Bush is falling

And not just in the polls

(courtesy AmericaBlog)

A Day In The Life Of Joe Republican

This has apparently made the rounds before, but it deserves repeating:

"A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE REPUBLICAN"

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.

If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that his in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads.

He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.

The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

Impeaching the President

Some may find it shocking that, in a recent poll, 50% of Americans would support impeaching Bush if he lied about the reason for going to war in Iraq. But what I find shocking is that 44% appear to think it is acceptable for the President to lie about war!

I know that partisanship can account for about 30% of that 44%. But obviously there is a significant number of Americans who think lying about war is just fine.

(I suppose its possible that some responders misunderstood the question to be whether Bush should in fact be impeached now rather than later IF it is shown that he lied.)

Arrogance and Disconnect: A Bad Sign

Sherrod Brown comments on the anger generated by his decision to get back in the Ohio race:

Brown dismisses the controversy his decision has sparked as a "tempest in a teapot." He insists that "nobody recruited me to run against Paul Hackett." And though Hackett says Brown told him point-blank that he wasn't running, Brown maintains that he was simply wrestling with whether to run because of family considerations. "If your readers or others can't understand that, then so be it, but my family comes first," the congressman says. "Paul Hackett is a decent man, he served his country," he adds, "but no one is entitled to a Senate nomination."

Am I alone in finding these comments to be incredibly arrogant?

Look, I have no stake in either Hackett or Brown as the Dem nominee. I am from Oregon, not Ohio. Let Ohioans decide.

But Brown displays an incredible level of arrogance and disconnect with his "tempest in a teapot" comment. As he knows all to well, the decision to run for an office as high as U.S. Senator is not one to be made lightly. No doubt Paul Hackett has had to do a lot of serious thinking about this. For him to come to the decision to go for is not a small deal.

But now Brown comes out and acts all surprised that people are upset at the way he has handled this?

Give me a break Sherrod! If this is an example of your PR skills then I fear for Democratic prospects in Ohio if he is the nominee. I haven't seen cluelessness of this caliber since John Kerry told Democrats that it was time to "get over" the 2000 election.

I'll be the first to admit I don't know anything about Brown's liberal credentials. But his performance so far in this race leaves a lot to be desired.

No one is entitled to the nomination and that includes you Congressman Brown.

Update: Just in case it wasn't clear from the above, I am not taking sides in this fight. My natural sympathies are with Hackett because I know him better than Brown (this dustup is my first exposure to him). But I am from Oregon, not Ohio. Let Ohioans decide.

The truth is that neither side in this situation has demonstrated the maturity required.