It isn't just Gotcha

I just got back from watching the first half of the Monday Night Football game with a good friend of mine, someone I might even call my best friend. We met through church and after our last church started to dissolve at the seams (long story), both of our families travelled to the same new church together. Still...

Somehow we got onto politics where Wayne (not his real first name) admitted that Bush screwed up with Myers. Now, this came as a bit of a shock to me, since Wayne is a rock ribbed Republican. He's not a howling fascist, but more of a passive good old boy chuckle southern Republican.

"Welcome to reality," I told him. "I've been waiting for you since 1999... where have you been?"

"Now Chuck," he replied "I'm not in camp with you; I'm just saying he's made some bad decisions."

"Of course, because ignoring New Orleans while it flooded worked so well, he's almost moved the White House to my old Hometown to show that he cares when all it does is remind people how much he F****Ked up the first time. How about Karl and the fact he's on the verge of being charged with outing a CIA agent? If this was 7 years ago, you'd be screaming at the TV about it!"

"All that is with Karl is a game of Gotcha. They don't care. She went to parties with him."

"Not with a blinking neon nametage that said 'Hi, my name is Valerie. I'm with the CIA. Won't you be my friend?'"

"They did it with Clinton and Reagan and everyone. It's not that important..."

Since when has this country lost so much gravitas that treason isn't important?

Wayne, maybe I didn't make myself clear, but this isn't about gotcha. This is what it's about:

• It's about the fact that you scramble for overtime anytime you can get despite the fact that you are a lawyer for the Frederal Government. Why? So your wife can stay at home with your boys so if she goes to work, her entire paycheck doesn't go towards daycare like my wife's does.
• It's about the fact that your wife and I (she's a teacher too) can't make a decent enough living on our own paycheck to allow our spouce to stay at home with the kids even though we have just as many years in school and most other professional jobs.
• It's about the money that's being wasted, both in the Gulf and Iraq, because there are horribly corrupt individuals who don't have any clue what they are doing. Sure, the government wastes money... but this isn't waste, it's Harding style corruption at it's most blatant.
• It's about an administration that has robbed the nation of at least one election and possibly two and people like you not giving a damn if your most fundamental right as a citizen is being upheld
• It's about me being worried about what my kids are going to inherit and if they have a prayer of being as financially *hah!* well off as I am
• It's about the fact that families who aren't lucky enough to work for the government like us face a serious uphill battle to find affordable health care and God forbid if a crisis comes up, like say two premature babies who wind up costing $500,000 each by the time they leave the hospital.
• It's about the fact that my wife and I can't find a decent started home inside the city limits even though we both work full time with professional jobs.

Sure, the DC Democrats aren't worth a tinker's damn, if they were they'd be a real oposition party one worthy of demonizing, but they are a far cry better than what is there now. Where are those principles I heard your leaders preach in 1998 when Clinton was impeached about the sancity of law and some such. I know I didn't go through with law school, but how does all of this fall under that pious rule of law.

Maybe I learned something wrong from the lawyer in my life, but he taught me that no one is above the law and that we should expect the best from our leaders. Period.

It's not Gotcha. That's what will happen when you get your first heating bill in December.

(cross posted at Just a Bump on the Beltway )