The creepy "National Republican Victory Monument" -- a pic

[Recursion]

I don't normally walk down E Street NE, but I was the other day and noticed this in the courtyard of the National Republican Senate Committee.



That's the "Eternal Flame of Freedom" on the left there. You may commence vomiting.

[Mist]

1. Looks like one of those memorial parks for "cremains." Or maybe the inside

of a Repub's head--empty, bleak, a whole lot of space.

[Generic Other]

9. A columbarium is the proper term, I believe

And you are right. That is exactly what it looks like. Where bad ideas go to be buried.

[LeftofObama]

2. ROFL!

When I first looked at your pic of the "National Republican Victory Monument" all I saw was a huge empty space with two trash cans on the right side.

I didn't even notice the "eternal flame of failure" until you pointed it out.

[leveymg]

3. All the uplift of an inner courtyard of a small, private prison.

[JHB]

4. Creepier still is the "victory" it commemorates:

updated 12:24 a.m. EST, Thu January 29, 2009
Preston on Politics: GOP's eternal flame burns outside D.C.
By Mark Preston
CNN Political Editor
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The only bright spot in the nation's capital for Republicans these days seems to be a flame that burns 24 hours a day in the courtyard at the campaign headquarters for Republican senators.

The Eternal Flame of Freedom is near the National Republican Victory Monument, which commemorates the 1994 "Republican Revolution," when the GOP wrested control of Congress out of Democratic hands.

Even in the cold, snowy days of January, the flame blazes as a beacon of hope for some and as a memory of the days when Republicans were in power and called the shots in Washington.

Now, the GOP is taking orders from Democrats and doing a lot of soul-searching as it tries to right itself and return the party to its glory days.

It commemorates how Newt Gingrich (with Rush Limbaugh as unofficial national precinct captain) came to power by through hyper-partisanship: no compromise with Democrats, treat them as The Enemy, as loathsome and treasonous. Of 24/7 attacks on the president, just because he was not their guy.

They put up an eternal flame to celebrate the Bolshevizing of the Republican party.

Not for people who sacrificed for others, or were struck down. For a bunch of self-serving radicals throwing a victory party.

[surrealAmerican]

6. Considering that ...

... it's actually appropriate that it looks like a memorial. It's there to remind them of the death of sanity.

[MrScorpio]

5. That's no "Eternal Flame of Freedom"...

It's a stationary cigarette lighter and the "courtyard" is the designated smoking area. On top of those trashcans are ash trays.

The GOP can bullshit like it's nobody's business.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Just this once, I see no objection to graffiti and street art. nt

[LeftinOH]

8. I thought it looked familiar:

Meaning= it looks like an execution site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bendlerblock
Bendlerblock was the focus of military resistance to the Nazi regime. It was here that the "Valkyrie" operation plan was made: A plan for a coup d'état against Hitler. In October 1943, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was transferred to the General Army Office as Chief of Staff. His position gave him direct access to situation briefings in Hitler's eastern headquarters, the "Wolf's Lair" in East Prussia. On July 20, 1944, he set the fuse of a bomb there and returned to Berlin.

The bomb went off, but Hitler survived. When news of Hitler's survival spread, the conspirators were unable to take control of Germany. Following the arrest of the conspirators in the Bendlerblock, General Olbricht, Colonel von Stauffenberg, Werner von Haeften, and Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim, all members of the uprising, were executed by firing squad that same night in this courtyard

[n2doc]

10. Needs a trough running around

So that one can piss at the location of one's choosing...

[sinkingfeeling]

11. That is eerie and demented.