This week's episode of Real Time With Bill Maher will please you if you want to see a hapless Republican congressman fail miserably to defend the G.O.P. agenda and its leaders. I'm actually not sure what to think of a guy like Jack Kingston (R-GA). On the one hand, I admire his courage at dousing himself in A-1 Sauce, walking into the lions' den and fighting for what he believes. On the other hand, not every brave action is also a good idea and some are so hopeless that you have to question the wisdom of someone who puts himself in that kind of situation. They don't do themselves a lot of good and they may actually be harming their own cause(s) by conferring legitimacy on a stacked debate.
It isn't that Kingston is dumb but it's tough to defend Bush's Iraq policy when so many Conservatives, Republicans and military men are cutting and running, if not from it then from him. (It's also tough to defend it in front of Maher's studio audience, which is willing to boo a truly stupid statement. When Kingston tried to claim that John Kerry was actually slandering the intelligence of our troops, it warranted booing.)
In case you didn't catch the show and don't want to, I'm linking to the opening interview, which you ought to see. It's Maher interviewing Robert Greenwald, who made a new film that argues that a shocking amount of our tax dollars are going to corporations that have military contracts for Iraq but — and this warrants all caps — DO NOT DO THE JOB. American interests, including the safety of our troops, are being ignored because incompetent and dishonest companies are making fortunes without any real oversight. I am amazed not only that there isn't more outrage about this but that so many people kind of shrug and look the other way, like it's okay with them. If John Kerry had pocketed money that was supposed to go for soldiers' body armor, a lot of the folks who were outraged at his remarks wouldn't have made a peep about that.
I'd like to think this will be the next big scandal because it's about time war-profiteering and non-performance of duties got investigated. I don't have any real predictions for Tuesday but I can tell you my fondest wish. It's that my Congressman, Henry Waxman, winds up with subpoena power. He'll go after the abuses talked about in the following conversation…