Sunday, July 17, 2016

Five Simple Words




Denizens of the Conservative Reformicon opium den continue to lay big plans for the bright, post-Trump future of their wholly imaginary Republican party. However, unlike may other deeply deluded individuals, denizens of the Conservative Reformicon opium den also inexplicably continue to command an amazing amount of real estate on the op-ed page of the New York Times.
A Cure for Trumpism
The case for a conservative politics that stresses the national interest abroad and national solidarity at home.
By ROSS DOUTHAT and REIHAN SALAM

JULY 15, 2016
Halfway through their "Honey Do" list of things they think some other group of people should definitely get to work on sometime soon, this paragraph caught my eye:
Some of these policy prescriptions are reasonable, but taken together they look like a road map for more quagmires, more Afghanistans and Iraqs. This is the landscape in which Trump’s “America First” language resonated. And the ease with which Trump crushed Jeb Bush, in particular, suggests that it will continue to resonate until Republican leaders become more selective in their hawkishness, more comfortable with five simple words: Invading Iraq was a mistake.
Hey Ross and Reihan, wanna know five even simpler words which the Right is emotionally, psychologically and financially incapable of ever make peace with?

Liberals 
Were 
Right
All
Along

And that is why you people are fucked.

11 comments:

trgahan said...

"Invading Iraq was a mistake."

Maybe if this was 2008, those five words would have had relevance with the electorate, but now the GOP base believes A) Bush never happened, B) everything was fine until Obama became president, and C) we are in a War for Civilization against the Muslim specifically and/or brown people in general.

So this crap is a non-starter within the GOP.

For Ross and Reihan, disavowing Iraq is (like claiming Trump supporters were those left behind by Reaganomics a few months ago) just a safe, upstairs office approved, bullshit faux-critique to make conservatism appear to have an "intellectual" aspect.

Jim from MN said...

The tea party was formed as a hiding place for disenfranchised Republicans desperate to escape the stink of the George Bush mess.

bowtiejack said...

Bravo!

Neo Tuxedo said...

You say "Liberals were right all along."

They hear "I'm sorry, I didn't understand your response. Have you tried severing and boiling your own penis?"

Unknown said...

I don't think those five words hurt the cardinal and cohorts as much as the inverse "you were wrong about everything" that is implied.

CM said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/opinion/campaign-stops/can-we-find-our-way-back-to-lincoln.html

proverbialleadballoon said...

I tend to agree with trgahan, W Bush has been unwritten out of the history books, discarded down the memory hole, and double thought out of memory; enough people buy that shit, and they don't give a fuck anyway because they'll happily apply the boot to the face, forever.

So.. is eight years a long enough time past that we can discuss W Bush yet, eh, American press? And no they skipped ahead to the part where it's like 'well, sure, Iraq was a mistake' but we never had the discussion. Let Ross Douthat write the column, nobody will read it anyway.

dinthebeast said...

I reject their premise. Invading Iraq was NOT a mistake. It was a deliberate act of war-of-agression, premeditated, sold on false pretenses, and botched to hell and back. Even their weaselly attempt at criticism is watered down past any detectable truth. You can't just get away with "Oops, we stupidly murdered half a million people, destabilized the middle East, and created a terrorist organization far worse than the one we were supposedly chasing, our bad."
Oh wait, that's exactly what they just did.

-Doug in Oakland

Robt said...

From an Atheist, Amen Brother Ddriftglass........
Not that the Democratic party has ALL the answers................

Maybe A Woodstock event for a week at the Capitol. Better yet, at Koch industry headquarters.
I would settle for removing the greedy,deadbeats from Congress.

We have the Technology, the knowledge, the artists, the hearts and souls yearning to move on with it.

proverbialleadballoon said...

@dinthebeast: there hasn't been, and seemingly there won't be, a reckoning for W Bush. Golly, how did the Middle East become destabilized? If only Clinton had got bin Laden when he had the chance, amirite?

dinthebeast said...

Yeah, and remember when Chris Wallace asked Bill Clinton about that? The result is why so little actual journalism is allowed on TV these days...

-Doug in Oakland