The GOP Who Cried "Wolf"

"Oh my god! There's a TERRORIST under the bed!"

With all the "it's end of the world/no-good-dirty-Arab/Iranian, aw-hell-what's-the-dif?/defining-struggle-of-this-generation, etc. etc. etc., ad nauseum...maybe a sidebar to this helps put things into perspective:

Nearly 4,900 pedestrians were killed in road accidents in the United Stats in 2005, according the government figures.

And that's by no means a trivialization: almost 5,000 Americans killed is a sobering number. But I've yet to see John Boehner shed any crocodile tears for THESE Americans. Only SOME deaths matter to the GOP, namely, those that can be exploited for political gain.

Hell, watching the rhetoric ratchet ever upwards, I'm struck by the mix and match of doomsday scenarios, and over-the-top rhetoric, combined with an utterly juvenile perspective when it comes to actual matters of policy...and, of course, this starts at the top of the slag heap, example front and center.

I dunno--maybe it started with their sainted nitwit, in the truest sense of the term, Ronald Reagan...and the subsequent downward spiral puts fake Christians like Tom DeLay and Bill Donohue...and a certain dim-bulb-in-Chief...in positions of power. Yer modern media, with rare exception, acts as arbiter/enabler.

For example: debating the most monumental foreign policy fuck up since Vietnam somehow enables "our enemies" and "dispirits" our soldiers? Really? As if the daily reality of the world's reigning superpower getting bogged down in a quagmire, and LOSING to a disorganized, rag-tag insurgency DOESN'T? The pathetic specter of clearly ignorant, so called "leaders" in Congress preening and pretending we've got a snowball's chance of pulling much of ANYTHING positive out of the Mother of all Mesopotamian debacles is just as Schaller describes:

"the soft bigotry of low - and lowering - expectations."

Meanwhile, most of the working press is likewise busily engaged in fine tuning to whatever frequency turns them into whimpering idiots, dutifully swallowing hook, line, sinker, rod and reel the "let's blame Iran" lunacy/flight forward Team Bush is clinging to like so much flotsam and jetsam, hoping to salvage a portion of their sunk reputation (and forget about saving the ship).

Not too long ago, I was listening to Shrub or one of his slithering courtiers once again trot out their tired old line about having to "take action "before" [insert 'evil-doer's name here] becomes a "threat." And it hit me: jeez, if these assclowns were doctors, they'd be arguing that since there's always a chance of contracting testicular cancer, it's better to castrate every guy, RIGHT NOW--before it becomes a "threat."

Because otherwise...you just in favor of cancer.