While the Republicans pray the Democrats play!

One of the greatest disappointments to me over the last twenty years has been steady polarization of our political process.

I am not sure what it was but there was such visceral hatred by the Republicans of Clinton, and now there is the same on the part of the Democrats of Bush.

We are unable to have rational discussions about anything because the personal animosity has gotten in the way.

As a result of this both parties begin idealizing their past leaders to the point of ridiculousness.
Ronald Reagan airport? Please, try Reagan garbage dump!
I think this idealization of Reagan was done to match the idealization that democrats had for FDR. Which is ironic since Ronnie Boy started his career as a new deal Democrat. FDR, the anti-semitic, court packing, depression causing fumbler.
That's right, for those of you who don't know, the good old US of A had a greater depression in the 30's AFTER FDR had been in office than in '29.
And what would we do to a president today who said "OK, the court is going to shoot down all of my proposals so I think I'll just add two more justices so that I can get a majority"!

As to Reagan, please. Reagonomics! That means lets lie to everyone, claim we are cutting spending and then blow the biggest deficits in history (That is of course until GB the newbie!).
And then the Republican have the nerve to claim Clinton's recovery as part of Reagan's legacy. Hey guys - it's called lowering long term interest rates. Makes Reagan's debt easier to pay off and inspires capital investment - you know, exactly what trickle down was supposed to do but didn't!!

Anyway, now, when I say to my liberal friends, every intelligence agency in the WORLD, the KGB, Mossad, MI-6, etc all believed in Sadaam's program they laugh. Worse, what about the checks for $25K that he gave to every suicide bomber. The validity of the war can be debated, but you are all looking in the wrong direction.

The neocons that every one loves to bash were the first to recognize that Islamic Jihadism would be the cold war of the next century. They made a strategic decision as to how to begin to combat it. We did not have in place the ability to attack Iran or Saudi Arabia (more on them in the next post). Iraq was vulnerable to a conventional army so, there we go.

That was the decision, not WMD's etc.
Now my conservative friends kill me when I say the problem with Bushy was that he lied. If he had told the truth and said that (see above) and then added, oh and by the way, did you know Sadaam raped the wives of his soccer players when they lost in the world cup before throwing the men of towers into flaming vats of oil? There might have been the real will on the part of Americans to do something.

Even FDR recognized he couldn't get into a war without explaining it. He lucked out and had the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor so even though he was sneaking around with lend lease he never had to actually be honest about the war.

Sound familiar.

OK starting to rant here.

The initial purpose of this entry was this.

The Democrats need to wake up and realize that yes, we DO have a moral obligation to police the world. How DARE we allow Darfur, Chad, Somalia, etc to go on. Not to mention the Taliban, Al Qaeda (thanks Jimmy Carter) etc. America should never go back to the pre WWII attitude of only in our hemisphere.

And the Republicans need to wake up and take back their party. Do you realize that Barry Goldwater, the "father of conservatism" would be a liberal today. That's right, pro choice, civil rights, etc.
Which President did more for women and minorities in this country than nay other? Not JFK, FDR, LBJ but RICHARD NIXON.

Hmmm, wonder why we can't have these conversations.
The brilliance of Bill Clinton as a poitician was that he recognized Nixon's "Silent Majority". That most Americans essentially believe in the moral mission of the US abroad, and that most Americans believe in civil liberties at home.
In other words, most of us fall some where in the middle. It's a spectrum, true, but why can't we find a candidate like Scoop Jackson, Jacob Javits, Nelson Rockefeller, liberal Republicans, or Conservative Democrats?

I hate those terms anyway - liberal and conservative. They mean nothing these days.
Well, let's see. Hilary took the right position on the war. Hopefully she has the cajones to maintain it, although after what the Dems did to Joe Lieberman I am not hopefull.

Or hopeful the Republicans don't chase Rudy out of the party when he goes to his first big fundraiser with Pat Robertson and says, gulp, that he is pro choice!!

Tell me what you think!