Be afraid, be very afraid, part one

Shrub had his post-election coming-out party on Thursday, telling reporters at a press conference that Americans have embraced his agenda. Now this either means that he is equating a sliver-thin majority who often enough didn't know what they were voting for with all of us - or, more likely, he wants to spread the meme that the definition of "American" is "agrees with George Bush."

In fact, he also offered his new definition of "bipartisan."

"I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals," said Bush....

Yessiree, there's a real spirit of cooperation: "I'll work with anyone who already agrees with me. Everyone else can go screw themselves."

I don't know if this is actually any worse than the sort of wimpy, mealy-mouthed soporifics about "healing" and "seeking common ground" I would have expected (and, in fact, we got) from John Kerry, but it's bad enough. It does have one saving grace: It means we know exactly where we - including the left, any Democrats worth the name, and any moderate Republicans who still remember the difference between a principled conservative and a fanatic - stand. We are the opposition. And we'd damned well better act like one.

And that does not mean "seeking accommodation" or "maintaining the dignity of the process" or any other such nonsense. It means a scorched Earth policy against them and all the inhuman, greedy, bigoted, narrow-minded, violent, destructive, heartless, ignorant bullshit they stand for. No retreats, no accommodations, no compromises unless they are real compromises, i.e., you get at least as much as you give.

They wanted it, they own it. From now on, everything that goes wrong, every death in Iraq, every lost job, every dollar of deficit, every polluted stream, every invasion of privacy, every loss of rights, every lost dream, is their fault. Nobody else's. Theirs. And don't let anyone forget it.

Footnote: Let's face facts, though, It won't be easy. Not when the media are bleating like a flock of sheep, seeing who can be the loudest in framing issues the way the White House desires. This same article referred to Shrub's "decisive victory" and actually called his Iraq policy a "commitment to spread democracy in the Middle East."