Conservative failure

The Washington Monthly:

"Bush has been almost uniquely incompetent among modern presidents. But the real failure of the Bush years is a fundamental failure of ideology. For the first time since 1932, conservatives have controlled every branch of government. They had a chance to show they had a real governing ideology, and it turned out they didn't.

. . . Are George Bush and Tom DeLay and Bill Frist real conservatives? Of course they are. They've failed because of that, not despite it."

The deep question for this blog, though, is, "will anyone, other than that rarity, the intelligent liberal pundit (aka Kevin Drum) notice?"

In 1932, conservative politics managed to cook up an economic disaster, a depression deeper and more persistent than any the country had previously seen. Conservatives have always liked depression, and prior to 1932, conservative policies usually made them worse for the poor and working class, on purpose, because that made depressions "better" for the very rich. But, in 1929, things got seriously out of hand. And, liberals and progressives got a firm grip on power, and did not fully let go until 2001.

Conservative politics gave us two world wars, the Great Depression and sixty years of Jim Crow. They were a disaster, and they got blamed.

Conservative politics are a disaster today, as well, but will they get blamed for the consequences?

Hullabaloo: what a delusional fool is he!

Hullabaloo: "Jesus, what a delusional fool he is. We'll be lucky if 9/11 and Iraq are the worst things that happened to us under this idiots leadership."

Having an incompetent fool as President really is dangerous. Maybe he could not have prevented 9/11, but, he did not try. Maybe, forming a Department of Homeland Security (god, how I HATE that fascistic name) was not his idea, exactly, but he did not have an idea of his own, other than to . . . wait for it . . . invade Iraq. Invading Iraq is the dumbest thing the U.S. has done since LBJ escalated Vietnam, and it has cost us vastly more, in money and prestige if not casualties.

A idiot President is still President. Most idiot Presidents have been passive, and done little damage, by doing little. Bush is an exception.

Pewr: Bush's Support Declines

Pew Research Center: Bush's Troubles Shake the GOP Base:

"the number of white, evangelical Protestants strongly backing the president has fallen from six-in-ten after his re-election down to 34% today. Strong support for Bush has declined at similar rates among southerners (40% to 20%), high income earners (34% to 22%), weekly church-goers (42% to 25%), and those who are married with young children (41% to 26%)."

Doubt creeps into the heart of the heartland, I guess.

". . . those who strongly disapprove of his performance outnumber those who strongly approve by more than two-to-one (45% vs. 19%, respectively)."

Most people do not pay any appreciable attention to the news, and many of those who do, watch Fox. But, people do get a lot of impressionistic information from each other, and Bush's approval ratings are hurt, first, by the daily experience at the gas pump (Yes, Americans are THAT shallow), and, second, by expressions heard from people, who feel strongly. The number of people, who strongly approved of Bush once neatly balanced the people, who strongly disapproved. Now, more than half the country disapprove, nearly half STRONGLY disapprove, and those, who strongly approve are down around 20% -- seriously marginal territory, occupied by people who report being abducted by aliens or sighting Elvis at the local carwash.

With nearly half the country aroused to seriously badmouth Bush, and a vanishing cadre of defenders to balance them out, even without any signal events, Bush's approval ratings will continue to tank.

The political avalanche comes when the opposition is fully legitimized, that is, when those disapproving begin to sound sensible, when the "Bush-haters" cannot be demonized or marginalized. That day may be not far off.

Rough start for some as voting begins

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Politics -- Rough start for some as voting begins: "Among the races generating a lot of interest was the fierce battle between Republican Brian Bilbray and Democrat Francine Busby to replace former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who resigned from his 50th District seat because of a bribery scandal. Cunningham was sentenced to prison after admitting he took $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors."

The race in CA-50, which is both a special election to fill out the remainder of Duke Cunningham's last term, and a primary to determine, who will run in the Fall, is possibly the most important election of the day.

