Fraternity of Failure

Anyway, “going back in time”is a “disservice” to those who served in the war.

Take a moment to savor the cowardice and vileness of that last remark. And, no, that’s not hyperbole. Mr. Bush is trying to hide behind the troops, pretending that any criticism of political leaders — especially, of course, his brother, the commander in chief — is an attack on the courage and patriotism of those who paid the price for their superiors’ mistakes. That’s sinking very low, and it tells us a lot more about the candidate’s character than any number of up-close-and-personal interviews.

.. My best explanation is that we’re witnessing the effects of extreme tribalism. On the modern right, everything is a political litmus test. Anyone who tried to think through the pros and cons of the Iraq war was, by definition, an enemy of President George W. Bush and probably hated America; anyone who questioned whether the Federal Reserve was really debasing the currency was surely an enemy of capitalism and freedom.

.. So the only “experts” left standing are those who made all the approved mistakes. It’s kind of a fraternity of failure: men and women united by a shared history of getting everything wrong, and refusing to admit it.

.. That same CIA report called into question the credibility every single key source of information that the administration was using for their case. Bob Graham said it best “the Administration genuinely believes that Iraq has WMDs, but it has no credible evidence of such WMDs per the CIA Report, which I concluded means that the Administration has condemned Iraq on having WMDs on faith and fear alone”. It took courage to vote “No”.

.. If being right in their predictions mattered to Republicans we would see the kind of behavior that matters to Krugman and other rational people. Republicans would see the failure of their policies and predictions and reconsider their views. But they aren’t interested in being right. They are only interested in getting and keeping power, by any and all means, legal or otherwise. The critical question is why? I believe we know the answer in the main. They are the representatives and servants of privilege and wealth, mostly white, male and of a certain age. They succeed because of their ability to pour billions into politics and to exclude millions from voting. Currently they control the Congress, the Supreme Court and half the states, despite being a distinctly minority party.