I saw this over at Think Progress.org yesterday, where Newt Gingrich offers advice for Republican Presidential candidates, and I wondered what a possible response would be. Of course, an initial reaction is horror and disbelief. How can they not speak of these fundamental flaws in Bush governance?
Then, it struck me. By all means, follow Newt's advice. Indeed, it would seem the Republican candidates are doing so anyway, as Bush was almost completely absent from comments at the debate last week among the ten little white men. Follow that advice, however. Don't mention four years of failure in Iraq. Don't mention Katrina, New Orleans, the politicization of the federal bureaucracy, Karl Rove, the outing of a covert CIA agent. In fact, take Newt's advice and look to the future! The bright and glorious future as only Republicans can bring it to us! After all, Newt is a devotee of Alvin Toffler who Future Shock is the blueprint for pretty much every stupid thing ever to escape from the man's mouth, and we all know how accurate, how knowledgeable, and how deeply immersed in historical analysis Toffler is (I hope you realize I am being facetious here; Toffler, like his protege, is about as wrong as wrong could be, and even more ignorant). Let them spin all sorts of fantasies of the future while the Democrats continue to talk about what is actually troubling Americans here and now, and how to fix them. Let the Republicans ignore the crimes and follies of Bush, et al., so the Democrats can have a monopoly on them. By all means, whoever is nominated by the Republicans, I insist you pretend that Republicans haven't been in control of the country for most of the past generation, and play the minority/victim card yet again. Insist that you be given a chance to govern, as you have not been given a chance to govern since 1968, 1980, 1994, 2000, 2004. Please Republicans, fall further into delusion-land so that your loss will be even greater.
Run, Newt, run!
