Republicans Continue to Declare Victory in Defeat, Success Amidst Failure

Aaron Keyak — January 14, 2009 – 2:59 pm | Barack Obama | Election 2008 | Polls | Stop the Smears Comments (0) Add a comment

Today, Larry Greenfield, immediate past California Director for the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), has an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal titled, "A Grade of W." Greenfield suspends belief and ignores reality as he weaves a revisionist version of history where President George W. Bush had a successful Presidency. A quick tip to Greenfield -- this propaganda works better once Bush is at least forgotten from our short-term memory.

As you might suspect, Greenfield's piece seeks to improve Bush's legacy. Nonetheless, Greenfield concedes, "Bush was never universally beloved" and "[Bush] received merciless left-of-center criticism ever since [the 2000 election]." Greenfield's op-ed also states that, "Bush is widely admired." According to CNN/Opinion Research Corp., "Seventy-five percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday said they're glad Bush is going; 23 percent indicated they'll miss him." I guess when Greenfield writes, "Bush is widely admired" he is only referring to the 23% who will miss him. When three quarters of those surveyed indicated, "they're glad Bush is going," he is hardly "widely admired." But why wasn't Bush able to achieve his "supportable goals"? Greenfield implies that Bush may not be responsible for his failures when Greenfield asks, "Is it his fault?" Bush is not responsible for the implications of the actions and policies he took as President? Talk about false victimhood.

Greenfield's op-ed isn't the first time RJC walked into the "twilight zone." Matt Brooks, RJC Executive Director, authored a piece immediately following Election Day where he bragged about RJC's success because, "Obama was unable to exceed Bill Clinton or Al Gore, and only slightly improved on John Kerry's support in the Jewish community." For those who aren't familiar, Brooks took credit for the fact that Obama only received about 78% of the Jewish vote. (Kerry, Gore, and Clinton received from 77% to 80% of the Jewish vote.) Brooks also claimed that the Obama campaign "adjusted" some of its positions because of RJC's "efforts" and "challenge[s]." Yeah, right.

I know that Republicans aren't happy about Bush's 75% disapproval rating or the Obama victory, but that doesn't give them license to make up reality on Bush's legacy.

This is cross posted on The Huffington Post.

Comments

There are no comments for this entry