the dangers of low expectations

[unblock]

the good news is that i think -- i hope -- that the great american middle is finally, slowly awakening to the perception that shrub is a great disappointment to anyone who supported him. well, apart from anyone who contributed enough to buy a no-bid contract or a tax loophole or who owns an energy or defense company.


but my great fear is that shrub has so lowered the bar that the next banana republican candidate will seem like an amazingly competent genius by comparison. the danger is personalizing shrub's failures too much. attacking him is great, and necessary, just as the banana republicans went after clinton and carter before him. but we must not stop there. we must trash the entire banana republican party.

the disaster scenario is that the marketing geniuses and the mass media who somehow convinced america that a stupid greedy lying narcissistic amoral dry-drunk cokehead drunk-driving awol connecticut overprivileged insensitive reactionary goebbels-admiring jerk was actually a devout sober compassionate texas conservative my turn frist or whomever into a virtual god by comparison.

if people look back on shrub with the impression, "good idea, wrong man", then we're doomed.

[PATRICK]

1. That unfortunately goes for

the Eisenhower wing of the Democratic party who has bought into a benevolent version of a lot of the policies, from the semi-privatization of social security to a muscular foreign policy to regulate globalism. Bush HAS routinely exposed, isolated ruined and twisted ALL the inherent wrongs, compromises and moral shadings that Foggy Bottom has loved and held to for many many decades. I don't think many of those serving now can imagine a way out than to ignore what the world sees and try to conduct repairs on the poisoned, discredited and and in some cases simply impossible applications.

Not to enable a Hagel(Mr.ES&S "I count the votes" par excellence") or some more talented GOP ideologue to make the worse scenario even worse, the Dems themselves would have to change course, running headlong away from the DLC if not denouncing it, and find in the ashes of reaction a new course entirely. If such DLC Dems"won" which is unlikely in their dedication to defeat, they would bungle and be ruined for inevitable consequences, allowing the GOP even more breathing room to regroup for a sicker relapse of national cancer.

If things remain as they are- and they won't, the disaster that is Bush is not finished by a long shot-
the media and the courts and all the establishment will frown and gloss over the misery and "begin anew", raging cancers untreated, policies heading for various black holes. You are right to think the people will react as if suddenly someone stops banging their head against the wall(but is still rifling their pockets). The news and the parties will not want responsibility in any way for Bush and as a result will not be capable of undoing the harm or changing the course off the cliff.

If things remain as they are America will lunge sickly from misery to misery, from sham to sham until some wall is hit. In today's world catastrophe postponed is catastrophe exponentially increased. That is NOT how the Washingtonian mindset is hardwired and money greased. History says if this type of rule is unchanged it will decay further as we fall, but for those who made their lives in these careers there is no path to mentally conceive of acting otherwise.