Treat and Retreat -- Ms. Smith Goes to Washington

MS. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON

Conservatism
He learns how stocks will fall or rise
Holds poverty the greatest vice;
Thinks wit the bane of conversation,
And, says that learning spoils a nation.
-- Matthew Prior, The Chameleon.    

BuzzFlash,

Sadly, things haven't change much since that verse was put into print. I watched the two hours of the GOP retreat on MSNBC with Olbermann, Maddow, and Mathews. This is the first time as a citizen and as a Democrat that I saw President Obama stand up to the Bush GOP.

He was very impressive. To start with, we saw no TelePrompTer, no notes, no microphone in the ear, and no bulge on his backside. He knew facts and figures and he knew what he was talking about. Those members of the GOP who were proposing questions, had more dialogue than questions before they would get to their questions, almost as if they were politicking. President Obama would remind these Republicans when they tried to talk about the job loss and the debt, that this did not happen on his watch. These mishaps happened on the Bush administration's watch in DC, and he explained to them exactly why and how it all happened.  

When I first heard of the GOP retreat and of the invitation for President Obama to join them, it was so Rovian in my mind. Because this is how they (GOP) would get away with the use of subterfuge and the usual Republican spin.  However, Obama insisted on it being televised.  

Watching President Obama, impromptu and not rehearsed, proved how educated, intelligent, and aware he is, and no surprise, there, but, he said something that did bother me. He told the Bush GOP -- and yes, most of these people were the followers and not the objectors of all of the Bush Administration's policies of debt, death, and destruction -- that there's really not much difference between the two parties. And, in a way that's the truth, when you take a look at the GOP and the DLC (Blue Dogs Democrats). However, the DLC is not the base of the Democratic Party and never will be. That was a power move during the eighties in order to take the power away from the DNC, and one of the original Democrats (in name only) was Lieberman, and then the Clintons took it over. The DLC and the GOP are the people Obama has appointed within his administration... without any liberals or progressives who worked so hard to get him elected.  

He said all of the right things during this retreat, and I was surprised and proud of him all during the meeting. He said what the Democrats in Congress should be saying to the public on a daily basis. He still maintains his idea of bipartisanship with the Bush GOP. He could use those same ideas with the liberals and progressives (cough). This is something that is in his mind, and not based, in my mind, on any reality concerning the conservatives of today. Most of us Americans do believe in checks and balances, in government by those who work for the people of this nation.  

Take a good look at the word "Conservative." Most people relate that word with old-fashioned values. Traditions. Prudence, etc. You get the picture. Was it conservatism that supported the Bush regime's invasion and occupation of Iraq? Is that the reason that we Americans never saw or heard of any Republicans voicing anger, concern about the US military or the unarmed Iraqi people who were being killed everyday, and is still going on?  

After all, the Iraqi people had been bombed by Clinton for years, just to please the earlier conservative Bush GOP presidency after the first Gulf war, and we had pictures and proof of all types of birth defects due to depleted uranium. This was not news. Women, our fellow citizens, who had families, died in their sleep in the heat of that country, rather than going to the latrine in the middle of the night for fear of being raped. There were reports of men and women dying in their sleep due to fatigue caused by the heat and complicated by their age, they were in their fifties and sixties. These people were with the US National Guard, who were supposed to be here in the US for our own emergencies, not to catch and carry for US military. They were not in physical shape for such duties. Both Bush residents of the White House used our National Guard for their own military aggressions.    

Obama says that there's very little difference between the GOP and the Democrats today. Let's take a short walk back in history. After the first four years of the Bush regime, there was a report on Salon.com of 34 scandals. Only 34 in the first four years? People took notice of Scalia during Obama's SOTUS. He's very secure in his job. Here's why. Examples taken from that Salon report January, 2005:

The scandal: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia refused to recuse himself from the Cheney energy task force case, despite taking a duck-hunting trip with the vice president after the court agreed to weigh the matter.

The problem: Federal law requires a justice to "disqualify himself from any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned."

The outcome: Scalia stayed on, arguing no conflict existed because Cheney was party to the case in a professional, not personal, capacity. Nothing new for Scalia, who in 2002 was part of a Mississippi redistricting ruling favorable to GOP Rep. Chip Pickering -- son of Judge Charles Pickering, a Scalia turkey-hunting pal. In 2001, Scalia went pheasant hunting with Kansas Gov. Bill Graves when that state had cases pending before the Supreme Court

All of this after Scalia and four others put their man into the White House. Then Halliburton and their no-bid contracts; wiretapping the UN; Bush and his track record in the military -- AWOL... these are just a few reminders that show no regard for US government, and no accountability 

Then, remember the lies to invade Iraq; the Niger forgeries; disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative working on counter-terrorism; Abu Ghraib; and as we also know violations of Geneva Conventions and torture, nothing has been done.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party...

NO ACCOUNTABILITY. Maybe all of this is OK with Obama and his DLC, but in no way is it a description of the Democratic Party.

