Dan Rather: Can Republicans Handle The Truth?

[Nevilledog]

https://steady.substack.com/p/can-republicans-handle-the-truth

One of the reasons why airplanes are so safe is because whenever ANYTHING goes wrong we do whatever it takes to investigate what happened. That is the way to make sure it never happens again. That is how we keep people safe. The truth. And it’s just as important in keeping democracy safe. And keeping America free.

There is no doubt that the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 was a grave threat to our democracy, one of the worst our nation has ever experienced in peacetime. It was not only the events of that day, but all that preceded it. The lies. The fueling of misguided anger. The undermining of free and fair elections. Those cancers to our body politic have only metastasized in the months since, encouraged by a would-be autocrat sulking in Florida and the political cult he leads bending to his shameless and self-serving will.

There is no doubt that we need to understand what happened on January 6. It is not a point upon which those who believe in American ideals can disagree. We can debate the scope, scale, and make-up of a commission. But the notion that we should not have one —that we should just whistle and walk on by— is anathema to the rule of law and, frankly, common sense. We need answers. We need accountability. It’s the least the American people deserve. It’s what history demands.

It is a sad indictment of our current political reality that news that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will come out against a 1/6 Commission is treated as unsurprising. It is a stance born from a fear of where this commission’s findings will likely lead —a wholesale indictment of a cult to which McConnell and his compatriots in the House and Senate have pledged servile fealty.

*snip*

[BootinUp]

1. K&R

[Permanut]

2. The fox will not agree to an investigation of the events in the henhouse.

Big surprise there.

[Chainfire]

3. The Republicans would rather deny that anything extraordinary happened on that day.

Just rowdy tourists....

The Truth is the mortal enemy of the modern Republican Party; they want to keep it out of sight, and preferably buried.

[mopinko]

20. and just any old day.

it bugs me how little emphasis is put on exactly what was happening that day.

[gab13by13]

4. Democrats need to go it alone,

Speaker Pelosi knows the ropes.

[Moostache]

6. Amen

Beghazi them for the rest of this Congress. Daily hearings from 15+ committees and sub-committees and special select committees...

McCarthy testifying for 11 hours.
McConnell testifying for 11 hours.
Then Gaetz, Trump, Guilliani, Gym Jordan, Hawley, Cruz, one after the other...

Play the tapes of them from before, during and after.
Make them fumble answers under oath defending the indefensible.

Take the goddamn gloves off and beat these motherfuckers like they stole something because they TRIED to steal everything and failed the first time...if we do not bring consequences, there WILL be another try.

There is a reason that history is written by the winners, and its not "bi-partisan horse shit", its iron-fist discipline and messaging that keeps the story straight.

They tried to over throw a decided election.
They failed.
They MUST NOW PAY, PERIOD.

[Marcuse]

9. They are all in. They will refuse to comply. They will need to be escorted.

[Moostache]

15. Then drag them into the hearings in shackles if needed...

Or like this:



Whatever it takes, but put them on the stand under oath and watch them squirm like the maggots they wish they were.

[calimary]

22. There's that word again. MESSAGING.

Messaging is CRITICALLY important!

I don’t know if Democrats realize that yet. I think they regard it as something superficial and too trivial or cosmetic to be bothered with.

But NOTHING succeeds without effective SALESMANSHIP. Exhibit A: ronald reagan.

[SeattleVet]

5. Handle the truth?

Hell, most of them can't even recognize the truth when it's staring them in the face.

[Caliman73]

7. Have they ever been able to?

Both Nixon and Reagan helped get themselves into office by committing treasonous acts. Nixon with the Vietnamease, prolonging the Vietnam War another 5 years, and Reagan with Iran, to whom he sold weapons illegally. Bush/Cheney lied the US into 20 year military engagements.

When have Republicans, in the last 60 years, ever been able to handle the truth?

[ThatJustHappened]

8. Liars. Never. Truth.

same as it ever was

Romans
The Spanish Inquisition
The Bad Popes
All Popes
Geocentrists
Antebellums
Fascists
Nazis
White Supremacists
White Nationalists
Zealots
NRA
MAGA
GOP
GQP


This ain't rocket science

[EarnestPutz]

11. "All popes"?

[WyattKansas]

10. Republicans are all FRAUDS and don't want anything to do with the truth.

And I suspect that most Republican voters are not merely mistaken, and they have fraudulent tendencies and/or are frauds themselves.

That is the only conclusion that can be drawn after Republican voters keep having the Republican Party prove to them for several decades that they only stand for decay, destruction, and death for Americans and the U.S. Government... Their voters have to have 'skin in the game' and are defrauding others for their lot in life.

[Martin Eden]

12. "a would-be autocrat sulking in Florida and the political cult he leads ...

... bending to his shameless and self-serving will."

Great turn of phrase, and the brutal truth.

[Blue Owl]

13. I don't think they can...

[calimary]

14. Answer? NO!

Their denial and avoidance behavior betrays the truth.

[Wednesdays]

16. K&R. nt

[dlk]

17. That would be a big, resounding no

They don’t live in reality.

[BobTheSubgenius]

18. I wonder if Ethan Nordean has anything earth-shaking to offer in the way of testimony.

It's possible he is sufficiently disaffected that he might give it up. The mood in the entire organization (so to speak) ranges from mocking to hostile, so he won't likely face any backlash there.

How great would that be?

[GoodRaisin]

19. They've proven again and again they have zero interest in truth.

This isn't exactly a one off situation.

They are only interested in power and $ and will stop at nothing to get more of both.