[Dialogue] Post-Election Etiquette

Fri Nov 10 17:34:25 EST 2006

Published on Thursday, November 9, 2006 by Truthdig
<http://www.truthdig.com>  

Post-Election Etiquette 

by Molly Ivins 

The sheer pleasure of getting lessons in etiquette from Karl Rove and the
right-wing media passeth all understanding. Ever since 1994, the Republican
Party has gone after Democrats with the frenzy of a foaming mad dog. There
was the impeachment of Bill Clinton, not to mention the trashing of both
Clinton and his wife-accused of everything from selling drugs to murder-all
orchestrated by that paragon of manners, Tom DeLay. 

Media Matters collected some gems of fairness. For instance, Monica Crowley
with MSNBC, in the wake of John Kerry's botched program, astutely observed
"how lucky we are that he was not elected president. ... The Republicans
remain the grown-ups, the responsible ones on national security." 

How many dead Americans has this grown-up war resulted in? 

And how darling of Fox's Juan Williams, upon learning that polls show the
people favor Democrats on taxes, to say, "To me, that's crazy." 

And how many times did Chris Matthews use the Republican talking points
about Nancy Pelosi? Extremist, uncooperative, incapable, unwilling to work
with the president. 

So after 12 years of tolerating lying, cheating and corruption, the press is
prepared to lecture Democrats on how to behave with bipartisan manners. 

Given Bush's record with the truth, this bipartisanship sounds like a bad
idea on its face. Go back to the first year of the administration, when Bush
double-crossed Ted Kennedy in the No Child Left Behind Act. Think about it:
You've said at the outset of your administration that you need cooperation
to get anything done. Then you double-cross one of the senior senators of
the other party when your re-education and labor agenda is dependent on him?

These people are not only dishonest, they're not even smart. Not that I
recommend nailing them at every turn, but I wouldn't be surprised if they
try to do it to Democrats. If what Republicans have been practicing is
bipartisanship, West Texas just flooded. 

OK, here's what the D's have going for them. New kids. Easy, popular first
moves-for example, increasing the minimum wage. Republicans so inept that
it's painful. You want to look at some really, really basic legislation, try
fixing the Medicare prescription drug bill. Or the bankruptcy bill. Or new
dollar and trade policies. 

Then we get to the real meat of this election. There are all manner of
shuffle steps and politically shrewd thing for the D's to do. But now is not
the time to be clever. The Democrats won this election because we are
involved in a disastrous war. We know how to do this: Declare victory, and
go home. 

I noticed when Republicans are forced to talk about how to end this, they
tend to announce that it's all hopeless: They have no ideas at all. Thanks,
guys. Of all the options, I would say splitting Iraq into three states is
least advisable. First, it puts us in the position of screwing the Kurds
once again. Second, Turkey has serious objections to a Kurdistan. Third,
Turkey is not a militia. Fourth, then you give Iran and Saudi Arabia a pawn
apiece. And there'd be an unimaginable amount of future hassle. 

Do I have any good ideas? Yes, but it's not a solution. We need to start the
Middle East peace process again. Because it's the right thing to do. Because
it's what Bush should have done to begin with. Because we have to start
somewhere. 

To find out more about Molly Ivins and see works by other Creators Syndicate
writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at
www.creators.com. <http://www.creators.com>  

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