[CynAnne]

... Most accurate observations, Frank! And might I add a big, wet raspberry to Fauxs own Bill O'Lielly, who today said that if we have to lose hundreds MORE American lives for another year, in order for 'The Surge' to work, that's an acceptable loss to him. That verbal act of 'compassionate conservatism' earned O'Lielly "The Gold" for "Worst Person In The World" from Keith Olbermann this evening - an award O'Lielly wins with stunning regularity..! ;) ...

[BillZBubb]

The sad thing about RepubliCONs is that they lie even when they don't have to. It's like an inborn trait they can't overcome. Cheney, of course, is the most stellar example because he shamelessly denies his lies even when shown the evidence. Bush is probably worse, though, since he never gets called on his lies by the corporate media. And being a sociopath, Bush's lies are a little less heavy-handed than Cheney's lies.