A Reprise of the Grand Old Party Line
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post
House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) was his genial self at a meeting with reporters yesterday morning, showing off his golf-ball-pattern tie and talking of a conversation he once had with Jack Nicklaus about the baby-blue cravat.
But 15 minutes later, Boehner had moved from the necktie to the jugular: He speculated that Democrats may be guilty of the capital crime of aiding and comforting the enemy.
"I listen to my Democrat friends, and I wonder if they're more interested in protecting terrorists than in protecting the American people," he said.
One of his listeners, offering Boehner the chance to rescind that charge, asked if he really meant to accuse Democrats of treason. "I said I wonder if they're more interested in protecting the terrorists," he replied, repeating more than clarifying. "They certainly don't want to take the terrorists on in the field."
The majority leader's charge of treachery was no accident. Two months before Election Day, Republicans have revived the technique used with great success in 2002 and 2004: suggesting that the loyal opposition is, well, not so loyal.
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) seemed to have the same talking points yesterday. In a fight for his political life, Santorum worked himself into a rage on the Senate floor, hollering: "If you listen to the Democratic leader, our lesson is: . . . Let's put domestic politics ahead of the security of this country. That's the message."
The arrival of Treason Season, heralded by the charged address President Bush gave on Monday's 9/11 anniversary, is right on schedule.
Back in 2002, Bush declared on Sept. 23 that Senate Democrats were "not interested in the security of the American people." Republicans gained seats in the midterm elections.
(The rest is here.)
Washington Post
House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) was his genial self at a meeting with reporters yesterday morning, showing off his golf-ball-pattern tie and talking of a conversation he once had with Jack Nicklaus about the baby-blue cravat.
But 15 minutes later, Boehner had moved from the necktie to the jugular: He speculated that Democrats may be guilty of the capital crime of aiding and comforting the enemy.
"I listen to my Democrat friends, and I wonder if they're more interested in protecting terrorists than in protecting the American people," he said.
One of his listeners, offering Boehner the chance to rescind that charge, asked if he really meant to accuse Democrats of treason. "I said I wonder if they're more interested in protecting the terrorists," he replied, repeating more than clarifying. "They certainly don't want to take the terrorists on in the field."
The majority leader's charge of treachery was no accident. Two months before Election Day, Republicans have revived the technique used with great success in 2002 and 2004: suggesting that the loyal opposition is, well, not so loyal.
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) seemed to have the same talking points yesterday. In a fight for his political life, Santorum worked himself into a rage on the Senate floor, hollering: "If you listen to the Democratic leader, our lesson is: . . . Let's put domestic politics ahead of the security of this country. That's the message."
The arrival of Treason Season, heralded by the charged address President Bush gave on Monday's 9/11 anniversary, is right on schedule.
Back in 2002, Bush declared on Sept. 23 that Senate Democrats were "not interested in the security of the American people." Republicans gained seats in the midterm elections.
(The rest is here.)
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