Letters to the Editor
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Great Article, Terrible President
Penny wise pound foolish. It still is amazing to me that a large number of Republican voters still support Bush and this administration. At some point you have to admit that you were wrong take your lumps and help get rid of this bozo. Bush isn't a conservative he is a radical as some conservatives have finally noticed. Furthermore their agenda seems to be take everything that isn't nailed down and give it to our friends.
I remember the Republican mantra "Character is Destiny." I always knew it was true. I just disagreed with their understanding of character. Bush's character is lazy, stubborn and spoiled. He was always coddled and given a free pass. He is convinced of his righteousness, because of this he has never developed any character.
It is a shame that we all have to suffer for the sins of the 50.5 % of the voters that were duped.
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For folly, billions; for survival, pennies
For goodness sake stop complaining. America elected Bush; America RE-ELECTED him. Now live with the consequences.
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Impeach Him Now
We can fill journals with all the evidence of Bush incompetence. But what is the point?
We need an active organized impeachment effort now. Anything less is mere thumb-sucking. This is the problem with Dems. People need to get behind Feingold (or whatever his name is) and start cutting the US out of POTUS (yeah, that was cheezy, someone come up with something better plz)
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When Americans should or complain
Peter, you certainly have an interesting idea about when people should or should not complain. By your logic, Americans are never allowed to complain about any elected President, because they elect all of them. Fortunately, you are contradicted by the First Amendment (which specifically guarantees us the right to "petition the government for a redress of grievances") and also by common sense, which says that the first step toward correcting a problem is pointing out that the problem exists. And if you think that complaining is never effective, take a look at what it did for Harriet Meyers, or the Dubai ports deal.
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Repeat after me:
Senator Feingold is NOT calling for impeaching President Bush. Senator Feingold is NOT calling for impeaching President Bush. Senator Feingold is NOT calling for impeaching President Bush . . .
He is calling for censuring him.
This is an important distinction. Republicans are twisting the story to alarm centrists who don't like Bush but also don't think he should be impeached.
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While we're waiting . .
While we're waiting for the Cowardly Congress to warm to the idea of censure, perhaps we could pick up a new war cry: repeal the Bush tax cuts.
Every story about a segment of the US that's going to hell because of inadequate funds should include a segment on what could be done with funds recaptured by repealing the Bush tax cuts. We need to link this idea again and again to the disaster that's become of our country under Republican rule.
We might even create a catchy new slogan: "if they like this war so much, let 'em pay for it." Lord knows, the majority of the American public DOESN't like this war, yet we're being forced to pay for it.
Let's make a deal: repeal the tax cuts, use that money for Iraq, and redirect everything in the current budget going to Iraq [oh, wait, I forgot, they're not including Iraq in the budget -- but you get the idea] to domestic needs.
Instead of raising the debt ceiling, repeal the tax cuts.
Remind the public again and again who benefited from the tax cuts. Point out the growing disparity in income. Put a number on the "recapture" funds.
Folks are hurting. They know things are going from bad to worse. This is a way for Democrats to identify a step in the right direction, and expose Republicans as the selfish, pander-to-the-rich nobobs they are.
BTW: excellent column as usual, Joe.
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right wing crazies
what's worse than having to live with the results of a bush presidency 2x is the real fear that the idiots that elected him will elect another just like him, assuming he doesn't just decide to stay in office forever. look at the christian conservatives that show up at military funerals to mock the bereaved with the message that they are glad a son ot daughter was killed becuase it's gods' judgement for allowing gay people their civil rights. these people are crazy and their the ones who put these criminals in office, their the ones that hate this country and what it stands for, their the ones who want to destroy everything we once stood for.
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Why are we not surprised??
What did America expect in the face of a crisis? Like the lead up to 9/11, Katrina, and public finance, the goal has never the security of the USA. The cost may be catastrophic, but Boy George will shrug, say "we couldn't have predicted it", the Repugs will accuse his detractors of giving comfort to the enemy (sick birds), and the Dems will cower for fear of offending the Christo-facsists and the Fox-fanatics who keep everyone afraid
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IT'S NOT "RIGHT-WING" IDIOCY - IT'S RIGHT-WING POLICY
Your article ignores the glaringly, blindingly obvious - it is right-wing policy to force as much market risk as possible onto the backs of the poor.
Insulating the rich from market risk is clearly a violation of basic principles of capitalism, but it is the true meaning of the GOP code-words, "Personal Responsibility" and "Ownership Society".
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Right on, Mauimom44
I'm right with Mauimom44 ... we need to continually point out the idiocy and hypocrisy of what the Repubs are DOING. On Wednesday, a Republican from Utah, when asked about the debt level issue, said: "If they [presumably Dems] think we can just spend and spend and spend and not raise the debt level, they are not living in a reality-based world."
Well, I live in a reality-based world, and I know, as millions of other Americans know, that spend and spend and spend is always a bad idea for personal finance as well as the country's finances. No one, except for the very few (like Bush), can avoid paying bills or suffering the consequences of not paying bills when due. The attitude the Repubs have (like Cheney saying that Medicare will work if people just set aside a little money every month) is the attitude of people who have never worried about money--never been in a position of having, say, $8.52 left in a checking account until the next paycheck more than a week away and a mountain of bills to pay in the meantime.
Why this isn't the biggest issue of the day is beyond me. I know the Democrats pushed back a little, but not in the way that made people notice. Those tax cuts MUST go, and this administration HAS to be accountable for their criminal handling of this country's finances.