Cratering Party

In his now famous snubbing of David Letterman, John McCain excused his own absence by stating that he needed to rush to Washington in order to rescue the "cratering" US economy, and thus wouldn't have the time to appear on Letterman's Late Show. In its current colloquial use the term cratering refers to a spectacular failure, and while it is an apt description of the current state of the US economy, it also perfectly describes the state of the Republican Party and its last eight years of catastrophic governance.

Now with the curtain drawing down, and what passes for an election entering its final and most ugly stage, we get to see the real nature of this Party, as well as its corporate and media apologists, as they try desperately to cling to power. So, now we are treated to the scenes of Sarah Palin and John McCain attempting to label Barack Obama a "terrorist" for the most tenuous association imaginable with one-time Weather Underground Organization (WUO) leader William Ayers. The "logic" at work here, such as it is, would appear to be at the same level as the mental machinations of Mrs. Palin who tried to argue that since she could see Russia from her state of Alaska, then she was an expert on that country with all the experience of a seasoned foreign policy wonk. For the mind that could concoct that tortured argument, it is not much of a stretch to something like, if Obama once saw the "terrorist" Ayers, then he must be a "terrorist" too!

Let's recap some of the pertinent facts surrounding this pathetic, McCarthyite attempt at guilt by association. First, Obama was an eight year old boy at the time of Ayer's involvement with the Weathermen! For most reasonable people, that should completely end the argument. Obama had precisely NOTHING to do with Ayers' alleged terrorist activities within the Weathermen. Second, the characterization of the Weathermen as terrorists is itself problematic. While the organization did engage in violence, it made a point of targeting property and not people. In general, warnings were issued well in advance of WUO bombings, and Ayers himself has stated that they were very serious about limiting injuries to civilians. Moreover, there is no evidence that any of Ayers' actions resulted in injury or loss of life, and indeed, no such charges were ever brought against him. This is not typically the behavior of truly terrorist organizations.

Now, some will no doubt argue that the violence itself, the bombings and rioting, are evidence enough of "terrorist" behavior, and no doubt this argument will find sympathetic ears with some readers, however, this conclusion ignores the fact that the relatively small-scale violence perpetrated by the WUO was a response to the truly massive violence being perpetrated by the US military in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the scale of which completely dwarfs anything the WUO could have brought about. Moreover, the violent actions carried out by the WUO were an attempt, though perhaps ill-conceived and naive, to try and stop the much greater crimes being perpetrated in Southeast Asia by the American government with its imperial war in Vietnam. While Ayers has over the years expressed regrets with regard to some of the WUO's violent tactics, he has consistently refused to accept the terrorist charge, "The reason we weren't terrorists is because we did not commit random acts of terror against people. Terrorism was what was being practiced in the countryside of Vietnam by the United States," he has said. Of course, in their attempts to smear Obama by association with Ayers, Republicans completely ignore all of this important contextual information. Moreover, McCain himself has had past associations with such criminals (some might say terrorists) as the infamous G. Gordon Liddy, he of the Watergate break-in and burglary. Indeed, it was none other than "journalist" David Letterman who actually questioned McCain regarding his associations with Liddy.

Since his radical days Ayers has been a productive member of society, working as a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Education. He has done much to help improve the plight of public education in Chicago, and in 1997 Chicago awarded him its Citizen of the Year award for his education work in the city. In many ways he has worked to redeem himself from his violent past. Ironically, this is a theme that Republicans love to trot out when it suits their needs but are loath to accept in political enemies. Take McCain for example, we are meant to believe that he has "learned his lessons," and has fully redeemed himself from his past transgressions with regard to his associations with Charles Keating and the Savings and Loan scandal. Forget for the moment that McCain apparently learned nothing from the scandal, except to be more careful not to get caught in the future, as his penchant for deregulation remained unabated. Similarly, the out of wedlock pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter is spun as a story of redemption and lessons learned, but Republicans would never think of extending such forgiveness to the pregnant daughters of inner-city black Americans, for example. The double standards are stark indeed.

While McCain and Palin have recently tried to make the Ayers affair the center-piece of their campaign, polling around the third debate indicates that most Americans can see through the lies and distortion, and in fact, it appears likely that it is now hurting McCain more than helping him. With Ayers fading away the McCain campaign needs to find other "issues" with which to attempt to smear Obama. The latest, and perhaps most desperate (and laughable) attempt by the McCain campaign and its surrogates is to simply label Obama and anyone who might consider voting for him as anti-American socialists and Marxists (see the nice visuals at Bad American). Indeed, CNN's daft and insipid Glenn Beck was kind enough to remind us that, "The problem with all of these guys is they're all Marxists -- they're all Marxists. They'll all spread the wealth." Here, "they" presumably refers to Obama and anyone with the temerity to consider voting for him. Predictably, Beck presented not a shred of evidence to back up this ludicrous charge, but that's the great thing about being an insta-pundit, evidence is never required, and for loopy right-wingers it's much easier to just start making stuff up. I wonder if Beck has ever considered that the Bush administration, with it's tax cuts for the rich and free-wheeling, deregulatory mania, has been spreading the wealth like crazy, but in this case it has been the wealth of the lower and middle classes being transferred to a tiny fraction of the population at the top of the income pyramid. The most recent instance of such spreading being the $850 billion Wall Street bailout boondoggle! One suspects that this attempt to smear Obama as a Marxist will be about as successful as the Ayers ploy, meaning not very.

