Peter Hoekstra and the ‘Dr. Strangelove-ification’ of the GOP

July 12, 2006

House Intelligence Committee Chairman [tag]Peter Hoekstra[/tag] (R-Mich.) sure has been busy lately. The conservative lawmaker generated headlines two weeks ago with some bizarre ideas about WMD in Iraq, and raised more than a few eyebrows over the weekend by hinting at still undisclosed NSA surveillance programs that, he believes, the Bush administration may have illegally hidden from Congress.

But yesterday, the increasingly-unpredictable [tag]Hoekstra[/tag] was in rare form.

Michigan Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra…suggested some unauthorized [tag]leaks[/tag] could have been deliberate attempts to help [tag]al Qaeda[/tag].

“More frequently than what we would like, we find out that the intelligence community has been [tag]penetrated[/tag], not necessarily by al Qaeda, but by other nations or organizations,” he said.

“I don’t have any evidence. But from my perspective, when you have information that is leaked that is clearly helpful to our enemy, you cannot discount that possibility,” he added.

This is getting awfully close to Joe [tag]McCarthy[/tag] territory. The government, Hoekstra believes, may have been infiltrated by terrorists or terrorist sympathizers who have leaked sensitive national security information.

Does Hoekstra have any proof? No. How about evidence of these leaks undermining national security? Strike two. Is Hoekstra equally bothered by national security leaks from Republicans that are intended to advance a conservative agenda? Strike three.

[tag]Republicans[/tag] really know how to pick their [tag]Intelligence Committee[/tag] chairs, don’t they? In the Senate, the GOP has Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), an almost caricature-like partisan hack, whom Josh Marshall accurately described as “a shame to his office.” And in the House, we have Hoekstra.

As Kevin Drum put it, “The Dr. Strangelove-ification of the congressional Republican caucus continues apace.”

Apparently, flouridation is poisoning Hoekstra’s precious bodily fluids.

Seriously, though, this is a prime example of the GOP gameplan:

1. Create a sense of fear, whether or not it’s justified.
2. Hope the people buy into it and become fearful.
3. Tell the people not to worry, because the GOP is strong on national security and will protect everyone.
4. People rejoice and re-elect the GOP because of how well they’ve protected ‘Merica.

It’s all very, very Orwellian …

  • This bizarre behaviour would make a little sense if he was facing a strong challenge, and trying to please two distinct constituencies.

    Anyone know if his challenger in November is a threat?

  • They classify illegal actions then criminalize any disclosure of illegal acts.
    They erode our privacy while expanding their own secrecy.

    The behaviors of the Republicans is not only above the law but destroying the foundation of law in our country. When they dismantle our system of checks and balances, they are saying, “The way we have neutered the minority party, we must keep control at all costs.”

  • so how’s Hoestrka going to finally snap?

    A jump-out-the-window-because-terrorists-have-a-microchip-in-my-brain kind of snap, like James Forrestal

    or

    Shave-all-the-hair-off-my-body kind of snap, like Bob Geldof in “The Wall”

    or

    Just drinks himself to death, like Tailgunner did

  • It does feel like the 1950’s are creeping back, doesn’t it? I wonder how long it will be before we see the return of ‘duck and cover’ drills in schools because of the nuclear threat from North Korea? (I won’t even bother mentioning Iran, whose nuclear program is nothing but a neocon’s wet dream by all reliable accounts.)

    Maybe when it’s over we can go through the 1960’s phase again, too. Patchouli oil, anyone? 😉

  • Patchouli gagged me the first time around. I had to smoke a lot just to get the smell out of my nose, clothes, hair. Ah, those were the days, weren’t they?

  • I’ll put forth a conspiracy theory. After holding forth that the Bushites had broken the law by not telling him about certain secret programs, they came to him in the middle of the night and told him he had to discredit himself by suggesting that the leakers defending America’s constitutional order are infact terrorist symps, an idea they want to get out to the wingnut base but don’t want to have to take the blame for. So they get good old Pete to do it 😉

    It’s totally disgusting, and typical Republican’t logic. Can’t find leakers, can’t find proof, can’t defend the constitution, so slander the reputation of good Americans by false implications.

    “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” language, indeed.

  • “I have here in my hand a list of two hundred and five (people) that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department”

    – Joseph R. McCarthy

  • “I don’t have any evidence. But from my perspective, when you have information that is leaked that is clearly helpful to our enemy, you cannot discount that possibility,” he added.

    Is there anyone who has not found the information leaked (wiretaps, call records, renditions, bank snoops, whatever) helpful in making a decision about their government? If not, then clearly democracy itself has become the enemy.

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