Why the Public Clamor?
The Republican Party has suffered many setbacks, but none as great as Foleygate. Why? Though the deeds and their cover-up are atrocious, you can't say that what Republican leaders did with regard to Mark Foley is worse than what they did (or did not do) with reference to the Iraq debacle, the Katrina catastrophe, their K-Street partnership, the corruption of Jack Abramoff and their voting to allow torture. Of course, not. So why the public outcry now?
I have been writing against the Iraq War from the beginning. Very little reaction - until a couple of years later when it became obvious that we're witnessing sectarian violence. Even now, criticism is muted. We're told it's only mass violence, not yet civil war.
Katrina came and images of poor black people getting caught in the onslaught appeared on TV screens. Americans were horrified, but politics proceeded as usual.
Republicans made K-Street, the center for lobbyists, an arm of the Republican Party. Lobbyists paid money and in return got the opportunity to write legislation to help their business clients. Most Americans were not aware of this corruption - until Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay became famous, or infamous. Lots of criticism, but not much emotion.
Even when Bush promoted the necessity for torture and John McCain and the other Republican senators caved into the so-called "compromise," and stained the Constitution by passing the bill that allows torture, Americans were not as upset as they should have been.
Here comes a tawdry affair about a gay representative abusing a 16-year old page, and the whole country erupts. Why? Republicans all over are running around making one stupid remark after another. These are the same Republicans who have won election after election through their message discipline. Unbelievable. Important events affecting our lives and our future make little impression, while homosexuality and abuse do. Why does Foleygate resonate?
I happend to visit a new blog today that answers my question. The blog is named "Unclaimed Territory.". Here is a gem of a paragraph that explains the clamor:
But for so many reasons -- its relative simplicity, its crystal clarity, the involvement of emotionally-charged issues, the salacious sex aspects -- this Foley scandal circumvents that whole dynamic [journalists and pundits] . People are paying attention on their own. They don't need pundits or journalists to tell them what to think about it because they are able to form deeply held opinions on their own. None of the standard obfuscation tactics used for so long by Bush followers are working here. To the contrary, their attempted use of those tactics is making things much worse for them, because people can see that Bush followers are attempting -- through the use of patently dishonest and corrupt tactics -- to excuse the inexcusable. And seeing that, it gives great credence to all of the accusations voiced over the last five years that this is how the Bush movement operates in every area, because people can now see it for themselves.
Let Republicans excuse themselves, criticize pages, place the blame on Democrats (as Newt Gingrich is doing). The more they do it the less credible they become. Already a nationwide poll has found that there has been a 21-point drop in support among white evangelicals for Republican candidates.
Yes, the public is finally seeing current Republicans for what they are: inept, corrupt and reckless people, who have won election through lies, smears and ruthless attacks. The public is up in arms and clamoring for the overthrow of the mean Republican machine.
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