This is just a quick hit and run diary. I haven't been on the new site yet and I thought I'd give it a try. But the real purpose of the diary is to start a discussion about the new Republican myth in the making.
We all know that the Republicans need someone besides Lincoln that they can point to as an example of a great President. The twentieth century came and went without a noteworthy Republican entry in the great presidents contest. And the twenty-first century started on an even lower note. But the Republicans, bless their twisted, shriveled little hearts, are not going to let a liitle thing like the facts get in the way of declaring an incompetent to be a great President. We've seen it with Ronald Reagan, whom I'm sure Republicans include, unoffically yet, in the celebration of Presidents Day.
Last night we were watching the news on Egypt and I turned to my son and asked him how soon did he think it would be before the Republicans started attribiting the "spread of democracy" in the Middle East to George Bush. We both agreed that these events had no connection to Bush and his policies and that change has to come from within as evidenced by what has happened in Tunisia and Egypt. I had my answer, though, this morning when my arch-conservative partner called and asked me whether or not I thought that the events in the Middle East could be the result of Bush's invasion of Iraq. I assume he was taking his cue from some op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, since these discussions are usually triggered by something he read there. But I don't know for certain where the idea came from.
But it does follow the Republican pattern of trying to take credit for events that are the results of the efforts of others. The Republicans believe that Reagan won the Cold War and forced Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. They never credit Gorbachev with being a reformer and they would never admit that what happened in the Soviet Union was not a direct result of Reagan's policies. And now they will try to create a new myth in which George Bush becomes the father of democracy in the Middle East. .