The "it" I am speaking of are religious right figures misjudging the results and make total fools of themselves.
The last time Republicans had a huge victory in a national election was in 2004 when Bush was re-elected. Soon after that, the discredited Paul Cameron slithered from whichever cave he was hiding in and began publishing "new studies" about the so-called dangers of homosexuality. These new studies were nothing more than his old monstrosities painted up to look like new developments in a way that someone with a nasty sense of humor would cover a brick with frosting
After a while, Cameron realized that the Republican victories didn't exactly mean his resurgence was eminent so he slithered back into his cave of well-deserved shame and obscurity.
But his misreading of Bush's re-election and the Republican victories was indicative of how many on that sense of the fence felt. For months on end, Republicans (particularly evangelicals who actually played a huge part in the victories) acted as if the word "humility" never existed.
Then reality, i.e. things like Hurricane Katrina in 2005, hit them like a ton of bricks. And the 2006 mid-terms, where Democrats won both the House and the Senate, finished them off.
The midterm victories of the Republican party this year brings out another degree of stupid from a familiar, but soon to be fading voice in the religious right - your friend and mine, Porno Pete LaBarbera:
What Is Obama Thinking? Renews Push For Homosexuals in Military
TAKE ACTION NOW: Read Lt. Col. Ollie North’s article, “Military Lab Rats,” and urge your U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senators [202-224-3121 (Senate); 202-225-3121 (House) www.congress.org] not to make our servicemembers guinea pigs for the Left’s radical social experiment of homosexualizing the U.S. Military. As for the new, Republican-led Congress, we must demand a congressional investigation of the Obama administration’s subversion of the law banning homosexual servicemembers. Obama has so politicized the process of reporting homosexuals in the military that he has made it very difficult to expel violators of the policy. This must end.
LaBarbera is talking about the possibility that the repeal DADT may be taken up during the lame duck session of Congress to be held before the Republicans take over.
Now I know plenty will be said about whether or not this is a possibility, plenty will be said about whether or not it will be successful, and even more will be said about Obama and DADT.
But let's focus on something else for a second.
Don't you smell a little victory disease coming from the other side again?
Wikipedia (yes I know I am citing wikipedia so don't bother pointing it out) defines victory disease as:
when in military history, because of complacency and/or arrogance brought on by a victory or series of victories, an engagement ends disastrously for a commander and his forces.
Historically, there have been several cases of these. The most specific was when after a score of victories, legendary French leader Napoleon invaded Russia. He won the battle, but it cost him a large part of his army, thereby precipitating his fall. In hindsight, it was a dumb idea.
Just like calling for a Congressional investigation of the repeal of DADT. Of course a dumber idea would be for the Republican Congress to take LaBarbera up on that offer.
I really don't that they will. However there are plenty of other things they plan to investigate the Obama Administration over and none of them make any sense. Then there is Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell's bold statement of the biggest Republican priority is not jobs or deficit reduction but to defeat Obama in 2012. And don't even get me started on how they want to repeal the entire health care bill, even though a majority of Americans actually like parts of it.
Just like Cameron's idiocy in 2004 masked a broad misreading of Republican victories, it seems that LaBarbera's statement of investigating the Obama Administration's DADT repeal efforts seems to be masking another broad misreading of Republican victories in this mid-term.
Which in the long run may prove yet again those who do not learn from history will always repeat it.
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