Well, here we are in suspended animation somewhere between stop and go. Momentum against the Bush regime has slowed. What had been a freefall, crash and burn carnival ride of stomach dropping, gut wrenching political drama has slowed to the point of watching grass grow on molasses in the dead of nuclear winter.
Am I wrong? Perhaps it's because I have not been as dialed-in the last few weeks as I had been the previous few months. So maybe it's me, but my impression is things are temporarily in stasis; the summer and fall's political damage to the Bush regime in the process of being absorbed, analyzed and accounted.
So, in this time of slow-go, glacial progress, let's take account; reckon the politics, predict the future and extol the importance of Liberals (and Republicans) in the pursuit of Justice.
The War in Iraq:
After 2 ½ years of frustrating disaster and deadly quagmire, the "W" now stands for
Withdrawal. It's not a question of if but when American troops begin to come home. The smart money says the first announcement for troop reductions (nominal and meaningless) will happen in time for Christmas 2005. Other troop draw-down announcements will follow as the political liability of the "neo-con" led war in Iraq bunker-busts the GOP's battle-armor of denial and derision once and for all. If the War in Iraq is an electoral issue in 2006, Republicans can kiss their collective ass goodbye in an explosion of voter outrage and rejection.
ERGO: The War in Iraq will not be a political issue in the November 2006 midterm elections. Unless liberals make it one.
The appearance of withdrawal doesn't mean the end of American involvement in Iraq. Far from it. American troops will be redeployed to provide security for oil pipelines and production. Troops will move from the killing fields to the drilling fields. Meanwhile, the Sunni and Shia do brutal nation-building with biblical rivers of blood, sweat and tears.
But as far as the American People are concerned, because "reality" never gets in the way of neo-conservative Republicans, the war will be sold as a great victory; a significant milestone toward democratization of the Middle East. Never mind the cynical lies that led to war. Never mind the arrogant incompetents who prosecuted the war. Never mind the wasted lives, broken hearts, psychic scars, the irreparable and irreversible damage done to a multitude of brothers and sisters; the casualties of war.
By November 2006, most Americans will still believe the War in Iraq was a mistake; a tragic misadventure of neo-cabalistic empire-building; but they will also believe the war, for all intents and purposes, is over. Smoke and mirrors withdrawal and redeployment will create an illusion of closure.
The war in Iraq is political death for Republicans in 2006 therefore Republicans will do everything they can to wipe the war off the political radar screen. It is up to liberals to see this doesn't happen.
Political Scandals:
Corruption is the wildcard issue for the 2006 midterms. Between the Abramoff, Franklin, Libby, Frist and Delay investigations, the exponential potential for a major political train wreck is, well, delicious.
The worst thing to happen, however, and probably inevitable as the Abramoff scandal widens, is Democrats caught-up in the snare of corruption.
If Republicans can spin their egregious greed and lust for power into bi-partisan, systemic corruption that paints Democrats with the same broad-brush stroke, then the powerful `values' discussion about the GOP's Culture of Corruption is largely mitigated. There is a big difference between attacking one party's Culture of Corruption and lamely calling for yet another gratuitous, bi-partisan attempt at Campaign Finance Reform.
If Campaign Finance Reform is an issue in 2006, then Democrats have lost the `values' fight on corruption.
Frankly, I believe the electoral "system" is terminally crooked and could stand a complete overhaul that includes a massive dose of public financing, media compliance and transparency. But the electoral issues in 2006 must revolve around Character and Values and the GOP's complete lack of them.
There is one scandal the Democrats cannot be tainted with and that is the lies and obstructions perpetrated by the Bush regime in the run-up to war. So, while Bush/Cheney declare victory in Iraq after the December election and begin their cat and mouse troop drawdown and redeployment, the heat must be kept on for Bush Administration accountability. Liberals must sustain a clarion call for impeachment.
Impeachment Inquiry:
What are the chances a Republican led Congress will call for an impeachment inquiry into possible unethical and illegal activities by Bush Administration officials in the "selling" of the war in Iraq to the American People, Congress and the World?
Well, the chances get better and better everyday. As more and more dirty underwear and embarrassing skeletons come cascading out of the corruption (and war lies') closet, the more pressure will be brought to bear for a Republican reckoning.
What better scapegoats than a lame duck President and his henchmen, whom nobody really likes in the first place, to take the fall for their own crimes? Republicans were lied to as well as Democrats.
A Republican running for reelection in the House is no longer in a position to say, "Yes, I was misled about Iraq, but I support the war anyway; the world is better off without Saddam."
