Thursday, April 30, 2009

GOP just doesn't get it.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. "
~Ben Franklin: February 17, 1775, as published in Memoirs of the life and writings of Benjamin Franklin (1818).

An earlier variant by Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanack (1738): "Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power."

According to this story, the GOP is not going to be reinventing itself. It is returning to an issue that is still closely tied to George W. Bush, the President with the lowest ratings in a century.

"House Republican leader
John Boehner released a lengthy Web video Thursday suggesting Democrats are not keeping Americans safe...The campaign-style video, created by a Boehner aide in his Capitol office, begins with the question, "What are Democrats doing to keep America safe?"
Then, with ominous music in the background, it splices sound bites from news reports and Republicans talking about the dangers of President Obama's decision to close Guantanamo Bay and to release Bush-era memos about harsh interrogation techniques.
The video's climax races through images of Obama hugging the Saudi king, shaking hands with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and ends with an image of the Pentagon burning on September 11, 2001, followed by a final question: "Do you feel safer?"


"Is it any wonder that voters and senators alike are running away in droves from the Republican Party? Looks like they have taken a page from the discredited Rove/Bush/Cheney playbook. This ad is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to play up the politics of fear and smear," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's spokeswoman, Katie Grant, said, "Republicans are once again resorting to fear tactics because they have no new ideas or constructive policies to offer. The American people have already rejected their politics of fear, and this will be no different."

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll earlier in April suggested Americans do not agree with Republicans that Obama is making them less safe.
When asked whether the president's actions increased chances of a terrorist attack in the United States, 26 percent said yes and 72 percent said no."


I'm sorry, Republican party, but I have to agree with the poll. This is not what you need to be doing to make a "comeback." There are many, many issues you could face off with Obama and the Democrats and win a majority of opinion again. This isn't one of them.

Using 9/11 images to gain power is despicable. You've used it to fear-monger us for eight years and I'm sick of it-as is most of the US. Get it together. Really. WWRD. What would Reagan do? I doubt he'd have a part of this.

8 comments:

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

Your analogy is close TAO. They all think they're tougher than what they are also.

But when it comes down to who's name is on the bottom of the ad, it's a phantom committee or a name of someone nobody ever heard of.

Unknown said...

Using CNN as a polling stat is like going to Korea and asking, "Who likes Kim Chi?" You are better than that James, I'm sure you can find other stats stacked against the Republicans.

I do agree with you on one issue: If Republicans don't pull their heads out of the fourth points of contact they, themselves, are in deep Kim Chi.

James' Muse said...

While skewed, CNN does have some truth in their numbers...and I am tired of politicians using 9/11 to scare us into voting for them.Its political marketing, plain and simple.

I think my next post will be how the GOP could keep people like me (which in reality, is the majority of people my generation, the future)...and if not the GOP, some party will get us. I'd like to see a truly moderate party come out of this mess we call (bi)partisanship.

Unknown said...

They were a moderate party much to their detriment.

Calling them neo-cons because they were handed a shit sandwich and actioned on it is dishonest.

James' Muse said...

Actually, after 9/11 the neo-conservative idealogy entered George W. Bush's policies. The neo-conservatives backed him and defended him, while conservatives fell by the wayside and were called unpatriotic.

dmarks said...

Bluepitbull: "Calling them neo-cons because..."

Almost all use of "neocon" is as a meaningless pejorative. There are a few neocons around, but neither the Vice President nor President were neoconservatives. They have been few, and with little power. Before and after 9/11.

Mike's America said...

"Using 9/11 images to gain power is despicable. "But somehow releasing old photos of so called abuse of prisoners in Iraq is OK?

James' Muse said...

Yes, it is. Because there is a huge difference. Releasing the photos to show abuses of our system and take the theoretical debate into a real realm with pictoral evidence.

Showing images of the towers burning and Americans dying to try and gain more votes and take away confidence in our current leader is wrong.