I’m not ready to ‘get over it’

March 12, 2007

When the president nominated Sam Fox, a major right-wing donor who gave $50,000 to the Swiftboat Vets, to be ambassador to Belgium, it raised a few eyebrows. When the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on Fox’s nomination, Sen. John Kerry, as one might imagine, wasn’t pleased to see him.

Kerry was hardly alone. Wade Sanders — former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy, decorated former swift boat skipper, and combat veteran — wrote an op-ed last week attacking Bush’s nomination of Fox: “[A]s a military man, it doesn’t matter much who is being attacked — John McCain, Max Cleland, John Kerry, or Jack Murtha — I just don’t believe that assaults on the military records of veterans belong in our politics.”

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal editorial page took up the controversy.

The country long ago moved beyond John Kerry’s Presidential ambitions, but the Senator, as he seems never to tire of reminding us, has not. Now Mr. Kerry’s throbbing grievances jeopardize President Bush’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. […]

The Senate confirmation process is already congested by Democratic intransigence, from Bush appellate judges to U.N. ambassadors. But at least these conflicts came with some veneer of substantive objection, not merely the desire for political retribution.

At the outset of this largely incoherent editorial, the WSJ had a message for White House critics: “Get over it.”

It’s become a fairly common refrain, hasn’t it? The right does something offensive, the left gets mad when there are no consequences, time elapses, and the right, annoyed by lingering resentment, tells the left to “get over it.”

That’s easier said than done.

It’s possible that I’m just petty. I have a hard time forgiving and forgetting. But every time I hear conservative argue that we should “get over it,” I’m reminded of why I continue to harbor grudges.

Republicans threw the political world into turmoil in 1998 by launching an impeachment crusade against Bill Clinton. It was an absurd and painful exercise. Those of us who are still annoyed by the fight are supposed to “get over it.”

In 2000, Republicans orchestrated a massive fraud in Florida, and, with the help of the Supreme Court, delivered the presidency to the candidate who came in second. Those of us who harbor resentment are told we should “get over it.”

Bush failed to take the terrorist threat seriously before 9/11? “Get over it.” Bush launched a disastrous war? “Get over it.” Bush is rewarding those who helped smear a war hero with a vicious lie? “Get over it.”

It’s not enough for the GOP and its allies to engage in offensive conduct; they also insist, after a short while, that we stop being bothered by it.

This reminds me a great deal of a scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. John Cleese’s Sir Lancelot storms a castle, sword in hand, murdering most of a wedding party based on the mistaken belief that a maiden was in desperate need of a rescue. The castle owner, anxious to curry favor with Lancelot, encourages the survivors of the attack to let bygones be bygones. As the castle owner tells his guests, “Let’s not bicker and argue about who killed whom….”

I’m afraid we’ve getting the same message from the right for quite a while. Let’s not bicker and argue about who unnecessarily impeached whom, or who stole which election, or who was responsible for which foreign policy catastrophe, or who viciously smeared whom to win an election. The important thing is that we all “get over it” and look forward. After all, it’s wrong to hold a grudge, right?

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it practically impossible to just let bygones be bygones.

Kinda reminds me of the Abused Wife Syndrome.

The Republicans just tell us to take the abuse and shut up. What’s right about that?

  • The point isn’t that we “hold a grudge”, it’s that this country is—right now!—faced with the same incompetent people making the same self-serving moves. So, let’s push back against the “sore loser” mantra and tell it like it is: we have the responsibility to remember how you’ve failed, so we can make sure we don’t give you another chance to do the same thing. It’s about accountability, it’s about responsibility, and it’s about integrity.

    The response is simple: Neocons are afraid of taking responsibility for their actions, like irresponsible children. I’ll take a lesson from Dobson himself: let’s dare to discipline.

    Those who fail to learn from history. . .

  • There’s a certain irony/hypocrisy here. The Swift Boat attacks were, after all, based on the events of some 30 years ago! And, for that matter, much of the right wing’s basic outlook on life and political agenda is based on reaction to the events surrounding the Viet Nam war and the sixties.
    And these are the people who want to tell us to “get over” the last election?

