THE MAGNIFICENT REPUBLICANS

I was sitting somberly behind the keyboard at the close of 2010 and the precipice of 2011 and wondering what to write for a blog post between Christmas and New Years,  when the phone rang and put me out of my quandary. Yes, it was the wondrous Republican National Committee asking for money.

Now, I am a registered Republican. That’s probably why they called me instead of James Carville. And, right off the bat, the lady goes into a pious speech about what great gains the Republicans made in 2010, how they have the Democrats on the run and how they are going to save the nation. Good God, have the dragon slayers on white horses finally arrived at the scene?

Let’s get a few things straight. Let’s have a few reminders about the illustrious Republican Party. Let’s go back to the years of George H.W. Bush who took over a nation that was almost ticking like a clock, single-handedly turned the economy upside down and got us into a battle in Iraq that did not accomplish what should have been accomplished: Hussein should have been finished off then. There’s four years of Republican shame, as far as I am concerned.

Let’s mention Bill Clinton, not because he was a Republican, but because he was a President who ended up with a Republican do-nothing Congress. Then, along came George W. Bush, a nice guy who single-handedly turned the economy upside down again and, with a Republican-controlled Congress led us into a war with Iraq that did not produce the weapons of mass destruction but did, finally, get Hussein. That was his chief claim of accomplishment, although his historians are also claiming he kept us safe from another massive terrorist attack. Well sorry, folks; he did not do that. Thousands of men and women in the CIA, FBI, NSA and DHS did that.

Then, along came Obama. When his term first started, what few Republicans were in Congress rolled over and played along until the fire in the belly of Americans started to bellow; they then started, with a small and timid voice, to protest what was going on in Washington. It was only when millions of Americans stood up and started demanding an end to “business as usual” and some fiscal responsibility in Washington that the Republicans finally started to stand up against the establishment.

But, it was the people who got this ball rolling, not the Republicans.

The distinguished Republican National Committee, in the meanwhile, was busying itself with junkets to topless bars and grope joints in southern California. They had absolutely nothing to do with the November election results; the Tea Party and millions of ticked-off Americans did, however. How the RNC can have the utter audacity to suggest that the Republicans have turned into guiltless leaders of the future simply because we Americans stood up and started putting an end to “business as usual” is beyond me.

Here’s where I stand. Depending on how the Republicans handle themselves during the next 12 months, I might consider helping them in 2012. They are not going to get one damned dime of my money until I see the color of their testicles, because their record in Washington over the past 20 years has been far less than venerable. As far as I am concerned, they are almost as much to blame for letting this country down as the Democrats. They are going to have to earn my trust back. If they don’t step up to the plate and do just that, they can say goodbye to their marvelous party as far as I am concerned.