One ad, by one group, on one day

and the Right goes collectively monkeyshit.

Well, you know, when you have spent the last 20 years carefully...

“This list is prepared so that you might have a directory of words to use in writing literature and mail, in preparing speeches, and in producing electronic media. The words and phrases are powerful. Read them. Memorize as many as possible. And remember that like any tool, these words will not help if they are not used.”

(From Newt Gingrich's instructions to his Republican colleagues)

The words he listed to be jackhammered mindlessly into the skulls of anyone anytime you spoke of Democrats were: decay, failure (fail) collapse(ing) deeper, crisis, urgent(cy), destructive, destroy, sick, pathetic, lie, liberal, they/them, unionized bureaucracy, "compassion" is not enough, betray, consequences, limit(s), shallow, traitors, sensationalists, endanger, coercion, hypocrisy, radical, threaten, devour, waste, corruption, incompetent, permissive attitude, destructive, impose, self-serving, greed, ideological, insecure, anti-(issue): flag, family, child, jobs; pessimistic, excuses, intolerant, stagnation, welfare, corrupt, selfish, insensitive, status quo, mandate(s) taxes, spend (ing) shame, disgrace, punish (poor...) bizarre, cynicism, cheat, steal, abuse of power, machine, bosses, obsolete, criminal rights, red tape, patronage.

methodically, calculatedly sowing the wind...

"You think Vietnam was bad? Vietnam is nothing next to Kosovo."

-- Tony Snow, on Fox, March 24, 1999

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now."

-- Disgraced Republican Tom DeLay, Houston Chronicle on April 9, 1999

"No goal, no objective, not until we have those things and a compelling case is made, then I say, back out of it, because innocent people are going to die for nothing. That's why I'm against it"

-- Sean Hannity, 1999

"I want to know more, especially the reason for doing it now. The president's current problems have to be on the minds of many people."

-- Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) -- New York Post 8/21/1998

Military strikes ordered by Clinton were "made because it was necessary to save the president's job and distract attention away...The timing of this is so extraordinary that it is legitimate to raise the questions."

-- Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) -- New York Post 8/21/1998


"There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today."

-- Disgraced Republican Tom DeLay, 1999

"The point is not whether this president would [wag the dog] ... [b]ut for some significant portion of the population ... there must be that doubt. And that doubt is the crucial nexus. ... A president must have credibility when he makes decisions about peace or war"

-- former Reagan lawyer Peter Wallison, New York Times op-ed.

"As those troops are engaged now, even now, defending ... the Constitution of this nation, they have a right to know that the work of the nation goes forward. And in consideration of this, it is our intention, Mr. Speaker, to begin consideration of [impeachment]"

-- Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

"Perceptions that the American president is less interested in the global consequences than in taking any action that will enable him to hold onto power [are] a further demonstration that he has dangerously compromised himself in conducting the nation's affairs, and should be impeached."

-- Wall Street Journal editorial.

"The suspicion some people have about the president's motives in this attack is itself a powerful argument for impeachment"

-- Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

"It is obvious that he is doing this for political reasons"

-- Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y.

"We have had either hostilities or threatened hostilities at interesting times throughout the last year"

-- incoming and then immediately sex-scandal disgraced Republican House Speaker Bob Livingston.

"I don't see any reason to postpone the vote (on impeachment). That plays right into Saddam Hussein's hands. That's what terrorists want--disruption"

-- Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla.

"It is dangerous for an American president to launch a military strike, however justified, at a time when many will conclude he acted only out of narrow self-interest to forestall or postpone his own impeachment"

-- Wall Street Journal editorial.

"President Clinton has indelibly associated a justified military response ... with his own wrongdoing. ... Clinton has now injected the impeachment process against him into foreign policy, and vice versa"

-- Jim Hoagland, Washington Post

"While I have been assured by administration officials that there is no connection with the impeachment process ... [b]oth the timing and the policy are subject to question"

-- Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott

...maybe you need to shut the fuck up when you reap one little wisp of the whirlwind.



1. Most quotes sourced from this article from Salon in December 1998 or this post from "The Nation"


2. Cartoons had been helpfully gathered together at this site.