Republican Party Commits Suicide (Updated)
Gosh, it's like the Hale-Bopp Comet all over again:
In March 1997, the cult group Heaven's Gate chose the appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet as a signal for their mass cult suicide. They claimed they were leaving their earthly bodies to travel to the spaceship following the comet.
Similarly, by blocking a vote on the Webb amendment (which would have guaranteed a 15-month home rotation following a 15 month tour of duty), Senate Republicans committed political suicide, claiming they were supporting the troops.
Pretty fantastic stuff.
Here, in the real world, what was at stake can be best expressed by reading a comment from John Aravosis' blog:
"I remember well when my son in law was in Iraq for 12 long months. My wife did most of the heavy emotional lifting, consoling my daughter when the panic attacks hit. I did less, but I remember it well....and Senate Republicans should have thought about it before they blocked a floor vote on the measure.You see -- when a guy dies in Iraq they shut down all communication home until the next of kin can be notified. One unintended consequence of that is spouses know when somebody has died, but they don't know who. It's like that scene in A League of Their Own, except the tension and fear goes on for a day or two and then it happens again a few weeks later.
How many soldiers come back from Iraq to divorce? How many broken families has this war produced?
You don't support the troops if you don't give them adequate time home. You don't support families that way either.
Neocons say, it is a way to force an early withdrawal. I say, Bush should have thought about that when he started this cursed war.
You know it's gotten weird when Robert Novak, aka the Prince of Darkness, aka the Douchebag for Liberty, tells it the way it is:
The failure of the Petraeus report to significantly alter the political climate on Iraq is bad news for Republicans in the 2008 campaign. The assessment by GOP insiders is that continued casualty lists in the election year will be fatal. President George W. Bush's statement offered little hope for relief.And he said this before the Republicans "successful" filibuster yesterday.
P.S. By the way, the phrase "success in Iraq" -- now, more than ever --means one, and only one, thing: Bush Holds GOP Support On Iraq
UPDATE: More on Reid's inner circle and how its strategy on Iraq has shifted.
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Categories: Republicans
, War in Iraq
Comments
Of course, nothing is more deserved than for the Republican Party to disintegrate as a political movement from the weight of its own mendacity and evil. But what is really amazing and tragic about this is that they’re taking a good third of the country along with them. It’s hard to know how many of the players don’t know they’re playing – judging by appearances there are at least a few – but something like 100 million clueless followers, the true believers, are being driven further and further from observable reality. How will they ever become reconciled to that reality again?
What a price they and the country had to pay for the greed and arrogance of a relative few. And we’re not even done yet, not by a long shot.
Posted by: shep![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.rubyan.com/politics/nav-commenters.gif)
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September 20, 2007 12:28 PM