Wednesday, September 21, 2005

In the GOP, It's Suddenly Every Man for Himself



The Threat - gulp!


In the GOP, It's Suddenly
Every Man for Himself


I looked at Dana Milbank's latest WaPo article, and I could just imagine what another Category 5 hurricane, fast approaching the Texas coast, might do to the GOP and their hideous scrambling jumble of political self-preservation.

This week, I think I've heard it all. President Bush says we'll spend like [wise and honest] drunken sailors to rebuild New Orleans, with Karl Rove at the helm. Halliburton will profiteer. New Orleans workers will have their wages slashed while millionaire cronies walk away with their pockets full. Not one fat-cat will be left behind - every tax-cut promise to the richest will be kept.

But what's THIS I'm hearing!? Treasury Secretary John W. Snow says that hurricane recovery spending will push the GOP's plans to extend the tax cuts to the back burner for this year.

But what's THIS I'm hearing!?! The Washington Post reported Sept. 9 that Treasury Secretary John Snow is once again being shown the door. His rumored replacement is White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, who would then be replaced either by Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove or Office of Management and Budget Director Josh Bolten. [Washington Times]

Dick Cheney said he sees no need for a "czar" to oversee the Katrina response.

But what's THIS I'm hearing? Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said after meeting with administration figures yesterday: "I feel we need a czar, an administrator."

Tom Delay (R-Tex.) asserted last week that the GOP majority had "pared... down" federal spending so well that there was no more fat to be found. There ain't no pork. As DeLay said about the budget, "After 11 years of Republican majority, we've pared it down pretty good."

But what's THIS I'm hearing? The weeping hypocrite Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is telling us that the evil Washington Times made up these Tom Delay quotes. [see Atrios]

But what's THIS I'm hearing!? The chickenhawks of Congress have come up with a tough-guy sounding "Operation Offset" to balance Hurricane Katrina recovery costs with other federal spending reductions. The brave and brawny National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has reported "ready for duty," armed with budget restraints to make any social Democrat's bleeding heart stop beating.

_________
Don't take my pork!.................Pork? What pork?

I thought that Speaker of the House Denny Hastert looked like he was going to toss his cookies today when he was put on the spot about House minority leader Nancy Pelosi's challenge to him - daring him to commit to giving up his precious pork.

The messages are swirling. We feel like we're spinning in hurricane-induced whirlpools. How can we be one America when it's every man for himself?

I agree with what Jonathan Chait has said about the GOP - "the usual guideline in these kinds of circumstances is craziest man wins."

> 1,900



> 1,900
The war in Iraq passed a sobering milepost Tuesday when U.S. officials reported 12 more Americans were killed — eight of them members of the armed forces, raising to more than 1,900 the number of U.S. service members who have died in the country since the invasion. [Houston Chronicle]