BLOOMBERG’S DIFFICULTY IS THAT, DESPITE HIS PROTESTATIONS OF LIBERALISM, HE IS LITERALLY COVERED WITH A CASE OF GEORGE W. BUSH FLEAS.
I am not quite sure when I first heard it, but it has served me well after I learned the hard way about its truth.
What am I talking about? It’s an old saying that, on the surface, sounds a bit trite, and, perhaps, it is. Like many of these worn out idioms, however, there is a sound basis for its raison d’etre.
The phrase to which I am referring is this; “When you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.” Another old saw that gives the same message is “You are known by the company you keep.”
Many years ago, I had a friend who chose to go into business with a fellow known to associate with members of the underworld. My friend had nothing to do with the mob, but his partner, while not a “made man,” did travel and socialize with some gavones.
During this particular time, the government was strictly enforcing the RICO laws against those suspected of being in league with La Cosa Nostra, aka, Da Boys. For those who do not know, the acronym, RICO, stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations.
One of the tactics used in enforcing the RICO statutes was the seizure of goods suspected to have been purchased through the use of illegally obtained money. Personally, I have always believed that this aspect of RICO enforcement was one of the beginnings of government’s abuse of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, the one that forbids illegal search and seizure. The method used by the government was to obtain a warrant, often based on mere suspicion, seize merchandise and other property and ask questions later.
The problem that arose was that often, years after the merchandise had been seized; it would be found that the party that had owned the merchandise had not received mob money to purchase those good or run their business. The additional problem was that by the time it was found that there was no mob money connected to many of these operations, the businesses had been closed and the owners had probably been forced to declare bankruptcy, which is exactly what happened to my friend. His mere association with someone who had a peripheral relationship with some connected folks cost him his business, his home and his marriage. He chose to lay down with a dog and woke up with fleas.
That is exactly what seems to be happening in the world of politics today, particularly in the Republican Party. Some are already trying to shake off the nasty insects. Others are trying to become identified with them, and, given the current circumstances surrounding the Republicans and their illegally anointed king; they are making a mistake that they may regret for years to come.
Let me begin with Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York. Mayor Bloomberg was a lifelong Democrat until 2001. His decision to become a Republican was not promulgated by any deep seeded belief in the philosophy of the right. Au contraire, mon amis. Bloomberg discovered that the Democratic Party had no interest in crowning him mayor, despite all the filthy lucre he could bring to the party’s coffers.
Being a man of deep political convictions, the soon to be mayor chose to become a Republican and fund his own campaign. His opponent in the race had a 20% lead in the polls until a week before the election. Then Mark Green, the Democratic candidate, got into a war of words with his former opponent in the primaries, Fernando Ferrer. Ferrer’s people essentially then chose to vote for every position but mayor in the race, and Bloomberg coasted to victory.
It wasn’t really the money that bought the race for Bloomberg. It was the money that bought him the nomination. And that money has, since his party change, been spent on a myriad of Republican causes, including the reselection of George W. Bush as president.
Recently, there has been speculation that Bloomberg is considering a run at the presidency, something he vigorously denies. Were he to run, it would probably have to be as an independent, because neither of the major parties would be likely to offer him an automatic coronation.
Even though Bloomberg says he isn’t in the running, the reality is that term limits prevent him from running for a third term as mayor, and that will leave him out the door at the end of 2009. Bloomberg’s difficulty is that, despite his protestations of liberalism, he is literally covered with a case of George W. Bush fleas.
To try and resolve that issue, Bloomberg has been going out of his way to associate himself with liberal causes in recent weeks. He gives speeches, writes articles and appears on the radio on a regular basis to promote his liberal agenda, which includes; gun control, a woman’s right to chose, gay marriage, the folly of No Child Left Behind and all of the rest of the hallmarks of George Bush’s America that are slowly taking our country down the tubes. Here are some of his comments:
(Stem Cell Research) Government “has a duty to encourage appropriate scientific investigations that could possibly save the lives of millions.”
(Intelligent Design) “Think about it! This not only devalues science, it cheapens theology.”
(Terry Schaivo) “Was there anything more inappropriate than watching political science try to override medical science in the Terry Schaivo case?”
(Global Warming) “Despite near unanimity in the science community, there’s now a movement, driven by ideology and short term economics, to ignore the evidence and discredit the reality of climate change.”
What Bloomberg does not seem to understand is that he is permanently stained by his attachment to George W. Bush and the money he has been pouring into the coffers of the right since he became a Republican. All that any legitimate opponent of the mayor needs to bring up is that Bloomberg chose to lay down with the cur that currently occupies the White House that all of the liberal pronouncements he makes will not serve as a truly effective flea collar in his attempted move back to the left.
Another potential Republican candidate for the White House, former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, seems to be courting the right. Throughout his career, Rudy has taken some surprisingly liberal political stands. Love him or hate him, one cannot deny that Rudy has stood up to his party in his support of women’s rights, gun control and other issues that truly rankle Republican leaders. Maybe he has, but maybe that’s all begun to come to an end.
Recently, Rudy G. has traveled to Georgia in support of the candidacy of Ralph Reed to become the Lieutenant Governor of that state. Reed, you may recall, represents everything that Giuliani has always found bad about his own party. He is a stalwart of the religious right, having been one of the founders of the Christian Coalition in 1990. He is about as far to the right as Dennis Kucinich is to the left.
And Reed fits in really well with those guys. Recently, he has been mentioned as part and parcel of the Jack Abramoff scandal that is rocking the Republican Party. The speculation is that Abramoff may have paid Reed to have his Christian organizations lobby and demonstrate against casinos which would be owned by Indian tribes that were not Abramoff’s clients. The premise was, of course, that these good Christian folks found gambling to be morally repugnant. The fact that they weren’t lobbying against those tribes that had engaged Abramoff to get their casinos opened didn’t seem to matter. Reed told them to demonstrate, and that was all that counted. Apparently, when it’s a choice between money and morality, Reed knows the side on which the bread is buttered.
Giuliani, the former tough guy federal prosecutor, who made his spurs going after mob guys on the East Coast, apparently has lost his moral compass too. Reed is everything that Giuliani has always stood against. However, now that Rudy is considering a run for the White House, he is choosing to lay down with another Republican dog. The fleas he gets from that may be even harder to shake off than the ones that Mike Bloomberg has gotten from his association with President Bush.
There are countless others in the Republican Party who are doing the same things. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), another prospective presidential candidate is one. His recent appearance at the commencement of The Reverend Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University has certainly ended speculation about any liberal points of view he might possess. That’s actually good, because McCain is anything but a liberal. Yes, he is a decorated Vietnam Veteran and a former prisoner of war. He is also anti-choice and pro-gun. In short, he has spent his national political lifetime hiding his real positions behind his heroism and his “aw shucks folks” persona. His appearance at Liberty University should make us understand that McCain has always had those fleas. He just kept them hidden.
What many of these guys are failing to fully understand is that the country is getting really fed up with the immoral way that La Cosa Nostra Bush has been running our government into the ground, and that the fleas that were on their body after they jumped into bed with Bush aren’t going to leave without a fight. McCain certainly got a hint of that when he appeared at another commencement, this time at the New School University in New York, a few days after the Liberty University appearance. Instead of the wild applause he received from Falwell’s crowd, at the New School, he was nearly booed off the stage.
The country has begun its journey back to sanity, and part of that journey will be the understanding that the company kept by these Republicans has truly soiled them forever.
HENRY A. HONIG - THE PUNDIT
