May 23, 2008
Neocon A-Team: Bush, Lieberman, McCain and Rove (Brent Budowsky)
Now here comes Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who opposes the greater support for veterans offered by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and advocated by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), shamefully attacking Obama for not serving in the military.
Like Bush, like Lieberman, like Rove, McCain has chosen the way of the neoconservative policy and tactics. What makes a neocon a neocon is that their policies are doomed to fail because they are rigid, reactionary and extreme. What makes a neocon a neocon is that when their policies fail, they resort to name-calling and personal attacks against those who have been far wiser than they.
Whatever his many shortcomings, during his moments of greatness, such as negotiating with Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan was wise in rejecting the way of the neocon. On the great issue of nuclear arms control, Reagan was virtually the anti-neocon, which is why so many neoconservatives attacked Reagan so personally and aggressively for seeking major arms control with Mikhail Gorbachev.
The neocons and many leading conservatives called Reagan an appeaser; they called him Neville Chamberlain; they called him naive, like a child. From George Will to Jesse Helms, they lined up with the same demeaning attacks on Reagan they make against anyone opposing their rigid, reactionary, failed policies.
Reagan believed in building up arms to negotiate down arms. One can read the books by Lou Cannon, Richard Reeves and Paul Lettow and Reagan's now-public diaries to understand why he seized the moment with Gorbachev and how so many arch-rigid neoconservatives attacked him so personally for doing so.
George Bush is one of the great failed presidents in American history because he is not under the influence of neocons, he IS a neocon with the same rigidity, the same extremism, the same quasi-religious refusal to compromise, the same blindness to reality, and the same propensity to resort to personal attacks against opponents when his policies fail.
George Bush learns nothing from mistakes; Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John McCain learn nothing from mistakes. The speeches they give today are indistinguishable from the speeches they gave advocating the Iraq war when it was still avoidable. Their logic, their personal attacks, their demeaning of alternative views and their demeaning of opponents come from the same policies and the same instincts, with the same results.
Of course they resort to Karl Rove tactics; that is all they have left when they can no longer defend their policies. It is no coincidence that even the losing candidate for the Democratic nomination approvingly quotes Rove. At least Hillary realized her mistake in year five of the Iraq war. Late is better than never.
John McCain is no Reagan, he is a neocon instead, complete with their rigidity, their policy extremism, their inability to learn from mistakes, and their name-calling as their last refuge to try hide from their failures.
So: McCain says those who were far wiser than he about Iraq want to wave white flags of surrender. He says those who support diplomacy as Reagan did are appeasers, as Reagan's opponents on the right said about him. When others favor far greater support for veterans than McCain and Bush, he carries the torch of Rove, attacking them personally and using the argument that they never served in the military, the last refuge of McCain's bad policy in refusing to advocate greater support for vets.
Even after losing three major House elections in states that should have brought major victory for Republicans, neither his party nor McCain have learned anything from their failures.
This is the way of the neocon, and as John McCain becomes the leading torch-bearer for the neocon vision, he sows the seeds for his defeat because America wants to turn this terrible page and leave this past behind us.
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Absolutely Brad, They have nothing else to tout, so this is what they end up with.
I hope that Obama can become the offical nominee and begin fully going against McCain. That is going to be something to behold!
Comment by radpaddi — May 23, 2008 @ 9:11 am
We can only pray that this dark, horrid time will soon come to an end and those responsible for it will be held accountable. Thanks Brent.
Jeff
Valencia, CA
Comment by Lescoeurs — May 23, 2008 @ 9:28 am
Brent: I don't mean to impugn your integrity but you left out the fact that McCain felt the bill didn't go far enough to help veterans. Your spin won't change that fact As far as Rush Limbaugh, please tell me something from his show that isn't true. I think he's a little rude sometimes, but overall does a fantastic job of showing the hypocrisy of liberalism.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — May 23, 2008 @ 9:33 am
Bingo Brent, as you're spot ot again. Speaking as a "Reagan Democrat" and one in who in 2000 voted for "The Worst US President"; enough is enough.
