Wonder Why the Republicans Are So Depressed? Look Left [Lileks]

Newhouse News ^ | 11/2/2005 | James Lileks

[Incorrigible]

Wonder Why the Republicans Are So Depressed? Look Left

BY JAMES LILEKS

Perhaps it's good the Bush administration is getting the third year of the second term out of the way in the first. Soldier up, learn from the mistakes, move on. But move on they can't. Not yet.

The Alito bump notwithstanding, a peculiar sort of depression affects many Republicans these days. Indictments both grave and specious? Sigh. The Harriet Miers internecine death-match? Alas.

But there's more. The Valerie Plame imbroglio suggests -- merely suggests, mind you -- that the left's true objective is to undermine the rationale for war to cripple a wartime president for short-term political gain.

A shocking charge. Almost unimaginable! But look at the history. Five years of pessimism and defeatism from the chattering class has made conservatives wonder why they bother. From the quagmire of Afghanistan -- the brutal winter looms! -- to the quagmire in the first week of the Iraq operation, every action is seen through a dark, cracked prism of fear and defeat.

Never mind the constitutional vote; there were graphic designers who spent a nice, comfy workday sifting through their collections of fonts, looking for the right typeface to herald the 2,000th casualty. (Hmm. Helvetica Bold? No, used that for the 1,000th death.) Prime example: an editorial cartoon by Mike Luckovich, which had 2,000 soldiers' names forming the word "Why?"

You have to ask? Well, one more time:

Because we've been told by all the root-causers that the lack of freedom in Arab nations breeds desperate terrorists. Because it's better to leave a country with a democracy and a constitution than nuke it clean and walk away whistling. Because the United States has been at odds with Iraq since 1990, and the alternative was more oil-for-food corruption and porous sanctions until Saddam was free to romp about untrammeled.

Because upsetting the precious "stability" of the Middle East gave Libya a case of the yips, helped mobilize the occupied Lebanese and even made Egypt pretend to hold a good election. Because it gave the United States bases right next door to Iran, the leader of which has announced that Israel and the U.S. should be destroyed. With nukes.

Because after 9/11, leaving rogue states to their own devices and hoping Kofi Annan and Jacques Chirac would talk down our enemies seemed a rather weak definition of defense.

Oh, sorry. Mentioned 9/11. That's not permitted. Iraq has nothing to do with 9/11. Iraq is about Halliburton and oil, just as the invasion of Sicily in World War II was about cannoli and Chianti. According to some, Bush just threw a dart at a map in 2002; it hit Iraq, and off we went. According to others, he came into office determined to invade Iraq -- sure, the Clinton administration had made regime change the official U.S. policy, but at least it wasn't foolish enough to do anything about it.

Point out to the critics that Saddam gave refuge to the man who planned the first attack on the World Trade Center, and you'll get a dismissive wave of the hand: That was '93.

Point out the constant assertions in the Clinton years of Saddam's WMD capabilities and connections with terrorist groups -- points made by the mainstream media and accepted as fact by all -- and you get another wave: Well, we found no WMDs.

Why waste time connecting those dots? Those are old and boring dots. What matters most is whether the lies about yellowcake -- Bush's lies, of course, not Joe Wilson's -- led to the outing of a double-secret CIA agent.

Point out how the left used to regard the revelation of covert agents' names as a civic duty, and eyes roll. This is now, please.

Once upon a time you could count on both sides to have the same set of assumptions and facts. Now you have Howard Dean's favorite singer, Wyclef Jean, rapping about "Father Saddam."

Of course the Republicans are depressed. The media and the Democrats appear to have improved on the old description of the Bourbon monarchy: They have learned nothing. And forgotten everything.

Letter-writer talking points: The above was a transparent attempt to shift attention away from Scooter. Because that's really the biggest problem the nation has faced in the last five years. Osama bin Libby.

Nov. 2, 2005

(James Lileks can be contacted at newhouse@lileks.com)

Not for commercial use.  For educational and discussion purposes only.

[Incorrigible]

A deft wordsmith.

[Incorrigible]

Lileks Ping.

[Constitution Day]

Thanks for posting it!
I knew it would be up on Newhouse today, but have been to busy to even look.

[Constitution Day]

The Bleat
Screedblog

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Lileks Ping!
If you'd like to be added or removed, just drop me a line...

[tdewey10]

I don't feel depressed. Actually I've been in a pretty good mood lately.

[new yorker 77]

2005 - Liberal Mount Rushmore Implodes and Crumbles

AL FRANKEN LISTENS TO THIS AS HE SUCKS HIS THUMB IN THE FETAL POSITION AND EMBRACES FRAMED PHOTOS OF THE FOUR FORMER ANCHORS: CLICK HERE TO LISTEN: LIBERAL 2005 MSM THEME SONG

Broadcast journalist Ted Koppel, the face of late-night newscast "Nightline" for a quarter century, will anchor the show for the last time on November 22, but ABC News has not decided who will replace him, the network said on Thursday.

Koppel, 65, becomes the latest in a string of veteran network news anchors to sign off in recent months, following Tom Brokaw of NBC, Dan Rather of CBS and Koppel's ABC News colleague, the late Peter Jennings.

[jacquej]

I have been kinda down, mostly because the good guys care about the US, and the bad guys don't care about anything other than grabbing power from the good guys.

So, the good guys think that if they pull their punches, hoping for "comity", they can "set a higher standard, and win by being gentlemen".

I am not sure that is a good strategy at this point. I think we need some straight talk, Texas-style.

[alwaysconservative]

Thanks for the ping and the smile! I've not been depressed, but a lot of leftists are having a "Blue Fitzmas" without a Rove indictment or a statement about the war.

After all, their latest hissy fit resulted in a shut-down of the Senate the other day. LOLOLOLOLOL! I would rather be a depressed Republican than ANY KIND OF DEMOCRAT any day.

[cvq3842]

Thanks for posting! I'll bookmark for later.

:)

[hsalaw]

"I would rather be a depressed Republican than ANY KIND OF DEMOCRAT any day."

So true! And I'm not depressed, either. I get mad at the dims' continuing lies and frauds, but it only makes me work harder for our side!

[CGTRWK]

Why are Republicans so depressed? Because we look left and see Congress and Bush.

Alito is the only good news on the domestic front since the 2003 capital gains rate cuts.

[Grut]

A deft wordsmith.

A mensch and a national treasure.

[rightwingreligiousfanatic]

BTTT

[Watery Tart]

Oh, sorry. Mentioned 9/11. That's not permitted. Iraq has nothing to do with 9/11. Iraq is about Halliburton and oil, just as the invasion of Sicily in World War II was about cannoli and Chianti.

Our President said nothing linking 9/11 and al-Q'u'e'd'a at the time, but I KNEW the dims would put the two together and holler about it.

And I think this column is a day or two behind real time -- an unfortunate symptom of print journalism. I think the whole Harriet episode looked like that good old STRATEGERY to me. (C'mon -- the President is not a stupid man.) It seems some conservative pundits are starting to see sunshine now, too.

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Leave the gun. Take the cannolis.

I HAD to say it. How many chances does one get in everyday conversation? ;o)

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[goldstategop]

According to the Democrats and the media.... you'd never know it by the events of the past four years but America's most dangerous enemy isn't Osama Bin Laden but gasp!> President Bush! Yes, you heard right. If we didn't have the New Media, you could be forgiven for thinking American troops should have occupied the White House and taken HalliburtonBushitler into custody. Now there's a war the Left could finally get behind. Don't laugh.

("Denny Crane: Gun Control? For Communists. She's a liberal. Can't hunt.")