    Please –

  • just as an effort to start us down the correct path, i’ll assure the wsj that the minute they “get over” calling for libby’s pardon, i’ll consider “getting over” something on our host’s list.

  • Uh yeah. We’re supposed to get over “BJ Gate” but at every opportunity some right wing nutjob brings it up. I’d almost think they’re jealous…

    Really, the similarities between the Right Wanks and abusive spouses are stunning. After a beating, you’d better not complain about it. But of course anything the victim ever did that angered the abuser can be mentioned at any time and used to justify sudden rages.

    Hopefully the Democratic side of Congress is becoming like a case criminal law professor once mentioned. A man beat his wife for years and after one attack, he fell asleep on the couch.
    His wife took his lucky bowling ball…

  • Perhaps the same should be said to the rubes who still scream about Hippies, the Vietnam era Peace Movement, the women’s movement, Wade Vs Roe, Terry Schiavo or Gay Marriage?

    CB has it right with his Holy Grail comparison. It has always been the way though. They’re all about personal responsibility as long as it’s not their own.

    What a bunch of assholes.

  • This is the reason I don’t like the name of the organization Move On. It could be coincidence, but the first I heard of the group (and I should say here that I think they do great work – this is not about their mission) was in the wake of the 2000 election debacle. It seemed to me at the time that Move On was a name that could cut both ways, and I’ve always felt a tinge of “get over it” associated with that name. Again, it could be that they were around much before that and I only learned about them at a low point in our history. I don’t know. It’s going to take an awful lot to eventually Move On from this horrendous Bush presidency, and years and years for our citizens, our economy, the environment, and our standing in the world to Get Over It.

    Get Over It as a tactic seems to be the right’s way of claiming some high ground. As in, “Oh are you still harping on THAT egregious offense?” 679 days until 1/20/09. And counting.

  • Now that you mention it, I’ve been thinking about trying out the line: “Scooter Libby is a convicted perjurer. Get over it.”

    On second thought, I guess that would be bad form.

  • Move On was created during the Clinton impeachment affair as a petition drive, IIRC. It advocated the position that Congress censure Clinton and “move on.”

  • We will never, ever get over it.
    We will keep the flame burning for ten thousand years
    and it will grow and grow
    and it will consume these mother fuckers
    until their skin melts
    until their flesh boils
    until their bones are dust
    and they scream and beg
    from the bottom of their bottomless pit of agony
    and when with their last tiny wince they beg
    for mercy for pity for comfort for hope
    we will laugh as we spit on their ashes
    and say
    YOU get over it.
    YOU GET OVER IT YOU RIGHT WING PIG FUCKERS!!
    …..
    I guess what I mean to say is- Good piece. Very well written Steve.

  • To the WSJ:

    The Bushite Extinction Event (BEE) is upon you. Its sting is fatal; there is no antivenom available. Get over it.

    Cordially,

    Me.

  • I had this come up in a discussion with my favorite Wingnut last Friday. We were talking about the firing of the US Attorneys, and she said “Well, Bill Clinton fired all the U.S. attorneys, you know….” I stopped her and asked why, six years into the Bush Administration, everything bad gets blamed on the Clintons. I asked her “Why can’t you get over Bill Clinton?” She had no answer.

  • Once upon a time, relevant news was delivered just once a day, at about a 12-hour lag time, in black smudgy ink on thin sheets of paper, for a subscription price. Now, however, citizens can get more news, in more detail, from more sources, with immediate updates, anytime they want – no ink stains, and often at no additional cost once they have paid to access all of the information available on cable or the internet. As a result, newspaper subscribership and margins have steadily declined. It is quite possible that many print newspapers will cease to exist. So don’t worry, WSJ – we’re already over you.