I doubt I'll ever vote for another republican ever again unless they (GOP) rid their party of this crazed neocon wing. Sometimes I think the Nazi party of WWII has morphed in to the GOP neocon wing. At minimum they are facists, possibly they (some at least) are Nazis.
And McInsane wants to mimic Neocon Bush. Go figure.
Comment by Janet M — May 23, 2008 @ 9:35 am
Part of the Neocon ethos is creating your own personal reality, which in particular Karl Rove is famous for. And which eventually boils down to fooling some of the people some of the time.
Worked so far.
Comment by Jonathan — May 23, 2008 @ 9:48 am
Excellent Post Brent. I get the feeling that more and more is going to come out about McCain's camapighn, I wonder if the media is going to play media bites every three seconds about the people who supports McCain. It is going to be very interesting to find out that their are more 'shaded' people in his campaign. He knew of these pastors remarks before he courted them,and only renounced them when it became a problem. I think we are about to witness some 'anger management' issues from McCain. Only cooler heads will prevail.
Comment by Yvonne — May 23, 2008 @ 10:32 am
ROFLMAO!
Comment by Jon Pemberton — May 23, 2008 @ 11:02 am
I don't see the neocon policies as "mistakes" or as "failures". If you look at them from the perspectives of 'what the neocons wanted' and 'what they got' then you can see that their policies are awful,crappy,dangerous, repressive, and so on. But they are now the rule of the land and so they got their success. And they got their success because-in part- the Demo "opposition" did not oppose.
Infamous is also famous.
Comment by Cole — May 23, 2008 @ 11:07 am
So what? Your boy Obama is a left wing loon. He is the most liberal member of Congress. As much as self-centered folks like yourself don't want to believe it, there are still many people in this country that uphold conservative values, like religion, marriage only between a man and a woman, the second amendment and all it stands for. We are looking forward to a contest against Obama; he already has three strikes against him — he's black, he's inexperienced, and he's a leftist.
Comment by John Simmons — May 23, 2008 @ 11:18 am
Republican Culture of Corruption
Though McCain, Lieberman, Bush and Rove are Neo-cons true and blue, neo-conservatism is simply the most extreme form of the culture of corruption that has beset American politics.
Rove and Bush have rigged elections from the U.S. presidency, to Georgia and Alabama governorships to lesser public offices using electronic machines that are deliberately flawed and un-auditable.
Rove and Bush fired US Attorneys that refused to commit high crimes and misdemeanors by politically prosecuting enemies of RNC cronies.
Rove and Bush have issued multi-billion dollar no-bid defense contracts while demoting Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse for whistle-blowing.
And now we have $135/bbl oil and the US economy is on the verge of a major recession with deficit spending spiraling out of control.
Why hasn't a single Bush Administration employee been held accountable for these and many more felonious crimes too numerous to enumerate?
Is it only because being neo-con is cool? Or is it that the Republican Culture of Corruption is so ingrained in our government that no one in a position of power hasn't been corrupted and therefore is unwilling and unable to "do the right thing."
Comment by J Snow — May 23, 2008 @ 11:19 am
This AM on CNN, they played the vid clips by Obama, then McCain's rebuttal.
The rebuttal never once addressed the merits of McCain's opposition to the legislation. Instead, he simply attacked Obama.
Indeed, the so-called liberal media never even talked about the fact that McCain struck a target that wasn't even on the playing field. Obama stated that McCain said NO to the legislation. McCain didn't address the issue at all and was never called on it. All CNN did was discuss how McCain is a 'war hero' and how they two are having a 'spat'. Really? A spat? Without even asking why McCain refuses to discuss the issue???
WTF? Even the freakin' news media can't address the issue with any coherence.
Low information voters, eg, moronic neocon voters, will eat this up because it plays directly into one of their weaknesses. That weakness is that they're so medicated they can't understand logic or even know what a Q&A session is all about.
Comment by Mark — May 23, 2008 @ 11:23 am
John Simmons-
Are you really as daft as you are racist? You don't give a damn about our men and women dying needlessly in Iraq because you care what goes on in someone else bedroom?
