State of the Outrage

Because Barbara Bush taught him to "use your words, George," her son the president, rather than actually mooning some Senate Democrats at the joint session of Congress on Monday night as he would like to do, will instead call them terrorist-lovers for refusing to give retroactive immunity to lawbreaking telecoms in the FISA bill, and he will call them partisan obstructionists for wanting to extend unemployment benefits in the economic stimulus bill now pending.

Because the political media's machismo depends on admiring cynicism as realpolitik, when the Clintons claim victory in the Florida primary this Tuesday, the mandarins will pronounce it a brilliant chess move, rather than revealing it as a desperation-borne contempt for the rules of the nomination game they had previously agreed to, and as condescension toward those who still naively care about playing by them.

Because there is no accountability in punditry -- outside, that is, of Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann -- Rudy Giuliani's flameout in Florida, like Fred Thompson's before him in South Carolina, will occasion no reminders and no regrets for the jock-sniffing musk-addled crushes once harbored toward them by the Chris Matthewses and Bill Kristols of the political locker room.

Because there is nothing like necrophilia and hagiography to prolong our national addiction to historical amnesia, this week's Republican debate at the Reagan Library will prompt no admission that the sub-prime meltdown now dragging Americans into a painful recession, except for the nouveau gazillionaires insulated from it, is the godchild of the Reagan religion of faith-based deregulation, fundamentalist market worship, and a massive government-engineered transfer of wealth from the middle to the top.

Because "the surge is working" -- because, that is, of the indefinitely long presence of more than 150,000 American troops in Iraq, paid for by trillions of dollars that even the Bush administration no longer has the nerve to put in its budget, combined with the absence of any meaningful progress toward the administration's own benchmarks for political success, coupled with the media's inability to cover the war as anything except the kind of occasional traffic fatality story found on local TV news -- a presidential campaign that might have been a referendum on Republican deceit and incompetence, and a frank conversation about America's real security interests in the world, will instead be a moronic barrage of empty slogans about change.

And because the Framers were unable to anticipate the genius at gaming the Constitution possessed by the power-mad viceroys of a future King George named Cheney and Rove, nor could the Founders conceive of a corporate press hooked on revenue-generating junk and intimidated into abandoning its role as Fourth Estate, the year of onanistic Legacy coverage and good-poodle bipartisanship that will be kicked off this week by the State of the Union address will be left unspoiled by erased emails, unmarred by unenforced contempt citations, unsullied by unacknowledged high crimes and demeanors, and unblemished by disgraces that cannot be rectified by pardons for the past and pay packages for the future.

But hey, it's gonna be a great Super Bowl, Romney sure is good-looking, I wonder what kind of cake Jenna and Henry pick, Joe Lieberman really understands how to reach across the aisle, and did you know Obama's middle name is Saddam?

Comments

[distantrhythm]

Elect Ron Paul as America's first write-in candidate; first in money raised, first in contributions from active-duty military, THE ONLY TRUE STATESMAN IN THE RACE.

more at ronpaul2008.com

[research]

Why didn't the Dems just sit down with their arms folded, and boo and catcall this criminal presindent?

I was appalled to see the ritualistic standing applause.

[RetMsgt]

Mr Kaplan,
I noticed that you said nothing about the Presidents plea to make permanent the tax cuts enacted in 2001 to pry this nation out of the recession started under Clinton (who did absolutely nothing to head it off). I find it amazing that Dems just sit on their hands everytime someone mentions giving people their money back.
I think the Democratic young lady in a Fox focus group said it best last night. When asked why the tax credits should not be extended and over 100 million Americans will see their taxes increased by an average of $1800, she replied "Government programs cost money and they have to be paid for somehow." This is typical of the brainwashing that is going on with our young people. Instead of asking them to be responsible for their own well being, they think the government is the answer to everything and other people should pay for them. Unlike the governor of Kansas, I don't think government works. Period. Ours is broken at so many levels, it's not funny. So save the socialist BS for the Europeans. If you have an original idea about how to solve problems, bring it on. But, I for one am sick and tired of every blogger, right and left, bitching and griping about the problems of the world with nothing constructive to add to the conversation. As I used to tell my troops, don't be a problem finder, be a problem solver.

[tumblewind]

You think George Bush is bad!!!! Wait until Ron Paul and all his crackpot ideas gets into office! It seems like some people in this country never learn to leave the far right wingers alone! They are bad news! Out there in LA-LA Land!

[lastams]

Article after article and blog after blog express wonder that Pilosi and the Democratic "Leadership" have taken impeachment off the table.
Why impeachment is off the table should be obvious: It would interfere with business.
In the last two months this Congress has passed two 600 plus billion dollar spending bills and extended Nafta into Peru. Now they are poised to extend "free trade" into Columbia, where union leaders are simply arrested or shot: A big-business wet dream, no?
While we watch the dog and pony show on the Hill, we tend to forget that the vast majority or our "representatives" are there to represent themselves and the big business interests that put them in power.
While we debate the Constitutional challenges and the checks and balances of government, our Congressmen make private deals and carry on a show for the cameras.
Why is impeachment off the table?
Think about it.

