Sunday, May 08, 2005

Republican hypocrisy

Although it shouldn't be news by now the Republicans have carried hypocrisy to heights never before even imagined, one of the latest examples has to do with the Mayor of Spokane, Washington. After a three year investigation it has been revealed that Mayor Jim West has been carrying on homosexual "dates" with teen aged boys and might have also been a child molester. Also that he and a former friend recruited from the Boy Scouts and other sources. The latter accusations have not been proven so we must give him the benefit of the doubt on that score. The rest of the accusations seem to be well established. Indeed, the Mayor has apologized for his behavior, but so far refuses to resign. He has apparently been a successful Mayor. Now I am not personally concerned with whether the Mayor of Spokane is gay or not. However, as he has a history of being against homosexuals, same sex marriage, gay pride, and etc., it does seem a bit hypocritical. It also strikes me as more than merely inappropriate that he was using his office for both attracting young "friends" and his trysts. What really ticks me off is his statements to the effect that he always considered his private life to be separate from his political life. His supporters emphasize the same thing. I guess it is fine for Republicans to have private lives but not for Democrats. All I can say is "tell it to Bill Clinton."
Ironically, the only reason these hypocrites have the nerve to make claims for privacy is the fact that Bill Clinton stood up to them and was made most unpleasantly to make the the point. Whatever you might think of Clinton, he had the guts to stand up and win against their disgusting personal attacks and bring the concept of privacy into the American conscience. What might have happened if Republicans had infringed upon John Kennedy's private life?

This kind of hypocrisy pales in comparison to other examples. While claiming to do away with tyranny everywhere and spreading democracy to the Middle East Bush is seen walking hand in hand with one of the most obvious tyrants around. Not only that he is cosy with the leaders of Sudan and places like Uzbekistan where murder, rape, and even boiling people alive are apparently occurring. Tyrants that control oil are apparently quite allright. And oh, yes, Democrats have blocked so far 10 of his appointments for judgeships, out of some 200 plus, and that is totally unprecedented and wrong. The fact that Republicans blocked many, many more of Clinton's sppointees is supposed to be forgotten. Then there is the matter of the filibuster which Republicans claim should not be used to block such appointments, conveniently overlooking the fact that they have done it themselves in the past. When it comes to hypocrisy our current Republicans are the absolute all-time champions. Indeed, this is so transparently the case it would simply be laughable if it was not so serious.
Even this pales into insignificance as we go around the world telling everyone they cannot have nuclear arms while we, ourselves, are armed with them beyond even any imagined necessity. Iran cannot even legally pursue nuclear energy while Bush/Cheney?Rumsfeld are building new generations of nuclear bombs.

I have to believe that the thugs and criminals personally in charge of our country are eventually going to face the consequences of their total greed, dishonesty, and murderous practices, but I'm not holding my breath.

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