‘Is the jig up?’

September 6, 2006

In light of some Senate GOP resistance to the Bush administration’s special military trials of suspected terrorists, Josh Marshall raises a point that I’ve been thinking about for a while.

Congressional Republicans could have just gone along with an unreasonable White House policy on military trials and forced Dems to oppose it, creating an opening for some baseless, election-year demagoguery. Apparently, however, there just aren’t the votes for Bush’s scheme, and senators actually have a few ideas of their own. It prompted Marshall to ask:

[A]m I wrong to think the old song and dance just isn’t quite working for them this time? I can only imagine what we’re going to see over the next two months. And fear is a powerful weapon. But somehow we seem to have arrived at the chicken with its head cut off stage of the game. As the BS gets less believable the ante keeps getting upped until now we seem to be at the stage of an infinite regress into historical parody. […]

Is the jig up?

I think it is. The GOP has been telegraphic its punches for about a year now, and it was transparently obvious that Republicans would approach 2006 exactly as they’ve approach every other recent cycle. But, with two months to go, the “old song and dance” isn’t working.

In Congress, Republicans are split on military tribunals, warrantless searches, and immigration. With only a few weeks until a scheduled adjournment, there’s a real likelihood that this Congress will end on the same note it’s been stuck on for two years — doing nothing.

In the polls, Republicans expected a big bounce after the alleged UK terrorist plot was thwarted, but it didn’t happen.

On the campaign trail, the GOP is finding little value in playing the race card, a tactic that they used to be able to count on to get them out of a jam, and Dems have finally begun to see the value in taking the offensive in dealing with national security as a campaign issue.

This isn’t the way Karl Rove envisioned September 2006 when he drew up the gameplan earlier this year. Maybe the jig really is up.

I found it a bit odd that the President received a standing ovation when he announced the names of detainees that had been transferred to Guantanamo for prosecution. Isn’t he the same person that has been preventing this type of prosecution? It seems to me that saying “It’s about time” would be the more appropriate response to this announcement. The only thing we’ve gained from the delay of this outcome is the ire of much of the world and a loss of the moral authority that 9/11 most certainly provided.

more here:

http://www.thoughttheater.com

  • I’m not sure what is meant by ‘the jig is up’.

    The White House and Republicans want to campaign on bringing these guys to justice and dare Democrats to oppose the legislation to set up the tribunals.

    I think that it will be quite effective in getting what they want.

    Can you imagine the advertisements that they are probably already producing?

  • In the vein of a “Do-nothin’ Congress,” the Republicans (and Democrats) will be getting out of Washington in about a month to campaign for re-election. In all probability, very few–if any–of the appropriation bills for running the federal government will be passed and ready to be signed by the president. There will be a need for a post-election session of Congress to get the People’s business done. This is a glaring example of how the Republicans run Congress–and the Republicans have a notable history of post-election lame-duck sessions in recent years.

    Link here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30931-2004Oct13.html

    The Democrats need to jump all over the “Republican-led Do-nothin’ Congress” meme. To quote Dick Cheney: “BIG TIME.”

  • The Repubs may be on the ropes, but the jig (gig?) isn’t up until neo-conservative thinking is commonly recognized as the bankrupt ideology that it is — and those who espouse it held accountable for the damage they’ve done.

  • “and those who espouse it held accountable for the damage they’ve done.” – beep52

    As Arlen Specter has proven time and again, the Republican’ts have not the balls to hold any Bushite accountable for anything.

    John Warner, maybe a little, but even his pronouncements are gutless. Maybe the Bushites need a new resolution to stay in Iraq if there is a civil war? Gah!

  • Those Republicans like M. Caca Warner who missed our civil war are certainly welcome to fight in Iraq’s civil war.

    slip kid no more makes a good point about appropriation bills being held up. This Republican Congress could close down the government out of incompetence rather than malice like they did last time.

  • Those Republicans like M. Caca Warner who missed our civil war are certainly welcome to fight in Iraq’s civil war. — Dale (6)

    Sorry, Dale. You can hang as many dogs as you please on Senator Macaca *Allen* with my blessing, but not on Warner. Given that Warner is a Republican, he’s not half-bad. Not at all a rabid neo-con moron that so many of them are.

  • Thanks Libra. Allen it is. I was shooting from the lip on that one.

  • The push from the GOP has just started – wasn’t September 5 the election kickoff day? Like everyone’s been saying, it looked like Kerry was actually going to win in September (looked like Dean was unstoppable right up until Iowa…). GOP is as strong at finishing as the Dems are weak. There are a lot of Senate, Gov, and House races that could still easily go the other way with just the right push, leaving the GOP with slimmer margins but still in control of everything.

    If a transcontinental 10-plane plot was the show for August for getting the fear back into everyone – what are they going to pull in September and October?

  • I am afraid I agree with Nick. I am sure these people have lots of nasty tricks left. I hope the dems don’t relax but keep fighting. If history is our teacher, we should be concerned. The only tool we have that wasn’t as well developed two years ago, is a far more active netroots infastructure. If we win, it will be because of the internet. This is no time to get complacent.

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