Heart to heart

A heart transplant, while literally a change in heart, does not necessarily lead to the more common interpretation of that phrase.

Witness former Vice President Dick Cheney. Just weeks after being granted an extension of his own life through the organ donation of another, Cheney hypocritically attacked President Obama yesterday as being "an unmitigated disaster." His speech included criticism of the economy and many other policy concerns.

This is, of course, the same Vice President Cheney whose administration squandered the economic progress and budget surpluses of the Clinton administration; engaged in two wars on the country's credit card and left office with no end in sight for either of them; granted an expensive extension of prescription drug benefits to seniors, again without paying for it; declared that "deficits don't matter"; outed a CIA operative, endangering the lives of the agent, her family, and countless contacts around the world, solely for political purposes; and was the first administration in American history to take pride in torturing of prisoners. This is the new point man for the Republicans?

Over the years, I have had no overwhelming problems with the Republican party in general. I've voted for some Republicans on occasion. I've run my own businesses and had a major role in running others. I understand the appeal of the Republican's nod to lower taxes and reduced regulations.

But that traditional nod is now more of a nod and a wink; the Republican party is no longer a group of small town business people, the type of folks who populate local chambers of commerce. It is the party of the Chamber of Commerce, the national lobbying body for large corporations and the moneyed interests they represent. It has become the political arm of the 1%.

It amazes me so many miss how out there the Republican party has become. Forget the true crazies, like Congressman Alan West, who see Communists wherever Democrats loom; nut jobs do not a party define, even if their party does nothing to separate itself from their ravings. But when the Republican party in general starts to act like its most fringe elements, the entire organization loses credibility. That this coming presidential election could be close is both hard to believe and scary.