The Port thing is a classic totalitarian power shift...

[arendt]

The other day, I happened to use this quote:

"Technically speaking, the movement within the apparatus of totalitarian domination derives its mobility
from the fact that the leadership constantly shifts the actual center of power, often to other organizations,
but without dissolving or even publicly exposing the groups that have thus been deprived of their power...
The point is that none of the organs of power was ever deprived of its right to pretend that it embodied
the will of the Leader. But not only was the the will of the leader so unstable that compared with it the
whims of Oriental despots are a shining example of steadfastness; the consistent and ever-changing
division between real secret authority and ostensible open representation made the actual seat of
power a mystery by definition, and this to such an extent that the members of the ruling clique themselves
could never be absolutely sure of their own position in the secret power hierarchy."

- Hannah Arendt, "The Origins of Totalitarianism"

Well, the port thing is this whole dynamic in action.

As some posters have suggested, with it growing unlikely that the shadow elite government
can Repeal the 22nd ammendment in time for W, he is going to have to step down to continue
the illusion that we live in a democracy.

So, they have decided its time to begin to bring forward their replacement puppet. Give him
plenty of time on stage, plenty of time to distance himself/herself/itself from W and all
his disastrous policies. (Of course, they may not have a candidate, they may just be sitting
back to see who presents best in the current situation. Or, in keeping with no one being
certain of their position, the whole thing could be a feint, and they will ram through the
repeal of the 22nd ammendment.)

With my fundamental assumption that no one is certain of their position in the power hierarchy,
those die hard supporters of Bush may find themselves on a soon-to-be-sawed off limb. But,
they can't be sure.

There is damned little the outsiders (i.e., everyone but the GOP Politburo) can do except
watch. Yes, some of these assholes will get knifed, but in the end the puppet masters will
put their new puppet on the throne. Do you see the media giving the Democrats any role in
this? Do you see the Democratic leadership doing anything significant. No. They are totally
out of the power calculus. They are bystanders.

But, it will be fun to watch these nasty fuckers actually have to make a decision (stay with
Bush, switch to oppposing him) that could hurt them.

Hey, inmates, the guards are having a knife-fight. Who's laying the book? What are the odds?

arendt

[MadMaddie]

1. Hey Arendt once again...your writings amaze me....

Anyhoo...

I like this...

<snip>
But, it will be fun to watch these nasty fuckers actually have to make a decision (stay with
Bush, switch to oppposing him) that could hurt them.
<snip>
I am also going to enjoy watching the spectacle..:popcorn:


BTW you never responded to my response to your email concerning The Constitution Party.

[arendt]

2. Just checked my mailbox - nothing there from you. n/t

[MadMaddie]

3. I just sent it via email....

Thanks!

[Angry Girl]

4. Kaching! And off you go to Greatest...

[Stinky The Clown]

5. There will be a period of Dem 'power' in between bush and his successor

Let me start by saying I think your thesis is correct. We are being manipulated by powers far higher than the puppet Boy King or any of his minions.

I think they'll put a Democrat in as the next president. Then they will hound him from office with less mercy than ever enjoyed by Clinton. The attack on this next Dem president will be a real lesson in 'shock and awe'.

Then they will install another puppet, or if they can pull it off ... a dictator.

Our only hope is an extraordinarily strong Dem president who 'gets it'.

[arendt]

7. You refer to Hillary, I assume...

The only Dem that the GOP want to run against.

The wife of the new Siamese Twin of Bush SR.
The uber-hawk.

And the minute they get her in, out comes all
the old baggage - everything Bill did, plus
all kinds of sicko accusations about Hil being
a lesbian, a communist, an atheist, whatever.

With Hil in the WH, the Christo-fascists will be
suicide bombing the gates within a week.

I sort of like your scenario, but I think she
won't last 6 months. She will be the excuse
for a fundamentalist coup d'etat. And the
evangelical nutcases at the Air Force Academy
will be the lead planners - probably hijack
or shoot down AF1.

----

this is the problem with secret government. You
can't have a rational policy. You just keep your
head down as you dodge from cover to cover,
hoping the sniper shoots some other guy.

I hate having discussions like this. But we don't
have politics any more, we have a fluid police
state, just getting around to settling who's boss.

arendt

[Stinky The Clown]

8. Actually, I did not consider Sen Clinton.

My thinking really didn't focus on any particular possible Dem president.

