You guys dragged me in, so you asked for it. The comparison of rates of lying and criminality are hilarious... and that's BEFORE close W pal Ken Lay ever gets convicted
You might enjoy this thing I pulled off from Garry Trudeau's web site:
== Re the strip of 5-26-02. Please PLEASE Help! A Republican friend of mind absolutely refuses to believe that 29 Reagan appointees were criminally convicted. "Of what?", he demands to know. Can you fill me in? -- Brian C., Seattle, WA
Who were the 29 Reagan-era convictees, and what were they convicted of? -- Lorenzo C., LA, CA
Number of Reagan administration era convictions in the Iran-contra scandal: 14 (two overturned on appeal).
Number of Reagan officials convicted for illegal lobbying: 2 (Michael Deaver; Lyn Nofziger, overturned on appeal).
Number of Reagan officials convicted in Housing and Urban Development scandal: 16.
Total number Reagan era convictions: 32 (the number cited in the strip -- 29 -- arrived at by subtracting the 3 overturned cases).
In addition, Bush pardoned Reagan's Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, indicted on 5 charges.
Moreover, the record of actual convictions doesn't tell the whole story. Over 30 additional Reagan appointees resigned or were fired following charges of legal or ethical misconduct, including Secretary of Interior James Watt, Secretary of Interior Raymond Donovan, CIA Director William Casey and EPA Administrator Anne Burford. Many dozens more were investigated.
Contrast this to:
Number of Clinton officials indicted or convicted in Whitewater, Travel Office, FBI files, Monica Lewinsky, Bruce Babbit, Michael Espy investigations: 0
Asst. Attorney-General Webster Hubbell was convicted of embezzlement, a crime he committed before joining Clinton Administration.
======
But let's go past that to fundamentals.....
==
Want to avoid the typical strawman arguments and shouting past each other? Tired of SUMO politics? Want to try Judo for a change?
Here is a suggestion. Try asking your Republican friends to list and explain the "great accomplishments" of the United States during the 20th century.
There are many. Here's a helpful start.
Containing communism
public universities
medical research
exploring space
opposing fascism and defeating Hitler
exploring the oceans
saving the bald eagle and other endangered species
increasing basic literacy from 35% to 95% and college attendance from 2% to over 50%
rural electrification, rural roads, rural schools
fiber optics
promoting democracy overseas
antitrust rules to encourage market competition
supporting the establishment of Israel
civil rights
bringing women into echelons of power
crop stabilization programs to save family farms
county ag bureaus to make US farms the best in the world
ensuring that all children go to school
freedom of information & sunshine laws
letting citizens view their own credit records
trade policies that created industries in developing countries, uplifting half the globe
the Internet
increasing the number of engineers, doctors and scientists 1000 fold
social security
reducing or eliminating the lock on power and justice that local gentry had
in every village, from the dawn of civilization
solar power, nuclear power, modern wind and geothermal power
professionalizing the police
resisting Japanese imperial ambitions before & during WWII
lifting both our allies & enemies back up after war
NATO
Intervening in the Balkans, with great care and diplomacy, raising US prestige while
resulting in a European continent that is entirely at peace for the 1st time in 4,000 years.
...
I could go on and on, but it's a good start.
Now for the zinger.
Not one of these accomplishments had its roots in a policy generated by the the GOP.
Not one.
In fact, nearly every one of these endeavors was actively and vigorously opposed by Republican leaders at the time the idea was broached. In most cases, their opposition was so deep and severe that some of them predicted the end of civilization as we knew it.
EXCEPTIONS
Oh, I will admit that one could add to the list, and doing so may ruin the perfection of this correlation. For example, here are some great Republican Ideas:
Abolition of slavery and the14th Amendment: (though Lincoln and Johnson were actually elected in 1864 under the Unity Party ticket, not the GOP)
Anti-Trust legislation: (T. Roosevelt)
National Park System (T. Roosevelt)
The first turn away from Isolationism (T. Roosevelt)
But alas, these are 19th century accomplishments.
Still, let's keep trying. Lists that are pure and unsullied are almost sure indications that the list maker is warped by excessive ideology. In fairness, let me add a few more items.
Warnings about excess influence by the Military Industrial Complex (Eisenhower, fumbled by successors)
The Interstate Highway System (Bipartisan but under Ike)
Detente as an incremental step in Marshall's containment strategy (Nixon)
Opening Relations with Mainland China (Nixon)
Bringing the Cold War to an end and accelerating Marshall's plan by spending the Commies into the poorhouse (Reagan's risky ploy. It might have fried us all, but let's admit the gamble was won.)
also
Banishing the Vietnam Syndrome via Rambo revisionism, maturation of "plausible deniability" as a political tool, politics as sound-bite and infomercial, and turning American political life into a relentless blood sport.
Why am I listing these genuinely GOP-led accomplishments? Let me say that I despise people who refuse to give the devil his due. For example, if the Iraq intervention is an unholy mess, based upon deliberate lies and greed, the American people can nevertheless be forgiven at least a bit of pride over having toppled the worst dictator/maniac since Pol Pot. Those who disparage such mixed feelings will never persuade a single vote. The disparagers are thus useless and silly people who do more harm than good. (Ask the avergae Iraqi if she or he wants Saddam back in chanrge. My complaint is the tower of deceit, incompetence and greedy evil that these cretins have poured into the details.)
Moreover, if you disdain all Pax Americana interventionism, first ask a Bosnian, or Albanian Kosovar, or a woman in Afghanistan, or an Uzbek, Tajik, or Kurd whether intervention by American is unversally wrong in principle.
The world is much to complex for simplification. It needs Pax Americana.
But it (and we) desperately need PA to be better led. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
