Thursday, July 12, 2007

"Mm-hmm. Mmm-hmm."



The bit I like is the little "mm-hmm" you hear her give near the end. The "I'm already not listening to you" sound one has heard a million times from a pissy co-worker. This woman's just been caught out admitting she doesn't understand her oath of office to the people of the United States and that she's misplaced her priorities in a cult of politicized hero-worship ...and she's treating it like Myra from HR is harassing her about the damn TPS forms again.

So here's a question. Is this Daddy love "politics above all" process specifically linked to the Bush Administration, or has it gotten into the center of the Republican Party Establishment? That is, I'm not saying that there's something inherently authoritarian about American Republicans, I don't agree with that characterization. But has the political party apparatus been essentially shanked because it's been run by these clowns for the last eight years, and once you've just got buckets and buckets of these people in the actual bureaucracy it's impossible to clean out the rot?

55 comments:

Jerome Comeau said...

Mr. Rogers:

Yes. I've seen it happen to a couple of companies I've worked at that no longer exist: the people who are good at doing something hire people who aren't good at doing something to manage everyone who's doing something. Then those people hire people who are less good than they are, because they want lackeys, not competition.

It expands from there, and the only way to get rid of the bad people is to buy up the company and burn it down (usually after the principal actors have left), then try and salvage what's left from the ashes.

It's expensive, annoying, time-consuming, and usually not very pleasant for any of the people who were just there to do a job, and most of the idiots go on to other jobs with or as lackeys, while the people who just wanted to make something good and useful end up shafted.

Sometimes, you can salvage a lot; other times, there's "...nothing to show our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered."

Anonymous said...

While I agree with you that it isn't a good idea to characterize Rebulicans in this light, this sort of arrogance does seem to be their forte. This woman's testimony and performance reminds of the Iran-Contra mess and watching Fawn Hall and Oliver North do thier dance before Congress.

Of course, Fawn Hall was a hottie, so all is forgiven.

nolo said...

Not only does she not understand her oath of office, she doesn't even care that she doesn't understand it. She's the kid being lectured by the detention monitor, rolling her eyes. I am so appalled it's hard to even describe.

Tom Hilton said...

Is this Daddy love "politics above all" process specifically linked to the Bush Administration

Yes.

...or has it gotten into the center of the Republican Party Establishment?

Yes.

For the last, what, 4 or 5 congressional elections, the pattern has been this: the Republicans who lose have been moderates who respect the process; the Republicans who win (or hold on to their seats) have been post-Gingrich pseudo-conservative Republicans for whom political advantage is everything. It's the inevitable result of a quarter century of 'government is the enemy' rhetoric (thank you, St. Reagan): when you put government in the hands of people who have no respect for government, they don't actually diminish the power of government; they just use it purely for their own advantage.

That's Congress, but look at the Republican presidential candidates--Mitt 'double Gitmo' Romney, Fred 'free Scooter' Thompson, the whole bunch of them. The rot has consumed the whole party.

Anonymous said...

I suspect the drift toward authoritarianism can be traced back to... uh...

Sorry, having a hard time focusing. What I'm trying to say is that the... the um, the...

Ah, hell, I can't even think straight. John, they made Jazz BREAKDANCE, for Christ's sake. I mean, okay, I can accept the idea of a "black" Transformer, but art least Scatman Crothers gave him a certain weary dignity.

Yeah, I know, misplaced priorities. In my defense, I didn't spend countless hours staging battles with little plastic Attorneys General when I was a kid.

At least I imbued my toys with humanity. More than anyone seems to have done with these DOJ apparachiks.

Anonymous said...

R,

I don’t think the Republican Party used to be (your post: I Miss Republicans) however, I think that the "Politics above all" (Paa) crowd is currently an inherent part of the Republican Party, and I think it started with the Nixon Impeachment.

Two of the senior members and driving forces of the Paa wing of the Republican Party are Cheney and Rumsfelds who actually served during the impeachment and probably swore to themselves never again, they swore that they would put party above country no matter what. Maybe this is a conspiracy but, I believe we are seeing a natural result of their plans; the Paa wing have groomed their middle managers through the 70’s and 80’s (Rove, Gingrich, DeLay, etc.), they have a plentiful money supply from the corporate wing, they have passion from the culture/god wing and they have a ready supply of leadership lackeys who are either too senile (Reagan), docile (Bush 1) or stupid (Bush 2) to understand that they are being used. And most important they also have a steady stream of believers (Gonzalez, Meirs, Blonde 1 and Blonde 2) who will also swear loyalty to party over country no matter what.

To answer your question, I don’t think the rot can be cleansed, I believe the rot is too deep and the sense of betrayal within the nation is too great.

- F

Tom said...

To my recollection, the wingnut/neocon ascendancy began after the Goldwater campaign failed.

There was a large current of resentment in the wake of that loss, at least where I lived. All government functions were assumed to be tainted by creeping socialism and staffed by useless parasites.

Resentment and hate are long, strong - but clumsy - levers.