Because, other than getting rid of the tin-horn dictator what else has been achieved in Iraq? Turning a bad situation into a monumental cluster-fuck is not success and, frankly, can't be defended by any critically thinking individual.
Frame it another way: Was getting rid of Saddam Hussein worth $300,000,000,000 and thousands upon thousands of dead and wounded American soldiers?
Yes or no?
Can you imagine any politician, except the deluded, deranged and dangerously stupid President answer, "It was worth every penny!"
Because the Bush legacy will land DOA on the trash-bin of history, Republicans must challenge Bush to insure their own political survival. The poll numbers demand it.
The Bush regime poll numbers have gone through the floor and are on their way to Hell in a hand-basket.
I believe the political reality dictates Republicans, for their own political survival, will have to turn against the incompetent and deceitful Bush regime. Circling the wagons around a lame-duck President with an impotent and shriveling 35% approval rating is electoral suicide.
The chances are good, IMO, if pressure is kept up for an impeachment inquiry, one will be forthcoming. Liberals must keep their foot shoved in America's doorway for as long as it takes to make the sale.
Concluding Ruminations:
The damage done to Republicans by the neo-con led Bush Administration is incalculable. The `crazies' are on the run. Unfortunately when neo-cons run away, they have a tendency to run straight at you screaming bloody murder and spewing biliary blame against the wall of their own sins.
I don't know if the President is really a neo-con or he just plays one on TV. Regardless, the President was head cheerleader for their humorless, cynical and deceitful attempt at Empire.
Alas, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) vision for a colossus Pax Americana backed by unilateral military superpower is not going to happen. The PNAC vision for dominion, after all, was conceived in vanity.
Empire is built upon pride, but falls upon vanity.
So, for whatever reasons, the Bush regime's fatal flaw was its adoption of the neo-con roadmap to Empire. The neo-con plan, predictably, was tragically inept.
The Cheney/Rumsfeld cabal did not calculate that people would fight back. Shock and awe is supposed to take the fight out of the enemy. Yet, all over the world people have fought back against America. For all of his efforts, Bush's cobbled together, bully and bribe, Coalition of the Willing, was in reality a massive repudiation by the Unwilling. Time and again, the world said "no" to George Bush, but the PNAC President ignored the will of the people and relied instead upon grandiose narcissism to light his way. Time and again the hand of George W. Bush turned a problem into a disaster; a disaster into tragedy; and a tragedy into a mockery.
What is the noble cause, George?
The Congressional Republicans who rode the popularity of post-911 thoroughbred George Bush for all he was worth are now faced with putting him down - a mercy killing against imperial hubris - or risk annihilation from Bush Blowback and Scandal Fatigue.
As a Republican running for office, which would you choose? Sacrifice or suicide?
If liberals can keep the agenda focused upon:
War Lies & Impeachment
then the 2006 midterm election results can make the disastrous 1974 post-Watergate results look like a landslide for Republicans. It's not a Watergate we're talking here, but a Waterloo.
Only by sweeping shit under the rug, ignoring the will of the people and obstructing justice can the Bush Administration escape accountability for their negligence and malfeasance. The Cabal will spin, cover-up, lie, cheat and steal to make Americans forget their crimes. They will trot out tried and true formulas to promote an amnesiac America. They will crank up the fundamentalist noise machine with crises of gay marriage, abortion, hedonism and a xenophobic vision of a southern border that tempts brown wetbacks and terrorists. The Bush Regime will do everything in its power and imagination to change the subject of its failures, crimes and, yes, treasons.
It is up to liberals to sound the call: loud and clear.
The `noble cause' should always be the pursuit of truth and justice. The Bush regime has pursued nothing of the sort. They are masters of the Big Lie and the Blame Game. They rule from the top down, instead of building consensus from the ground up. The Bush regime is comprised of criminals and conspirators; liars and obstructers; two-faced, forked-tongue Machiavellians seduced by power and fallen into dishonor. They have raided the treasury, smashed the Constitution, and destroyed the name of our nation in the world.
They must be held accountable.
We liberals have the understanding, heart and fortitude to make it happen.
Republicans, as the majority party, must hold the nation's top executives accountable for critical failures or face a waterloo of their own making by the abdication of responsibility, abrogation of leadership and enthusiastic cultivation of a One-Party culture of corruption.
Republicans won't do what's right without pressure. They will be made to do what's right by understanding the political damage caused by their not doing what's right.
And all we have to do 24/7 is remind the America People what's right.
Truth, Justice and the American Way.