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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
John Anderson: "hooray let's demonize Bush some more.
he had plenty of supporters...so are we still at war with ourselves, or has Obama just magically made all that disappear?"
Obviously Obama didn't make it all disappear, as the election of Chambliss makes clear.
There is a very good reason to continue demonizing Bush -- because people have a short memory. There is actually some goofball in here who said, "let Bush move on," or something.
The problem is most people aren't paying any attention to the things the government has done under their names. There is a reason terrorists want to attack civilians: Because as a democracy, we are all ostensibly responsible for what our leaders do.
So how's about we keep on demonizing Bush until 46% of the U.S. starts waking the hell up?
Now, I do realize that Bush kind of HAS to say the idiotic stuff he has said in this interview. It's because there's no way he could come out and say, "I totally blew it." Then he'd have to answer to all the families of dead soldiers -- all the fathers, brothers, mothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends, husbands, wives, lovers, family members and coworkers of all the thousands of people who died based on his decisions. One suspects they might be looking for a little payback.
I knew we were all in trouble way back in 2000 during the republican primary when he was asked who his favorite philosopher was and he responded: Jesus Christ. In a rational society, this kind of blatant pandering would be seen for what it was and booed off the stage. In America, we carry you into office for it. It's questionable how many other philosophers Bush had read up to that point anyway but the fact that no one bothered to ask that question is another argument for why we deserved to get stuck with this guy.
After that, anything that happened to us we were asking for. If a country elects it's leaders based on their faith rather then their policies, they do not deserve to survive and certainly do not deserve the status of super-power. Yes, he lied, cheated, stole, and killed. He was elected based on his faith. Competent leaders don't need to do that. To be certain, Clinton helped him along by going along with the sex witch hunts instead of saying "None of your fucking business!" like the rest of us would have. He fell into the religious puritan trap as well. This is the problem, we let symbolism trump necessity. As a result, we get stuck with the worst possible leaders.
This happens all the time. Remember the flap over Obama's lack of a flag pin? The fact that "story" got any air time at all shows how little we've actually learned since 2000. How many incompetent republicans are still in office because they ran on the bottemless gold mine of gay marriage and abortion, two issues that don't even affect the people who vote based on them? Sarah Palin anyone?
We on the left can say it's not our fault and that we don't deserve to live with the bad decisions of others mistakes but how many assumed that Prop. 8 would fail in California just because talk radio has painted it the most liberal state in the union? How many assumed that Kerry would win hands down in 2004? How many beleived that Clinton would usher in a new era of tolerance and change back in 1992? We keep giving our fellow citizens the benefit of the doubt no matter how many times they prove us wrong. We need to wake up to the realities of the world around us and just how dumb our fellow citizens really are.
It is easy to say that if Gore had won in 2000 that America would not be as polarized as it is today. I respectfully disagree. The mentality that put Bush in office in 2000 would still be out there. Yes, I am glad he is leaving, but to say that we have learned from his disasterous presidency is niave. In 1998, after the impeachment of Clinton fell through, many commentators said it was the death of the culture wars. Two years later we all know who won, don't we?
I don't have the solution. I don't know how to make people beleive in evolution given all the evidence for it that is already out there. I don't know how to convince that family on the verge of poverty that their pastor really doesn't have their best interest in mind when he tells them that gay marriage is the most important issue to vote on. I just know we need to stop assuming that one election victory means people have woken up. It is a long, hard, fight and we still have a long way to go.
So how's about we keep on demonizing Bush until 46% of the U.S. starts waking the hell up?
I understand your sentiment, I just don't think that this 46% comes anywhere near Salon...or anywhere near the perennial "impeach Bush" rally outside the office building where I work.
I'm all for explaining the Republican policy failures to anyone who will listen...but it's dangerous to make everything about Bush.
Maybe that's not the intention...however I keep hearing this "ding dong the Bush is dead" song, but the military-industrial complex is still alive and well. More or less the same Congress, too.
who believed Saddam had WMD's. The rest of the world knew that he didn't have them, or at least that there was no evidence that he did and much evidence that he didn't. One thing Bush ISN'T alone on is this: he isn't the only one defending his actions as president by resorting to lies and delusions.
Anybody at the time
With astute faculties of smart deduction
Perceived that under the tightened down screws of embargo
That Iraq could NOT aquire materials for manufacturing weapons
Of mass destruction.
Back in 2003, it was hard to find one single fucking American
Who'd even consider this possibility, mull it over, or maybe
Even agree, cos you can't believe jack shit, that you don't
Get from that most worship worthy box - American TV.
If the half assed, high on laughin' gas, citizenry of this
Country, get led into another unredemptive, pre-emptive war
With Iran, I hope you get your Dudley Dipshit asses dusted
Definatively, and flung in the nearest
"Absolutely No Littering" garbage can..
I don't support your mess, your Abrams tanks, your trigger
Happy, soon to be comin' home psycho kids, your generals,
your yella ribbon car magnets, or the host of maudlin Iraq
Themed movies and
Vids
It's one fine fuckin' mess
You've dutifully made,
God help you dumb bastards,
If you can't find a better and
Brighter way.
Fuck you very much.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
Salon headlines in your mailbox
