Said Rush Limbaugh this week:

Everybody on the Republican side now, along with the Democrats, wants to throw Alberto Gonzales overboard. He may be an idiot, I don’t know. He may be a weak attorney general. … It seems, every time there’s a public demand for somebody to resign in Washington, it’s always a Republican!

So, it really doesn’t matter if a guy is “weak” or maybe even an “idiot”–all that matters is that he is a Republican and that his removal would be considered some sort of “victory” for the other “side.” Never mind that AG serves all the people and is the conduit for federal law enforcement in the United States and that he oversees the application of key policies, not the least of which is a substantial portion of anti-terrorism policy. Because goodness knows that an “idiot” who can’t remember meeting from a few months ago will easily be able to help “connect the dots” when it comes to a terrorist plot or some other high profile crime.

Aw, heck, why worry about competence and ability when dealing with it would mean that one’s partisan opponents might score some temporary points?

Back when I used to listen to Limbaugh I seem to recall a constant mantra about “excellence” and a great deal of talk about meritocracy and the like. I guess that that has gone by the wayside.

Also: to those who think that some radical victory would be won by the Democrats if Gonzales goes, I would point out that the administration would get to name his replacement. And last time I checked, the Democrats got their way with Rumsfeld and yet the medium-to-long term effect of his removal was not some massive net gain in Democratic political capital. The change at the DoD certainly hasn’t resulted in a change in policy on Iraq in a way that would indicate that the Democrats have gotten what they wanted, now has it?

It is time for folks to stop worrying about the alleged “score” and think about how government ought to be run (and Gonzales is clearly not running the DoJ as it should be run–if he were a football coach or a CEO (or your accountant) he’d have been long fired at this point). Further, partisan Republicans who insist that they have to “win” on Gonzales need to step back, take a deep breath and think about what really is more damaging to both the administration and the country: Gonzales as AG or someone else as AG?

Transcript and audio at Think Progress » Limbaugh: Conservatives Should ‘Circle The Wagons’ Around ‘Idiot,’ ‘Weak Attorney General’

6 Responses to “A Portrait of Unvarnished, Loyalist, Blind Partisanship”

1. Political Mavens » A Portrait of Unvarnished, Loyalist, Blind Partisanship Says:
   April 21st, 2024 at 11:29 am

   [...] {Cross-posted from PoliBlog]: [...]

2. Patrick Watson Says:
   April 21st, 2024 at 1:10 pm

   It seems, every time there’s a public demand for somebody to resign in Washington, it’s always a Republican!

   Well duh. You can only fire people if they are already in office. We’ve had a Republican administration for the last six years. The prior eight years we had a Democratic administration, and there were regular calls for its appointees to be fired.

3. Greg Says:
   April 22nd, 2024 at 9:33 am

   Exactly. It’s always Republicans because Republicans held all the power until very recently. Noticing it’s always Republicans was about an astute an observation as noticing 40% of sick days are taken on Mondays and Fridays. Sounds like something, but even a speck of critical thinking would tell you it’s not.

4. MSS Says:
   April 22nd, 2024 at 1:19 pm

   I was about to say what Patrick said. Not much point in repeating.

   Steven said:

   “It is time for folks to stop worrying about the alleged “score” and think about how government ought to be run.

   Very Droopian.

   As every representative is elected to represent one of these two parties, the nation, as represented in the assembly, appears to consist only of these two parties, each bent on carrying out its own programme. But, in fact, a large proportion of the electors who vote for the candidates of the one party or the other really care much more about the country being honestly and wisely governed than about the particular points at issue between the two parties; and if this moderate non-partisan section of the electors had their separate representatives in the assembly, they would be able to mediate between the opposing parties and prevent the one party from pushing their advantage too far, and the other from prolonging a factious opposition. With majority voting they can only intervene at general elections, and even then cannot punish one party for excessive partisanship, without giving a lease of uncontrolled power to their rivals.

   Droop wrote that in 1869 and was talking about Britain. But, as Steven’s remark reminds us, never have these words–and the indictments of the two-party system and winner-take-all elections been more relevant than they are to today’s USA.

5. Two Managerial Busts » The American Mind Says:
   April 23rd, 2024 at 8:50 am

   [...] Ignoring competence and wanting only to have “their side” win has damaged the credibility of folks like Rush Limbaugh. I don’t like the Democrats scoring political points, but Gonzales makes it so easy. How can they not? [...]

6. Tab Says:
   April 25th, 2024 at 8:00 am

   Limbaugh’s comments that indirectly attempt to defend Gonzales only serve the extreme left.If you take the RINO’s out of the Republican party,your left with people who consider themselves conservatives Americans first and Republicans second.Our party has been highjacked by Bush and company,much like ben laden has done with the muslims.And here is Limbaugh trying to cover Gonzales behind so it doesn’t look like we’re not unified.We are at war with these damn RINO’s and we’re going to drive there,Globalist,internationlist,sell America to the highest bidder’s asses out of our party and to the ash heap of history where they belong.We may have to give up power for awhile,but its better to cut off the hand of evil than to give up the whole body and soul to hell.