Limbaugh Declares War, Cheney Declares Torture, Dick Morris Declares Treason

They never learn. Barely days after leaving office, in the strangest political move, Dick Cheney is back declaring war again, while barely hours after the Senate stimulus deal, Dick Morris is back accusing the handful of responsible Republicans of “treason.”

Cheney’s return to center stage reminds us why Obama has such a global mess to clean up, while Morris’s contribution reminds us why Republicans were clobbered in 2006 and 2008, are not welcome in major regions of the nation and could be a minority party for 30 years.

Old habits die hard. The deal on the stimulus bill, if enacted, would be a major victory for President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and above all the American people, who are devastated by the economy made disastrous by the policies of George Bush and Dick Cheney. Dick Morris’s charge of “treason” against the handful of centrist Republicans who remain proves the misjudgment of mindset of a party that is run by hardcore partisans, right-wing talk show hosts and Herbert Hoover economists.

Perhaps Morris’s charge of treason will induce Republican centrists to join the Democratic Party. No doubt his advice, if followed, would lead to 63 Democratic senators after 2010, or maybe 65. The Republican “alternative” to the Obama stimulus would have meant virtually no stimulus at all, cutting the overall program in half, and of the paltry portions that remained in the Republican “alternative” most of the money would have gone to tax cuts. This is a formula for depression for the nation and more disaster for Republicans.

As their alternative to a new president with enormous popularity in America and worldwide appeal, Limbaugh, Cheney and Morris offer nothing more than doggie bags of the Bush years.

When I look at the Republican economic plan, I think of what Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid said before their demise: “Who are those guys?” These Republicans, “those guys,” want to cut spending against the recession by almost 80 percent compared to Obama. They want to cut aid for fuel-efficient cars in the federal fleet. They want to cut aid for weatherizing in the middle of a cold winter. They want to cut aid to education and cut support for states that border on insolvency and are laying off firefighters, policemen and teachers.

This is the Republican Party of 2009. Even many Republican governors believe that Republicans in Washington are just plain nuts in opposing the Obama plan. And yet the most influential Republican in America, Rush Limbaugh, announces his hope the president will fail. The most extreme vice president in American history, Dick Cheney, can’t control himself for even three weeks after he departs, and no doubt will soon resume his “torture tour.” And Dick Morris levels the time-honored Republican charge of treason.

Treason, Morris says, because what is really at stake for him is the Republican attempt for the minority that got clobbered in the last election to obstruct the majority that won in a landslide. If Morris had gotten his way on the economy, America would be one step closer to a depression. Already, 40 Republicans who voted for the anemic and embarrassing “Republican alternative” to the Obama stimulus will have to defend their votes in states that want action, not partisanship.

Treason, Morris says! The Republican vision of policy is to bring back Herbert Hoover economics. The Republican vision of politics is to demand the unanimity of Brezhnev’s one-party state, where all votes are partisan for the party, and all party members must march in lockstep and vote unanimously or face charges of treason.

Republicans used to accuse Democrats of treason. Now they hurl this bogus charge against each other, while the American people applaud our new president who won a great victory in the last election, and look at Republicans who were clobbered and ask: “Who are those guys?”