Welcome from beautiful Springfield, Missouri! Yeah, this is John Ashcroft's home town; Roy Blunt used to live here too and his son Boy Blunt still does (even though his official domicile is the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City). As you might guess, our local newspaper's op-ed page features a fine selection of local right-wing tinfoil-hat Kool-Aid chuggers. One of my faves is a certain local emergency room doctor who believes (among other interesting things) that the so-called "Greatest Generation" in fact deserves to be excoriated for setting up the welfare state, which has bred poverty and all-around bad breeding.
But now the good doctor is mad as hell at Bush and he's not pulling any punches about it, either. A complimentary sample of his thoughts below the fold!
First, the good doctor rattles off a list of the things in life that really matter to him.
Republicans in 1994 spoke of the importance of protecting individual rights and freedom. They promised to downsize the government. They spoke of closing the Departments of Transportation, Energy, Education and Commerce. They spoke of an end to funding of the Public Broadcasting Corporation. They spoke of welfare reform and decreased social spending. They spoke of fixing Social Security. They spoke of an end to the death tax. They spoke of real tort reform. They spoke of balanced budgets. They spoke, and they spoke, and they spoke, and they spoke.
And here is the conclusion of the good doctor's screed. Here is what really pisses him off. Ready?
George W. Bush, the candidate, said his Supreme Court picks would be like Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia. George W. Bush, the president, has just offered Harriet Miers, a contributor to both Al Gore and Lloyd Bentsen.
I've been seeing more than a few such letters in the local newspaper as of late, from good-hearted locals struggling to come to terms with the monstrosity they had helped vote into office. But when a leading True Believer like the good doctor jumps ship in such spectacular fashion - that, ladies and germs, is when Bush jumps the shark.