You, "my friend" (to quote John McBush's phrase) are what is wrong with America, and I, for one, will be very happy to see your bigoted scourge pass from this country.
Comment by PR — May 23, 2008 @ 11:33 am
What amazes is how the neocons have had such an inordinate influence on our nation’s policy given their few numbers - similar to the theocrats. America is now holding its collective breath hoping the neocons don’t take the world further into this death spiral by bombing Iran as Bush’s last hurrah.
Let me add one thing to your commentary. Neocons are also conscious free cowards when confronted about the fruits of their death fetish.
In 2006 this interview from Radio Netherlands: http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/amsterdamforum/060413af
The interviewer, Chris Kijne, asked neocon Francis Fukuyama this:
"In 1998 you co-signed a letter to then President Clinton asking for the toppling of Saddam Hussein if necessary by force, if necessary, without the consent of the United Nations. One could argue that you got what you asked for."
Fukuyama then mumbles about how he had written some things in Europe prior to the war expressing reservations.
IN EUROPE!
In regard to his reservations, Kijne asked "couldn't you see [this] coming you were signatory of PNAC" adding, "they issued a paper in 2000 which was rather belligerent, which was focusing very much on military buildup. I mean, you should have seen the signs before, shouldn't you?"
Are you ready for this? Here is Fukuyama’s reply:
"Ah, I, aah, maybe that's right. Certainly by signing that letter…this was basically Bill Kristol and a fax machine. So every time he had an issue he sent around a letter and asked you to sign it and I certainly didn't think that I was signing onto the whole of his agenda."
Get that? The neocons pushed us into this plan-free war because no one had the foresight to unplug little Billy Kristol’s fax machine!
Pressed again about the letter by Kijne, Fukuyama said, "Well, again I think you are over emphasizing the importance of my signing a couple of letters, because I never really bought most of the agenda that project represented."
“My signing a couple of letters” – how disgusting is that?
Comment by Aldo — May 23, 2008 @ 12:29 pm
PR — (forgot the ICK part) and others like you, stick your head and the sand and try to imagine a colorblind world where someone's skin color doesn't matter. Keep living in your fantasy world. In the real world, race DOES matter. Ask any Black man or woman how "equal" they've been treated throughout their lives. Hussain Obama is no different. Yes, I did use his middle name — so what? It's his name, isn't it? This is the same guy who called himself "Barry" because he was ashamed of his Muslim name.
This is the same guy who used lobbyists and PACS to get himself elected and now preaches about how evil they are.
I'm not a racist — I'm a graduate of Howard Law School, which is 95% Black. Know who you're talking about before you show everyone how you have diarrea of the mouth and constipation of the brain.
Comment by John Simmons — May 23, 2008 @ 2:12 pm
Brent, you claim that "McCain says those who were far wiser than he about Iraq want to wave white flags of surrender." I'm sure you count yourself among those who are wiser on Iraq. Yet right here, two months ago you completely mis-characterized the situation in Iraq. You claimed that Maliki lost in Basrah and left with his tail between his legs. I called you out then for being wrong and said that the Basrah narrative is a creation of the hostile media. And you have never admitted that you were wrong.
I post article after article describing Maliki's great successes and how the situation in Iraq is finally stabilizing. All the negative metrics are at their lowest by far since the beginning of the war. And yet McCain in your mind sticks to a failed policy that has been discredited. After years of calling for the withdrawal from Iraq you cannot admit that you're wrong. Your only choice is to lash out at a guy who took a chance and said that the surge would work and that to leave under the circumstances would be suicidal. Who really lacks credibility on the issue Brent?
Comment by Igor R. — May 23, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
J Snow, while the Congress and the Democrats disallowed essentially all new drilling in the United States and forbade nuclear power plant construction, you're blaming the Republicans for $135 oil? Nancy Pelosi has just claimed the drilling is a way to increase oil prices. Chuck Schumer within the last month claimed first that producing an extra billion barrels of oil a day in the US through new drilling would lower the price of oil by one cent, and just the other day said that if the Saudi's increased production by the same amount the price of oil would fall by over twenty dollars. The Democrats in Congress have no idea about what they are doing on energy, all they know is that to call for renewables and blame the oil companies and Bush. This is an insane party with no credibility. What good have they done since the 2006 election?