All I'm saying is, whoever gets the 08 win (and we will get a win) had better be prepared to fight every damned day. Clinton's 8 years will look like a cake wlak by comparison.

If our guy is strong and can withstand the shitstorm they'll raise, we might be able to save this country.

Maybe .....

[arendt]

11. But how can "our guy be strong" when half the Dems vote with the GOP?

Its not just the presidential candidate. We've got to have effective
control of at least one house of Congress.

With gerrymandered rotten-boroughs and the Electronic Vote Theft
machines, we won't get enough honest, un-bought Dems to support
any Dem president.

Everything he/she does will be shot down in Congress or sued up to the Supreme
Court and killed. The only thing a pres alone can touch is the bureaucracy.

You watch, a Dem gets in, and the GOP in Congress will pass laws to
prevent the pres from running roughshod over the Congress. And the
Dems would be crazy not to agree.

So one more time, the GOP get to completely change the rules and
completely shaft the Dems for doing what the GOP were screaming
AGAINST five minutes before.

Besides, you haven't addressed the whole media issue. The GOP own
the media. How do you get around that?

My point is that, a not-in-the-cabal Dem will be paralyzed; while an
in-the-cabal-Dem is probably a set-up as you suggest.

I still say the party system is gone. Its all a sham, an illusion paid for
to keep the masses stupefied and at each other's throats. We are
into agitprop, and show trials.

But, I admire your hopefullness. Me, I have no hope; but I won't quit
just yet.


arendt

[Jara sang]

6. Good post K&R

[BadGimp]

9. Without a doubt the best commentary I've seen...

How astonishingly accurate.

Dream up the worst possible scenario and it seems that's what we have.

[AndyA]

10. WOW - awesome write up!

Very chilling, but eerily real.

I think the next Dem candidate for President must be squeaky clean. Who is there that has done NOTHING controversial? Is Jesus a Democrat?

[StefanX]

12. Very perceptive, arendt

Depressing, but perceptive.

Rove's forte is the "double-bind" -- the sexual double-bind where he implies his opponent is gay, the racial double-bind where he claims his opponent has fathered a black child out of wedlock, the forgery double-bind where he plants phony documents about real Bush scandals on a real journalist, so the forgery cancels out the scandal (and the journalist).

Rove feels like he's getting thrown under the bus

(or under the airplane) via the Plame investigation -- so maybe he just decided to keep his mouth shut and let Bush hang himself on this one last crony-incompetence deal too far, figuring Portgate could be a chance for the rest of the Republicans to distance themselves from Bush now that he's a lame duck with approval ratings stuck at 33 points below where Clinton's were during Monicagate. So the neocons might as well throw Bush under the bus now to start distancing themselves from him.

(Note that I don't think Bush "took one for the team" -- I think he's too arrogant to do that now, he probably thinks he runs the country or something. If you don't constantly prop Bush up for a couple of weeks, he'll slit his own throat. He is one of the most laughable figureheads in the history of the world -- "Great British" indeed. Just leave Bubble-Boy in his bubble for a few weeks and he'll fuck up quite nicely on his own. This Dubai thing is messy, but at least now Frist and DeLay can step forward and try to pretend they're serious statesmen, while the powers that be look for another Cheney-type to actually run things, and a pretty-boy with a sexy accent to be the front guy after Bush.)

Nothing "real" happens in DC anymore -- it's all a stage show for the rubes back home glued to the tube. A few people on the web know what's happening, the rest don't have the time to keep up with all the scandals.

But the bulk of the population, lulled by the lies of Tweety and Pumpkinhead, have never heard of a Rovian double-bind or Straussian secrecy or even Machiavelli for that matter.

[arendt]

13. "it's all a stage show for the rubes back home glued to the tube"

And that's how you know democracy is gone.

Nothing anyone real does makes any difference.
The whole thing is scripted, everyone is acting.

The real decisions are made god knows where by
god knows who.

The elite is as disconnected from the damage
they are doing as Emporer Hirohito was from
the fire-bombed wreckage of Tokyo that surrounded
his deliberately un-bombed Imperial Palace.

DU needs to stop following the play-by-play of the
worthless Gong Show in the media (and increasingly,
on the net), and start organizing in the real world.

DU is already being paralyzed by an influx of the
clueless, contaminated by a skillful minority of
disruptors.

arendt

[Karenina]

14. Kick!

:kick:

[stevietheman]

15. Your writing is especially indicative that these trying times...

are bringing out the best thoughts and writing from many of us.

Cheers!