Letters to the Editor
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It was Katrina, stupid
It was the war and the unlimited avarice of the Republicans that ended their dominance on Tuesday, but it was Katrina that first breached the Bush armor. After four years of acting all tough, the first action-figure president (but GI Joe would never go AWOL, would he?), Bush's true incompetence and corrupt nature were laid bare for all to see:
His staff was afraid to bring him the bad news about New Orleans and the Gulf, instead burning a DVD of CNN and MSNBC stories.
Four days after Katrina made landfall, flooding an entire US city, he knew nothing about the suffering of hundreds of thousands of American citizens.
Condi was shoe-shopping at Ferragamo in New York. Her "I don't do hurricanes" attitude was shocking considering that several hundred foreign nationals were caught in the storm.
Michael Brown's dumb, doughy face probably reminded a lot of people of their amiable, but similarly addled, boss. Bush's "heck of a job" compliment probably reminded people of their boss' clueless boss. A Dilbert cartoon during a national tragedy.
Bush's false words juxtaposed against the images on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and NBC made it plain the guy was lying his ass off. Even Fox News couldn't defend him on this one.
In just four days, people who had given the Bushies the benefit of the doubt that they were competent adults running a government during difficult times lost their patience. The Bushies were nincompoops who couldn't care less if thousands of people, OUR people, suffered and died during one of the worst natural disasters in our history.
Katrina forced people to look at other areas of Bush incompetence and lying: the war, no-bid contracts, surveillance programs, torture, etc.
The blindfolds were off. The emperor really is naked. He is a dumb fratboy threatening our civil liberties, not to protect us, but to expand the powers of the presidency.
So when you celebrate the Democrats' taking control of both houses of Congress, raise a glass to Katrina for opening the eyes of many of our fellow citizens.