If the Democrat wins in this heavily Republican district, it will signal that the political Storm is definitely on the horizon, the Storm that will wash away Republican control of Congress. Otherwise, which is more probable, it will signal that the country has not been moved sufficiently to ensure that the Republicans lose control. It will reinforce the ambiguous, but discouraging message of Paul Hackett's loss to a vicious sunt in Ohio.

Frankly, I'm betting on the Republican lobbyist winning the election. The American suburban fascist is corrupt and rotting, and that is who votes in Califoria's 50th district.

One Man's Storm is another Man's Stab in the Back

MyDD :: The 'Blame-Firsters' Start the Stabbed in the Back Narrative: Rush Limbaugh: "This Haditha story, this Haditha incident, whatever, this is it folks, this is the final big push on behalf of the Democratic Party, the American left, and the Drive-By Media to destroy our effort to win the war in Iraq. That's what Haditha represents -- and they are going about it gleefully. They are ecstatic about it... Folks, let me just put it in graphic terms. It is going to be a gang rape. There is going to be a gang rape by the Democratic Party, the American left and the Drive-By Media, to finally take us out in the war against Iraq. Make no bones about it. "

This blog has been a sundry attempt to occasionally chronicle the rhetorical anticipation of the consequences of ill-advised Republican policies. Politics is partly drama, from which the body politic, as observer, draws moral lessons. Bush has pursued policies, which are inadvisable on many levels, not least of which are the inevitable political and moral consequences for the nation, but it is never clear what conclusions a largely ignorant and inattentive electorate will draw from events, as they happen. Proximity counts for more in politics, than actual cause-and-effect.

Bush and the Republicans have been quite deliberate in adopting policies, which do not have immediately catastrophic consequences. The timing of tax cuts, in particular, was conspicuous in putting off the greatest consequences for 2009 and later. Ditto for the Bush proposals on Social Security. The prosecution of the War in Iraq has become a holding action; with no clear endpoint in sight, the objective appears to be to keep a weak Iraqi government on a knife's edge, where they cannot afford to ask us to leave.

If the Republicans have miscalculated, and one or more catastrophes visit the U.S., while Bush is still in the White House, Bush may be blamed. The Right-Wing is ready with narratives, which will displace blame, for whatever is coming.

One such narrative is the idea that Bush is a liberal. (Don't laugh.) That's right, Bush is not a true, blue conservative, and his policies were actually liberal policies, so his failures should be blamed on the liberals.

The other narrative is that Bush's failures are not his fault, but rather the fault of the liberal Media and the powerless Democrats, who have made him fail in Iraq, by reporting that failure and criticizing his destructive policies.

It is weird, but it might work.

Progress in Iraq

The Carpetbagger Report: "The U.S. military has cut the number of Iraqi civilians killed at U.S. checkpoints or shot by U.S. convoys to about one a week today from about seven a week" last July, when they first began keeping track.

Meanwhile, . . .
No Escaping Iraq Violence - Los Angeles Times:

"In Baghdad, leaving home to work, shop or visit family has become an increasingly dangerous proposition. Violence rears up without warning; residents navigate a citywide obstacle course of roadside bombs, shootouts and security checkpoints.

The city just had its deadliest month since U.S.-led forces invaded the country in 2003, new Iraqi government documents indicate. More people were shot, stabbed or otherwise violently killed in May than in any other month since the invasion, according to Health Ministry statistics. The figure does not include slain soldiers or civilians killed in bombings, on whom autopsies are not usually performed.

Last month alone, 1,398 bodies were brought to Baghdad's central morgue, the ministry said. All over the city and out into the provinces, corpses surface on a daily basis in garbage dumps, in abandoned cars or along roadsides. They often bear marks of bondage and torture.

"

The Recovery about Nothing

The Recovery about Nothing | Stirling Newberry at TPMCafe: "something is destined to break, quite probably when the housing rout starts in earnest."

The economy does, indeed, seem to me to be about to take a nosedive.

Slowly, but surely, the Iraqis appear to be working themselves up to asking us to leave.

Hurricane Season started, yesterday already.