It is the animal everyone thought was extinct. During the 2000 campaign, George W. Bush called himself a "compassionate conservative," promising that he would be a different sort of Republican than the hard-edged Newt Gingrich crowd, that he would be "a uniter, not a divider."
Well, as we all know, that language went right back into the filing cabinet after Inauguration Day as Bush proceeded to divide the country as it had not been in decades. He blew the federal budget surplus on a series of giant tax cuts, most of which went to the wealthiest Americans while leaving middle- and lower-class taxpayers with crumbs. He stocked the Government and the judiciary with conservative ideologues dedicated to poking their noses into people's private lives while letting business do whatever they pleased regardless of the consequences. He let industry lobbyists literally write Administration energy policy, larding it up with tax breaks for themselves. He told the rest of the world to go fly a kite after promising during the campaign to work hand in hand with other nations. He unleashed John Ashcroft and the Patriot Act after 9/11, stealthily observing our reading habits and trying to recruit mail carriers and plumbers to spy on us in our homes.
And, of course, he abandoned the hunt for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to drain American blood and treasure into the desert sands of Iraq in an obsessive vendetta against Saddam Hussein.
As the Republican convention kicked off in New York yesterday against the backdrop of hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets, decrying Bush's actions as President and calling for his electoral defeat in November, witness the return of that strange and exotic beast called the Compassionate Conservative.
Down the memory hole is any remembrance of the 1992 convention, when speaker after speaker alienated large swaths of America with their "culture war" oratory and snide personal attacks on the Democrats. Gone is the "you are with us or you are with the terrorists" language. Nowhere to be found are the accusations of disloyalty and insufficient patriotism for expressing doubts about Administration policy.
Unwelcome is any mention of the huge tax cuts for the rich, the loss of millions of jobs, the stagnation of the American wage, the skyrocketing costs of health care, the mass giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry disguised as a Medicare prescription-drug benefit, the disinformation campaign to fool the American people into believing Iraq was behind 9/11, the transformation of our world image from a beacon of hope and opportunity to a raging bully, the massive antiwar demonstrations around the world.
Instead we see people mounting the stage at Madison Square Garden hailing the President as a modern-day Winston Churchill, a holy warrior holding back the darkness of Islamic terrorism while crusading (oops, that word is forbidden) for the light of America.
And the Republicans, having brought their convention to New York for the first time ever, are determined to play the 9/11 card for all it's worth, trotting out none other than Rudolph Giuliani to proclaim that "we need George Bush now more than ever."
There is something exceptionally ugly and shameless about how the Republicans so eagerly exploit 9/11 for their own purposes. The dust had not yet settled at Ground Zero before the Bush Administration sought to use the attacks as an excuse for going after Saddam Hussein. Bush fought the establishment of an independent 9/11 commission tooth and nail until the victims' families finally shamed him into it, and then did everything he could to prevent it from getting the job done. And in the propaganda campaign leading up to the invasion of Iraq, the terms "9/11," "al Qaeda," "Iraq" and "Saddam Hussein" were used interchangeably until a solid majority of Americans were convinced that Saddam was behind 9/11. Even our soldiers who stormed into Iraqi territory believed that they were avenging those who died in the attacks and going after the people who were behind them.
Bush "was for us right here in New York City," said former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, "inspiring a nation as he stood on hallowed ground, supporting the first responders." Of course, he had the good taste not to mention that after using the rescue workers as props, Bush then allowed his promise of $20 billion in general aid and first-responder assistance to languish.
Nor did he say that under White House pressure, the EPA deliberately withheld a multitude of data on how the post-attack air in Lower Manhattan was contaminated with various toxins, allowing rescue personnel, residents and Wall Street workers to believe that the air was safe to breathe. Hundreds of such people now suffer from health problems ranging from shortness of breath and chronic coughing to asthma and acid reflux disease.
"Our President has proven his ability to adapt to changing times while holding true to his basic beliefs in freedom, opportunity, and compassion," said Montana Governor Marc Raciot, neglecting to point out that Bush has made a habit of never admitting to any mistakes ever, staying with the same policies and approaches long after it becomes obvious that they just don't work. Neither did he remark that a number of very unfree regimes have been given a "get out of jail free" card as the price for their political support in the War on Terror™.
One can almost see a 1940s-style propaganda poster, showing a larger-than-life Uncle George standing in front of an American flag and with the wreckage of the World Trade Center in the background, protectively cradling a child in his massive hands as he defiantly faces off against a menacing Arab man with explosives strapped to his body and carrying a scimitar. "Our President -- Keeping Our Children Safe!" the poster could say.
Protestors are kept far away so as not to disturb the peaceful intellectual slumber of the true believers. Dissident Republicans are told to stay in line and not make waves. Yes, this is indeed a kinder and gentler GOP convention, happy smile fixed firmly in place with the superest of superglue. If only it actually represented the party's means and goals.
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