Monday, March 23, 2009

False Memory

Conversation between a Republican and a non-amnesiac:

R: The country’s going to hell. What a rotten mess!

NA: You’re only noticing this now, after eight years?

R: I’m talking about the huge amounts of money we’re just throwing down the toilet.

NA: Yeah, I agree about the Iraq War.

R: No, I mean the stimulus bill. It’ll make Iraq look like a garage sale.

NA: Really? How many people have been killed in the stimulus bill so far?

Most real colloquies aren’t so polite, of course. More typically, a wrong winger will start yelling, wildly gesticulating, frothing at the mouth, and bleating hot-button words like “socialism” and “communism.”

My position is this. If you aren’t outraged about what happened during the last eight years, if instead you make excuses for the Republicans and other crooks who lied and stole and killed and tortured, and disgraced the country—then I have nothing to say to you. There’s nothing that can be said. It’s no use wasting my time trying to persuade people that what actually happened, happened. If after all this time, you’re ignorant of what happened, willfully or otherwise, then you have no place in rational political discourse.

That doesn’t mean Democrats should be immune from criticism. By no means. But if you’re angry about Obama, and you weren’t angry about Bush, then you are out of touch with reality.

Politically, the Republicans still have influence because they still have some power. But it’s only by virtue of power in the most naked sense that they have any role to play. In terms of values, perception of truth, or desire for the good of the country, they have no role. They represent exactly that which has brought us to our present crisis. They are the spokesmen for what is destroying us. I’m sorry, but there is no reaching across the aisle when the person across the aisle is a delusional maniac. Whatever progress is made, will be made in spite of the liars and looters, not with them, and every single day since Obama was inaugurated has confirmed that truth.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Republicans don't care about other people's lives or money.

Life As I Know It Now said...

agreed!

you can't talk to a psycho like a normal human being some woman once sang and I think this applies doubly with the republicans...

Mauigirl said...

You are completely right. I had hoped that there would be some kind of bipartisanship after Obama was inaugurated but the Republicans have made it clear they will do no such thing. So Obama is now free of having to work with them.