The Republican Party is a criminal enterprise at this point? (article)

[Lex]

From novelist/writer Jane Smiley:

I was thinking that the spy scandal was being expertly taken care of without my input, what with Martin Garbus, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, and Barron's magazine hot on the "president's" tail. My plan was to continue reading Les Rougons-Macquart in peace, but then I read RJ Eskow's blog about the Democrats, and while I thought it was insightful and well-argued, there was one thing I disagree with, and that is that the point of the whole spy scandal, now that Bush has been caught and has admitted breaking the law, is not whether the Democrats can find a way to be electable, it is whether the Republican Party is a criminal enterprise, and whether average Republicans, both in and out of the government, are going to countenance and support unnecessary and shamelessly unlawful behavior.

Let's not shift the focus to Losers and Victims, but rather, keep it firmly on Winners and Perpetrators.

. . .

Whether the Democrats are losers or victims; whether the Democrats can regain control of the House of Representatives is interesting but irrelevant. What is relevant are the morals and ethics of the Republicans--individual Republicans--you, Senator Brownback. You, Rep. Hastert. You, Chief Justice Roberts. You, Uncle David. You, Mom. Do any of you conservatives care about the Republic? This is your accountability moment. Is your loyalty to the US or is your loyalty to Bush, Cheney, and Rove? Crimes lead to larger crimes when criminals get away with them. Bush clearly shows no signs of even beginning understand why he might not have the right to be all powerful. There's that Constitution thing again ("God-damned piece of paper"--George W. Bush, December 2005). A crime is being committed. If, because of "winning" or "loyalty", many more or less innocent bystanders do nothing prevent its continuation and do nothing to punish the perpetrator, then they are implicated. It's as black and white as that.


More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/the-republicans-winners-_b_13007.html

She has a lot of good points and she makes them bluntly.

[BushOut06]

1. Certainly is similiar to organized crime

Tony Soprano would be so proud...

[Lex]

2. They are loyal to "the family" (the R party) and NOT the the United States

and that is becoming very clear.

[RufusEarl]

3. Yea she does

Whenever this comes up, and it comes up allot lately with re pub friends. I always tell them that Bush could have done this legally but choose not to. When he made that decision he broke the law, it's just that simple. I just keep reminding them, that a law was in place to give a president this ability but this president choose to ignore it.

[HereSince1628]

4. Democrats see a fence and say, "stay away," Republicans see it

and go over and try to see how far they can reach through it.

I've noticed that with every stinking republican I ever worked with. They rationalize saying, the fence would have been put in a different place if they wanted to protect what I can reach through the wire.

[Botany]

5. Sure is ...... google The Lincoln Group.

Money Laundering and kickbacks ......
They get 100 million from the DoD and then turn around and give @ least 35 million in campaign
contributions to republican groups .... they rest spent to "buy news" in Iraq.

Google Christian Bailey ..... founder of said group ...... offices next door to PNAC/AEI ......
hardwired into the system of crooks.

[rocktivity]

6. I've been calling for a class-action RICO suit for YEARS!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Batgirl]

7. very insightful article, packs a big punch n/t

[enough]

8. Interesting passage:

snip>

The conservative caste of mind is different from the liberal caste of mind, and much of what we believe is dictated by temperament. For example, I've noticed that for most liberals, the greatest sin is murder. Liberals recoil at harming others. The fact that the Iraq war has physically harmed tens of thousands of Iraqis, not to mention many thousands of American soldiers, is the red letter immorality that defines that misadventure for liberals. If they reluctantly supported the war, those deaths and injuries are the hardest sticking point; if they never supported the war, those deaths are the most unforgivable horror.

Conservatives, though, don't really mind doing harm to others, even murder, especially if they add the phrase, "for your own good." After all, people get harmed all the time--the world, to a natural conservative, is a harmful place and a vale of tears. To a conservative, the greatest crime is betrayal of the tribe, and if worst comes to worst, better that those outside the tribe (often not even defined as human) come to grief (get injured, get raped, lose everything, get killed, let's be honest) in preference to oneself or one's allies. To a true conservative, it doesn't matter that Jesus's number one rule was to do unto others as you would have them do unto you--they somehow read this as do unto others before they do unto you. Conservatives, I think, have a stronger flight/fight response than liberals. They are both more fearful and more aggressive. It shows in their religion (God is someone to fear), it shows in their child-rearing techniques (beatings,whippings, spankings are to be administered, not avoided), it shows in their attitude toward marriage and sexuality (conforming to one's own strict moral standards isn't enough--others must conform, also, or the whole society is in danger). To the conservative mind, harm may be justifiably done to others who do not conform. Doing harm to others is a relative evil, not an absolute one. It is, you might say, an aspect of winning.

snip>

[Lex]

9. I definitely believe Repubs have a fear-driven mentality.

Faux News feeds them bank robberies, murders, home-invasions, and car-chases all day long. They eat it up. The Repubs like to be afraid and they all want a "Daddy." They think Bush is their "Daddy."

Honestly, it's like a mental illness.