"Incontinent Conservatism" ... Christopher Buckley, September 2006

With all of my concerns about Furface (last posting), I needed a laugh ... and the latest squib by Christopher Buckley (left) hit the mark.

For those of you unfamiliar with Christopher Buckley, he was a former featured writer for Forbes (and writes for the Washington Monthly) I believe that he is also a current editor of Forbes ... at least until we hear that he's been sent packing, and was a former speech-writer for George H. W. Bush (Bush 41 to some). Yes, he is indeed the son of William F. Buckley Jr. whom I featured in a previous posting. Like his father, he was a staunch Republican too, until George W. Bush (George 43) came along! At the end of his excellent "editorial," he makes a humorous reference to Federalist 76 and Federalist 78 ... is it time as Madison said in Federalist 76 to "Hand over the tiller of governance, that others may fuck things up for a change." Or was it Federalist 78?

Basically, he was asking his fellow Republicans to "quit while we're behind."

The key paragraph (not humorous at all) is worth repeating:

George Tenet's WMD "slam-dunk," Vice-President Cheney's "we will be greeted as liberators," Don Rumsfeld's avidity to promulgate a minimalist military doctrine, together with the tidy theories of a group who call themselves "neo-conservative" (not one of whom, to my knowledge, has ever worn a military uniform) have thus far: destabilized the Middle East; alienated the world community from the United States; empowered North Korea, Iran and Syria; unleashed sectarian carnage in Iraq among tribes who have been cutting each others' throats for over a thousand years; cost the lives of 2,600 Americans, and the limbs, eyes, organs, spinal cords of another 15,000--with no end in sight. But not to worry: Democracy is on the march in the Middle East. Just ask Hamas. And the neo-cons--bright people all--are now clamoring, "On to Tehran!"

That one paragraph sums up how many Republicans and former Republicans view their national leadership today--almost like a "cult" that, in some weird way, maintains the loyalty of the faithful in the face of a complete contradiction of republican (lower-case "r") principles and ... absolute failure!