Shotgun Dick
I feel sorry for that old Republican guy that Calamity Dick shotgunned into intensive care this weekend. The left couldn't have made up a more likely metaphor for our current political leadership if they tried for a month.
Heavily armed neo-conservative heavyweight seeks to blow his quarry out of the sky but inadvertently blows a pillar of the conservative right into intensive care.
Simply substitute the Bush Administration for the old Texas lawyer lying in a hospital bed and you've got the story of our Cheney-driven American foreign policy in the past 4 years :^)
Those dismal 39% domestic approval ratings for the gang that couldn't shoot straight are mostly the result of one neo-con blunder and miscalculation after another.
Americans trying to serve folks in developing countries struggle to overcome the Cheney legacy of intense anti-Americanism in a lot of the world.
Neo-conservative thought often combines the worst tendencies of both worlds: over-idealistic liberalism that believes in intrusively remaking the world combined with the traditional conservative support for the military and the use of coercive violence. Strange brew.
Traditional liberals and conservatives are less dangerous. That's a good thing. Libs normally can't swallow the coercive violence part of the equation and paleo cons don't do intrusive reclamation projects. Might be some wisdom in the old time religions.
Most of the leading neo-cons freely admit to being disillusioned liberals. That's what makes the whole thing so sad. Many of 'em are truly well-meaning. I'm sure Dead Eye Dick didn't mean to empty both barrels into his friend's face and chest. But that's what happens sometimes when you play with guns.
Heavily armed neo-conservative heavyweight seeks to blow his quarry out of the sky but inadvertently blows a pillar of the conservative right into intensive care.
Simply substitute the Bush Administration for the old Texas lawyer lying in a hospital bed and you've got the story of our Cheney-driven American foreign policy in the past 4 years :^)
Those dismal 39% domestic approval ratings for the gang that couldn't shoot straight are mostly the result of one neo-con blunder and miscalculation after another.
Americans trying to serve folks in developing countries struggle to overcome the Cheney legacy of intense anti-Americanism in a lot of the world.
Neo-conservative thought often combines the worst tendencies of both worlds: over-idealistic liberalism that believes in intrusively remaking the world combined with the traditional conservative support for the military and the use of coercive violence. Strange brew.
Traditional liberals and conservatives are less dangerous. That's a good thing. Libs normally can't swallow the coercive violence part of the equation and paleo cons don't do intrusive reclamation projects. Might be some wisdom in the old time religions.
Most of the leading neo-cons freely admit to being disillusioned liberals. That's what makes the whole thing so sad. Many of 'em are truly well-meaning. I'm sure Dead Eye Dick didn't mean to empty both barrels into his friend's face and chest. But that's what happens sometimes when you play with guns.
posted by Wordcat at 9:58 AM
8 Comments:
hey - a conservative attack that I can stand behind!
I think that you're right-on with the analysis of intentions here - they want to do good, they became disillusioned with how the liberals were failing to be effective, and so they went with force and are now learning why attempting to change via force is bad.
I also found it surreal to see that the vice-president had shot someone. The good thing is that the guy isn't really hurt from what I read - it's some pellets that just got past the skin. The bad thing is that I've already heard some liberal outlets accusing Cheney of being drunk while he did it and stating that there's some sort of cover-up going on
Hey Jon. Always aim to please regular contributors :^)
I've heard the cover up thing too--geez, it never ends....
That sound of cheering you hear in the background are political cartoonists celebrating. I bet there'll be a cartoon within the next week with the theme of my post.
I guess as long as they don't depict Cheney as Mohammed--or Cheney hunting flying Muslims--we probably won't have any riots in the streets.
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Oh my. The possibilities are endless. Cheney shooting at Afghanistan and hitting Iraq instead? Cheney shooting at terrorists and hits "people of Iraq" instead? Quail with Mohammed's face? I'm sure someone's going to pull out a great one.
Wordcat, good analysis on the metaphor and yes, the political cartoonists are now armed and ready to unload their double barrels. I wonder what kind of ties the lawyer has to oil. I am sure they will come up with something.
It is very troubling about the cover-up. Also, I just heard that the hunting of quail was done with an illegal license. Cheney might become an episode of COPS. This administration can't even vacation well right now. Sad...
"This administration can't even vacation well right now."
Hilarious! :^)
"Also, I just heard that the hunting of quail was done with an illegal license."
That's something that's getting blown out of proportion. Cheney had a completely valid hunting license ($135 for out of state). In his life of hunting quail that's all he'd ever needed. But last September Texas introduced a new requirement - you'd need a $7 Upland Bird stamp for your licence - I assume for conservation efforts. Most hunters never were told about it, so Texas Fish & Game has just been giving verbal warnings. Neither Cheney nor any of his advisors were told about the need (as an out-of-state hunter it would be even less likely for him to find out), and it obviously wasn't on purpose (why would you avoid the $7 stamp when you already have the $135 licence?), and he bought the stamp once they were informed of it. I think that such petty attacks are really unhelpful.
Do you think Dick could dig his political hole any deeper? He shoots a fellow hunter, doesn't have the correct hunting license, decides to keep the whole nasty business away from the public for too long, and today grants an exclusive interview with FOX tv to talk about it. Since when does our president and vice president give exclusive interviews to a particular station? What happened to the White House press conference where all media have equal rights to the information and all networks would profit equally from viewership. The sticker on the license isn't really a big deal, but the man is the vice president and has a huge staff that is supposed to know these things to protect him from something so petty damaging his reputation. If the White House can't research this in advance things are getting scary. I pity the man , but then again we do expect our leaders to make wise choices.
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