[Tillie2]

Yes, we are at the end of our "outrage" tether, I agree. I can't even lift the phone to call for Edwards. A numbing depression has set in. And I'm not being facetious. I feel that we have allowed the "dumbing down" of America go on for so long that we are getting what we deserve. No one seems to know or care what the candidates' positions on issues are; no one seems to understand the concept of "electability" and why it should be our first concern, not our last; what we now call "hope" is really movie star adulation; what we call "post-racist" society is really, once again, racism/genderism dressed up in yet another disguise.

[DramaNana]

Just heard Obama is thrilled at the endorsement from Ted Kennedy, amazing me that Obama would even accept it. He obviously doesn't know Teddy was responsible for and getting away with the death of Mary Jo Kopechne and her unborn fetus, in 1969. I hold the press responsible for this farse being played out, deciding who is to be the candidate, and the other's be damned. I don't know who's worse - Fox, Olberman, CNN's screwball, Glenn Beck, and the major news networks combined, but from the start it was obvious that to even consider a woman for president was unconscionable. Listening to these "talking heads" with their didactic attitude toward Mrs Clinton, has been horrific. When Obama said he admired Ronald Reagan, John Edwards shouted he would never say something like that. Obama said nothing. When Hillary mentioned it, Obama denied it, reminding Hillary that she voted for the war. He moaned about her husband helping her - didn't Obama have Oprah beg the public (after all, said Olberman, she sells books). Yet let Senator Clinton have her husband help and that's to be made fun of. It was John McCain who said "well first we have to get rid of that "bitch", at a town meeting- then a woman in the audience stood up and said, "well how can we get rid of the bitch"? When the press played it back, they left off McCain's nasty statement all together. The press is controlling every aspect of this election. I'll still vote for Biden, while Fox/O'Riley, Olberman (who remains fixated on Britany Spears crotch, and how wonderful his book is), and the talking heads tell their opinions over and over but the truth remains, Obama has no experience what so ever, and this is not the time for O.J.T.

I feel better. Now I'll go vote tomorrow and let the press kiss my postscript. GOD have mercy on all of us.
DramaNana

[EdwardMichael]

A man once said, "Anyone who wants to be President should never be trusted with the job."

I think that just about says it all, but, with one more statement, we have the whole ball of wax:

"If God had wanted us to vote, He'd have given us candidates."

[lungfish]

Mr. Kaplan,
Well said, especially the paragraph about "the surge"....
It is amazing to me that political parties can function on ZERO introspection. They never look back, accept accountability, learn from their mistakes... the entire game seems to be about IMAGE management. Not looking good, well, lets say this or that and we'll look better. Said something that wasn't well recieved, well, change it or deny it or use it to abuse somebody.
Nothing they do seems to be aligned with actually doing anything good for the country. It all seems to rotate around the criminal intent of the inner circle and the exercise of painting the pig. All fluff with a gangland core.
The media are clearly complicit as you point out. There is not heart at the heart of it all.

Our educational system is a joke and nobody cares because it has gone on long enough that there are arguably fewer people with the smarts to notice it or administrate it effectively.

The crimes of this administration will go unpunished, I predict. And I am someone who started this mess by writing the President twice a week to beg him to notice the many issues plaguing us. When it was clear that he couldn't find someone to help him with the big words like "torture" and "fascism" I became someone who has written Pelosi and the Dems probably twice a week for the last two years to demand that they get on the horse and do their jobs and defend the constitution against this gang of neocomen rather than tell them with a straight face that they can keep on committing their egregious assault on America. All for nothing, I am afraid.

I had every hope that this country could overcome this horrible twist. Then I learned that the country is run by gangs who have no character and will assasinate it where-ever they find it. Billary, Barak, Willard, McCain... just gangsters, nothing more.

[Janskats]

Once again..the ONLY reason the surge is getting credit for a lessening of resistance or any cessation of violence in Iraq, is because The Splurge first thoroughly greased the palms of all those Sunni chieftans with multi-millions in U.S. bucks, to cease their violent attacks! Conveniently, no one mentions this fact. George and Petraeus and the MegaSyndicatedMedia would have us believe the "Awakening" is some profound, philosophical turn-around on the part of these extortionists! When do we finally stop co-operating with their efforts to bamboozle us? The bigger question is, when the money runs out, what happens to this "finger in the dyke" war policy? It's obvious..we get the finger, and a flood of violence rushes through the unplugged hole once again! By then, the Bush regime will be long gone, like a thief in the night, and their hoped-for GOP replacement will use it as justification to spend even more billions and another 100 years in that country! Wise up, America!

