A few years ago, just after the 2000 presidential election, I found the level of anti-Bush sentiment somewhat troublesome. While I was certainly no fan of Bush, I didn't think he'd done enough to earn the utter disdain of many American people.
I started a Web site called "Reasonable People," with the idea of talking about George Bush and company in a less strident way. However, during the first year of his administration, I understood why it was so hard to be "reasonable" about Dubya and his pals. I was disgusted by his:
And then there was his using of the 9/11 tragedy (which, don't forget, happened after his administration had been in office almost eight months) as an excuse to invade Iraq. Thousands of America lives and trillions of American dollars later, Iraq is less secure than ever. And Afghanistan remains the powder key its been for the last twenty years.
I'm not a life-long Democrat. I'm honest enough to admit that if I'd been old enough to vote in 1972, that I would have voted for Nixon. I didn't know for a fact that Nixon was guilty of helping plan Watergate until I was watching the Watergate hearings in the summer of 1973. At that point, it was clear Nixon was guilty as sin, even though it took him another year to own up and resign. I even voted for Ford in 1976. Back in the '70s, the phrase "moderate Republican" or "independent Republican" was not an oxymoron.
However, the attitude and behavior of the vast majority of Republicans since 1980 has meant I almost never vote Republican. I supported people like Senator John Heinz and voted for people like Governor Bill Weld (though I'm not sure I would vote for Weld in this millennium). In short, I liked politicians who demonstrated they could think for themselves and who were fiscally responsible. The last Republican I voted for, Barbara Hafer, has since escaped to the Democratic party, because she can think for herself, so she couldn't call herself a Republican any longer either.
The Republican party used to be the party of personal responsibility. It used to be the party of responsible taxation. It used to be the progressive party during the bleak times when the Democratic party was busily promoting Jim Crow laws. However, over the last 25 year years, the Republican party has practiced a frighteningly regressive form of politics. It's using double-speak in a way that would make George Orwell proud. I'm tired of seeing a political party that has no respect for the facts being in power.
And the Tea Partiers (Sarah Palin and her friends) are even less in touch with reality than most other Republicans.
So I'm reviving some Web pages:
There's no way one person can track and report on all the lies the Tea Party tell and the Bush administration told. So I'll stick to the most egregious ones, and talk about why the facts matter.