Tuesday, February 14, 2006

politics

Let me begin with a disclaimer... I have only voted Republican once in my life and I am ashamed to have voted for that person (I'll give you a hint - he resigned in disgrace). I have voted for a number of third party candidates, but usually I have voted for Democrats.

Having made that disclaimer, let me comment on two Republicans. I'll begin with the positive comment to show that I'm only a little partisan.

In George Will's column today he talks about a Republican who [I]could[/I] inspire me to vote for a Republican sometime. Tom Coburn is a representative from Oklahoma. I don't know anything about his politics but I do respect his integrity. He was the one who proposed that the $223 million that was earmarked for Alaska's "bridge to nowhere" be diverted to New Orleans. He has tirelessly worked against pork barrel projects that do nothing to further the interests of the country as a whole. He champions that old fashioned Republican virtue of fiscal conservatism. He is willing to stand up against his own party when he believes they are wrong. We need more folk in government with similar spines.

Will has a great line in the column... "Civilization depends upon the ability to make even majorities blush..." which brings us to the second Republican.

One statement that keeps getting thrown around by those on the right regarding the domestic wire taping has been - "If you don't have something to hide, what are you worried about?" Well, the vice president had something to hide. While hunting for quail, he ignored the training that the NRA proposes and shot a friend. Then the white house took 24 hours to release the information. Now we know why. Cheney had a hunting license but did not have the required stamp to hunt quail. He was hunting illegally. After hiding the information, the administration made light of what happened. It seems to me that the event is a wonderful and terrible metaphor for this administration. He was reckless, careless, broke the law, hid the information, and then made light of the entire event. This administration has no shame. They have no respect for the law, for the people of our country, for traditional Republican policies, or for the constitution. They do not blush.

5 comments:

Tommy said...

Not a lapdog for the VP but the news report I saw indicated that the guy who was shot was the one in error for not alerting the line that he was approaching from the rear.

roy said...

Tom,
I had heard that too... and it certainly makes sense that if you were approaching two people with shotguns and ichy trigger fingers, you'd let them know where you are. Still, the two times I went hunting one thing was drilled into me: don't pull the trigger until and unless you are absolutely sure of everything that is in the line of fire.

Dennis E. McFadden said...

Roy,

Did you see Letterman's list regarding Cheney's accident?

Top Ten Dick Cheney Excuses

10. "Heart palpitation caused trigger finger to spasm"

9. "Wanted to get the Iraq mess off the front page"

8. "Not enough Jim Beam"

7. "Trying to stop the spread of bird flu"

6. "I love to shoot people"

5. "Guy was making cracks about my lesbian daughter"

4. "I thought the guy was trying to go 'gay cowboy' on me"

3. "Excuse? I hit him, didn't I?"

2. "Until Democrats approve medicare reform, we have to make some tough choices for the elderly"

1. "Made a bet with Gretzky's wife"

Enjoy!

Dennis

Tommy said...

Very humerous, Dennis. Now that the guy has taken a turn for the worse, I wonder how many will be laughing?

Dave Miller said...

Thanks Roy,

I have not heard much discussion on Cheney's lack of the proper stamps to even be hunting. I was with my brother once when he did not have the proper fishing tags. He did not get off with just paying for the tag after the fact. He had to do that and pay the $100.00 fine. Do you think the VP was shown a little preference?