[zitlight73]

Screw the sub-prime rate. What's sinking this country's economy are price rigged fuel prices. OPEC was the greatest and sneakiest thing the oil companies ever invented. Exxon,Mobil and pals are raking in record profits while this country is teetering on a depression not some sissy ass little recession. Any of the cookie-cutter candidates even mention obscene fuel prices and what they plan on doing about them,like using anti-trust laws and price fixing laws? Oil prices like restoring habeous corpus is a forbidden subject to these political puppets who know where the real power lies and it ain't the Whitehouse.

[Artisbey]

We must give Dubya and the neocom gang credit for one thing. They took a nation of perfectly evolved human beings and turned us into a bunch of monkeys.

[dkewyne]

Mr. Kaplan,
I have read just about every one of your Blogs. Why don't you just come out and tell everyone you are a Marxist. We all know what that led to.

[actcochise]

hahaha - what a brilliant article! Love it..keep more of that coming Marty!

[Duncan]

Lets be clear about something. Bush was only able to do this because the PEOPLE let him. There has been more than enough opportunities to change the path this country is on, but the people decided to vote for more of the same. JUST as they are about to do in 2008.

Our government ONLY works properly when you have a well-informed citizenry and to whom the politicians are SCARED of.. We currently have an ignorant and lazy citizenry whom the politicians can twist around their fingers.

If there is one thing the people can do for their country this year, it is to stop being lazy and ignorant. Research the politicians and the issues and hold them accountable.

My research has led me to believe that only Ron Paul can take this country down a different path.

[DrMikeC]

"No retroactive effect" is a pretty basic cornerstone of law. Ah yes,"law" that which can be dodged or ammended when it is suddenly politically inexpedient.
... but so much is permissible in times of war - even if it is an undeclared war against non-state actors. How can you win a war when there is no "other" side - no nation state? How do you take a surrender or enter into a peace conference when you are waging war on a spectral concept, a nebulous war against terror? Only soldiers are covered by humanitarian conventions such as the Geneva convention, not terrorists, insurgents, or freedom fighters. Imagine the outrage that would errupt if allied prisoners were subjected to the measures used in Guantanamo or Abu Grahid (sp?).

[Wulfstan]

It was a sad day for Americans when George Bush became President.

Worst President ever.

[BlueStateDave]

Amen!

[WingsofCrystal]

Same ole same ole thing with King George. I am counting the days until he gets the hell out of the White House.

[clumberfeet]

Tonight the House and Senate needs to just sit on their butts. No standing ovations, no cheers, and no applause.

I know they can do it. They have been sitting on their butts for years.

[timregler]

I plan on watching something far more intellectually stimulating than Bush and the State of the Union. Thanks Nick at Night for bringing The Beverly Hillbillys back to prime time.

[TUCANOFULANO]

The two still-standing Democratic Party candidates make G. W. Bush look pretty good, and looking better as the days go by.

[ObamaEdwards]

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

We should be allowed to vote off TV the anchors and pundits we find useless and stupid. THAT would get their butts in gear.

[Silknspark]

Just back from D.C. It's in a total state of disconnect from all the rest of our country.
Good Democrats are seriously upset over the hijacking of their once great party, by unions, trial lawyers and environmentalists. And Good Republicans very upset about likewise hijacking by the powerful handful of arrogant, control freak, single issue (abortion)drummers.
Grocery store polls clearly state they'd cheerfully back the candidate (regardless their ethnicity, gender, party, religion)who'd make an ironclad promise to:
a)Phase gently out of Iraq, and bring home those troupes to secure our borders.
b)Stop European Union influence on American policy making, and kick NGO's out of our government all together.
c)Transition income tax out and a Fair Tax in, for that would generate consumer spending and a myriad of equitable means by which to collect taxes.
d)Stop LOST
e)Stop government welfare to any entity that seeks to take acreage of resource production. Do you realize that their are groups who get money to propagate prairie rat villages thus taking food away human villages that are starving. This cruelty must be stopped now!
f)Embrace "zero net loss production acre"... by stopping conservation easements, wetlands, view sheds, corridors,allegedly endangered species and any method used to shut down agriculture production in America. How will the starving child be able to even look at some "wild land" much less hike it?
g) Enforce trade laws! It's a matter of national security.
Are you aware that - for one example - Argentina is using dollars from defaulted loans to subsidize their infrastructure so they can direct compete with US production?
h) Honor the US Constitution.
i) Honor states rights.
j) Honor private property rights.
k) Sell off millions of public lands back into the private sector, and use those dollars to protect the antiquities and provide maintenance in our national parks.
l) Stop denegrating the other candidate, and tell us what qualifies you to be a president.

[deminmo]

Did the country get writen into some sitcom or
"reality based" show? Seems like it. Day is
really night. The President is doing a good
job. We are winning. Mission Accomplished.
Maybe that last one is the truth for the Bush
administration.