Hardly a candidate for martyrdom

July 18, 2005

Michael Kinsley asked a question over the weekend that I’ve long pondered: “What does it take in Washington to be so thoroughly discredited that nobody cares what you think?” Kinsley was referring to Newt Gingrich, but it’s so easily applicable to so many.

Perhaps an even better example than the former Speaker is Manuel Miranda, who is not only quoted constantly in the media, but who is also principally responsible for organizing far-right groups and leaders to help shape the fight over Bush’s judicial nominees, including the Supreme Court.

Journalists, the White House, the conservative movement, and Republicans on the Hill treat this guy like a serious player. Worse, as Michael Crowley noted in the current issue of The New Republic, most Republicans actually think of Miranda as a right-wing martyr making a comeback.

It’s hard to imagine someone less qualified for the role of right-wing martyr than Miranda. We’re dealing with a man who stole thousands of documents from Dems on the Senate Judiciary Committee between 2001 and 2003, and is currently the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation. He worked for Sens. Hatch and Frist, before he was forced to resign in disgrace.

And yet, there’s Miranda, leading the charge to stack the federal judiciary — and the Supreme Court — with far-right activists and being treated by the mainstream media as a credible figure who warrants attention.

…Manuel Miranda seemed destined to become a forgotten footnote of Washington political history. But the latest round of the judicial wars — and particularly the upcoming showdown over the Supreme Court — have offered this media-savvy ideological warrior a chance to rehabilitate his reputation and to perform that sublime American feat of turning disgrace into fame.

Asked to explain his actions, including obvious theft, Miranda told TNR: “You have no ethical duty to your opposition.”

It’s something I’ll never really understand about the conservative worldview. If you’re a Republican who gets caught doing something wrong, even criminally, all you really need in order to thrive politically is a) to be criticized by Dems; and b) to wait a little while. Forever more, the right will not only act as if all is forgiven; you’ll actually be a hero.

There are two possible foundations for this kind of thing to my way of thinking, neither of them very noble for the Republicans.

Postulate 1: That the Republican party has become so completely amoral, corrupt and free from the constraints of personal integrity that anyone who can help them acquire, maintain and increase the party’s power is welcomed and encouraged even if they have been shown to be lying, thieving partisan criminals.

Postulate 2: That enough of the Republican party leadership and base are so thoroughly convinced that George W. Bush has been personally chosen by God Almighty to carry out His will on the earth below that anyone who helps carry out the agenda of the Republican party and GWB can say or do anything he or she wants to without fear of reprisal, and that anyone who tries to stop that agenda or even question it is a servant of Satan and must be destroyed without mercy in the name of Jesus himself.

Both of these fail the ‘eeewwww’ test for any rational, fair-minded and reality-based individual, but the never ending flood of evidence that comes out of every media source day in and day out is getting mighty hard to ignore. The big question is, “What are the sane people of the country going to do about it?” One can only hope for the best in 2006 and trust in the maxim that evil based on fear, lies and greed always self-destructs in the end, consumed in the rubble of its own making.

  • Actually, my number one candidate for teflon king is
    Bush himself. The man has been in trouble since
    his college days, and he’s still out there, being quoted
    and idolized by the press, without a single temporary
    blackout. He’s never had to rise from the ashes.
    They’ve kept him dangling from skyhooks his
    entire life.

    One would think that some of his recent gems, like
    “Mission Accomplished,” the missing WMDs and
    ties to Al Qaeda, his denial of global warming, his
    supply side failure to provide jobs, his transparent
    motives with Social Security privatization, and so
    on, would be enough to shoot most presidents out
    of the sky six times. But not this guy.

    And all his sycophantic henchmen, who have been
    proven fools and liars again and again and again,
    are still making the Sunday talk circuits as if they
    were all gurus and oracles and statesmen.

  • I was kind of thinking this over the weekend, using a not entirely parallel metphor, but hey. What if Michael Moore was found to have a several year addiction to Oxycontin? The left, being “good people”, would say addiction is a serious thing and he needs help, etc. But would they really look deeply into what he says? (does he say stuff that’s important/deep/releveant is another question) Would they still go out and see his movies?

    Rush pretty much got an easy pass, didn’t loose too many listeners, didn’t loose his credibility with those listeners, and is still considered a “force'” in conservative politics.

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