I've come to the conclusion that Republicans support ALL crime...

I've been watching all the political scandals unfold. I've been doubly disgusted with Bush's incompetence, as in Katrina, and outright criminality, as in the NSA spying case. There's been nary a peep from Republicans, except to support and defend the criminality rampant in Washington. Even the Dem elected officials have been quiet - except for a select few, like Rep. Conyers.

What can we conclude from this? I suspect that there is NO crime the Republicans would not support and defend - including treason, including the betrayal of American ideals as enshrined in the Constitution (the very FOUNDATION of our country), including the redirection of warfare from those who attacked us on 9/11 to those who have $$$ and resources Bushies want - and I wonder how far these crooks will go before they're ousted. Will Bush actually become a dictator simply because our elected officials are afraid to act against him? Will bribery become blatantly open and in your face? Will Bush completely abandon American ideals and just declare he has the power to name himself dictator and Americans can like it or take a hike to Gitmo? Will spying on Americans become common place so we know every time we pick up a phone or type a word online "someone" is listening? Will dissenting Americans start to disappear? Will the government just start seizing assets of Americans like you and me for "redistribution" to Bush cronies? Will elections only involve 1 party?

I'm not a young woman - I'm in my 40s - and I have NEVER seen corruption so blatant or pervasive, not even when Nixon was in charge. Bush doesn't bother firing Justice Department hacks like Nixon tried to do because he's already appointed his yes men who are willing to do anything he asks, including breaking the law (so much for justice). The news media is paralyzed and people are forced to turn to blogs for information (which the government is also trying to control) - making the US seem more and more like a communist country where "news" is mere government propaganda to be disregarded.

The question I keep asking myself is this - why are people too afraid to speak out against this Administration? Why do Dem elected officials stay silent? Why is the news media complicit? Doesn't ANYONE care about the foundation of our country anymore? Their actions make me think they're complicit, rather than simply fearful, including silent Dems.

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned patriotism that put the country first, ahead of political interests and $$$? Is there ANYTHING criminal the Republicans AREN'T willing to support within their party? How far does it have to go before Dem elected officials are willing to DO SOMETHING? When does it become a tipping point for the public at large? When do we start fighting for the freedom that our forefathers sacrificed their lives to give us?

I sit here wondering if I'm watching the total destruction of my country. I believe in American ideals and everything enshrined in our Constitution. What a sad day it would be if Americans threw it all away for a quick buck and political expediency. People used to be loyal to America. Now they're just loyal to their political party, and the country can go to h*ll. It's sad.

They only support profitable crime. ;)

What about Cheney spouting "the President is all powerful and can do anything (including break the law)"? And let's not forget the Plame leak.

I wonder what other crimes they've committed that we just haven't heard about yet. Murder? Theft? Fraud? Rape? Who knows what disgusting thing?

These guys are so drunk on power they literally BELIEVE they are above the law, and they act according to their beliefs. THAT is some deeply scary stuff.

Drug dealers, organized crime bosses, etc. can buy the same respectability and access as the CEO's of Ford, Delta or Pepsi do. Just like they do in third world nations, it's starting to catch on here in the USA. I read an article that while it didn't mention names or states, it said it is not all to uncommon for say, a major drug trafficker to offer a politician money to donate to build a new library or museum in their district, or make a huge donation to a charity in the politician's that they can write off on their taxes. For that the politician will say to the DEA, "hey...unless you want us to start fucking with your budget some more, quit the surveillance on (fill in the blank) and once they get seen socializing with the politician and his/her buddies, then everyone else in Washington, DC will say, "I guess he's okay after all." "I wonder if he brought his check book with him?"
In the meantime people and police officers are dying just so they can live like fat-cats.

...what most nonpolitical criminals need to do is get themselves a PAC. Imagine: Armed Robbers for A Republican Majority Political Action Committee (ARRMPAC), Anal Rapists for A Republican Majority Political Action Committee (ARRMPAC...again...hm), Arsonists for A Republican Majority Political Action Committee (ARMPAC),...well, you get the idea.

When I talk about stolen elections and the impossibility that diesel fuel melts steel - I am met with deer in the headlight looks and duh what about the planes?

The radical right has been plotting and planning the take over of our country for 50 years. We can and have to turn them back in 06 or join the survivalists in the mountains.

thing about the Republicans is not that've been caught in wide-scale major criminality up to the highest levels, but that it's who they are... and have been ever since Eisenhower. And the Democrats were not a whole lot better up to the Nixon era, judging from Hunter S Thompson's book, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.

But the saving grace of even bad Democrats, so long as they don't sell their souls to the Republicans, is that the front that they need, requires them to institute patriotic, socio-economically responsible policies. Anyway, compared to '72, with a few exceptions, the Democrats seem pretty decent and law-abiding - certainly in comparison with the neocons', "Famiglia".

There are some hilarious passages in that book, by the way. As usual with HST's oeuvres.

not that he pays attention to stories like the NSA spying, or anything, but he is getting bothered. He characterizes the folks in DC as playing political football and no longer caring about the policies - just that they win the next down. What is starting to unnerve him (even though he is still prone to unthinkingly accept GOP spin -but now when refuted he gets quiet, like he is thinking, where as before he would just keep spinning their lines) is the economy - not for him (he is doing well) but for the prospect for his kids who are approaching college years. How does one pick a career when so many jobs are being outsourced and why are 'they' (in DC) letting it happen? Loyalty to greed, money and power over country I respond - and he takes it in. Did you know that we are moving into a service economy, he asks - and is that sustainable he futher ponders. I point out that we are already there - and that the shift has been talked about in non rw circles for more than fifteen years - but only as he contemplates the future for his kids has he started to ask the questions - and to be bothered by what is going on... what bothers him the most I think is that he has started asking... but Why? and only the greed and allegiance to something other than country actually makes sense to him.

Being elected President as a Dem . . . to them, that's a crime . . .