Panning my party: Congress is turning into a sandbox - and Republicans have the most to lose
Watching the recent “debate” on the floor of the House of Representatives over a resolution to withdraw our troops from Iraq, I couldn’t believe my eyes or my ears. There, in full juvenile mode, were the people’s representatives, engaged in screaming matches and threatening body language that was enough to make even Jerry Springer cringe. I know I did.
- Douglas Mackinnon
I’m not silly enough to indict Republicans for corruption without at least tacitly acknowledging that Democrats are every bit as prone to corruption as Republicans (Jim Wright, anyone??). Nonetheless, when one considers that a new breed of Republicans rode into Washington in 1994 on the heels on Newt Gingrich’s “Contract On With America”, promising to make Washington the very epitome of virtue, one should expect more. Sadly, expecting more in this case would merely be a recipe for being severely disappointed. (“Duke” Cunningham, anyone?).
The 1994 “Republican Revolution” was supposed to be many things, but most of all it was supposed to make Washington a place where business was transacted transparently and above board. Yeah, right. Eleven years later, it would appear that the bloom is off the rose. When many of the new Republicans came to Washington in 1994, most came with a legitimate desire to make a difference, to make Congress a place where ethics and morality prevailed and where the People’s business could be done free of deals struck in smoke-filled rooms. Now, though, after eleven years of power and money, too many Republicans have gone over to the Dark Side- if they ever really left to begin with. When your role models are Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, Trent Lott, et. al., let’s face it…this isn’t exactly a party that would welcome Mother Teresa with open arms. And if you don’t believe this is true, all you need to do is to revisit the “debate” over the sham resolution on withdrawing our military from Iraq.
Et tu, Jean Schmidt??
Just beneath the surface of this fracas, though, lay a larger political problem for both parties. In a time of war and deep uncertainty in the world, the American people are looking for leadership, sound judgment and bipartisan consensus from Washington; instead they’re getting infantile behavior in the guise of national debate. So it’s no surprise that they’re losing faith in their elected officials. While this is worrisome for the Democrats, it could prove disastrous for my party - the GOP.
I saw nothing wrong with my fellow Republicans coming to the defense of President Bush and the administration’s rationale for the war in Iraq after Rep. John Murtha, an early Democratic supporter of the war, called for pulling out U.S. troops within six months. But the behavior of some GOP members, and the personal invective they hurled at Murtha, gave me pause and caused me - and many other Republicans I know - to worry about what’s becoming of our party and where it’s headed.
Though Republicans accuse Democrats (not without some justification) of being devoid of ideas, the reality is that Republicans are in even worse shape. Reduced to defending a President who virtually anyone with any shred of intellectual honesty knows is a liar and a despot, the only real tool Republicans have is to question a dissenter’s patriotism. When you cannot argue with someone on the merits, I supposed you’re reduced to name calling and impugning reputations. Welcome to the GOP, circa 2005. Things look different here, eh?
The fact of the matter is that Republicans have nothing…and they know it. Though they continue to fight for “their” President and his agenda, I truly believe that in their heart of hearts, most Republicans in Congress realize their Emperor is naked. It’s just that their stars are so firmly hitched to Our Glorious Leader’s wagon that they simply cannot bring themselves to call it as they see it. After all, if there’s one thing the GOP values, it’s obedience/loyalty. Just ask Tom DeLay.
Republicans have sold the American people on the premise that we are the party of national defense, character, morality and ethics. But that premise is getting tougher to defend with each passing day. Whether it’s valid or hyped, nonstop news about the problems of former vice presidential aide Scooter Libby, about the administration cooking the books on Iraq, about GOP ties to “Big Oil” and a host of other very damaging stories has caused a perception problem that is going to have a direct impact on the re-election of Republicans in 2006 and 2008. For Republican “leaders” to deny this is to deny the obvious.
Indeed. If pride goeth before a fall, arrogance and ignorance cannot be far behind.
