Raucous Times Inside the Beltway

I am not sure where I am going with this post, exactly, but I am fascinated at the transparency of the White House Spin Machine. Talk about sophomoric! And my initial thought is, "what the hell is going on?"

You know, it has been proven that when you put too many rats in a cage, they start to eat each other. That might be a nifty analogy for Washington these days. I thought we had reached the top when Dick Cheney told Senator Leahy to "F%$k off" on the Senate floor. But the events of the last few days seem to top that. Both sides of the aisle are calling each other names.

I think it hit a personal soft spot for Cheney (yes, I am sure he has them) when his old ally, Rep. Murtha stood up in Congress last week to tell everyone that the war needed to come to an end. To add a little perspective, in 2004, Cheney bragged, "One of my strongest allies in Congress when I was secretary of defense was Jack Murtha." That was because when Cheney was chosen as Secretary of Defense, he by his own account didn't "know a blankety-blank thing about defense." ( The Nation )

In a fit of Chenyesque rage, he called Democrats (MSNBC, Nov 17th) “opportunists” who were peddling “cynical and pernicious falsehoods” to gain political advantage while U.S. soldiers died in Iraq." He went on to say, “The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone.”

He couldn't possibly be referring to Rep. Murtha because Rep. Murtha is "a good man, a Marine, a patriot -- and he's taking a clear stand in an entirely legitimate discussion." ( Dick Cheney Nov 20 in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute) Cheney was at pains to remind people that he never said Murtha was a coward. In point of fact, other than the strong implication above, this is a true. It was the Senator from the great, ah hem, blue state, a hem, of Ohio, Jean Schmidt who called Murtha a "coward".

Bush, aloof and lost as usual, had either a momentary flash of sanity, or a fear of being called out as a hypocrite by the Chinese when he responded to Cheney's outburst with, "People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq," he said. "I heard somebody say, well, maybe so-and-so is not patriotic because they disagree with my position. I totally reject that thought." Really?

He then countered the whole idea by resorting to the politics of fear, saying, "An immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq will only strengthen the terrorists' hand in Iraq and in the broader war on terror." That sounds like a line from Israel. It also sounds like he is calling his opponents "cheese eating surrender monkies". Hummm . . .(This reminds me, the French are preparing to indict Dick Cheney.)

And to wrap it all up neat and tidy, on Sat, while we in California were enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and ignoring the news, the House voted down a GOP resolution to force immediate troop withdrawal. It was an attempt to call the Democrats out. The Democratic response was to vote with the Republicans in order to downplay the resolution's importance!? I hope Jon Stewart has a blast with that one!

I mention all of this because it fascinates me when the spin machine spins out of control. Rummy is going one direction, Cheney another, the President yet another. The rhetoric reminds me of the some of the crazy things that came out of Iraq before the war.No wonder Bush left the country. Even China looked relaxing by comparison. It is demonstrative of the desperation and frustration running through the White House and all of Washington.