Current affairs

Once again, Karl Rove is kicking the Democrats’ ass. This happens with disturbing regularity, and even though I’m an Independent, I can’t stand it. So how is that the Democrats themselves are fine with the ass-kicking?

“Tell me where I should stand, Mr. Rove, so you can have the best shot at me. Do you want me to look weak, indecisive, or unfocused? If you want all three, no problem. We Democrats have been working hard at honing our political incompetence ever since Clinton left office.”

It sickens me to watch the Democrats lie down in the middle of the road and let the Rove Machine crush them. Then they stay put and Rove turns around to ride over them again. I’d blame this annoyingly repetitive crushing for their lack of backbone, but the sad truth is that Democratic spinelessness is almost entirely their own doing.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd says it a lot better than I can. In the continuation to this post you’ll find “Delusion and Illusion Worthy of Dickens” and “Looking for a Democratic Tough Guy or Girl.” She hits the Dems right where it hurts: on the truth-bone.

Some excerpts follow. Read them and weep (if you’re a progressive). Then read the entire columns and get angry. At Rove and the neo-cons. And also, at the Democrats who allow the party to flounder along without the guidance of their own Karl Rove.

I can’t believe that there isn’t some ruthless political genius out there who the Dems can hire to be the anti-Rove, a countervailing force with not only equal but superior savvy. Until you find him, Howard Dean, and pay him or her whatever exorbitant salary it takes to get this wunderkind on board, I’ll continue to ignore your frequent email messages asking me to sign an online petition.

Karl Rove kicks ass. He doesn’t circulate petitions. Observe and learn, Democrats. Here’s some of what Dowd has to say in her two columns:

The [Democratic] party simply seems incapable of getting the muscular message and riveting messenger needed to dispel the mud, fog, drizzle and soot emanating from Karl Rove’s rag-and-bone shop on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Dems need to drum up a decent message so they look as if they know what the Dickens they’re doing before the November election. Otherwise, they’ll look like bowed supplicants holding out gruel cups to Karl Rove and pleading, “Please, sir, I want some more.”

To lead, and not just conduct campaigns that parrot the liberal elite’s editorial pages, you have to shape your own identity and political destiny. And ever since the 2000 race, the Democrats have let Republicans caricature them as effeminate. The Democrats have let the G.O.P. give them their shape, and it’s an hourglass.

If the Democrats are like the dithering ”Desperate Housewives,” the Republicans have come across like the counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer on ”24”: fast with a gun, loose with the law, willing to torture in the name of protecting the nation. Except Jack Bauer is competent.

[1/26 update: Courtesy of Liberal Oasis, here’s a good example of Democratic spinelessness–the Alito nomination.]

George Bush’s evolving NSA-gate scandal makes him look like a presidential peeping Tom. He scurries around in the shadows, peering through partly-closed shades, afraid that someone is going to catch him invading the privacy of American citizens.

It’s pathetic. More obvious now than ever is how weak Bush is. He isn’t a strong leader with the courage of his convictions. Never has been, never will be. Strong men admit when they’re wrong and don’t try to cover up their mistakes. Wimpy peeping Toms whimper “But I was just looking for my cat in these bushes!” when they’re caught.

Be a man, George. You’ve been spying illegally on Americans, intercepting email and phone conversations without a court order. Take your licks, apologize to the citizens you’ve let down, and make us a promise that you’ll never trash the Constitution again. You know you’re on very weak legal footing.

And read Patrick Henry’s famous speech. It’s short. You should be able to handle it. There are a few big words, but Laura can help you sound them out. Focus on the ending: Give me liberty, or give me death!

You like sharp distinctions, George: good or evil, for us or against us. Here’s another one to put in your dichotomy basket: liberty or death. That’s why so many Americans have died in so many wars, to defend our liberty. Life isn’t worth living if it isn’t free.

Bush doesn’t understand that. Projecting his cowardice onto the citizenry, he keeps talking about how important it is to “keep our people safe.” Safe is good, George, but not at the price of our constitutional rights. That’s why this country had a revolution: to get out from under an imperious King.

Bush wants to be a king, not a president. He knows that he isn’t strong enough or smart enough to govern straight up, stating his goals and policies openly and honestly. So he and his cronies rely on secrecy, lies, back-room deals, back-stabbing, and other nefarious tactics to move their agenda along.

The Daily Kos has a nice series of posts today about NSA-gate that indicate how low the Bush administration is willing to go in its attempt to dismantle our constitutional protections.

(1) Bush was so desperate to keep his illegal peeping Tom activities from being revealed he tried to convince the New York Times not to publish its story about the National Security Agency eavesdropping on Americans without a warrant. (2) Contrary to Bush’s claim that congressional leaders approved of the underhanded NSA domestic spying, Sen. Rockefeller wrote a letter to Dick Cheney disapproving of the practice.

(3) Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admits that if the Bush administration had sought congressional approval to give the NSA explicit power to spy on Americans, Congress wouldn’t have agreed. (4) Cheney spoke falsely when he said that if the National Security Agency had had this sort of capability before 9/11, the attacks might have been prevented. The NSA always could eavesdrop on suspected terrorists–with a warrant.

One good thing emerging from this mess is that more people are starting to realize that the emperor has no clothes. King George is naked: morally, intellectually, constitutionally. Right now he’s blustering away, trying to distract us from his NSA-gate failings by accusing the New York Times and other “He’s got no clothes!” types of aiding the enemy.

That’s absurd, George. You’re the enemy when it comes to chipping away at our constitutional rights. The sooner Americans realize this and bravely choose liberty over the fear of death from a terrorist attack, the better.

[Next day update: The New York Times has a good editorial today about the “Fog of False Choices.” Bush, they say, is fond of false choices such as invade Iraq or face a nuclear attack. But the most absurd phony choice of all is Bush’s justification for his secret program of spying on Americans: save lives or follow the law. You can read the full editorial in the continuation to this post.]