  • I’m just astounded by the nerve of Bush to nominate Sam Fox for an ambassadorship. Do they really expect that his deeds will go unnoticed or just be overlooked? This is what happens Sam when you spend $50,000 to smear a presidential candidate with a bold faced LIE, you don’t get that candidates approval for a government position so …GET OVER IT. Besides, you’ve already demonstrated your dishonesty and underhandedness, not the attributes we look for in an ambassador. And I’m positive that if the roles had been reversed and Bush were in Kerry’s position after being smeared with a lie that there would be no doubt what Bush would do. So just get over it Sam and take the WSJ with you.

  • Personally, I find holding grudges to be exhausting, but the bully behavior of the right has to be stopped — and that can only be done by standing up to it.

    It seems to me that, when challenged, the right pulls a tactic out of its bag of tricks, but the vast majority involve changing the subject. Attacking the messenger, blaming it on Clinton, “get over it,” etc. The proper Dem response may be, “stop changing the subject” each and every time the Rs try to change the subject. After about a million times, the American public may come to see the right as always changing the subject — and discount their defense.

  • Unfortunately the bygones ain’t gone yet. They’re still pulling the same vicious tricks today except now it is internalized in their governing.

    To paraphrase Bush’s boy, Churchill, Never. Never. Never get over it.

  • I think that we have failed to realize that Junior has set the ultimate example of letting by-gones-be-by-gones. He has completely forgotten about bin Laden.

  • This from people who still havent got over the hippies. To lose one’s sense of outrage at this administration, unless the country has turned around and decades have passed, would be a form of death.

  • Bluto: Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
    Otter (Tim Matheson): [whispering] Germans?
    Boon (Peter Riegert): Forget it, he’s rolling.
    Bluto: And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough… [thinks hard] the tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go!

    CB – I’ll see your Monty Python and rasie you an Animal House. Bluto has a point: nothing is over until we say it is, this time from the perspective of serving justice. Kerry was slandered and libeled. I guess the swiftboater’s statements fell under some sort of protected political speech, but they lied. And out of the whole Lewinsky mess, lying became a capitol crime in this country.

    “Get over it.” What a great line. We should have used that one on Bush before he went after Saddam for trying to kill Daddy. We should use that line now to oppose the surge: ” Hey George, you lost. Get over it. No more troops for you.” We have no alternative but to win in Iraq? Get over it.

  • So, just refuse to confirm this Texass asshole and tell him it’s happening because obvious shitheads don’t get big time appointments. Let him go pickle himself in bile.

  • Very well written piece Carpetbagger. Personally I am still in shock from my 1998 Christmas gift: the Clinton Impeachment. I’m not getting over it until I see that justice and integrity are restored to the white house and congress. We will be able to ‘move on’ once we know that there are consequences for misdeeds done to the public trust. These perpetrators should face their actions, and then there can be forgiveness and reconciliation. Until that happens there will be enmity. I know that and I am not even a wing nut.

  • Great points throughout the comments here and in CB’s original. But I’d add that this isn’t just about the past: it’s about the present and the future.

    When the Republicans attempt a legal coup, steal an election, lie us into a disastrous war, cater to Americans’ worst political instincts, fire US Attorneys who wouldn’t play political ball, and nominate hate-addled slimeballs for high positions, the only response is resistance. Every time they get away with some despicable act, it makes the next one easier. We fight back until we beat them. Period.

  • “Maybe it’s just me, but I find it practically impossible to just let bygones be bygones…”

    No, it’s not just you, CB… it’s all the rabid polticos out there, from the right and the left… hence the toxic breakdown in DC. Everybody is having more fun playing “Point the Finger at the Bigger Asshole” and “Gotcha, Dickhead” while absolutely nothing is getting done.

    The right loves bashing the left and the left loves bashing the right> Now this all makes for great blog and cable news content, but for majority of us waiting for real things to get done in Washington (and not sitting in our dark rooms blogging all day about the vast right wing conspiracies on the left and God’s Will on the right), it’s all rather pathetic.

  • I smell a new game:

    What Democratic “controversy”: that got the wingnuts all in an uproar should be dealt with and ended simply by telling them to “get over it”.