* * *

Did we Americans ever hear of any talk about deaths in this country due to healthcare or the lack of it by these same Bush GOP conservatives? The same conservatives who are against it today. The only thing we can ever count on during these bad times brought about by these same ideals of the conservative GOP would be their tax cuts for the wealthy. It has never worked and it's so bizarre that even the most uneducated of our population could figure that out. It's all about power and greed. These are the same conservatives who Clinton wanted to please, and they impeached him for a dalliance. And, after that, they voted to double the next president's salary. How's that for a giant clue. Does anyone think that they even considered the idea that there would be a Democrat in the White House?

All of this was done with the support of these same Bush GOP conservatives. There's more than one definition for the word conservative, and since the older, more American definitions do not fit these Republicans of today, we have to realize that this Bush GOP is not the same Party that brought us the intelligence of an Eisenhower presidency. And, these people who are in Congress and who rule this party today, are not those Americans, out in the mother-land, who vote Republican because they cling to the traditional values, and I can feel for them, because the Democratic Party has members, too, who are not even centrists as they claim, but, who vote with this criminal Republican Party, and they have also been guilty of helping with the mess that this country is in today. We are in this mess because of the lack of U.S. law in U.S. government.  

Conservatives today serving in government, judging them by their own actions for the last 30 odd years are die-hards, anti-any social program for American citizens, believers in one ruling party, contempt for what it means to be a democracy... you get the idea.

Bush and his administration ran this country as if it was a dictatorship. People were arrested for protesting the invasion of Iraq, a country that did not attack us. Bush had two to three months of warnings before 911, and failed to warn the airlines or the American people. If he had been a Democrat, he would have been arrested, investigated, and prosecuted by now. No doubt about that. None. Constant legislative war against all American citizens.  

We Democrats, regardless of the names these people want to use to identify us, they understand all of this, and we can also understand that this is not the old Republican Party, and they will never care about bipartisanship, even when it comes to patching up the debt, death, and destruction that they have caused, due to their loyalty above all else to the Bush GOP administration.  

There are many reasons why the U.S. is special, but most of all because we are a country of many different types of people from many countries. I'm not proud of how this country was settled, however, we are considered by history as a very young country, and we have much to learn. We won't last very long with the lack of morals that we hear about today, from people who only want what they want and to hell with the rest of this country. Intolerant of the ideas of others, bigotry, racism, and all of this is without heart. No heart.  

We hear about how they care about life, and that is directed towards the laws that allow US women to be in charge of their own bodies, but we don't see demonstrations by these same people against the deaths brought about starvation in our own country, deaths due to lack of healthcare, or deaths by an illegal war, children, innocent children in Iraq were killed on their roof tops while sleeping during very hot nights by US military. We hear today about people being killed in their cars by this mercenary group that answers to no one, called Blackwater. That was a Bush GOP idea, and deregulation and privatization is a Republican idea that will turn this democracy, eventually, into a flaming fascist government. The very height of conservatism.  

And, this was the most surprising of all, knowing how intelligent Obama is, that this is his one blind spot... he can't change the spots on this Bush Republican Party. They believe in war, they support our military that is sprawled all over the world with over 800 bases. They support the overthrow of democratically elected presidents of smaller countries, which also is another project by Republicans. They are against any social program for the American people in order to better the lives of U.S. citizens... the same citizens who support this government, and when the Republicans are in power, they use their power to change our education, our elections, our laws, our corporations, and if this is allowed to continue, we won't have a country to call our own. Obama should recognize this more than anyone.  

There's nothing wrong with old-fashioned conservatism, but when it changes into attitudes that are a threat to our Constitution and to our freedom in this democracy... it's time for accountability and very strong leadership.  

I know this country has never been perfect, however, we never invaded a country in a bold-faced move that has done so much damage to our reputation around the world. The Bush GOP changed what we have come to expect from our usual democratic government, and they changed how we view our Supreme Court (it's not so supreme anymore), and, after eight long years of the Bush administration, our government is not so democratic anymore.    

We, the people of this nation, should fear this political party, the Bush GOP. They are the Party of Greed for more power. They do not believe in being tolerant towards me and what I believe or tolerant towards you and what you believe. There are ways to condition people into those who do not think and who want to be told how to live their lives. This is done slowly, and extremism comes from many places, certain religions, communications that are allowed to be anti-democratic, education, until we have a society that is not interested in politics, a society that does not vote, and a society that will sacrifice their children, their values and do whatever the hell they are told to do without question.    

I don't think that it takes a highly educated person to understand that today's conservatism is a type of extremism and they will always demand their way, and refuse to take responsibility for the damage they have caused in US government. Just as Obama used as an example at the retreat... they would OK a bill if they got 80 to 90% of what they wanted, but if they didn't get that, they would not vote on it or debate. Their way or no way, and that's what it has been in D.C. since Obama was elected, and how could we forget the last eight years before that.   

Now it's past time for the Democrats in Congress to do as the Bush GOP regime did for eight years... without the voices of those who supported the Bush administration, turn this country around and do what is right.  Because of their own greed for power and profits, the Bush GOP and their supporters turned their backs on our democracy.  

We, as a nation, need justice, accountability. We need to take responsibility, which will get the attention of this silent GOP majority, the Party of No, that's a guarantee. Then, and only then, can we move on, unless we want to continue to repeat the past. That would not be a responsible choice for future generations, and without that, this nation will never have a clean bill of health.  

Thanks BuzzFlash,  

Shirley Smith

MS. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON