corrente

It was the worst of times; it was the worst of times. It was March(ing to war) 18, 2003, and Tom Daschle, well-known enemy saboteur, was shooting his mouth off for the aid and comfort of the WMD-bristling Iraqis:

"I'm saddened, saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war," Daschle said in a speech to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "Saddened that we have to give up one life because this president couldn't create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country."

Outrage! Infamy! And this at a time when we now know George Bush was doing everything in his power to avoid war, everything to find a political solution and avoid bloodshed.

True patriots, like Republican National Chairman Marc Racinot, responded in the only possible way: with hyperbole:

"It is disheartening and shameful for Senator Daschle, who has previously advocated and authorized the use of force in Iraq, to now blame America first."

Not to be outdone was Dennis Hastert:

""Those comments may not undermine the president as he leads us into war, and they may not give comfort to our adversaries, but they come mighty close."

And from Michael Barone:

"Daschle's words can only be explained as the product of a kind of hatred, unbuttressed by any serious intellectual argument, likely to hurt the party of the speaker far more than the party of the president they were directed against."

And Tom DeLay, who should know, called it:

"Disgusting."

Yes, the party of Lincoln, as they like to style themselves, was all about shutting Daschle up, following up on the Ari Fleischer talking points, originally applied to Bill Maher, that "it's a terrible thing to say, and it unfortunate. And that's why...they're reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do. This is not a time for remarks like that; there never is."

Never mind that this selective uber-patriotism was never applied for one minute to Bill Clinton. Republicans are capitalists, and capitalists are all about expediency, that's the bottom line, what makes the world go round, their core committment going forward. Have to break a few eggs to make an omelet and all that, the eggs being dissenting heads, the omelet being a big ol' mess o' profiteering at home and abroad just covered in somebody else's blood.

Fast forward to June 20, 2005, and we find Dick Durbin has been threatening the Republic with mean words about torture, when everyone would like him to just shut up and let us all forget. Summer is here, and there's fun to be had, fun in the sun, which even the inmates at Gitmo are enjoying, so can't we all just get along? And if we can't all just get along, how's about we make sure Durbin's life gets so miserable that no other treasonous little gopher sticks his head up and starts yammering about human decency and atrocities and morality, because morality doesn't mean jackshit if it isn't about some 6-celled blastocyst you can get all gooey creaming yourself over about how you can grow it up to be just like you only with more money. And don't go bringing up that crap about how Rick Santorum compared the Senate Democrats' insistence on playing by the rules to Hitler, because it's not the same, Santorum being a godly, embryo-loving pillar of Christian rectitude and Durbin being a skank-like underminer of the Good Fight and a known Hater of Our Troops.

Among the more manly defenders of The American Way of Facism is Hugh Hewitt, who yesterday suggested that Durbin should be censured because:

"Not only did Durbin's remarks injure America's position in the world, provide an enormous propaganda victory to the enemy, and slander the United States military, they also represent an escalation in the political rhetoric of the left, which is designed to undermine the public's confidence in the military, the administration, and the war. The censure resolution will oblige every senator to go on the record about how they view the American military as we enter the long phase of the war."

Not to mention the satisfying chilling effect such a resolution would have on the few remaining brave souls who might still feel moved to speak out against the injustices they see, and the way it will glue the concept of respecting and caring for soldiers to the totally unrelated concept of avoiding any and all criticism of the fraud in the Oval Office and his murderous policies.

Next, we'll visit with Hugh for a bit and learn how Islamofacist terrorists and "anti-Americans of every stripe" were heartened by Durbin's secret code language of hate, and how it's the fat mouths of the Left, and Durbin's stubborn clinging to anti-fossil fuel rhetoric, that are endangering Americans, not our realpolitik and 50 years of economic exploitation and ruthless pragmatic expansionism belied by hollow humanitarian talk of freedom.

Can't wait!