DeMint Is Part Of DeProblem (And McBush Too)

This McClatchy story about Repug South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint (pictured) offering to hold hearings on Afghanistan with all-but-named Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is really a hoot, because, after he did so…

…DeMint then joined forces with top aides to Sen. John McCain in criticizing Obama's war plans.

DeMint's high-profile appearance with McCain's senior foreign policy aides came as McCain and Obama delivered speeches laying out sharply differing views on Iraq, Afghanistan and the broader U.S. effort to defeat fundamentalist Muslim forces.

What a partisan hack.

This SourceWatch article on DeMint tells us that he blocked the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 shortly before it was due to come to a vote so he could engage in some grandstanding over supposed earmark reform (with the blessings of Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, no doubt).

Also, he blocked a Democratic attempt to implement one of the 9/11 Commission recommendations that would have “require(d) that all containers on U.S.-bound vessels be screened in foreign ports for radiation, and all cargo loaded onto U.S. airliners be screened for explosives”…see, the “problem” is that the bill would have allowed the Transportation Security Agency screeners to unionize, and President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History simply could not allow that (and DeMint dutifully complied).

And I have to note something else from the story concerning a certain absentee senator from Arizona…

In his address, McCain advocated sending even more fresh troops to Afghanistan -- three brigades, or 10,500 troops -- but he and his aides stopped short of saying they should come from Iraq.

"I know how to win wars," McCain, an Arizona Republican, said in Albuquerque, N.M. "And if I'm elected president, I will turn around the war in Afghanistan, just as we have turned around the war in Iraq."

“You know how to win wars,” huh?

Really? And just how would you know that?

By accusing your Democratic opponent of supporting the policies of your party’s failed president better than you (here), even though the actual facts scream otherwise (here)?

By stubbornly ignoring what Obama has pointed out here, that "the status quo is not acceptable. Security in Afghanistan has deteriorated, and our enemies are on the offensive," he said. "From the moment the next president walks into the Oval Office, he will face critical decisions and crucial decisions about Afghanistan”…(and by the way, Senator McBush, any plans to present your strategy on Iraq in the New York Times, as Obama has done here)?

Or by conducting that laughable photo op of yours last April through that supposedly secure Baghdad market (which, arguably, got people killed as a result)?

It really speaks volumes about the moral decrepitude of the Repug party and their “movement” conservative base that McBush is the best this party has to offer for the most important job in the world.

Go back to making “Ape rape” jokes and telling us about imaginary countries again, Senator. At this point, it doesn’t matter, because we don’t take you seriously anymore anyway.

Update 7/30/08: Our boy gets a dishonorable mention from Michael Gerson (of all people) here.

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I was hoping to close out with some videos, but I don't think I'll have time, so I now take my leave, for hopefully just a little while (look for me again on about the 27th or 28th). In the meantime, please check out the good stuff from my peers at the Impeach Bush Coalition and the Out Of Iraq Bloggers Caucus.

Courage.