By Michael J. Smith on Thursday March 16, 2006 12:52 PM
... thanks to the
New York Times, of all the unlikely sources:
Republicans, worried that their conservative base lacks motivation to turn out for the fall elections, have found a new rallying cry in the dreams of liberals about censuring or impeaching President Bush.In other words: what the Democrats are scared of is that impeachment (or even censure) will increase turnout. Life's little ironies, eh? Used to be, turnout was thought to be good for the Democrats. Now, however, the party of the common man is reduced to hoping most of 'em stay home.The proposal this week by Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, to censure Mr. Bush over his domestic eavesdropping program cheered the left. But it also dovetailed with conservatives' plans to harness such attacks to their own ends.
With the Republican base demoralized by continued growth in government spending, undiminished violence in Iraq and intramural disputes over immigration, some conservative leaders had already begun rallying their supporters with speculation about a Democratic rebuke to the president even before Mr. Feingold made his proposal.
Comments (3)
Pretty rediculous. Bush is at ~39%. Hard to believe that the Republicans could really make a rallying cry out of "Stop the Liberals from Impeaching the President!"
Only in America...
Posted by Tim D | March 16, 2006 4:12 PM
Posted on March 16, 2006 16:12
Tims -- Glossing the Times story a bit, perhaps the Demo "strategists" are thinking something like this:
Okay, it's a midterm election, turnout will be low anyhow and the midterm effect, such as it is, is in our favor. Bush has fucked up so bad that probably a lot of his own family will stay home. Few people who voted for Bush in '00 or '04 will switch sides and vote for us -- after all, we've been very careful to avoid giving them any reason to -- but as long as a lot of them are discouraged enough to sit this one out, and our own zombies lurch into the booth with their usual shambling gait, then hey, we might get a few more snouts at the trough.
On the other hand if we make any Bushies mad, by doing or saying anything, then maybe they'll come out and vote just to spite us.
I know, as strategic thinking, it's not up there with Marshal Zhukov, but it has the authentic crackpot-realist flavor, don't you think? Just the sort of thing you might read on Daily Kos.
Posted by MJS | March 16, 2006 4:28 PM
Posted on March 16, 2006 16:28
I guess the Kossacks don't have much faith in the truthfulness of their own message. Otherwise they'd see all those Republicans rushing to the polls as a prime conversion opportunity. Surely the distance between two determined voters is less than the distance between a determined voter and a determined non-voter.
Of course, their message is a crock of shit, so I can't really blame them for not having faith in it. Hey, Kos is just like his masters. Win or lose, the gravy keeps flowing. So of course he'd join his fuckwit leaders in wanting the same amount of boodle for the most minimal amount of effort possible.
Posted by alsis39.75 | March 17, 2006 10:38 AM
Posted on March 17, 2006 10:38