And now today we have been treated with the spectacle of Minnesota Republican Representative Michelle Bachmann's statements that Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are "anti-American," and "couldn't be trusted in the White House." Remarkably, Bachman went so far as to resurrect the spirit of Joseph McCarthy with her call for news media outlets to investigate other members of Congress to, and I quote, "find out if they are pro-America or anti-America." This is the most despicable form of demagoguery imaginable, but it is a tactic that this Republican party has turned to again and again. In similar fashion, just the other day Sarah Palin expressed her delight at visiting "pro-American" regions of the country. The unstated implication being that, in her view, some parts of the country are "un-American." Apparently, that would apply to St. Louis, MO, which today hosted a rally for Barack Obama which was attended by upwards of 100,000 people!

As is so often the case such Republican rhetoric simply stands the truth on its head. For eight years now our Nation has been governed by a political party that has put its own interests ahead of those of our country and its people. That is essentially the definition of treason, and the Republican Party is so charged. Any dissenting opinions to its reckless, incompetent, criminal and destructive course have been labeled unpatriotic. Those who dared oppose the self-annointed "true and only Americans" were dismissed as traitors. And now, with the end of their miserable rule in sight, their only recourse is the same tired demagogic attempt to slander opponents as un-American. There are only two words to describe this Party, pathetic and despicable, and in a little more than two weeks I will have one thing left to say, good riddance!

The Great Shakedown

It's been remarkably refreshing to see the power struggle unfolding in the Congress this week over the attempt to pass bailout legislation for the Wall Street robber-barons. Faced with a tidal wave of righteous indignation from voters in their districts enough principled Democrats, and two thirds of the Republican House caucus--who arguably were largely voting for the preservation of their own seats--spectacularly voted down on Monday the Paulson-Bush $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout boondoggle. Since last week the Capitol Hill switchboard and internet servers were being relentlessly hammered by irate Americans vowing to throw under the bus any Representative with the inclination to vote for this massive giveaway to the rich. For once the Congress actually expressed the will of the majority. What is it they call that, democracy?

It's been equally remarkable to watch the extent to which President Bush has been completely emasculated politically. One could not imagine a duck more lame than Bush the mallard. And what of other senior administration types, like Cheney and Rice? Completely invisible. No, it appears that King Henry Paulson is in charge these days. While the irrelevance of Dubya is fascinating, he should not feel alone, because almost equally impotent have been the Democratic Congressional leadership. There was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi trying to play the dutiful, mainstream, bipartisan pragmatist, and pass what was essentially the administration's bill. Why the Democrats would try to enact this weak, discredited, corrupt administration's proposal is almost beyond comprehension. Particularly in the face of strong condemnations of the plan from many mainstream economists. There was never any attempt by the House leadership to have hearings or a substantive debate on the many alternative proposals that had been presented in the independent media. Instead, Finance Committee chair Barney Frank obfuscated Paulson's three page fascist power grab with a smokescreen of almost meaningless, toothless conditions, and then argued they had put strong oversight and executive pay restrictions in the bill. Americans were not convinced, and neither were a significant fraction of Pelosi's own caucus.

But, with the bill defeated in the House it was predictable that the Wall Street apologists would look to the Senate, a veritable House of millionaires, for smoother sailing. And so, Wednesday evening, after a series of hysterical, sky-is-falling speeches predicting the coming of Armageddon, and, get this, the adding of $150 billion in additional provisions, mostly various tax breaks, because, go figure, the original bill was too fiscally conservative! the Senate dutifully passed the bill by a 74-25 margin. Also instrumental in passage of the bill has been the pathetic reporting in the mainstream media concerning opposition to the bailout. The overriding media narrative has been that any opponent of the bill must be either crazy, or un-patriotic, or both! There has been very little accurate reporting of the many alternatives to the Paulson give-away plan, and that, most interestingly, a consensus has emerged among many American economists that this bailout bill will not address the fundamental problems in the financial system. Particularly sad and frustrating was the sight of a fear-mongering Barack Obama, sounding very much like George W. Bush, scaring Americans into thinking that failure to pass THIS rancid bill would result in their financial and economic ruin, and usher in a long, painful and deep recession. Note to Obama, we are already in the midst of what will likely be a long and painful recession, and gifting irresponsible Wall Street financiers with $700 billion borrowed dollars is not likely to change that fact one iota. At a time when strong leadership is desperately needed; at a time when the Presidential front runner should be decisive, and side with the American people, all we get from Obama is the cautionary, equivocating, weakness all to evident in the Democratic Party. Make no mistake, John McCain has arguably been even worse, but the behavior of both candidates simply emphasizes that the two major parties have simply suffocated the democratic process in our country. Americans should persist in their opposition to this criminal shakedown of their childrens' futures and insist on Congressional action that actually addresses the root causes of the problem; principally the foreclosure crisis; and does so by making those responsible foot the bill.