    I’ll start – Nancy Pelosi wants a big new plane – “get over it.”

  • I’d like to congratulate everyone here for their ability to hold a grudge – in this case it is a positive virtue.

    Normally, I agree with beep52 – holding grudges is exhausting. In this case, not holding a grudge – and not exacting payback – means caving in to their creeping fascism.

    Anyway, he stole the freaking presidency TWICE. We are supposed to overlook that? Please.

    One more thing – I was watching the hearing live, and if you saw the video you know that there was no fun in it for Kerry. He was doing what had to be done – and what, in a just world, every single democrat on that committee would have done for him and spared him that particular pain. I’m voting democratic, as always, but I’m not impressed by the way his compatriots left him twisting in the wind in 2004 and since. I have a l-o-n-g memory, and I’m not afraid to use it.

  • It’s possible that I’m just petty. I have a hard time forgiving and forgetting. But every time I hear conservative argue that we should “get over it,” I’m reminded of why I continue to harbor grudges.

    as the commenters before me have attested, you’re not alone. the shitheap of abuse they’ve thrown at the world and our own country will take me at least another lifetime to ‘get over it.’

  • Funny how they make a mountain out of a botched joke, then tell Kerry to “get over” having his reputation tarnished by a bunch of liars.

    We’ll “get over” the WSJ and piss on its grave, someday.

  • It’s awfully hard to “get over” things when their negative consequences are still with us every day. Best example: How can we “get over” the miscarriage of justice in the 2000 presidential election when we see the incalculable harm that the Bush administration has done and continues to do to this country we love?

  • Great post. Get over nothing until those who did wrong have made it right, through restitution or honest apology (and jail time if necessary).

    One thing, though: those of you who think that January 20, 2009 will be Bush’s last day in office, I have the following scenario for you. Yes, I admit it’s nutty, but so are the current occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue:

    November 2008: America, having had more than enough, elects the Presidential candidate who says the loudest “We’re getting out of Iraq 30 days after my inauguration.” The election is so overwhelming that not even the GOPhers can steal it.

    January 2009: GW Bush, Cheney sneering at his side, delivers the following speech: “My fellow Americans. America’s security, indeed America’s very existence on this planet hinges upon our success in Iraq (but not so much that I will institute a draft or ask YOU to sacrifice). To abandon this mission is to allow the terrorists to win, and my opponent will abandon the mission. Therefore, in the interest only of securing our existence, I am declaring the results of the 2008 Presidential Election a nullity and I will continue to occupy the office of President of the Untied States until our mission in Iraq is complete. May God less us all.”

  • The testimony was over more than the Swift Boat lies. Kerry also showed that Fox wasn’t qualified for the position, but the media accounts concentrated on the Swift Boat issue.

    MoveOn is also hardly analogous to the Swift Boat Liars. This isn’t a matter of different opinions. It is a matter of the Swifties making up their “facts” to smear Kerry.

    More on this at Liberal Values

  • An interesting side comment about Sam Fox. I went over to Opensecrets.com and put his name for the 2002-2006 political cycle. Seems he gave over $1,700,000 to various Republican candidates, including some winners like George Allen. The ONLY Democrat on the list (that I could tell, anyway) was – of course – Joe Lieberman!

    And, that amount of money donated didn’t even cover the money donated by his wife, and other family members.

    This man is a shanda (disgrace) for the Jews. First time I’ve ever called someone that term, though, maybe I should extend the term to cover Joe Lieberman.

  • Speaking of Allen, his supporters are whining about when he will get his seat back after being slandered so cruelly in the campaign regarding his stock portfolio.

    To his folks, we can say: GET OVER IT!

    LMAO!

  • I have to agree with IraqVet2. I’ve been postulating that same scenario for more than a year. If a Repug isn’t elected, I fear that some sort of “terrorism” incident will occur after the 2008 election, necessitating Martial Law or some other venal attempt to retain power by Shrub.

