Cole’s Sinking Ship Brings Bad PR Vibes To State

(Oklahomans should urge Gov. Brad Henry to veto House Bill 2633, which contains a religious intrusion act sponsored by state Rep. Sally Kern, an Oklahoma City Republican. Here is a recent Associated Press story about the legislation. Here is the governor's Web site.)

(U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe is out of touch with ordinary Oklahomans. Watch the new DSCC video about Inhofe’s “expensive little toy” as state residents face staggering increases in gasoline prices.)

Perhaps it is symbolically fitting that Oklahoma’s U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, a longtime Republican political operative in one of the country’s reddest of red states, is now overseeing the demise of the neoconservative movement on a national level.

But, then, who else besides a prominent Oklahoman Republican, backed by the state’s ultra-conservative, GOP-adoring corporate media and energy companies, could get a free media pass when defending on a de facto basis the botched Iraq occupation, the torturing of foreign prisoners by the U.S. government, the continuing war on basic civil rights in this country and the tanking economy? Who else would even do it? Maybe someone from Utah or Mississippi? Maybe.

Cole heads the National Republican Congressional Committee, which tries to get Republicans elected to the House. His local public relations firm, The Oklahoman, published a story Saturday about his efforts so far, and, well, things are not going so well in neoconservative loony land these days. Democrats recently defeated Republicans in two special elections in Louisiana and Illinois. The seats were considered Republican strongholds. The Illinois seat was previously held by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Chris Casteel, one of the most biased, right-wing reporters in the country, fails to mention in his story the declining approval ratings of one of the most unpopular presidents in the country's history or how the sinking economy and the Iraq occupation have turned the country against Republicans. These are only some reasons why Republican candidates continue to lose across the country. The numbers and facts are all there. The neoconservative experiment did not work. It divided the country on a historic level, squandered the country’s treasury and brought us endless war. Meanwhile, Democrats are registering to vote in record numbers, and presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama attract adoring crowds wherever they go.

To his credit, Casteel quotes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about the rise of the Democratic Party these days, but the real story about this election will never be found in the pages of The Oklahoman, which continues to promote oligarchy, war, torture and fewer civil rights for ordinary people.

What is tragic from a real local public relations standpoint is that a politician from Moore, Oklahoma—Cole is no doubt returning political favors—is the frontman for a dead political movement now led by a 71-year-old clone of Imperial President George Bush. It makes the state seem like it is stuck in a huge time warp as the country moves forward, embracing change.

(Update: The GOP lost another special House election in a Republican stronghold Tuesday. Democrat Travis Childers defeated his Republican opponent Greg Davis by a large margin in a Mississippi House race. The demise of the neoconservative experiment continues.)