All Republicans bear stain of failed policies of Bush

Letter Published in the Howard County Times--Nov.2, 2006

We hear all the time that all politics are local. I think that in this environment we can toss out that mantra in the same manner in which it was discarded in 1994. This election is and should be nationalized.

Despite the efforts of our local Republican candidates to run for cover when the name George Bush pops up, voters here in Howard County must consider the party from which these candidates are running. This election should be a referendum on the policies, ethics lapses and incompetence of the GOP, who control all three branches of the Federal government and the Governor's mansion.

Our local Republican candidates-for Governor, Senate, County Executive and those seeking seats on the council and in the General Assembly-must be examined through the lens of what the GOP has done to this country over the past 6 years. Regardless of the candidates' election run-up conversion to pseudo-independence, they are still Republicans. Most have been aided by funding from the vast Republican Party war chest to wage their campaigns.

And Michael Steele, in receiving huge cash inflows from fundraising efforts by Bush, Cheney and Rove and who was hand-picked by the national GOP to run, cannot cloak himself as a non-Republican. The voters are too intelligent for that scam.

The GOP, under the leadership of President Bush, supported a tragic war of choice in Iraq that had no foundation from the start and has been a disaster in its management. By committing such a large amount of our resources and manpower to this futile cause, we are rendered impotent in the wake of saber rattling from Iran and North Korea. Indeed, we are left more vulnerable by a party whose members try to falsely impress the electorate that they can protect us better.

So drunk with power are they, that it is becoming more evident that the top leader in Congress had allowed the Foley mess to continue despite early warnings simply to protect and retain Foley's Congressional seat. This is the party that has decimated the environment, denies the existence of science, given huge tax breaks to those who do not need them, mismanaged a natural disaster, increased the size of government with its inept and politically-charged Department of Homeland Security, failed to legitimately tackle Social Security and energy reform, fostered more terrorists, and saw our world standing-like Congress' and Mr. Bush's poll numbers-plummet.

But with all the challenges facing America and the world, the president and Congress saw fit to waste precious legislative time by obsessing over such life and death matters as flag burning and gay marriage.

Don't think for one minute that our local Republican candidates are insulated by this disgraceful period of governance by our national leaders. One such candidate, in a recent public forum, defended our policy in Iraq by asserting "we were attacked on 9/11." She still doesn't get it. The voters, even with these local contests, must examine the candidates in the context of our national failures that continue to mount.

Steve Charing

Clarksville