  • We will fight you until our last breath because you are evil and corrupt. Get over it.
    We will launch investigation upon investigation on this horrible administration because we have the majority. Get over it.
    We will gain seats in Congress and re-take the White House in 2008. Get over it.
    We will help to ensure that republicans stay in the minority for a generation or more. Get over it.

  • GET OVER IT?!?!?! I find that to be one of the most offensive things I have ever heard!

    I find it outrageous how the American people continue to allow themselves be sidetracked, distracted and basically drugged into submission by the Right’s constant barrage of “outrage” over some minor, insignificant, and/or outdated issue, how whenever they’re losing some “battle” all of a sudden there is some anonymous unconfirmable tip and terror alert level goes up to orange or red, using our own fear against us, how can the most powerful, and “advanced” nation in the world be made up of the most gullible, sheep-like citizens??? Why do we continue to allow these things to happen and tear apart the last remnants of our great country that remain? no wonder the right does nothing to improve education, they need us nice and dumb to go along with their hair brained schemes. I’ll get over all the BS they have done when Bush is impeached as he should have been years ago.

  • Just a couple of observations:

    Most rightwingnutbars haven’t gotten over FDR and the New Deal yet.

    On ABC This Week – Fareed Zakaria reminded George Will and Tory Clark that when they supported impeaching Clinton, the forfeited their cred to criticize the the “Scooter” verdict.

  • I may forget, eventually — my memory isn’t what it used to be. But, forgive? I’m an atheist; I’m not in the business of forgiving.

    If a wound isn’t cleaned, it won’t heal; gangrene will set in and consume the entire body.That’s why “getting over” such wounds is not good medicine.

  • Republicans are right, get over it.

    You guys are just complaining and complaining, it hurts the ears.

    This administration has done so much evil, that Americans are regarded as fools everywhere in the world. All we do is hear you complain, no action. In europe we would already have burned the administration to the ground if politicians tried to take us for such fools.

    What did you accomplish? 1-2 year jail for an assistant after hundreds of thousands of lost lives, billions stolen and the reputation of the US down the drain, and so much more.

    Everytime you learn something new you just complain and expect the administrations puppets to punish their masters? what fools.

    Just be quiet, bend over and keep on taking it, but your complaining is hurting everybody elses ears. Do something or just shut up.

  • The American right–all of it–has to be permanently eliminated as a political entity, whatever that takes. If we Americans do not do this ourselves, the rest of the world will sooner or later do it for us, dragging everything American down to Hell along with Anne Coulter, Dick Cheney, and their subhuman kind.

    I am not suggesting that this would be justice. It would be a catastrophe. But we cannot dominate the world by military force–we have never been able to do this on our own, even when we alone had the atomic bomb–and our economic power will not survive the collapse of the current fantasy in which unproductive workers exist only as consumers of foreign debt and competitors for the favors of the obscenely rich.

    If we cannot once and for all defeat the forces that have given the people so many decades of flight from political reality, then this country has no future. No compromise with fascism can be allowed if we are to hope for a sustainable national future.

    We aren’t getting over this because those who urge us to do so are themselves the biggest part of the problem to be resolved.

  • Your Monty Python reference is dead-on, and only the latest example of the same. This has been going on since before the 2000 December Selection. Don’t you remember Cheney’s heart attack? At first, it was not a heart attack at all. Then it was a small one. Finally, after the Inauguration, surgeons cracked open his chest and installed a defibrillator — a near-perfect copy of the famous “witch testing” scene in Holy Grail: “Did you dress her up as a witch?” “No! No. No… Yes. Yes. A bit. We did the nose… And the hat… But she is witch!”

  • Sibban is right. Either we rid the world of this pestilence or the world-wide anger, revulsion, and isolation that this administration has engendered will grow and fester. The recent belligerence of N. Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and Russia are just the beginning. And we will deserve it.

    In the final analysis, a nation and it’s people always end up with the government they deserve. If we live our lives like sheep, we will be devoured by the wolves.

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