For your amusement, I offer the following from Digby:
A Democratic president, no matter who it is, is going to pay for the Republicans’ sins. But it won’t be just because the Republicans and Blue Dogs in congress suddenly “realize” they have co-equal power. I predict that the right wing noise machine will shout far and wide that the election was stolen (probably with the help of “illegal aliens.”) The new president will not be allowed to weed out even one right wing plant anywhere in the executive branch without being accused of politicizing it. There will be no executive privilege as the courts rediscover their “responsibilities.” Scientists and experts will all be accused of being shills for the liberal special interests. The president will be accused of violating Americans’ civil liberties and destroying the constitution. There will be widespread accusations of fraud and corruption and non-stop investigations.
A “stolen” election? The 2006 election came and went and not a peep from Republicans or any sane conservative blogger that the election was “stolen.” Republicans, generally acting like adults about most things, don’t engage in the fantastical and uproariously funny conspiracy theories indulged in by our leftist friends about dark doings at Diebold or after midnight vote stealing. Perhaps Digby was projecting.
In fact, that entire paragraph is an amazing summary of exactly what Democrats have done to Republicans over the last 7 years. And what’s more important, it was done for exactly the reason that Digby is accusing the GOP of in his nightmare future; pure, unadulterated politics.
What Digby is worried about is that when the Democratic president exercises the same kind of executive authority used by the Bush Administration, that she is going to have to support it thus making her out to be the rank hypocrite she has always been. In short, on this and all other issues she mentions above, she wants immunity from charges of being a hypocrite just because she has posited this outrageous scenario. Every time a Democratic president does something that Bush was criticized for, you can bet that Digby and her friends will be whining about the Republican noise machine and dark forces arrayed against them while giving that action their unquestioned support.
It’s a “Get out of being called a Hypocrite Card” he wants and she’s not going to get it.
Sorry, it won’t wash. First of all, don’t worry about Republican charges of stealing the election. It ain’t going to be that close. Secondly, the simple act of projecting all these Republican sins and admitting that Democrats will be doing something similar proves that their criticism has been driven by ideology and politics, not concern over “shredding the constitution” or any other nonsense the left has been spouting these last years.
And yes, the “Republican Noise Machine” is going to be in high gear everytime a Democratic president does something that Bush has been raked over the coals for. If I were Digby, I would examine my archives pretty carefully and delete posts that will come back to haunt her after a Democrat is elected president. Just use the criteria she set out above to cleanse the record because sister, you and your compatriot’s feet are going to be held to the fire when it comes to criticisms you have made of this president that you then turn around and praise and support when a Democrat is in power.
Preemptive absolution isn’t going to do you any good. Trust me when I tell you that all of the clever invective you and other liberals have used over the past 7 years to tell us how how close the country is to a dictatorship and how evil the Republicans have been will be thrown in your face whenever a Democrat dares to go beyond the “Greenwald Line” of exercising executive authority.
No deal on hypocrisy immunity. You will be sentenced to experience the next 4-8 years exactly as you fear; one example of sanctimony exposed after another.
UPDATE
Thanks to commenters who pointed out Digby is a woman. Pronouns changed accordingly.
5:22 pm
Digby is being really silly.
Why worry about the whining of the noise machine?
It will be every bit as effective in slowing down the Dem president as the libs have been in slowing down Bush.
I.e. not at all.
6:18 pm
Rick Moran writes: “Sorry, it won’t wash. First of all, don’t worry about Republican charges of stealing the election. It ain’t going to be that close.”
What? Conceding the next national election before even the first primary vote is cast?
Courage, my man! Courage!
7:54 pm
Vis Digby, her real name is Heather.
8:03 pm
Digby is a she.
10:51 pm
The next President may not be a “she.” It may well be “he.” His last bame may be “obama” or perhaps “Edwards.” Mrs. Clinton has not won yet. With that said the general sentiment is correct. The United States is in a war for its very survival against Islmaic terrorists and their Communists allies in Russia and China. We have allowed oursevles to beomc distracted.
2:00 am
Ann Coulter is correct when she says that if you ever want to know what Democrats are up to, just look at what they’re accusing you of.
2:24 am
Question: did the Clintons need to murder Vince Foster to be accused of doing so? No? Digby is saying that it will all be made up, invented out of thin air. She is not saying that the a Democratic president will act like Bush, but that s/he will hypocritically be accused of doing so by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, who cheered it on when their boy actually was breaking the law.
You can agree or disagree with that prediction; but don’t misconstrue it. The key word throughout the post is “accuse.”
8:54 am
Bill Clinton was also accused of incarcerating poor, innocent Wayne Dumond. The brilliant Steve Dunleavy was all over it for years. He was finally released with the help of a lot of Republicans, including Mike Huckabee.
That didn’t work out too well for a couple of young women in Missouri.
9:31 am
Rick Moran writes: “Sorry, it won’t wash. First of all, don’t worry about Republican charges of stealing the election. It ain’t going to be that close.â€
Don’t concede this election. The Dem field is far weaker than the Republican field. As long as the Rs don’t nominate Huckabee, thereby causing me to vote for whatever Dem gets put up, to include Kucinich, they will be all right.
The Dem nominee will be Obama, and he would have the thinnest resume ever for a Presidential candidate – much thinner than GWB’s was (although the media won’t be pointing that out). But, he has lots of things that can be explioted in a negative race. If the RNC was smart, they would be organizing PACs now to run nasty anti-Obama ads so that the Obamessiah can be severly bloodied in the primaries where it won’t hurt the Republican candidate as badly.
Anyway, if you think the Rs are going to lose on this, drop me an email, we can have a side bet.
10:04 pm
Headhunt23 said: “The Dem nominee will be Obama, and he would have the thinnest resume ever for a Presidential candidate…”
[cough, cough] Lincoln… [cough, cough].
10:39 am
Skohsl,
Probably pretty similar…8 years in the Illinois legislature for each. Obama has his two years in the Senate (in practice, 3 years on paper), but Lincoln had a 23 year active legal career, plus military service during the Black Hawk war. I think that Lincoln’s advocacy against slavery is at least as impressive as Obama’s voter registration drives [cough, cough].
I’ll stand by what I wrote.