The Great GOP Walkback

With apologies to hunter

Are we really supposed to believe that the Congressional Republican's sudden willingness to stand up to the Bushites had it's germ in the first days of the Bush administration?

President Bush's troubles with congressional Republicans, which erupted during the backlash to the Dubai seaport deal, are rooted in policy frustrations and personal resentments that GOP lawmakers say stretch back to the opening days of the administration.

For years, the Bush White House and its allies on Capitol Hill seemed like one of the most unified teams Washington had ever seen, passing most of Bush's agenda with little dissent. Privately, however, many lawmakers felt underappreciated, ignored and sometimes bullied by what they regarded as a White House intent on running government with little input from them. Often it was to pass items -- an expanded federal role in education under the No Child Left Behind law and an expensive prescription drug benefit under Medicare -- that left conservatives deeply uneasy.

Boo-fucking-hoo. The Rubber Stamp Republicans feel underappreciated, ignored, sometimes bullied. But that didn't stop them from gleefully signing on to policies which have royally screwed our nation. But wait, get this:

Most Republicans voted to authorize the Iraq war after the White House assured them that Saddam Hussein posed a threat with weapons of mass destruction and that the United States had an effective military strategy. Many now harbor serious doubts about the war's prospects.

So now Congressional Republicans are claiming they were misled about the war? Bull. Shit. They had no problem supporting the war when it was a political gravy train for them.

Now that Bush's numbers are down the proverbial crapper, Congressional Republicans are fleeing the ship like the rats they are. But make no mistake about it - the problems that have been foisted on this country were pushed upon us not just by Bushco, but by a GOP bent on establishing one-party rule. And no amount of posturing to put some distance between them and Bush is going to change that.