Comment by Igor R. — May 23, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
As long as you, and others like you, insist that race does matter, it will matter. Young people today don't feel the way that you do. So it is only a matter of time before people who think race matters become a thing of the past. Are you trying to say that this country doesn't have the will or the capability of growing pass such idiotic distinctions? I would rather be optimistic and say that we can change.
You may not be racist, but you side with them by stating its presence is intractable.
Comment by LaDeDah — May 23, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
Great post Brent, thanks.
Alod, thanks for the Mijne interview lines, very interesting indeed.
Simmons, did you study under Timothy McVeigh? Are you as paranoid as you sound? Has Bush got you that scared Simmons? You're sad and you help Brent illustrate his point about 'neocons'.
Igor, Maliki did walk away from Basra with his tail between his legs. His "army" collapsed. If not, shouldn't we bring the boys home? The neocon references you've tried providing to demonostrate otherwise was generated by the Pentagon via NewsMax. You are a victim of the neocon propaganda and you're just having a hard time dealing with that fact. Igor, your chasing your tail.
Comment by Lester — May 23, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
It's easy for a white person to say race doesn't matter, because racism doesn't affect you. Ask the Black man, woman or child who is treated differently for no other reason than the color of their skin and they will tell you that race does matter in every aspect of life.
By the way, that's not a racist viewpoint, it's a fact of life.
Comment by John Simmons — May 23, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
Igor,
Why don't you address the most pressing issue facing America - the blatant Republican Culture of Corruption?
Why shouldn't all the members of the Bush Administration who have committed serious crimes be charged and go to jail - starting with Karl Rove?
Are you a patriot or are you another cowardly crooked weasel like George W Bush who is an excellent Self-Servant but a lousy human being?
America's failure to return to the rule of law will bring our downfall.
Comment by J Snow — May 23, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
Hat tip to Brent for an excellent post. I think and hope the nation now understands that neocon extremism mixed with soundbite sloganomics does cannot trump realistic governance.
J. Simmons, look at the connection here with your rebuttal of "So what? Your boy Obama is a……..". That's a take-your-eye-off-the-ball typical denial of the abject failures of this administration. It's kinda like, oh yeah, well,, you're momma wears combat boots so take that!
Igor,,poor Igor. Let's clear this up, ok? ANWR drilling will reduce the price at the pump somewhere to the tune of a dime a gallon in a few years and will last somewhere around 10 years. While pumping, it will decrease our imports from something like 67% to about 64% After that well has run dry, we will be exactly back where we are today. Big Oil(yeah, them evil big oil people) will make a huge profit and the working folks will get basically nothing. That's the neocon's mindset- slaughter the village milk producing cow, sell the fillet mignon, and leave the carcass for the people to bury. Of course, the entire time, the administration and the blind loyalist would be selling the villagers on how it's in their best interest.
Comment by andy42302 — May 23, 2008 @ 4:36 pm
Obama: unqualified on foreign policy
http://www.nysun.com/editorials/obamas-reassurance/77401/
Comment by Igor R. — May 23, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
How the crypto-marxists won:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/05/how_cryptomarxism_won_the_cold.html
Comment by Igor R. — May 23, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
It's amazing how many posters use the term neocon incorrectly.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — May 23, 2008 @ 5:42 pm
McCain said before all this bru-ha-ha, when talking about providing more incentives to join the military,about strengthening the military, said, "And one of the thing we ought to do is provide them significant educational benefits in return for serving."
When opposing the bill the day after receiving a petition from 30000 veterans, McCain said he was opposed because, "a more generous and expansive GI Bill would create an incentive for troops to get out of the military and go to college."
I agree with Gen. Wesley Clark and John Soltz who said, ""[I]t is morally reprehensible to fix the system so that civilian life is unappealing to service members, in an attempt to force them to re-up. Education assistance is not a handout, it is a sacred promise that we have made for generations in return for service."
