Woody Allen said, "Life is divided into the horrible and the miserable." The GOP has evidently fully embraced this as a re-election strategy. Each and every iota of GOP propaganda I have seen says that as bad as we might think things are now, they'll only get worse under the Democrats. If enough people are stupid enough or enough stupid people vote, it's going to work.
Look around. Take stock. Conduct an inventory. Forget about the Clinton years. Just look at where we are strictly from the perspective of evaluating GOP governance. I'm not going to even trouble you with links. We've read all the stories. Go look at the diaries in just the past two weeks of DemfromCT, Jerome a Paris, bonddad, teacherken, nyceve, kos, many, many more and the myriad links therein.
This was a "can do" President, with a GOP House, then a full GOP Congress, and a strong move toward a GOP judiciary. Now step aside and let them go to it! The Republicans had the keys to the kingdom. What's the product? Well, let's look at:
Foreign Policy: We are hated and ridiculed. Afghanistan is becoming a mess. We couldn't "afford to lose" in Iraq but by any rational measure we sure aren't winning--whatever that is. Italy bailed and the U.K. is not far behind. That leaves Amerika, the Aussies and countries that don't exist on a three-year-old map. We are diplomatically impotent as far as Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela are concerned. Did we put Democracy on the march? Let's ask our dictatorial or monarchical allies in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and newest convert, Libya, poised to execute six foreign health workers who came there to save lives. Darfur? Fuggedaboudit.
National Security: How about our great GOP law enforcement technique on those shadowy terrorist cells? Did those guys in Buffalo ever get convicted, or were they just still pissed that Scott Norwood missed that field goal in Super Bowl XXV? Those voodoo mopes in Miami--how's that one going? I hear the prosecution just dropped its key charge against that dangerous grocer in Chicago. And this is what the President could manage under a trashed Constitution? Are the Fates giving us a breather from hurricanes? Mighty nice of them, since FEMA and DHS are both in disarray. Maybe the next security initiative will be to give us a roll of duct tape for every confiscated tube of toothpaste.
The Economy: This is a big, big ouch on the way. For most, it's already here. The already wealthy and the large corporations are doing great. Everyone else has thrown the party. We have a major in deficits and a tiny minor in new employment. And whey do we realize that the health care crisis is also an economic crisis?
Ethics and Morality: Remember when this was the Next Big Thing? Abramoff, Plamegate, DeLay, Diebold "vote-a-matics," Iraqi contracting, Katrina contracting, and a cast of thousands. On the Dem side, one sleaze with Ziplock freezer bags of cash. And Al Gore had the temerity to make fund raising calls from a government telephone. Tsk tsk.
The Environment: Why even bother--the prospects of a continuing drought in the top percentile of the past 500 years' experience and Global Warming makes run-of-the-mill mercury in fish almost appealing. More tartar sauce, please.
Science and Education: I think we SHOULD allow prayer in public schools--but only if each prayer is directed at getting rid of No Child Left Behind. I don't want to make fun of anyone's beliefs, but how hard that is when I think about Adam and Eve riding dinosaurs. And how, exactly, does this country put a man on Mars if the Administration is so utterly ignorant and holds science in such contempt? To paraphrase Vaughn Meader, "As soon as Mr. Bush wants to go."
If you're insurance company fouled up this badly, you'd switch to the lizard. If a CEO and board of directors was this bad, the stockholders would revolt and demand a turnaround team. If the first-string quarterback had a season that looked like ANY ONE of the past six years, he'd be benched. Then shot on sight. If your kid performed this way in school, ...
You get the picture. And I'm sure you've got other macro-categories to talk about. I don't even know where to put immigration.
Yet the only discernable GOP strategy in this election year is, "The Democrats will tax you and be soft on terrorism." Taxes, however, are a helluva lot better than borrowing, and soft compared to what? The guys who let Osama go after his massacre of our people, maybe to die a peaceful death, unrepentant, unapprehended, and unprosecuted?
In other words, the GOP is selling us on the miserable by warning us of the horrible.
The Democrats must at least close the gap on November 7 to razor-thin Congressional GOP majorities. We must at least throw a stop on the Bush Administration for its final two anemic years. If Dems take either chamber, and get subpoena power, we will see things were even worse in Bushland than we had ever dreamed. If they take both, let the rebuilding begin.
But are we that smart, as a nation? Or do we prove Woody Allen right once again?