If You're Gonna Cheat -- Cheat With A Smile!

Huffington Post
Bob Cesca
If You're Gonna Cheat -- Cheat With A Smile!

I'd like to present the following pictorial as a corollary to Sunday's Washington Post article, White House Upbeat About GOP Prospects, in which we're presented with this ominous lead:

"Amid widespread panic in the Republican establishment about the coming midterm elections, there are two people whose confidence about GOP prospects strikes even their closest allies as almost inexplicably upbeat: President Bush and his top political adviser, Karl Rove."

"Inexplicably upbeat," Michael Abramowitz wrote. The Post went further by reporting that Rove believes the Democrats will only gain a few seats -- nowhere near the 15 needed to attain a majority in the House of Representatives.

Here now is the face of a man who is mysteriously, eerily, "inexplicably" and almost frighteningly upbeat about his and the GOP's prospects next month:









These images were taken from the official White House video of last week's press conference during the following exchange:

Q: Thank you, Mr. President. Since you last held a news conference here in the Rose Garden, about a month ago, Republicans across the country have seen races that were once safe tighten, with the tide turning, according to several polls, towards the Democrats. Understanding that you don't lead by looking at polls --

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, sir, thank you. Finally.

Q -- as you've said many times, are you still confident Republicans will hold the House and the Senate?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I am.

Of course I didn't expect President Bush to break into tears, but look at those photos again. Am I insane or does that grin make it seem as if he knows something we don't? It's certainly not the face of a man who's bearing down on the very real prospect of being investigated up the bunghole for the next two-plus years.

What does he know? What does Rove know that makes them so confident?

Firstly, it goes without saying that despite the efforts of Brad Blog, Mark Crispin Miller, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Thom Hartmann and others that widespread election fraud is bound to take place on and before Election Day. And those of us who are familiar with Rove's history of dirty tricks, rat fuckings and the like, understand that he has is pasty pink fingers on the pulse of the whole operation. At the very least the whisper campaigns are his direct responsibility. Diebold and others will handle the rest by electronically moving Democratic votes to independent candidates; friendly operatives state-by-state will purge Democratic voters from the registration rolls; and Democratic precincts will have fewer voting machines than Republican precincts. The same playbook from 2000, 2002 and 2004 recycled for this year.

But the tide of Republican blunders and the ongoing tragedy of the Iraq War could be enough to overcome the cheating machines and voter purges. Rove isn't an idiot and knows this, so what's the wild card? Temporarily low gas prices thanks to Bandar Bush, the president's Saudi bunkmate, and a nationwide ad campaign -- direct mail and television -- telling voters that the Democrats WILL raise your taxes. Underscore will.

I give you the president's own words shortly after his above go-with-a-smile Joker grin:

"Matter of fact, I would like to keep the -- make the tax cuts we pass permanent. And the Democrats will raise taxes. Now, I know they say only on rich people, but that's -- in my judgment, having been around here long enough to know, it's just code word. They're going to raise them on whoever they can raise them on."

Love that Joker. Sadly for the president, most voters are smart enough to know (we hope) that the only way Congress can pass anything is if the president signs said anything into law. So even if a Democratic House takes a stab at rolling back the tax cuts for Paris Hilton and Dick Cheney, it'll be vetoed by the president. Yet the president and the GOP are implying that the Democrats have somehow discovered a way to circumvent the president's signature.

You and I both know that the president won't sign any legislation raising taxes on the rich. No Bush would ever do that. Nah. Gah. Dah. Read his lips.

Ah, that was unfair. But I enjoyed it. Anyway, take my home district, the PA-6th for example and the preface that this is happening in many competitive districts. Congressman Gerlach and the NRCC have collectively spent piles of cash spooking voters in Montgomery, Chester and Berks Counties into believing that Democratic challenger Lois Murphy will magically raise taxes on everyone. Not just the rich, but everyone by two-thousand-some-odd-dollars each. So if you earn $2500 next year, you'll owe the government all of it. And of course it's a lie bigger than Karl Rove's bulbous forehead.

However, it's not nearly a lie the size of this one... In a recent ad here, the NRCC claimed Lois Murphy magically voted against a spending bill that provided body armor for the troops (the spending bill, by the way, was attached to a bill opening AWR for oil drilling). Magical indeed. Lois Murphy has never been a member of Congress and thus was unable to cast votes on military spending bills. Or any bills whatsoever. Comcast thankfully pulled the ad from television, but only after it had been aired.

Sorry. It's easy to digress when discussing GOP lies. Lies, though, are the only shot they have. Lying, cheating, stealing, subverting democracy. The usual bucket of rats. But it's enough to allow the president, in the face of two years of shit, to grin as if he's eating said shit. And it's that grin which ought to motivate you and I to get out the vote and make sure we have enough turnout to overcome their overconfidence.