Tom Hilton said...

In my defense, I didn't spend countless hours staging battles with little plastic Attorneys General when I was a kid.

Wow, you just didn't have any fun at all, did you? Next you'll tell us you didn't play with Supreme Court action figures.

Webs said...

I don;t read her reaction the same way. To me she seems like a child who, being chastised, is about to burst into tears and can voclize nothing more than those little grunts.

Inconstant Reader said...

They haven't all been turned into pod people -- as former Surgeon General Carmona's courageous testimony demonstrated -- but it also demonstrated how these people will jettison anyone who isn't on board the "l'etat, c'est W" train. And the pettiness: insisting that he mention Bush 3 times on each page of his speeches? Trying to keep him away from the Special Olympics because the Kennedys are involved with it?

The person I always associate with this sort of amoral power-seeking politics is Lee Atwater, the man of whom it was said, when his brain tumor was found to be benign, that it was the only part of him that wasn't malignant.

Unknown said...

She makes the little "mm-hmm" sound I think 4 times. That ought to get her a contempt of Congress citation right there.

On another subject, I played with the "My Dinner with Andre" action figures when I was a child. Hours of countless fun, that.

Anonymous said...

I'm not saying that there's something inherently authoritarian about American Republicans, I don't agree with that characterization.

Sure, but in the two-party system authoritarians are inherently Republican. See Bob Altemeyer's The Authoritarians series:

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

Cunningham said...

She's the kind that drinks the kool-aid....

albany layman said...

Well, since this a screenwriter's blog and all:

Admiral Greer: You took an oath, if you recall, when you first came to work for me. And I don't mean to the National Security Advisor of the United States, I mean to his boss... and I don't mean the President. You gave your word to his boss: you gave your word to the people of the United States. Your word is who you are.

Anonymous said...

Regarding your question about Republicans:

Yes.

Ever since the Republican "Southern Strategy" (read: scoop up all of the neoconfederate Dixiecrat cracker-ass crackers into our tent 'cause we can't get anybody elected dogcatcher, much less president), authoritarian pod people have not been the fringe, but the base, core, and central power of that party. The "moderates" were cool with that, and looked the other way while those same hyenas set out to rule or ruin, swallowing any objections they might think to make in order to continue to be counted on the winning team, to cheat, steal, or gerrymander their way to the winning side of 50%-plus-1 and call it a mandate.

Between that era and now, any Republican who did forget his party and remember his principles got stuck with a Leon Trotsky Memorial Ice Axe so fast anybody watching got nosebleed, which has only served to keep the rest of them with minds still big enough for doubt "on message."

I would advise you to be highly skeptical of any Republican who is suddenly suffering a crisis of conscience now that their promised Thousand Year Christopathic Neocon Fucktard Reich is coming down around their ears. That they're just now wavering after seven-plus years of high crimes, misdemeanors, and abject fuckups doesn't mean that they're doing any moral or intellectual soul-searching. It's just that, deep down, they still cling to the notion that their movement cannot fail, that it can only be failed. And they're just looking for scapegoats.

Outlander said...

Sorry, KFM. I love your blog but I have do disagree with your characterization that you disagree with the characterization that Republicans are inherently authoritarian. Even leaving beside for the moment the theocrats who constitute the majority of 28% dead-enders, a substantial portion of party members implicitly trust any and all sources of authority, from daddy dearest, through the local police force, all the way to Dear Leader at the tippy top.

I have some Republican friends, folks I've known from way back before any of us developed distinguishable political consciousnesses. Even the self-described "moderates" ALWAYS give the benefit of the doubt to authority figures. Although Bush and his ilk benefit from this phenomenon, it did not begin with him and it will persist long after President Thompson is sworn in in 2009. (that's a pessimistic prediction, certainly not a wish).

Anonymous said...

I don't know which side is sillier.

Anonymous said...

"PAA" knows no party - this is what the two party system has reduced our process to. We are supposed to be a reasonable people, the perfect environment to support an independent candidacy. Unfortunately neither party will ever let that happen.$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Anonymous said...

The scandal here is that the Administration is covering up their "mistakes", instead of owning up to them. By "mistakes", I mean BushCo has continued to hire incompetent people to considerable positions of authority based on campaign contributions. (Think, "You're doing a heck of a job Brownie"). Since these people are clearly incompetent and the members of the Sen. Judiciary Comm. are not, the White House fears that Senator Leahy will find away to get one of these "wing-nuts" to open the proverbial closet of Rove's skeletons. Which is probably pretty friggin' scary.

Anonymous said...

It's not really new for administration supporters to put politics above all. It's just so appalling sometimes we take special notice.

That kind of loyalist thinking permeated the Reagan and Clinton administrations, and while I don't remember it personally, Nixon had the same folks by his side. It's part of our cult of the Presidency as the ultimate form of political power, rather than just one of the branches.

There are people lined up to get into those halls of power, and each administration gets to pick the most loyal. If the person isn't, they can easily be replaced.

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