But then John McCain's most significant accomplishment was getting captured in Vietnam.
I don't think he can escape from his military mentality.
What's good for the service is mor important then what's good for the soldiers. It's scary to think of McCain in the White House. To a carpenter with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Comment by smilinjack — May 23, 2008 @ 5:46 pm
John Simmons:
There will only be 2 choices for president. Will you cut off your nose to spite your face? The Republicans have had a stranglehold on our country for too many years. The United States is going down the tubes under this regime. We need a different direction. It's obvious McCain isn't going to take us there, and will offer more of the same.
You don't say whether you're black or white … either way, you're terribly racist and didn't learn any tolerance at your 95% black law school. I'm white and female, and I don't care if the Democrat running against McCain were purple with pink polka dots … if Mickey Mouse were running, I'd vote for him before I'd see another Republican come in to "finish off the job". We've had enough of Bush's "accomplished missions". We don't need another half-brained idiot of a seriously advanced age with honesty issues, psychological issues, and MAJOR ANGER ISSUES in charge of our country. We need a "healer" and a "diplomat", not another testosterone-driven war-monger.
Comment by Cheryl — May 23, 2008 @ 7:06 pm
John Simmons, when you say "We are looking forward to a contest with Obama",
who is "we"?
Comment by John Tantini — May 23, 2008 @ 7:53 pm
Clinton wants Obama dead.
Comment by yvonne — May 23, 2008 @ 11:29 pm
The GOP has to purge themselves of the neocons.
Kick the cult out of the party.
The neocons can start their own party.
Comment by Goofticket — May 24, 2008 @ 11:25 am
Very well written article. Succinctly grasps the point… And for the "rightist" commentators here I challenge them to respond to one simple fact: Bush has borrowed more money to pay for government spending than all of the 42 previous presidents combined. How is that responsible from a conservatives viewpoint? And for what? $135 oil? Pure Genius!
Comment by Darryl Parvin — May 24, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
The Clinton administration blocked oil drilling in Alaska. The Dem's blocked it again even with the high price of gas, and point at big oil, who makes 4% profits and Government makes 18% profits (450% more than big oil). Maybe we should tax Government for Windfall profits??
125,00 Sunni killed in Iraq before "Bush's" big mistake, but recently a Sunni leader joined the Muslim's in prayer. But the War's not working!
Nearly 900 lawyer's (Congress and Senate) read the same documents as Bush before "They Decleared Action on Iraq", Bush signed it as President's do.
Why is it that people will spend hours writing hate blogs about a great President and won't spend 30 minutes watching C-Span…to find out what is actually going on?
The Dem's on C-Span ask the head's of Oil really good questions…like if the Saudie's increased Oil by 2 million barrels…would that lower the price people pay at the pumps? Maybe the Dem's now want to go to war with the Saudie's? How else can you get them to do something they don't want to? How about drilling in the USA for the oil we have that would last us 200 years.
But hey, we need more Government in our lives..hell if Government can go in and take 450 children away from their parents, without facts..maybe we (USA) can become what China and Russia is trying to pull away from.
So, go ahead and vote for Obama or Clinton…let's just Tax, Tax, Tax and make this a better America…that way we'll all have the same, rather or not we all want to work for it! Good luck with that idea!
Comment by Doug — May 24, 2008 @ 1:12 pm
For those who claim that whites should try to understand blacks, then perhaps it would also be wise to understand how whites have become unwilling victims of affirmative action. Whites in our society have never held slaves and most have never discriminated against anyone. Yet the federal government and all state governments require affirmative action hiring and promotion programs. Since there are a limited number of promotions and educational opportunities available, whites become victims and responsible for actions and acts of discrimination they never particpated in, and that's a fact.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — May 24, 2008 @ 1:20 pm
"The neocons and many leading conservatives called Reagan an appeaser; they called him Neville Chamberlain"
That would be the winning quote, Mr. Budowsky, had you inserted some actual names instead of anonymous "neocons" and "leading conservatives". It is my understanding that neocons of a vintage then standing around complaining about Reagan's anti-nuke epiphany are now or were until recently Bush II admin figures. For this omission, you have spoilt our opportunity to have some good fun hanging old quotes about their necks. Ah, to unearth an oldie from Cheney dissing St. Ronald…sigh, but no.
