Remember compassionate conservatism? Not that it ever really existed, but remember when Bush used to talk about it? You remember, every stump speech he made when he was running for president? As soon as he won he talked about political capital, but before that it was compassionate concservatism. And Republicans, they're the party of moral values, right? But what does that mean exactly? I'll tell you what it means.

This is what Republican compassion and morals means:

• Fear of homosexuals. So much fear that they want to write discrimination against them into the Constitution. They bitch about the "homosexual lifestyle," but when two people want to create a legal bond based on love, the right-wingers' collective heads explode.
• Social Security - Private accounts won't help solvency. It's all a scam. It's all bullshit. They don't want to save Social Security. They never did. They want to phase it out. So, you're poor and retiring? Screw you. You're on your own.
• The environment - What's moral about fudging mercury research numbers at the EPA so that the "Bush administration's market-based approach was superior to a competing scheme supported by environmentalists, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said yesterday." This is just the latest. There's never been an administration more hostile to the environment. The don't like science, it makes them feel icky, particularly when it doesn't support their far right, nut-job agenda.
• Bankruptcy - The bankruptcy bill that will be signed by the Prez soon is a love letter...an early Christmas gift to the credit card industry...payback for campaign contributions. Republicans voted down amendments that would have protected the elderly and veterans. Most people who file for bankruptcy protection do so because of medical catastrophe. This is an F.U. to the poorest, weakest, most helpless, and most vulnerable people in the country. Can you feel the compassion?
• Torture - I've written a lot about this lately. It's a disgrace and it's being done in our name. Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo have made the insurgency in Iraq stronger and has boosted Al Quaeda recruiting. Our new dismissal of the Geneva Conventions has made our country less safe. And you know what else? It's wrong. It's beneath a great nation, and it's immoral.
• Deficits - I'm not an economist, but I do know this country has never cut taxes in war time. There's a reason for that. Wars cost a lot of money. Unnecessary wars don't cost more, it just seems that way. Why? Because...because they're unnecessary. So as a nation we're plunging into debt, our kids are being killed and wounded, a generation is being emotionally and psychologically scarred, but at least the wealthiest of us will get a tax break. Explain to me how this is moral.
• The troops - Speaking of war...Bush can't stop taking about supporting the troops, but while they're over there, his party is cutting veteran's benefits, and his Secretary of Defense is bungling just about every aspect of his job...most dangerously, the supply of armor that would help bring them home safely.

 

Republicans: We will raise your taxes to "save social security"   

Torture - I've written a lot about this lately. It's a disgrace and it's being done in our name. Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo have made the insurgency in Iraq stronger and has boosted Al Quaeda recruiting. Our new dismissal of the Geneva Conventions has made our country less safe. And you know what else? It's wrong. It's beneath a great nation, and it's immoral.

Deficits - I'm not an economist, but I do know this country has never cut taxes in war time. There's a reason for that. Wars cost a lot of money. Unnecessary wars don't cost more, it just seems that way. Why? Because...because they're unnecessary. So as a nation we're plunging into debt, our kids are being killed and wounded, a generation is being emotionally and psychologically scarred, but at least the wealthiest of us will get a tax break. Explain to me how this is moral.

The troops - Speaking of war...Bush can't stop taking about supporting the troops, but while they're over there, his party is cutting veteran's benefits, and his Secretary of Defense is bungling just about every aspect of his job...most dangerously, the supply of armor that would help bring them home safely.