I used to have Republican Friends...

Once upon a time, back in those halcyon days when I used to be a devout Centrist, I had Republican Friends. I had Liberal Friends too, and we would debate vigorously the issues of the day and the time. I loved a good politlcal debate with opposing views. I remember, way back in the 90's, when one Republican Friend became so upset with Bill Clinton over the "Gays in the Military" thing -- not because he tried to change the discrimination that was (and is) in place, but because he didn't talk about it during the campaign. I pointed out that he did talk about it, in fact he made up his mind to do it on tv - during the MTV News "Choose or Lose" Townhall meeting. My Friend responded - "MTV Has News?"

Yeah, it used to. Ah, those were the days...

And that time is long gone.

I can't count the number of Republicans who I used to call friends, even close ones, and aquintances that I simply don't associate with anymore. It's not just a divide over policy, I've begun to realize that it's a divide in thinking processes.

Although President Bush's current approval have finally reached the sub-artic level of 32%, and that only four states currently have him at 50% of better approval. There still remains the phenomenon, as shown in other polls, that among Republicans President Bush's approval remains at approx 66% -- well over twice the national average, how is that possible?

Even though Democrats and Independants see this Presidency as a near total disaster his approval among rank and file Republicans, not just the wing-bats, neo-cons and Kool-aid afficionados, remains high.

This obviously pathological state of denial is why I can't talk to these people anymore.

Regardless of each and every new revelation from Tyler Drumheller and the White House Memos which show that the WMD evidence was thin and grossly exaggerated - these people insist that we went into Iraq for other reasons, and that it's still a "Noble Cause". Never mind that none of those reasons seem to be included in the Iraq Force Resolution.

I vividly remember challenging one ex-friend about a year and a half ago about the WMD's. My position - Saddam simply didn't have them anymore and our invasion was unjustified. His position - well, where'd they go? Me - "I don't know. But we've had plenty of time to search and they aren't in Iraq." Him - "Maybe they went to Syria" Me - "There's no evidence of that, but they aren't in Iraq - you think we should chase them into Syria without any evidence?". Him - "Sure, why not - take 'em all out."

It was like debating with a 2-year-old.

Hello - McFly - No weapons here, no weapons there - time to put the Abram's Tank back in the barn.

Another one, just a couple months ago actually tried to defend the Smear Boat Veterans to me, arguing that John Kerry "admitted to having committed and witnessing atrocities in Vietnam", his point being that it was his responsibility to report these to his superior officer. Me - "What makes you think he didn't - and What makes you think that officer listened to him?" He also tried to argue that flying a plane (In the Texas Air National Guard?) was more difficult and complicated than piloting a boat (in the Mekong Delta!) and therefore George Bush was smarter and more prepared to be the Military's Commander-in-Chief than a Decorated War Vet/Hero like John Kerry.

I pretty much hit the roof when he told me Kerry still hadn't released his Military Records (he had) and that the best place to find all of Bush's service information was at Free Republic!!!

Even after sending him email proof supporting each and every one of my points - he was still arguing with me.

Can you see why I can't talk to these people? It's maddening.

I eventually realized that this is just a political cognitive disfunction, this skip-logic and arrogant ignorance was part of their state of being. They desperately needed to believe this shit.

For many people it's just one issue. Either it's taxes or it's abortion. They don't seem to notice that Bush's version of tax cut is probably never going to do them any good in the short term, and that in the long term is simply going to force the kind of record-breaking tax hike that both Ronald Reagan and G.H.W. Bush implemented in their time. With the rising deficits it creates, it's merely a tax shift, a loan with interest, not a tax cut.

They don't seem to notice that these abortions under Bush are on the rise, and that puritanical abstinence-only sex ed plans don't work, and that 88% of the kids who take these pledges to abstain from premarital sex - break the pledge within 18 months. No only do they have premarital sex, they're having PORN STAR sex, oral and anal without condoms, because they're been made so deathly afriad of pregnancy and haven't been properly educated on STD transmission on contraceptive use.

But the worst, are the armchair militarists - like my two ex-friends above - who haven't served in the military for a single minute their entire lives, but think - thanks to SOCOM II - that they know everything there is to know about warfare. Y'know the type, you're basic blowhard meatbrain bully hiding behind the beedy eyes of a spindly techno-geek.

They probably both figure it's high-time to simply turn Iran into one big shining sheet of glass with a few Nukes.

Maybe there are people who can, but I can't abide this lunacy and remain calm and civil.

Not after months of ignoring all the warnings about Al Qaeda.
Not after 7 Minutes of My Pet Goat!
Not after Abu Graib.
Not after revelations about NSA Domestic Spying and Our Foreign Gulags.
Not after the use of White-Phosphorus in Fallujah on civilians.
Not after the deliberate outing of Valerie Plame-Wilson's cover to perpetuate a lie.
Not after Amnesty International. Called for Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld to be investigated, arrested and tried for International War Crimes.
Not after $10 Billion a Month in Iraq.
Not after the incompetence that led to the Flu Vaccine Shortage.
Not after the indictments of Tom Delay, Michael Scanlon, David Safavian, "Duke" Cunningham and Jack Abramoff.
Not after Hurrican Katrina and it's sad ongoing aftermath of callous cronyism.
Not after Cheney -Popped A Cap in some Dudes Dome!
Not after the latest Bin Laden Tape - yeah, that's right MR-Dead-Or-Alive speaks yet again, still very Alive and very Free.
Not after $4 a Gallon - Again!

I can't abide it, and I can't abide the endless denials and excuses for it.

There is no excuse for this bullshit.

We have to realize that Bush himself isn't the real problem here, he's merely a symptom of an American sickness, a deep pathological psychosis, that has been there for a long time. Rooted in Cold-war facism it's grown and spread - linked itself with the Radical Neo-Con Warhawks and Rapturist Fundamentalism. (It's not a coincidence that the "Left Behind" series is runaway a best seller - many people want to "Believe")

If we Dems fixate ourselves on Bush, we'll ignore all these people, these 66% of Republicans who despite all the clear and obvious evidence of the incompetency and malice of this administration who continue to support it with every breath, we'll completely miss the big picture. We aren't fighting with Bush - we're fighting over the heart and soul of this nation with Them.

We on this site and many others are fighting to protect "All men are created equal", "Equal Protection of the Laws", "Cruel and Unusual Punishment", "Seperation of Church and State", and of course accountability and the True Seperation of Powers. All of these tenets are merely inconvenient platitudes to them. We can't afford to forget that we are on the right and correct side of history here, they are not.

These are the same people who bought everything Ken Starr had to say about Bill Clinton. They believed everything they heard about Vince Foster being murdered, about Clinton running a drug smuggling ring out of Arkansas while bedding three hookers and raping two others every other night.

All of it - total crap.

Many of these people are very smart, and very inteliigent.

But that only means they're even more dangerous, not more reasonable.

Forewarned is forearmed. Let the battle rage on.

Vyan