Comment by jeffreydj — May 24, 2008 @ 3:26 pm
Doug, I read your post 3 times looking for some logic. Obviously, I've come up short.
ANWR, will not solve this problem. It will offer very little relief and will only be temporary.
I and most Americans do not care what the oil's profit margin is. The fact is that they made $120 billion in clear profits last year, more than any corporation in the history of the world. I could not care less about figures that's supposable justification for this profiteering while people are losing homes and the country's debt is spiraling out of control.
The government is not taxing 18% on a gallon of gas. They're taxing 18 CENTS per gallon.
You failed to mention that manipulated and distorted intelligence appeared AFTER the vote on the war. How convenient.
As far as your "tax,tax,tax" accusation about Ds, let's take a look at your party. After 7 years of the most reckless spending in history, they now want to put on their conservative hats and pretend they have spending discipline. Get real. Never in history has an administration mislead a nation into war and then lowered taxes on the most wealthy. It's absolutely stunning that you have the audacity to call Bush a "great president". A great president would not turn his back on the majority of the country in order to coddle the most wealthy.
Comment by andy42302 — May 24, 2008 @ 4:27 pm
Cheryl, it's precisely people like you who don't care what exactly is being served in the dish labeled "Democratic Candidate" that may install Marxism in the United States. How can you not care? How can you be so angry with the misdeeds of one group that ANYTBODY who just calls himself a Democrat is better? No logic at all, just pure anger.
Comment by Igor R. — May 25, 2008 @ 1:25 am
Igor, I thought Cheryl made a valid point. There's an elementary reality that applys here. If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting. Simply put, the last thing we need is another 4 years of the same. McCain continues to promise just that.
Comment by andy42302 — May 25, 2008 @ 7:04 pm
jeffreydj, obviously "neocons" want nothing but war. They simply enjoy it because they like to see people die. Therefore any negotiations for them are appeasment. You see, whether or not they really called Reagan Chamberlain is immaterial. The main thing is that because of their evil nature they by definition thought that, so the story is either true and accurate or fake but accurate, and it truly doesn't matter because it's accurate in what it's really trying to say.
Comment by Igor R. — May 26, 2008 @ 2:01 am
andy, when someone says that they will vote for someething "purple with pink polka dots" or a "Mickey Mouse" as long as they have a "D" after their name, this doesn't indicate rational thinging. I keep making the same point over and over, just because you can't fix your car doesn't mean you have to ask the next person you see to do it. There are not just these two alternatives in most situations: "what you've being doing before" and "another approach", it's a false choice.
To say that a war that's being faught and now finally being won should be seen to a successful conclusion, as opposed to troops witdrawn come hell or high water to me indicates the right thinking. To say that Bush started the war for no reason and faught it incompetently is (a) not fully reflective of the situation (b) doesn't automatically lead to a conclusion that the troops need to be immedidately (or without regard for the conditions on the ground) withdrawn.
Comment by Igor R. — May 26, 2008 @ 11:02 pm
We as a people are at a defining moment or Choice for our planet — that of right human relations with people everywhere on this planet or the possible annihiliation of our planet due to men with war-mongering minds who want to try and delude us that the continuation of wars with all the nuclear bombs out there will not somehow escalate to a fullblown war of these nuclear bombs which will bring about the destruction of the earth! So we can chose peace and diplomacy or a march toward nuclear proliferation. It is our choice.
Comment by Angellight — May 27, 2008 @ 8:28 am
Angellight, see if you can convince Ahmadenijad first. The problem with peace activists is that they can only hope to achieve anything in Democracies. When they do achieve their goals there, it's really unilateral disarmament. They can't get it through their skulls that the really bad people who don't even listen to their words will keep doing evil things, now unopposed. That's why history is not full of governments run by peace activists.
Comment by Igor R. — May 27, 2008 @ 2:24 pm