“Recriminatathon”

Brian Zick

In an article headlined "Republicans' Angry Factions Point Fingers At Each Other" Michael Grunwald for WaPo reports on the GOP hunt for party scapegoats. After minutes upon minutes of soul-searching, Republicans are now in recrimination mode. And the GOP's various factions all agree: This wouldn't have happened if the party had listened to us. In the aftermath of the historic GOP losses Tuesday night, moderate Republicans quickly concluded that the party needs to be more moderate. Conservative Republicans declared that it should be more conservative. Main Street is angry at Wall Street, theo-cons are angry at neo-cons, and almost everyone is angry at President Bush and the GOP congressional leadership. No mention was made of the voter fraud and suppression and intimidation, the array of criminal activity perpetrated on behalf of GOP candidates across the spectrum. Nor was anything said about the GOP's united endorsement of torture, trashing of the Fourth Amendment and habeas corpus. However, in a display of credibility equivalent to other famous Republican catch phrases, such as "I am not a crook," "I was out of the loop," and "We were never 'stay the course'," the RNC yesterday vowed to ensure "that the leaders in our party have public service as their highest calling and not personal enrichment or power."

The text is from the poem “QUADRENNIAL” by Golden, reprinted with permission. It was first published in the Poetry Project. Inside front cover photo by Golden.
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