Let the Blame Game Begin
As Barack Obama and the Democrats appear poised for an historic sweep, we have a message for our Republican friends: It is time to point fingers.
We are pro-finger-pointing. We disagree strongly with Gov. Sarah Palin who said recently, "Do you notice that our opponents sure have spent a lot of time looking at the past and pointing fingers? You look to the past because that's where you find blame, but we're...looking to the future, because that's where you find solutions." On the contrary, Governor, blame assignment, while much maligned, is essential to determining what went wrong and how to set it right. Besides, it's a hell of a spectator sport. Here's our primer for a little game we like to call Big Losers Always Make Excuses (BLAME):
First -- a couple of ground rules. You can't blame the press or minorities. Sure, media-bashing is part of the conservative catechism, and minority voters are likely to support Barack Obama in record numbers. But finger-pointing is only interesting when you point at someone on your team. Republicans need a civil war -- a steel cage death match -- to sort out what they stand for. Scapegoating outsiders won't purge the party of what's rotting it on the inside.
Here's the most important thing about finger-pointing: you have to start early. If you're a Republican who wants to avoid blame for the current meltdown, you cannot afford to wait until after the election is over.
The smartest people in the conservative movement are already pointing like a bird dog on a South Georgia quail hunt. David Brooks and Bill Kristol are leading the way. Mr. Brooks, representing the intellectual wing of the conservative movement, called Ms. Palin, "a fatal cancer to the Republican Party." Attaboy, Brooksie. Score one for the brainiacs.
Mr. Kristol, on the other hand, blames neither Ms. Palin nor Sen. John McCain, but rather McCain's campaign advisers, writing of the campaign: "Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic." See? That's how you do it. Kristol can't say McCain's problem is that he supported the Iraq war, (which Kristol advocated) or that he chose Sarah Palin (whom Kristol praised). So rather than play defense, Bill went on offense, blaming McCain's Steve Schmidt-led campaign. But we have a feeling this fight will only begin when the Schmidt hits the fan.
But where are the other voices? We need to hear, for example, from Karl Rove. Whom will he blame? We stipulate that Karl is a genius -- albeit a genius whose advice took Pres. Bush from a 91 percent approval rating down to 26. With the House of Bush ablaze, Karl is going to have to do some quick finger-pointing before they change they change his nickname from The Architect to The Arsonist.
How about Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other radio personalities? They never liked McCain much -- but his campaign cratered only when he embraced their wild attacks on Sen. Obama. It was only after Mr. McCain borrowed the Limbaugh-Hannity line on Bill Ayers, only after Gov. Palin accused Mr. Obama of "pallin' around with terrorists," that the bottom fell out for Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin. We're betting the hot air boys will blame the intellectuals. After all, if you want to make an omelet, you've got to break a few eggheads.
The Republican Party is atomizing, and each faction must participate in Project BLAME. The neocons may want to blame the theocons. The economic conservatives will likely blame the big spenders. The conflagration will be so multi-dimensional we'll need a program to sort out the players. They will need to answer fundamental questions: What does it mean to be a Republican? Do Republicans support laissez-faire or nationalized banking? Do Republicans support a balanced budget or half-trillion-dollar deficits? Do Republicans want a "humble foreign policy" like George W. Bush, or preventive war against countries that pose no threat, like, umm, George W. Bush? Are Republicans the party of limited government or a vast Medicare prescription drug benefit? Are they wary of Big Brother or eager to expand warrantless wiretaps? Do they support Christian values or torture? Are they the party that believes that cutting-edge technology can shoot a missile out of the sky or the party that believes humans and dinosaurs walked the earth simultaneously?
These questions should define the 2012 GOP presidential primaries. So start blaming, all you would-be candidates. That means you, Ms. Palin, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist. Hurry up. You only have 1,165 days left until the Iowa Caucuses.
James Carville and Paul Begala were senior strategists for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign. They'd like everyone to know it's not their fault.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
This was hilarious! Didn't know these guys were so funny.
