History in the Making: Phony Myths, Reality Creation And The Stuff of Legend

For the first time in American history, one of the nominees for President is a non-white male. Another significant first-time achievement for this election cycle is the fact that a woman was one of the most likely alternatives for a viable candidate. And finally, for the first time in recent history, the politics of fear and smear that have become the modus operandi of the Republican noise machine have finally begun to wear thin on the American public, reducing the banality of the shrieking messengers and their flaming notes of fecal detritus to a low-intensity, somewhat irritating buzz almost lost in the background noise of general day to day life. During the rise toward their ultimate heights of hubris, corruption and power, the Republican leadership -- closely aligned with the neoconservative mindset that had infiltrated the Executive Branch and infected a myriad of governmental agencies with politicized agendas -- began to believe that they had, in fact, finally achieved the long sought-after "permanent Republican Majority" that Karl Rove had promised.¹ They hadn't -- they had come close, but fate and fortune showed mercy on a nation beset by their arrogance and greed, and their house of cards began to tumble. That never stopped them from believing, even to this day, that their power and influence extends far enough that they can reshape reality into whatever form they wish it to take. Some of them are beginning to wake from that dangerous delusion, just as most of the nation has begun to cast off the pall from nearly eight years of unchallenged Republican rule. The delusion still continues in some, unable to comprehend such a potent fall from grace. Karl Rove, the infamous "Architect" of Bush's second-term "victory," has begun to try and cast aspersions against the new Democratic candidate. Others, like Charlie Black -- a political advisor for the John McCain campaign -- are attempting other tactics; desperation appears to be heavy, saturating the air and making them all crazy. In an Op-Ed published in the New York times on 25 June, Maureen Dowd takes a quick look at and instantly dismisses the Karl Rove effect. The piece is called More Phony Myths and is worth a look. Dowd not only slaps down the attempts by Rove to paint Obama as "elitist" but also addresses the recent statement by Mr. Black that was wholly unnecessary, highly inappropriate and scary in that it reflects the thinking of other panicking Republicans:

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Charlie Black crassly argued in Fortune that a terrorist attack would “be a big advantage” for John McCain. And what’s scary is, Black is the smartest adviser McCain’s got.

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Dowd sums up her take on Black's skewed worldview with the following words:

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It’s hard to believe that if Americans get attacked after all these years of getting strip-searched at the airport, they’re going to be filled with confidence at the performance of the Republicans on national security. And at least Obama wants to catch Osama and doesn’t think he’s getting his directions on war from "a higher Father."²

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Indeed. In fact, I'd go a step a further, and surmise that the vast majority of Americans would be righteously ticked off. I'd even said as much in response to my first encounter of news about Black's idiotic message:

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They don't get it, do they?

"Another terror attack" would piss the hell out of the vast majority of Americans, who have put up with 7+ years of unmitigated gall and bullsh!t only to find that it has been sheer luck that the incompetent, subversive, treasonous bastards at the helm have avoided another attack at all, and the sheer incompetence at stopping another one before the chimp was even out of office would pull away all the stops.

They'd be yanked from office, tried for their crimes and sent to the Hague in a one-way overnight express envelope.

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We've seen what eight years of unopposed Republican control of all three branches of government does: it decimates our nation, weakens our military, undermines our Constitution, foments widespread corruption throughout government and the Department of Justice, destroys our economic viability and elevates the extremely rich -- and corporations -- well above the rights and freedoms of ordinary Americans. The Republican leadership ~should~ be scared. Any true US Patriot -- regardless of party affiliation -- should be rejecting the entire political backbone of today's Republican leaders, going back to the Newt Gingrich era and permanently painting all those "influential" leaders as tainted goods. They, and their steadfast manipulation of language in attempts to reshape reality to their vision, have resulted in the horror-filled landscape that now confronts us. Ordinary citizens who are not "rich" -- be they Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Greens, Independents or any other stripe -- should wholeheartedly reject the core, hypocritical philosophy that supports those currently (and recently) empowered. Ordinary citizens -- true citizens, who believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- should take a moment to step back and see where the words and actions diverge, and where manipulation has led our nation down a primrose path that is overgrown with thorny weeds and runs through a minefield on the way toward a sea of effluent expelled from the bowels of the nation's seediest realms of political machination. This November, if our nation is to stand a chance to survive, everything and everyone currently empowered as Republican in our nation's capitol must be rejected. McCain must lose his bid to continue the Bush Presidency, and must ultimately be pushed to release all the information he's successfully blocked and diverted from investigative oversight into the malignancy of the Bush Presidency. Just as many nations of the world briefly announced that "We are all American" in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 (before the Bush Administration's mad rush to war in the Middle East squandered it all), it is now time for all US Citizens to come together as one and wholeheartedly reject the current incarnation of the Republican party that struggles to hold on to its pressure power and influence. We've drank enough poison at their infected well. Now it's time to purge and heal. Let this election make history, and the recovery of our nation become the stuff of legend. Namaste. ______________________ Footnotes ______________________

1. More about Karl Rove and the GOP's "permanent" Republican Majority:

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   • Karl Rove's Dying Dream: So much for the permanent Republican majority. by Jacob Weisberg, Slate, posted Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2005, at 5:18 PM ET
   • Karl Rove's "Permanent Republican Majority" by Jackson Williams, Huffington Post, posted August 13, 2007 | 01:47 PM (EST)
   • Sowing the Seeds of GOP Domination: Conservative Norquist Cultivates Grass Roots Beyond the Beltway by Laura Blumenfeld, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, January 12, 2004; Page A01
   • The permanent Republican majority: Part one: How a coterie of Republican heavyweights sent a governor to jail by Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane, The RAW Story, published Monday, 26 November 2007

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2. From The Independent, by Rupert Cornwell in Washington, Friday, 7 October 2005.

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   Bush: God told me to invade Iraq
   President 'revealed reasons for war in private meeting'

   President George Bush has claimed he was told by God to invade Iraq and attack Osama bin Laden's stronghold of Afghanistan as part of a divine mission to bring peace to the Middle East, security for Israel, and a state for the Palestinians.

   The President made the assertion during his first meeting with Palestinian leaders in June 2003, according to a BBC series which will be broadcast this month.

   [...click here for full article...]

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