Bloodless Coup

Packer on the Bush GOP's Endemic Corruption

The line in the October 24th issue of The New Yorker that seems to have gotten the most attention is William F. Buckley's description of George W. Bush's foreign policy as "surreal". It's a good line, and there are other good lines in that issue (Anthony Lane on Orlando Bloom - "This is one sleeping beauty whom no kiss will ever awaken"; Sean Wilentz calling David McCullough's John Adams "popular history as passive nostalgic spectacle"), but the best lines, by far, are in George Packer's column, "Game Plan". They are (horribly) funny because they are (horribly) true - but they are also important because they lay out exactly where the Democrats can basically eviscerate the GOP - if only they can get people's attention and precisely frame the issue.

So what exactly am I talking about? This, for example:

Bush's philosophy of corporate conservatism - more Harding than Reagan; not anti-government, just anti-good-government, with a tone of authoritarian piety and legislation written by lobbyists - has shown that the Republican unity was always based on a willingness to keep one's mouth shut ...

The Republicans have betrayed basic American principles of honesty, competence, and fairness ... On issue after issue, government by cronyism and corruption has sacrificed the interests of the middle class to those of the Administration's wealthy friends. The deepening inequality in American life threatens families and democracy, and it is neither natural nor inevitable.

Themes opposing this behavior are what the Democrats need to hit again and again and again in the coming years. That will unite Democrats on - the party believes in standing up for and protecting the little guy, tax plans that benefit average Americans - not the heads of Enron, more open and responsive government, and basically, opposing the self-interested moves of the spoiled Establishment that threaten the social safety net. And calling for competence, not cronyism, is a simple slogan that will be widely supported. I can see the ads now - photos of Michael Brown, devastation in New Orleans, Tom DeLay, smoke-filled backrooms and polluted water, Lewis Libby, injured soldiers, the president playing the guitar and holding hands with Saudi royalty ...

If that stays a primary page in the Democratic message book I don't see how it can be defeated by Republicans who'll apparently be running on people's fears of gays and Hispanics. After all, it's very much worth keeping in mind that Al Gore, who ran the most populist national campaign in many years, won a half million votes more than that crony-lover who took up residence in the White House on the order of Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor.