Republicans Jump the Shark (The Rude Pundit)

[Catchawave]

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2005/03/republicans-jump-shark-heres-thing.html

<snip graphic bar fight analogy>

President Bush and the Republicans in Congress are on the floor now, having been the asshole bullies for so, so long. They finally overreached with the Terri Schiavo nightmare, thinking that if they passed the "feed-the-Schiavo" bill, they'd be lauded for their compassion and promotion of the "culture of life," a phrase so useless in describing anything that it's brilliant in its emptiness, much like the President himself. Instead, they're imploding.

<snip>

But of course the delicate question is how the Democrats use the glazed eyes of Terri Schiavo against the Republicans. And, as with most matters political, the Rude Pundit has the ready, easy solution: it's all about the inference of language. If a Democrat is up against a Schiavo Republican (and, good, wise, vaguely left pundits everywhere should start calling the wacked-out, ultra-Christian Republicans by this nom de guerre), don't bring out Schiavo's corpse. Instead, just say that you support the government staying out of "the most intimate decisions a person" (or "family") "can make." Or some such shit. You see what that does? It evokes Schiavo without saying her name and, frankly, it also covers things like abortion rights, gay rights, and more. If the Schiavo Republican wants to question you about it, then you have free rein to bring up Schiavo. Despite the cries to the contrary that the Schiavo matter will go away, rest assured: by 2006, the Republican party will have either been eaten by its most rabid members or be silent on Schiavo to the point of suffocation.

So let's be optimistic here for a moment: the Republicans are spitting blood on the bar floor. If you wanna be a pussy Democrat, you pick your opponent up and say, "Let's be friends" and buy him a beer. But if you know anything about Republicans and the political game, that fucker's gonna smash that bottle of Bud over your head. The better way to play it? Sit on his chest and pound his head on the floor until he's drowning in his own vomit.

// posted by Rude One @ 11:10 AM

[Demit]

1. The Rude Pundit at his best--when he's being really right and really rude

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

2. I love The Rude Pundit!

nt

[ProgressiveDepot.com]

3. The sad part is that most people will forget

The next election will about guns, God and gays just like all the others. The details of Republican rule get coated over and people say "God Bless our dead or soon-to-be-dead troops" and vote GOP. I am of little faith in the people these days.

[rocktivity]

4. The substitute host on last night's Hardball asked a news editor

if the Democrats made a mistake in not taking a more public stand against Terri's law. They could have blocked its passage if they didn't believe in it--hadn't they shown cowardice in being so "quiet?" The editor replied that the Dems acted by NOT acting--what better way to show that they were against government intrusion into private lives?

If the editor is right, the Dems took an enormous gamble. But it's far more likely that through either common sense or looking at the polls, they realized that Terri's law would be a front-row ticket to a Bush empire train wreck. By acting as Terri's personal holy trinity, DeLay was supposed to absolve himself of his ethical sins, Jeb was supposed to take his first national step '08 presidency, and Georgie was supposed to make his first payment to his religious fanatic owners. But now DeLay looks psychotically hypocritical, Jeb has rendered himself impeachable, and George will have to avoid explaining why fellow Texan Baby Sun Hudson didn't qualify to "err on the side of life." Add Bill Frist's diagnosis via a four-year-old video, and we've hit the trifecta plus one!

:bounce:
rocknation

[Arugula Latte]

5. I'd like to think the Dems were capable of such analysis

Unfortunately, I think a more likely scenario was that they were trying to hide from the spotlight so they wouldn't be as tarred and feathered by the mean Republican bullies.

[rocktivity]

6. Well, who's getting tarried and feathered NOW?

The GOP and MSM don't have the Dems to kick around on Terri's law. If everything had worked out, you can bet they'd be calling us "culture of death worshippers" and all that. But by misreading the general public so arrogantly, the Bush empire literally have no one to blame but themselves.

By the way, here's the blurb for tonight's Hardball:

What led President Bush to his controversial decision in the Schiavo case?
It was a BAD decision, not a controversial one.
...One of the president's closest advisors plays hardball.
And you can bet he'll spin another sad tale of Bush being misled by bad intelligence and incompetent advice.

Since they have no liberals to crucify, the MSM has switched into mop-up mode.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Arugula Latte]

7. No, I know, it's great.

In this case, it worked out for our side (only because 80 percent of the public turned against them). My only point was that I don't believe the Dems foresaw this backfiring on Bush/Rethugs so badly (but who did?).