Another one under the bus
Nov. 9th, 2006 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaunthieSo I'm sure everyone has heard by now that Twinkie tossed Rumsfeld under the bus yesterday. Now don't get me wrong - Rumsfeld should have been fired a long, LONG time ago for his incredible incompetence and probable complicity in illegal and immoral activities (I'm looking at you, Gitmo, Abu Graib, and "undisclosed locations"). But that wasn't why he was fired, oh no. Up until last week Twinkie was still saying "heckuva job Rummy" and swearing that he was going to stick with him through 2008. And don't you believe he wouldn't have, if Tuesday's election results had come out differently, no matter how Twinkie tries to spin reality now. If you believe his admission that he was somehow lying to the press last week and had already decided to fire Rummy, you're just as much of a fool as he thinks you are.
But then came Tuesday's results, and Twinkie and his handlers needed a scapegoat. Just like they needed a scapegoat for Katrina, for Abu Graib, and for the (so far) few other disasters they've been forced to confront instead of deny, disclaim, or ignore.
And Twinkie unceremoniously tossed Rummy under the wheels in a blatant attempt to "demonstrate" that he "understood the message" from the election. Horsehockey - the only thing he understood was that somebody needed to be the scapegoat, and given his own party's recent disaffection for Rummy, Rummy was the logical candidate to toss. So much for the legendary (and fictional) Twinkie loyalty.
What Twinkie (and many if not all the public commentators) seem to want to focus on is that the "message" from the voters was largely expressing dissatisfaction with the course of the Iraq war. Again, that's horsehockey - but this time in an attempt to misdirect attention from the larger issues. Yes, Iraq was a part of the problem, but in many ways it's the "simplest" problem to blame things on.
I personally think Twinkie and his cohorts don't want to acknowledge the real impetus behind Tuesday's results: Americans are sick and tired of incompetence, corruption, and piss-poor performance. That includes Iraq, but it also includes the economy, the kiss-ass-and-don't-tell, walk-all-over-us, rubber-stamp nature of the 109th Congress (and to be perfectly frank, the 2-4 before that), the utter disrespect for due process and law shown by this Administration, and the general loss of power and prestige in international affairs caused by this Administration's utter refusal to respect the rule of law, both inside the country and in the international community. If you ask your average American if they feel better off now than they did five years ago, I'll bet the answer is a resounding NO. Ditto if you ask them if they feel America is better off now than it was five years ago. Because we're not, and most people realize this, and most people really love their country and want the best for it. So it's time to clean house, roll up the sleeves, and start shoveling the crap out the stables. And we started with Congress, but there's so much more to do.
Twinkie won't acknowledge that. He doesn't acknowledge mistakes or setbacks, so he can't learn from them. Don't be fooled by his sacrifice of Rummy; he's just following the same old playbook he always has. (Just ask Michael Brown, Andrew Card, and so on. It's an obvious pattern.)
But I'll still do a happy dance now that Rummy is gone. One less incompetent is good, even though it doesn't mean Twinkie has learned anything.
But then came Tuesday's results, and Twinkie and his handlers needed a scapegoat. Just like they needed a scapegoat for Katrina, for Abu Graib, and for the (so far) few other disasters they've been forced to confront instead of deny, disclaim, or ignore.
And Twinkie unceremoniously tossed Rummy under the wheels in a blatant attempt to "demonstrate" that he "understood the message" from the election. Horsehockey - the only thing he understood was that somebody needed to be the scapegoat, and given his own party's recent disaffection for Rummy, Rummy was the logical candidate to toss. So much for the legendary (and fictional) Twinkie loyalty.
What Twinkie (and many if not all the public commentators) seem to want to focus on is that the "message" from the voters was largely expressing dissatisfaction with the course of the Iraq war. Again, that's horsehockey - but this time in an attempt to misdirect attention from the larger issues. Yes, Iraq was a part of the problem, but in many ways it's the "simplest" problem to blame things on.
I personally think Twinkie and his cohorts don't want to acknowledge the real impetus behind Tuesday's results: Americans are sick and tired of incompetence, corruption, and piss-poor performance. That includes Iraq, but it also includes the economy, the kiss-ass-and-don't-tell, walk-all-over-us, rubber-stamp nature of the 109th Congress (and to be perfectly frank, the 2-4 before that), the utter disrespect for due process and law shown by this Administration, and the general loss of power and prestige in international affairs caused by this Administration's utter refusal to respect the rule of law, both inside the country and in the international community. If you ask your average American if they feel better off now than they did five years ago, I'll bet the answer is a resounding NO. Ditto if you ask them if they feel America is better off now than it was five years ago. Because we're not, and most people realize this, and most people really love their country and want the best for it. So it's time to clean house, roll up the sleeves, and start shoveling the crap out the stables. And we started with Congress, but there's so much more to do.
Twinkie won't acknowledge that. He doesn't acknowledge mistakes or setbacks, so he can't learn from them. Don't be fooled by his sacrifice of Rummy; he's just following the same old playbook he always has. (Just ask Michael Brown, Andrew Card, and so on. It's an obvious pattern.)
But I'll still do a happy dance now that Rummy is gone. One less incompetent is good, even though it doesn't mean Twinkie has learned anything.
