A Fable for Lee

Posted on 01/31/2009 at 11:31 am by JumpyPants

With all due respect to my friend and colleague Mr. Stranahan, I present the following fable — even though it’s become a bit of an overused thing:

A scorpion and a frog met on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asked the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asked, “How do I know you won’t sting me?” The scorpion said, “Because if I do, I will die too.” The frog was satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stung the frog. As they both began to sink, the frog had just enough time to ask “Why?” And the scorpion replied: “Because it is my nature…”

Make no mistake: the Republican leadership are still Bush Republicans. They rubberstamp the twisted whim of Rush Limbaugh and so far they’ve shown nothing but bad faith in dealing with the president. And while the president is absolutely justified in taking a bigger, more “mature” and civil tone in dealing with them, they’ve done nothing in return to mitigate their awful reputation and destructive behavior. Michael Steele won’t fix it — he has no mandate for change (six ballots!), nor does he have the power to override the Limbaughs of the party.

In just the last seven days, they’ve been offered concessions and yet they all voted no. They’ve injected into the media lies about fake CBO reports. They’ve spread racially-driven talking points demonizing a nonexistent ACORN provision in the bill. They’ve claimed bipartisanship even though not a single one of them voted with the president. I don’t know about you, but that sort of opposite-day reasoning is the cornerstone of Bush Republicanism.

This is their nature, and letting down our guard before they unequivocally prove otherwise is a mistake.

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  • GItheScholar

    Excellent!!Until Rush/Hannity/OReilly/Gallager/Cunningham are all off the radio the GOP will never change. If 20 million Americans love these assholes and praise their work then the GOP has a long way to go.

  • Packy

    Mr. Cesca,You pointed out what I was trying to say to Lee yesterday. Far more eloquently, though.Well done.

  • gypsysoul

    i agree packy. my “holy shitballs, you’re off your rocker” probably wasn’t the best way to convey my point.

  • Packy

    Sypsy: Heh.

  • Packy

    Gypsy, even.

  • ceu

    I heard one of the say that they were bipartisan because 11 Dems voted with them – it’s the Democrats who weren’t bipartisan. (sigh)Yes, they are busy stinging us all while the country drowns in the middle of the stream, but they are less honest than the scorpion who at least admits his nature.

  • Nanotyrannus

    Bob you’re soooo very Commander Chakotay! But he was right. You can’t trust those Borg motherfuckers…

  • http://www.ieatgravel.com/ Alaska (I Eat Gravel)

    “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”

  • Lyle

    The scorpion and frog story was in Rush’s favorite movie.

  • xrugly

    jesus already, call it what it is… house “n”…nothing more or less…u can trust them, to be predictable, they are just mean small politicians for cripes sake.They reached in and made a political decision. The fella will be gone before the next election cycle when some tight assed bigoted fuckhead wants the job. In the meantime he is a tool.

  • NorCalNative

    Bob, we’ve had almost an entire decade to judge Republican governance and ideology. What’s striking to me is that Republican’s as a group support Bush policies that changed our country from a representative Democracy into a Constitutional Dictatorship.Listening to an interview of the ACLU’s counsel Ben Wizner by Glenn Greenwald, Wizner made this comment. “In what kind of Democracy do you have secret laws?” The answer as we know is you don’t have Democracy when a nation claims the right to secret laws and immunity from criminal action.First of all for those unfamiliar with the term Constitutional Dictatorship it’s simply a result of what the Presidency becomes during war time.Now, to my main point. Treason has two primary definitions. The main one is the killing of the main political player or players to overthrow the government. The secondary definition is simply “overthrow” of the government.If we have secret laws, i.e. if the Obama administration keeps or upholds any of the radicalism of the Bush Empire, then we cannot claim representative Democracy.To my way of thinking, the Republican ideology and the media that supported them is TREASONOUS!You can make the argument that Republican’s were in charge and they prefer Dictatorship. What you can’t argue is that if the fundamental nature of our government has NOT been thrown aside and changed under the Bush/Cheney cabal.Democracy is kind of like being with child. You either got it or you don’t. The Republican Party’s entire platform is based on undermining representative Democracy. WTF!!!!!

  • http://www.windonwater.net QueenTiye

    Perhaps paradoxically, I agree with this post too… I don’t think anyone should assume that the republican party has changed and I love Bob’s point about Steele’s lack of a mandate. But it is also a mistake to not adapt to the new reality portrayed. And keep in mind that Michael Steele is not all that ideologically out of tune with a lot of African Americans, at least on social issues.QT

  • ceu
  • Lee B.

    Steele today: “Bipartisanship is overrated.” ‘Nuff said.

  • http://www.dugshop.com Paula Bonhomme

    Yeah, I felt the same way about Arianna for a very long time, but she finally proved herself to me. Caution is key here, I’m in Bob’s corner.

  • Daniel

    Great post.A small comment. In the next to last paragraph, if you had your statements as links to videos of what you claim it would be more persuasive. I’m not saying it not true, I believe I remember more than half of them myself, but, it would just be a stronger argument.GP