The Senate Scaredy-Crats

Many of us hoped Karl Rove's post 9/11 fearmongering political strategy had become a relic of the past with the Democratic victories of 2006 and 2008. We viewed the ridicule that greeted "A Noun, A Verb, 9/11" Guiliani's stillborn presidential campaign as a sign the electorate had grown wise to being manipulated by images of terrorists on every corner. Surely, the landslide election of a president who rose to prominence through his opposition to a war launched on false claims of imminent mushroom clouds allowed us to dream the voters had seen through the Republicans' scare tactics.

Turns out all of that was nothing more than wishful thinking, if the behavior of Senate Democrats is any indicator. They are still acting as if this were Memorial Day Weekend 2002.

How else could one explain the ever-shrinking Republican minority's ability to successfully return to their "Terror, Terror, Everywhere!" playbook and masterfully play Master Harry and his spineless caucus. Cowering to the specious specter of terrorists running rampant through the streets if America followed through on President Obama's first-day-in-0ffice pledge to close Gitmo, the Senate Scaredy-crats abandoned their Commander-in-Chief and disappointed their political base.

Gitmo - and the enhanced interrogation techniques that unfolded there - will be remembered as one of the more shameful chapters in American history, alongside the Alien and Sedition Acts and the WWII Japanese internment camps. Closing the prison is a critical step in restoring America's moral standing, at home and abroad. Gitmo is not merely a "taint" on America's image, it's continued existence makes us less safe. With each passing month Guantanamo remains open the terrorists ranks expand. Osama bin Laden's most effective recruiting tool must be closed.

But under Harry Reid's intrepid leadership, fifty Democrats (including the two independents) joined with every single Republican (there's the bipartisanship Rush Limbaugh was looking for!) supporting an amendment to the Supplemental Appropriations Bill barring the transfer of Gitmo detainees to prison facilities within the United States.

Sensing he may have boxed himself in and needlessly created a political problem for the president, Harry the Decisive quickly backtracked. As Greg Sargent reports, despite his embrace of Republican talking points and apparently unequivocal statement, “You can’t put them in prison unless you release them. We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States,” Reid is now searching for wiggle room.

Wishy-washy, which-way-is-the-wind-blowing decision-making is embarassing, Senator Reid.

You have to wonder how the President - who wants to move past the sins of the Bush era as quickly as possible - views the recent missteps by Pelosi and Reid that have only served to put a spotlight on the issues he wants to put in the rearview mirror?

Jonah Goldberg: Tell Me Lies, Great Big Lies...

The latest from Jonah Goldberg provides another glimpse into the alternative reality that is modern Republicanism:

The real scandal is that this administration thinks crises are opportunities for governmental power-grabs...

...the White House tactic isn't funny at all. It's scary. Its amorality is outweighed only by the grotesque and astoundingly naked cynicism of it all.

Apparently, it's the last part - "the naked cynicism" that really irks Jonah. He compares Republican opposition to Obama's aggressive agenda to progressive criticism of the neocon's use of 9/11 to terrorize a traumatized nation into launching the invasion of Iraq.

Recall that not long ago, the first item on the bill of indictment against the Bush administration was that it was "exploiting" 9/11 to enact its agenda. Al Gore shrieked that President Bush "played on our fears" to get his way. In response to nearly every Bush policy proposal, from the Patriot Act to the toppling of Saddam Hussein, critics would caterwaul that Bush was taking advantage of the country's fear of terrorism.

The Bush administration always denied this, and rightly so. If the president admitted that he was using a national calamity for narrow partisan or ideological advantage, it would be outrageous.

Get that? It would be outrageous if the president admitted he was manipulating people's fear to advance a partisan agenda. Lying about terror threats, weapons of mass destruction and about Nigerian yellow cake is righteous and noble as long as you tell the people your motives are pure.

In contrast, look at how blatant the Obama administration has been during the first six weeks in office!

Well, now we have the president, along with his chief aides, admitting -- boasting! -- that they want to exploit a national emergency for their preexisting agenda, and there's no scandal. No one even calls it a gaffe. No, they call it leadership.

It's not leadership. It's fear-mongering.

Beyond the jaw-dropping hypocrisy and repugnant revisionist history in this article, let's just say this: Bush's terror-manipulating lies resulted in thousands of American and Iraqi dead, a bankrupt global economy and the collapse of America's moral authority. Obama's honest assessment of the dangerous economic crisis (created by his predecessor's lies) offers the promise of healthcare access for millions, a greener planet, a better educated workforce and the hope of economic growth for generations to come.

I'll take Obama's honesty any day.