Great Moments in GOP Shamelessness Posted by Michael Cohen

Generally here at DA I have tried to shy away from getting too overly political in my blogging, but the response of some Republicans to the alleged al Qaeda Xmas attack has dragged me out of my partisan slumber.

First we have what Steve Benen (the nicest man in the liberal blogosphere) decries as the cravenness of Pete Hoekstra, who is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. Apparently he is now using the attempted attack to raise campaign contributions for his gubernatorial run in Michigan. Steve sums it up well:

Just how pathetic does a politician have to be to try to raise money off the attempted murder of hundreds of innocent Americans? Just how desperate does that politician have to be to see a plot to blow up an airplane over American soil and think, "You know, maybe I can exploit this to pick up a few checks."

Remember when it was considered unseemly to run campaign ads that evoked 9/11? Not that any of this should be a surprise since manipulating the specter of international terrorism has been part of the GOP political palette for the past 8 years (See: 2002, 2004, 2006 elections).

Next we have Jim "Waterloo" Demint who has for several months now been blocking the appointment of Errol Southers to be the next TSA Administrator because . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . Demint is concerned that the TSA might allow their workers to unionize. Now keep in mind, two Senate committees have already pushed forward Southers nomination, in a bipartisan manner. But clearly that is not enough for Jim Demint. 

Now here's the funny thing about this. In 2002, Democrats held up passage of legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security for fear that workers there would not be able to unionize. The GOP then proceeded to run campaign ads in the 2002 election calling Democrats soft on security and unpatriotic because their stance was delaying creation of DHS. How is what Jim DeMint is doing today any different? It's not. But here's the difference, Jim DeMint has no shame whatsoever. Check out his comments this Sunday on the issue:

When we formed the airport security system, we realized we could not use collective bargaining because of that need to be flexible. Yet that appears now to be the top priority of the administration. And this whole thing should remind us, Chris, that the soft talk about engagement, closing Gitmo, these things are not gonna appease the terrorists. They’re gonna keep coming after us, and we can’t have politics as usual in Washington, and I’m afraid that’s what we’ve got right now with airport security.

So here we have it; the Administration is more focused on collective bargaining than stopping terrorism . . . thus putting American lives in danger. It's not the Senator who is preventing a new TSA chief from taking office because he doesn't like unions. And if you believe that "they're gonna keep coming after us" how can you possibly justify holding up the appointment of the head of the TSA?

And then we find out from Politico that Republicans are hardly dipped in gold when it comes to homeland security:

Republicans have cast votes against the key TSA funding measure that the 2010 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security contained, which included funding for the TSA, including for explosives detection systems and other aviation security measures. 

The conference bill included more than $4 billion for "screening operations," including $1.1 billion in funding for explosives detection systems, with $778 million for buying and installing the systems.

Among those voting against this bill - Pete Hoekstra.

Oh and now Pat Buchanan in debating Spencer channels Michael Goldfarb in arguing that Abdulmutallab should be denied pain medication in order to get intelligence information out of him. Keep in mind, even if we are at war with al Qaeda (as Buchanan suggests) we still wouldn't deny medical care to enemy soldiers.

I wonder though if Michael Goldfarb and Pat Buchanan were as outraged when Ahmed Ressam, Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui were prosecuted by the Bush Administration in federal court and given due process under the US criminal justice system. I suppose the fact that our criminal system convicted all three men and in some cases actually got actionable intelligence out of them is not relevant to the conversation. After all there is just another election ten months away.

Comments

[mangan]

Hi,
It's why GOP voters in FL, CA, and CO are rebelling against Cornyn and the NRSC sticking their nose into primary races and endorsing the RINO in each race while trying to destroy the conservative candidate.

[valentines day gifts]

Acchully the point is that the GOP has been all in favor of clean, cheap, patriotic wars to rally around. They've always ignored the advice of Dwight Eisenhower who admonished, "War will surprise you."Under their eight year rule, the Taliban proved more determined, the Iraqis more independent, the North Koreans more advanced, the Iranians more intransigent, Hamas and Hezbolah more popular than the GOP could or wanted to imagine imagine.Now these self-proclaimed patriots rail against taking care of the men we took to be enemies, took charge of, sometimes tortured and held without habeas corpus. Too dangerous to be around they claim!Apparently these Republicans thought war could be fought from a distance, without pain, in an antiseptic manner that wouldn't even get us a bit dirty, (Except for the stop-lossed armed forces, guard, reserve, and hired guns from Haliburton.)Now we've all found out the truth: War will surprise you.Now the GOP says it's not their responsibility.

[racking]

http://www.t-racking.com racking
http://www.racking-shelving.com shelving

professional racking & shelving manufacturer, pallet racking, drive in racking,
cantilever racking, longspan shelving, dexion racking,

[Mike Licht]

TSA moved with commendable speed after the Christmas incident. For the new airport security rules, look here:

http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/flying-home/

[muhtar]

Thank you for your sharing.! seslichat seslisohbet

[vcbbvn]

Instead of cowering in front of our enemies, the tougher, more resolute and inherently more patriotic approach would be to say it doesn't matter how many terrorists al Qaeda pink uggssends our way, we're going to remain steadfast in our system of governance, way of life, and uphold the values that make America great while keeping our country safe. And making sure America, not al Qaeda, dictates the course of which this process takes is central to that.
discount ugg boot

[Hydraulic Crimping Tool]

Manufacture Hydraulic Tools, offer from hydraulic crimping tool, cable cutter, pipe bender, gear puller, hole digger and hand pumps.

[John]

buy tramadol
good article

[cheap coach handbags]

Thank you for your sharing! I like i very much!

[cheap coach bags]

Great comments! You are so nice, man! You never know how much i like'em!