The ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks brought about what has, by now, become a predictable amount of attempts by Republicans and conservatives to capitalize politically on the tragedy--and equally predictable attempts to either denounce or explain these attempts.
Given the generally craven, self-serving nature of conservatives, their politics and their tactics generally, I long ago stopped being surprised by all of this. What continues to amaze me, however, is the ability of conservatives to deflect the blame for their mistakes onto the Democrats who either (a) had nothing to do with it (9/11) or (b) have pushed as hard as they can to clean it up (the Great Recession). What happened to the concept of personal responsibility as a Republican virtue? Both disasters happened on the watch of a Republican President, based on disasterous policies (ignoring al-Queida in favor of passing unaffordable tax cuts). Both disasters, based on current pre-election polls, are now being successfully blamed on the Democrats.
I have to say that, ultimately, the blame for the success of this shell game falls on the American people, enough of whom buy it because it's easier and somehow more comforting than searching for the truth. H.L. Mencken, anti-Semite though he was, was right: no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
Here's hoping that November is the month in which common sense triumphs over craven, cowardly conservatism.
No comments:
Post a Comment