"I think what it REALLY means is that now that Bush has essentially been neutered by the results of the election... he's tellin' his big oil buddies that they'd better get back to GOUGING the American people at the pump while they still can!"

4Salt, it's interesting that you wrote this, as I've been thinking on it a bit, and came up with a similar theory over the past week.

Here it is:

From the war in Iraq, the economy, the pork barrel spending, the growth of corporate welfare, the massive federal expansion and spending, explosions in coroporate scandals, not to mention personally hypocrital scandals of many on the right, and many more decidedly un-conservative programs and activities of the current crop of Republicans, the last election cycle has shown that those in charge of the Republican machinery are either so incredibly imcompetent...

...or they're not.

They knew that they were throwing the entire party, and the half of America that supports the party, firmly, and with unerring accuracy, directly under the proverbial bus...along with the credibility of not only the entire government, but the entire nation as well.

Why?

Are they so utterly incompetent that they actually thought this was a good way to go about making good, and were horribly wrong, or did they do it on purpose, or at least with the full knowledge that it would happen?

There are too many smart people that were involved, too many smart people that couldn't have missed the multitudes of warning signs along the path that they have taken...so why did they take the path?

I think it may tie in to what 4Salt said above, whether or not his specific observation was accurate or not.

Assuming they weren't so woefully incompetent and mistaken, and blind to reality, that they actually thought they were doing the right thing, what does this leave as the other possibility?

The other possibility is that they didn't care.

They did it for greed, setting themselves up to be in the money, the rest of the world, including their millions of supporters, our country, the truth, and everything else...be damned.

It was "get while the gettin' is good", and while they knew it couldn't possibly last, they knew they could rape and pillage all that is good about our country, and the world for that matter, as much as possible before it all came crashing down...around everyone else but them, the architects of this massive destruction.

Those architects are either so bad at making decisions that would benefit the nation and the world, or sly like foxes.

Is the whole situation an Enron-like play, but one that bilks the entire world, rather than just the millions of Enron stockholders? To them, is the whole f'n thing just a game to win, with the rest of the nation and world just playing pieces to them?

Thoughts?

Fish on...

Todd

If that's what you've been thinking, Todd, then you've been reading my mind as well. Too many of them are too sharp to make such a series of incompetent mistakes. I think it was no mistake. They were "dumb" like a fox and determined to loot the world for as much as they could get for themselves. Using that yardstick of success, they haven't done half bad.

Well, using that theory as a working hypothesis, where does that leave the partisans who still support the Republicans?

I hope that they didn't see this coming, and somehow hope that they would somehow benefit from this...after all, they were duped worse than the rest of us who did see it coming, and were making noise about it.

Are they too prideful to admit that they were used like a rented mule to allow the hypocrites to steal from them as well as the rest of us?

How long will they hang on to their partisan support, when they, too, get absolutely nothing from it, other than the disdain of the rest of us?

The evangelical leaders have already heard the truth, right from the top..."we used those sad saps to get votes, and pandered to their lunacy just to get what we wanted"...how long for the rest of the supporters?

Fish on...

Todd

I called it well before they invaded Iraq. It was to bleed America dry. Thus the no bid contracts, the electricity scam and on and on. But how do you pull something like this off without the media et al jumping all over it? You need something very big, something nobody would or could question without being labeled "unpatriotic".

The thing that is so surprising to me about it is that there is a significant portion of our population who not only didn't see it coming, but actively stuffed their thumbs in their ears and closed their eyes when the rest of us pointed it out to 'em...

What exactly was their motivation? For the last remnant of hard core believers, what is their motivation now?

Do they still hate Bill Clinton's success so much that they're willing to take it in the ass, along with the rest of the country, just so that they can blame it on him?

Fish on...

Todd

Well, I've contended all along that policymakers love an uneducated electorate...it's easier to tell them what is good for them, and then just do it, especially when it is not good for them.

It's easier with an ignorant electorate to pacify them with gas-filled gifts, or throw the fear of Allah into them with made up fears of mushroom clouds, and then line their own pockets with the fruits of the ignorants.

That, unfortunately, ain't likely to change unless more folks decide to take an actual interest, beyond blind partisanism, in the workings of not only our nation, but of the rest of the world, too.

Ahh...the bliss of ignorance...sometimes it's tough to have a brain.

Fish on...

Todd

AM, I have no idea what's in store...I think I know what I'd like to see happen, but unfortunately I don't carry a lot of weight with enough legislators to push it through myself!

The "gas" I was referring to was more in the vein of "hot air"...gifts that have little meaning or actual value, beyond the symbol. I wasn't referring to petroleum...because there have been no gifts to anyone but the big three oil companies in that regard.

If the goal is to make petroleum consumption drop, which would obviously solve a ton of problems, especially national security issues and pollution, then they have to require better efficiency from automakers...every time it comes up, they say they can't do it, and every time they've been required to do it, they do it almost out of hand.

Step one is an "energy task force" that is not secret, and not made up of oil company execs.

Step two is a plan for the reduction of consumption.

Step three is funding the plan, and step four is implementing it.

It's sounds a lot like the Iraq problem...staying the course is a total loser, and saying we have a plan, or are getting better, when we have no plan, no plan is being implemented, and no end is in sight...that won't work.

Goal, plan, funding, implementation, monitoring, tweaking if monitoring shows that the implementation of the plan is not accomplishing the goal...that's how problems are solved, whether the problems be a war in Iraq, or an energy policy domestically.

Fish on...

Todd

That's why we need a real energy task force, not a secret one made up of oil and auto execs, one that focuses on how to make it better, not how to stave off the inevitable so they can make money now.

Fish on...

Todd

Right on. I like that GP

Hey
K K K

WOW You can call people out and want to talk in person. well Lets say you and I meet. and talk about the remarkes you make to insult me. (water bird in a bridal dress)Lam ass remarks and insults, com on lets chat face to face or are you one of the and I quote " best from behind a keyboard" candy asses.

Aix........
"as far right as I can get"
Wasn't that slogan used in Germany prior and during WW2.

You name yourself Wood Duck and have a little pissy-pants tantrum when someone pokes fun at it?

Sticks and stones.
Grow up.

What I thought you all are a bunch off chicken **** cowards

Aw you guys break it up. Seems to me some one was talking about an issue for a moment there. Something about removing our addiction to imported fossil fuel or something like that.
Until your elected representatives and the electorate grow some back bone and prohibit cars in in the downtown area of cities it won't fly. Legislate everyone that wants to go downtown onto public transit. Lord I can hear the screams of rage now. Of course you must first create a body moving system that works, and makes the wait for a mover no more than 15 to 20 minutes.
Will definitely require some significant change from the taxpayer, but what's new.
Will give a whole new context to the term 'road rage'.
Bring on the Mono-rail and a Japanese style bullet train to boot. Imagine; salmon swimming across the hiways on a rainy day and no cars to hassle them. lol
Add up how much your vehicle (just one of them)costs you to feed. All the little things plus the fuel,and be willing to spend nearly that much to create a people mover.

Aw shucks not all BGls are evil. Some try to do good things in spite of their natural proclivity to be nihilists. You know the one about 'there's magic in the first step' hell lets begin. Start in Olympia. let em lead the way. Only public transit to move around the halls of Olympus. That way they could truly be leaders. lol I know, too much Henneseys. hic
Maybe we could recruit Tim Eyeman to beat the drums and lead the dance.