Letters to the Editor
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Bush on Bush
I am reminded of the first time someone referred to Bush as a "war president". That someone was Bush himself, during the '04 campaign. "I'm a war president" he smirked on numerous occasions, nodding in agreement with his own self-assessment. He was, and continues to be, oblivious to the basic etiquette of legend-building. "I am a war president", like "I am Lincolnesque" or "I am a great lover" are character descriptions best left for others to make. Self-promotion of this sort is terribly awkward. It would be analogous to hearing George Clooney repeatedly state "I'm a movie star" in public. The kindest response would be to feel slightly embarrassed for the guy. Clearly, Bush never feels embarrassed. That's our job now.
I can only guess that Karl Rove's people figured out that no US president in history lost a re-election during a time of war. "That's it!" they must have realized. "We need to be at war during the first week in November." Sadly, it worked. They buried Dubya and resurrected FDR. These people make Nixon's notorious Committee To ReElect the President seem positively virtuous.
If you break all presidential activities into proactive and reactive efforts, Bush's presidency is a staggering failure on both fronts. His reactive instincts have been consistently misguided (9-11, Katrina) while his procative agenda has been a rolling cascade of failures (Homeland security, Social Security, etc.) This has moved far beyond the emperor having no clothes.
This man has no skin.
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You bring the lawn chairs, I'll bring the smores
I rather like watching it all implode at this point. We've lost a war, a city, a government and an economy. Couple-three more years and you and I will have to grow FreedomLiberty Gardens to sustain ourselves. And while it's coming apart at every nail at least it's entertaining to watch our Sociopath in Chief blink and stammer his way through speeches in towns and countries he doesn't appear all that clear to know where they are.
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Bush Pays Respects to M. Gandhi
Anyone else think Bush's offering prayers and wreaths to Mahatma Gandhi more than a little ironic and hypocritical? I understand ahimsa can't always be followed in this post-9/11 world, but attacking a country that hasn't attacked your own? Forget doctrines of non-violence or militarism; that's just plain stupidity.
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"I am grateful to have the opportunity to honour Mahatma Gandhi at this sacred site. His life was an inspiration to people and the world, and his contribution to all mankind places him among the great leaders of history."
- George W. Bush's written comment in the visitor's book at the Rajghat.
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Small people, Long shadows....
As the body count in Iraq mounts for both Iqaqis and U.S. soldiers, a look at the folks responsible is revealing. Cheney, Rumsfeld et al seem to be dedicated to the revival of Richard Nixon, indeed this is where they cut their political teeth. Condi Rice was an academic, specializing in Soviet Relations of all things. Sort of like a mechanic specializing in Stanley Steamers. Then you have the dupe himself. After seeing the tape of W. and Chertoff being briefed about Katrina, I was reminded of a recented Today Show appearance by W. & Laura in which he looked like a man who suddenly realizes he is in way over his head. Same blank look. George W. Bush may be a bigger War Criminal than even Henry Kissinger.
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Bush and Lincoln
In all his self-flattering comparisons of himself to Abraham Lincoln and the travails they both faced, the great imcompetent fails (as usual) to include Honest Abe's greatest travail:
He was assassinated for his trouble...
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Heading for the bottom.
Back when Bush and the Republicans took control of our government, I remember telling my children that it was going to be both enjoyable and painful to watch how completely this cabal of nitwits was going to self-implode some day. I would think the goal for all of us now is to do what we can to keep King George from doing as little damage as possible. I believe a good place to start is for each of us to begin rejecting the concept of red state/blue state. We need to get back to being Americans first; political leanings be damned. This is not the time for an Us/Them mentality. After the midterm elections, if the Democrats can somehow pull their heads out of their asses, perhaps the amount of damage the worst president in history can inflict on us and the rest of the world can be minimized.
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Both parties are at fault
The abortion issue turned the fundamentalists into Republicans. They will never leave Bush as long the issue exists. As much as I am pro-choice, it cannot be forced down peoples throats. That 35% approval rating would be a lot lower if the abortion issue did not exist. It is time to accept that this is a very diverse country and allow the states to go their own way on many issues. The president is not the only one surrounded by lickspittles. Cheney and his cabal are a direct result of the lefts inability to accept reality. A plague on both parties. Between them they are destroying the country.
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Persons Without Honor
As the parallels to Richard Nixon grow by the day, I wonder about something: in Nixon's day, did other Republicans "stand by their man" like today's Republicans are doing with the Shrub? Or were they as outraged as the rest of us?
I ask because I was 11 or 12 when the Watergate scheiss hit the fan, and I don't remember. In those days I was more concerned about whether I'd pass algebra.
Richard Nixon was a Person Without Honor. So is George Bush. To maintain their own grasp on power, there is nothing those two men would not do or say. The question becomes, where are all the honorable people? For it is those who will check the naked grasping of the Persons Without Honor.
FWIW, I blame the media in large part for the Shrub's election and re-election. In the 2000 campaign, while important issues were looming large, what was the media telling us? Why, how *likeable* the Shrub is, especially as compared to Al Gore, that boring wonk and wearer of "earth tones." What were they telling us in 2004? How likeable and "regular" a guy the Shrub is, especially as compared to weirdo windsurfer Kerry. And too many of the sheeple bought it. Even laying aside the fear card, so ruthlessly played by BushCo, the whole likeability thing was a near-treasonous disservice done to this country by its "independent" media.
Likeable? Please. Like any of these people is going to drop by my house for a beer anytime soon. And even if s/he did, what does that have to do with his or her basic ability to do what this country needs? I like most of my friends, but that doesn't mean they're qualified to be President--although arguably, most of them would probably do a better job.
Being "likeable" might be relevant for TV personalities, but not for people in charge of real-world things like armies, nuclear weapons, economies, and deciding whether some poor bastard gets tortured, or some other poor bastard gets shipped off to a foreign country to serve as cannon fodder. Then I want the tough SOB who can see past the end of his nose and make the hard decisions in the best interest of this whole country, not just those who got him elected. If I hear one more time about "pleasing the base," I am going to hurl. That phrase has always sounded vaguely pornographic to me; I admit, most politicians are little more than their supporters' whores, but the blatancy of this administration's whoring turns my stomach.
I can't watch the Shrub speak anymore. Every time he opens his mouth, it sounds like he's saying, "But ahm the Prezidunt; I get to do whut ah wunt and nobody can tell me no!" It is, at best, an elementary-school grasp of the duties and responsibilities of the office of the President. But I guess it's more important that the occupant of the Oval Office be "(faux) folksy" and "likeable" than that s/he understands his or her duties as mandated by the Constitution, and the awesome responsibilities that come with the office.
I am disgusted. Where are the honorable people? Or is that concept too quaint for us? Has everyone sold his or her soul in the pursuit of power and/or money?