Poor Republicans

Now that Republicans have power, and they can't even blame Bill Clinton anymore for their screwups, they don't seem to know what to do. Imagine - actually being held accountable for your own actions. Actually being expected to accomplish something instead of just bitching and whining all the time.

The Republicans are beholden to two conflicting groups that normal Americans find unpalatable: greedy corporate robber-barons, and right-wing theocrats.

On the right-wing theocrat side, we have the Terri Schiavo scandal, that the Republicans really wish had never happened. They thought it was such a good political idea, and instead they have been publicly exposed as being totally subservient to some of the craziest snake-handling sons of bitches ever to walk the earth.

On the corporate robber barron side, we have privatizing Social Security. Hey, THERE'S a good idea. Let's run up two trillion dollars in debt for the purpose of cutting everybody's benefits and gaining nothing

Let's face it: Once you can proudly state that you are consulting greedy thieves for your economic decisions and barefooted hillbillies at revival meetings for your moral decisions, that's just GOT to attract the general public.

These two issues - Schiavo and SS - are two big, steaming craps that the Republicans have excreted right in the face of the public, and they are stuck with the prospect of swearing that it's a rose garden when we all can see that it's a dungheap.

And now, they are trying to minimize the political fallout, and it just gets harder and harder, because they have publicly committed themselves to actions that almost NOBODY wants. It's a political disaster to back off, and it's a political disaster to go forward.

"House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has acknowledged that President Bush's call for completion of a Social Security bill this year could be unrealistic and that the legislation might have to wait until 2006.

"The president's aides immediately responded by saying Bush is committed to winning passage this year. The White House and Republican congressional leaders have said repeatedly that the proposed restructuring of the retirement system is doomed if it does not pass this year, because it will be even more difficult to get Democratic support in 2006, a midterm election year.

GOP lawmakers have also said Bush needs to sign the bill this year because they want close to a full year before the election to explain what they have done, and for retirees to see they are still getting their checks and scheduled increases.

But Hastert, in an interview to be published today by the National Journal, cast doubt on the ability of Congress to deliver on such a rapid schedule. He was asked what his timetable is for completion of a Social Security bill.

"Politically, we probably need to get something done by next spring, a year from now," he said. "You can't carry it right up to an election. That's just political dynamite."

Notice the tacit admission of this last sentence: "We know people hate this, but we have no choice but to pursue it."