Dick Lugar is showing an independent-mindedness that was really lacking from any of the Republicans on the armed forces committee. I'll be interested to see what Chuck Hagel has to say. If I had been born yesterday, I would say I had hopes that Lugar could somehow lead the GOP to a return of sanity, but unfortunately we've seen this show before and while Lugar seems well-meaning in some ways he's also steadfastly ineffectual, with no ability to persuade the White House to moderate its course and no stomach for fighting the administration.
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The Lugar Factor
08 Apr 2008 03:58 pm
Comments (8)
Lugar is one of the GOP eunuchs.
Lugar, Warner, Specter, Grassely, Voinavich, Snowe, ...any number of GOP Senators have from time to time looked like they were going walk away from the madness, take a stand, put party before country. They all choke.
The GOP is nothing if not disciplined. Anybody who steps out of line is beaten back into submission. That's why a vote for the GOP is essentially a vote for just a handful of Congressmen. The vast majority of GOP Congressmen have no real independent power. When told to fall in line, they do so or risk being shunned.
This makes them strong as a unit but weak as individuals. It's why they keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again.
I believe it's called Specteritis.
Jim - you mean country before party?
Sounds great, except it should be like this:
"... with no desire to persuade the White House to moderate its course..."
Jim - you mean country before party?
Posted by Phoebe
D'oh! Of course. In my defense, my comment contains no wild-ass apostrophe's.
Lugar seems much, much quieter these past 7 years than he used to be.
Comments closed April 22, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Lugar, Warner, Specter, Grassely, Voinavich, Snowe, ...any number of GOP Senators have from time to time looked like they were going walk away from the madness, take a stand, put party before country. They all choke. Hagel and Warner chose to walk away from the Senate rather than stand up to Bush, and now McCain. Only Chaffee, whose personality and presence are the exact opposite of what gets attention in the Hardball media age, was consistent and honorable.
They are in my none-too-humble opinion the worst kind of cowards. They don't believe in what their party is doing, they don't believe in their own votes, but they all want somebody else to make them do the right thing. Disgraceful.
Posted by Jim | April 8, 2008 4:12 PM