Some political discourse

Vice-President Dick Cheney is an idiot.

I could use stronger language, of course, and I am sure that if Cheney knew and cared that I think he is an idiot, he'd have stronger language for me.  What disgusts me about this story is when asked about it on national television, Cheney patted himself on the back.  He could not have been more proud of himself.

What a fine example of GOP character this man is.   I am not naive, I'm sure that there are plenty of times where questionable language is prevelant in Washington, and I'm sure as much of it comes from Democrats as does Republicans.  But I don't recall anyone else in Cheney's position being so cavalier about it.

Since 1992, I think the Republicans have acted like bullies, and this incident reaffirms my thoughts.  Cheney didn't like what Leahy had to say about Halliburton, so during a time when the Senate is getting together for a picture, he has to let his personal invectives fly.  How mature, how graceful, that the Vice-President of the United States behaves this way.  Thank God that Bush-Cheney has succeeded in restoring "dignity and honor" to Washington.

I wish Leahy had responded by decking him, for two reasons.  First, the thought of Cheney back in his undisclosed location with a steak on his eye amuses me; second, it would give me something to write about a Democrat acting poorly.  I'm getting a little tired of this stuff being one-sided...

Jack Ryan quits the Illinois senate race

I laid off this one for a few days.  I have two things to say before I address this: first, is that the worst picture you've seen of a politician (on the linked page)?  Second, is the Illinois GOP ever going to come to their senses and make sure that no candidates with the surname "Ryan" get nominated for office?  It's going to take the next century to make people get over disgraced former Governor George Ryan.  The last two major races in Illinois featured Jim Ryan running for governor in 2002 (he lost), and Jack Ryan running for Senate this year.  If I'm the leader of the GOP in Illinois, I have a little meeting with my people.  The first thing I say is "anybody named Ryan here?  You are?  You thinking about running for office?  Yes?  OK, your last name is now Murphy."

It makes no difference to me if Ryan stayed in the race or not, he was going to lose anyway.  Barack Obama is the much better qualified candidate.  We saw a similar situation before the primary when one of the democratic candidates, Blair Hull, was also hurt by damaging material in divorce files.  His numbers sunk like the Titanic.  So what we have seen here in the span of a few months is bi-partisan idiocy.  Why do people who run for office think that their personal lives are not going to be dissected in every possible manner?  I don't agree with it, however that is what the media does now, they want to know everything because they seem to believe that they control way too much of the decision making process.  There is no doubt that both Ryan and Hull were ramrodded, and I feel for them both.  However, they are both morons for trying to cover up the issue.  Hull insisted that there was nothing embarrassing in his records, and then it was revealed that his then-wife had an order of protection filed against him.  Oops.  Ryan claimed that there were things in his divorce that were personal issues regarding his nine year old son.  Oops.  Ryan was hiding behind his son, who I am sure will be thrilled in his teenage years to know that one of the reasons his parents were divorced is because Dad thought it might be neat if Mom got busy with him in front of strangers.

The moral here is twofold: 1) the media are vultures, deal with it,  and 2) be honest up front with your personal fallings.  Think Obama is squeaky clean?  Not likely.  He has already admitted to using drugs when he was a teenager and having issues with his behavior as a young man, but he has been upfront about this for years, and thus there are no surprises to railroad his campaign.

And saving the best for last:

Bush team uses Hitler images in anti-Kerry ad

You've got to be kidding me.

I've seen the ad, and it is classic GOP.  It focuses on Kerry, Howard Dean and Al Gore rants, seguing into each with images of Hitler speaking in Germany.  The message is clear: these guys are no better than Hitler.

If you read the article you see that the liberal group MoveOn.org used Hitler in an ad earlier this year.  The ad was disavowed by the Kerry team and other democrats, MoveOn.org apologized, and pulled the ad.  It was wrong for them to put out this type of ad, but at least they saw their mistake, apologized and ditched it.

This current ad appears on the official Bush-Cheney re-election website (where I viewed it).  This is not a conservative group acting on their own, these are the people directly working for the President, and they are not backing down.  They have refused to apologize for using the images of Hitler, and they have said that the ad will not be removed.

I don't understand why there is not huge outrage over this, why this is not being featured on every news show, why the so-called pundits are not demanding contrition. 

Of course, the GOP knows that it does not receive much of the Jewish vote, so it presumes that they can offend as many of that group as they want, hoping that people in less sensitive parts of the country will see this and overreact.

Politics in general has disgusted me for quite some time, but I don't think I can stand  to see this type of behavior and not comment on it.  Everyone who is a potential voter needs to know about things like this, and decide if it makes a difference in the way that they vote.  Personally, ads such as these anger me (as would the MoveOn.org ad if I had seen it) because I think they attack my intelligence, like I would assume that either Bush or Kerry can be compared to Hitler.  It is amazing to think that the people who are in control of such campaign tactics think that the people of this country are that ignorant.

We aren't.  Right?  Anyone?