Let the circular "firing squad" continue. I am so loving this. It couldn't happen to a "nicer" group of "repugs".
"The smartest people in the conservative movement are already pointing like a bird dog on a South Georgia quail hunt."
Gee - I wonder which one of the 2 authors wrote this part.
Get out of bed with the religious right. Palin is the incarnation of everything that is wrong with that movement.
Not sure if I'm just a political junkie or a groupie of both Paul and James, but you
gentlemen have an artistic flair for satire that is only second to your winning smiles.
This piece made me crack up and pass it along.
Thanks for a great Sunday night read.
Your number 1 fan,
Bridget
I think the questions the Republicans need to ask themselves is: Are we going to leave Christian fascism behind or not? How soon can we do away with the tax-exemption for churches? How much money are we going to allow religious predators to accumulate?
OK, I laughed for a minute...
Now back to work!!!
We all know McCain/Palin supporters, we have 9 days to work on them...I have at least a dozen in my circle that I will work on.
Donate, call people, ask them why...
On the Rachel Maddow show, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. re-defined the Bradley effect as the tossing/di
Have conversations with the voting youths in your areas and remind them -- VOTE. The have to vote to finish the deal that they started by registering. Help seniors and drive them. Stay with them so they are not intimidated by RePugs.
Are we all freakin' out of our minds. No one has won a damn thing yet. Gloating and advising the "losers" can wait until the election is actually held, and we have won. Keep donating, keep working, and take nothing for granted.
the strange thing about this republican party is that they had a reformer with populist appeal who appeared on the stage in the person of Sarah Palin and what did they do with her? Sarah had taxed the oil companies and handed out a check for $1000 to every household in Alaska, which was in addition to the usual fund they get every year, and the stupid republicans send her out to say
"Government is the problem not the solution" as McCain rushes back to Washington D.C. to vote for the republican bail out package that hands $700 billion in taxpayer funds over to Wall Street speculators. Then he rushes back onto the campaign trail to rail at democrats, who, he says, will "spread around" Joe the Plumber's wealth while Sarah the reformer recites the dumb lines McCain's campaign staff has handed to her about some old worn out anti communist Reaganism that fell with the Berlin Wall.
What are you going to point at? An empty paper bag? These republicans are airheads. No wonder we are in such trouble.
Ab so lute ly. Why isn't this being BLASTED ON BILLBOARDS? Sarah Palin taxed, charged, squeezed the Ronad Reagans, what ever you want to call it, of oil companies and handed out money. Hey I...want..
You want to point fingers for what? As far as I can tell, no one has counted any votes yet. Remember the Bradley Effect. Don't count your chickens yet.
Forget the bradley Effect...r
Ummmmm...a
it's quite simple. the republican party advocates fear, hatred, intolerance, and ignorance.
don't count mccain out like they did in the primaries. we all know what happened then.
The ones that are really to blame for the GOP meltdown are Obama - Biden and the Dem election team and the hardworking ground game workers and campaign volunteers.
It must be hard to swallow for the mudslinging GOP-ers that the rules have changed since 2004 and that now their negativity is backfiring and all that negative energy has to go somewhere so they are now starting to claw at each other as they attempt to strap on parachutes while spiralling downwards towards a hard fall.
until we reach out and work with them, nothing is going to change. it's columns like this that promote division and problems in american politics
No, this is payback. For eight years, the Republicans have equated disagreeing with their policies with supporting terrorism.
Yeah, right! When Hell boils over! I will be so happy on Tuesday night, Nov 4th. And, just think of all those pathetic religious nuts ..... we'll have to hear for the next year or so how the world is going to end because it's written...
Loved it. The Republicans have found themselves in the middle of an identity crisis as expressed perfectly by their "leader" John McCain. Or is it Palin? Maybe it's Romney.. Who knows? I'm surprised however that anyone would be eager to claim the mantle of the Bush legacy. But to each his..or her..own.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
