Letters to the Editor
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How Many Ways Can You Say Worst President Ever?
Back in the 90's when the Republicans rolled out GW as their candidate for the 2000 presidential election I thought to myself, "They've got to be kidding." Well, no, they weren't and once again I underestimated the power of marketing in sleep walking America. Let's face it: Bush is the poster child of what America has become: intentionally ignorant, reactionary, dull, arrogant, self righteous, with a deep love of violence. Bush is an easy target to lampoon and he will leave the national scene someday. But I'm not optimistic that America will do the necessary soul searching and required changes to prevent another unfit and psycologically dangerous person from reaching the White House.
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change gonna come
Thanks, Sidney, as always for your clear-eyed sanity.
Thanks to you posters here who remind me that for all the finger pointing, blame-mongering, there are still intelligent beings here on earth.
Thanks especially to AJ Calhoun for your way with words.
I humbly share in your prayer.
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Bush 1 oversaw a huge economic meltdown
And the resulting frustration is what did him in, and Ross Perot.
Bush 2 has somehow in the intervening years figured out how to spin his own economic destruction of the middle class as something much more palateable to those very people being squeezed into poverty.
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Not hopeful
Let's face it: Bush is the poster child of what America has become: intentionally ignorant, reactionary, dull, arrogant, self righteous, with a deep love of violence. Bush is an easy target to lampoon and he will leave the national scene someday. But I'm not optimistic that America will do the necessary soul searching and required changes to prevent another unfit and psycologically [sic] dangerous person from reaching the White House.
I really wish I could disagree with you. But I'm afraid I share your very well articulated pessimism.
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Strategy vs. Objectives
Anyone who wants to know how the U.S. went "wrong" in Iraq need look no further than Bush's answer to the following question, which was asked at the press conference described in Sid Blumenthal's article: "You've continually cited the elections, the new government, its progress in Iraq, and yet the violence has gotten worse in certain areas...Is it not time for a new strategy? And if not, why not?" Bush's response: "The strategy is to help the Iraqi people achieve their objectives and dreams, which is a democratic society. That's the strategy." (Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060821.html)
Actually, helping the Iraqi people achieve a democratic society isn't a strategy--it's an objective, a goal. A strategy is a series of specific steps that one takes in order to achieve one's goal. For example: I want to lose 10 pounds in time for my 20-year high school reunion next month. That's the goal. My strategy is to eat fewer between-meal snacks and go to the gym at least 4 days a week. President Bush does not seem to understand this fundamental difference, or even appreciate the fact that there IS a difference.
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Like Father...?
Sidney's article is a necessary counterpoint to the MSM drivel of G.W. Bush's "confidence," as Andy Calderwood has already pointed out. But what is he telling us we don't already know? Yeah... Bush Sr. went through the "wimp" thing, sent US troops to push Saddam out of Kuwait, relieving his panicky Saudi buddies and protecting the price of European and Japanese oil (alleviating the threat to US debt financing), and was then preceived as "strong." And wise, too, as he heeded his generals and didn't go to Baghdad. He then proceeded to show us, when the economy faltered, how out of touch with American life he really was, hence: "It's the economy, stupid."
As to his unrepentant moron of a son, what else can be said? His handlers have either given up, lost their skills in mass hypnosis, Bush is once again deeply into booze and drugs or he really is the idiot many of us always thought him to be. The standard Rovian rubbish doesn't seem to cut it anymore. They are, at least for the moment, out of ideas. Unfortunately, their unprecedented power to manipulate elections persists.
One comparison between father and son still begs to be made. Nobody ever called the father "stupid." I actually met the man while serving as a crew member on his campaign charters in 1988. Believe me, he was not stupid. Nor was he obnoxious and crude; his charm was genuine, not smarmy. But I did get the overwhelming impression that the America he and his staff came from in no way resembled mine. Wealth and priveledge does that to you, I guess. I didn't vote for him. But his son's intellect... that's a different story. Perhaps you recall in the months leading up to the nomination in 2000 the supporters who defended their pathetic candidate against the charge he was not very bright. One particular interviewee stands out in my mind, although I unfortunately cannot remember the name of the wise, old Republican statesman who offered the following anecdote (which I must paraphrase), delivered in the folksy style of an insurance salesman:
...they say he's not smart enough to be president. Hell... nobody's smart enough...
What a price we've paid for that tragic oversimplification. Perhaps it was a harbinger of the endless string of straw man arguments we've been offered ever since.
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God protect us from the stupid.
dennyh said, Back in the 90's when the Republicans rolled out GW as their candidate for the 2000 presidential election I thought to myself, "They've got to be kidding." Well, no, they weren't and once again I underestimated the power of marketing in sleep walking America.
Marketing, schmarketing. We were sold a lemon that anyone with two brain cells to rub together could see was a lemon, but half of us bought it anyway. Could these be the same schmucks who buy junk like Enzyte, Relacore, Gerber Life's "grow-up plan," Reagan dimes, and scores of other idiotic "products" on cable TV? Let's face it. The half of us who saw right through George W. Bush never had any intention of voting for him, and the other half could be sold a lump of manure that came with a "certificate of authenticity" that it came from the stall of a Kentucky Derby winning racehorse. God help us from those who are too stupid to manage their own money, let alone choose a President.