Some folks are, I think in all good intent, trying to ratchet down Foleypalooza. Notably, there is the diary by
onepissedoffliberal reminding us this election is all about Iraq. That's a noble sentiment, and in the end, most people will vote on Iraq.
But what's happening now is monstrous (in more ways than one). Let's review our notes ...
The best place to begin is at the beginning. See if you know who said this, and when (I'll bold a few hints):
Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character.
America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness.
Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.
But the stakes for America are never small. If our country does not lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the hearts of children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and undermine their idealism.
Yes, that's right:
George W. Bush's 2001 inauguration address. Remember? That was the "character" election. And look at that: he even threw in a reference to "children" and "character."
Al Gore lost failed to secure a sweeping mandate large enough to overcome GOP dirty tricks and Democratic incompetence in Florida because of the "character issue." His boss, Bill Clinton, was beyond all denial involved in one of the most public, lurid political scandals in history--helped along by a massive public exposure campaign lead by the GOP conservatives and their media sycophants. Gore had some guilt by association.
But he was, himself, guilty of making fund raising phone calls from government-owned property. That's a violation of federal law, as I recall. Of course, in the pantheon of political evils, it qualifies as one night of wrong-side-of-street parking. That, of course, was not enough: The GOP, via Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh, attributed to Gore the preposterous statement that he said that he, Al Gore, had invented the Internet. This, of course, was a palpable right wing lie by the same winger that ousted Texas Governor Ann Richards through a whisper campaign of lesbianism.
So, the GOP in 2000 made character an issue and basically lied about Al Gore's lack of it. Then they leveraged the GOP Supreme Court to obtain a partisan majority that no lawyer can defend to stop a legal recount under Florida state law. Once that happened, I knew it was Katie-bar-the-door.
I won't bother to recount all the lies and lapses of character in the White House as enabled by every GOP member of Congress. They generally fall into a few broad categories: setting policy on the whims of religious radicals; the suppression of science in favor of political agendas; the handling of relevant events prior to 9/11; rampant corruption in the White House and Congress; and the entire approach to the Middle East. There are others, but let's focus on these for now. Indeed, I would argue, for example, that energy policy and the gutting of the Constitution are for the most part subsets of Bush's Middle Eastern policy. Even the Katrina non-response was exacerbated by the absence of essential post-hurricane equipment and personnel--busy in the Iraqi desert.
Through it all, the GOP--and here I make no distinction between the White House and Congress--maintained their moral high-horse: Democrats didn't understand terrorism, Democrats could not be trusted to be tough where it counted, Democrats are, in effect, weak, incompetent, traitors. And they LIKE abortion. Baby killers. Embryo destroyers. Sin legislators. Schaivo murderers.
Ohhhhkay ...
Just about everyone on this site gets it. We all know the Dems are not perfect. Far from it. But we also understand how the Fourth Amendment and the Geneva Convention work. Not everyone, however, is like us. They don't know a habeus from a corpus, and they are not going to learn, especially not before November 7.
But they all know what sex is. They had no idea what a high crime and misdemeanor was, but they knew Bill Clinton Done Bad, and that knocked out the last pillar of support for rational government in the U.S. capital. As mad as I am at the GOP for this, I am just as mad at Bill Clinton. So very much was at stake. But I digress.
Bill Clinton did what he did because he was certain he could get away with it. Is this any different than the GOP's handling for several years of "the Foley problem"? No. It's not. But Clinton's was a personal failing. The GOP has suffered a nuclear meltdown because their institutionalization of evil as a tool and as a defining trait.
Ignoring the threat of Al Qaeda, dismantling the Constitution, the suppression of knowledge, the elevation of superstition, the Iraqi Debacle and all it entails, and the tribulations of Foley, Shimkus, Reynolds, Hastert and an ever-expanding cast are all part and parcel of the same root problems: Greed, Contempt, Arrogance.
Sex is where it began. Sex is now where it is ending. This election is and is not about Iraq. It is and is not about corruption. It is and is not about religion. It is and is not about Mark Foley.
What it will be about, at its core, is a political party that has proven to be worse than the most terrible things it alleged about its opposition. Pick one, some, or all from each column.
We are making of Foley exactly what it should be: the most current, visible, visceral evidence of an entrenched political party's catastrophic failure. Go back and read that inaugural address in full and try to tell me, in light of those empty words and everything that has been done to and said about us, that you don't relish this fiasco as much as I. Go ahead. I dare ya.