So, Bush, it seems that you're now "the decider." I heard you make this claim in the Rose Garden yesterday. Well, I was acutally watching TV and you were in the Rose Garden speaking to the television cameras. Nice word, anyway. But every time you make an assertion of this kind--remember "I'm a war president"--it sounds to me more like the high-pitched protest of a weak man. The words have, frankly, a pathetic ring to them, and suggest the opposite of what they want to say. In this case, the "decider" was defending your embattled Rumsfeld and I predict that this blind loyalty in the face of so much evidence and so much opposition will backfire on you. Either the pressure mounts on your Secretary of Defense and he has to go, and you'll look even weaker for having to surrender. Or he'll stay despite all good counsel to the contrary and the disaster in Iraq will continue--or escalate--and you'll look increasingly like a pretty damn poor decider.
One thing you did apparently decide was to dump your Scott McClellan, whose resignation was all over the morning's news. I have to say I never much admired or trusted him, but that was perhaps less to do with the man than with the position he was in. There has to be a certain exhuastion factor in putting a good face on the lies and distortions you're required to feed to a well-informed press corps--no matter how compliant they may have been in the first years of McClellan's tenure of the press secretary's job. And then, daily, to have to defend a dismal history of incompetence and mismanagement. Not a job I'd envy. A good trooper for you personally, though, Bush. “I have given it my all, sir," he said, like a true gentleman, on leaving: "and I have given you my all, sir, and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary.” What a guy!
And the big shakeup continues! Your Rove, it seems, is to be relieved of a part of his job--the part you gave him last year in annointing him as your chief policy advisor--so that he can return to what he's really good at: nasty politics. Republicans everywhere will be rejoicing that he's back on the team for the fall elections--and the Democrats I'm sure will be quaking in their boots. And checking out the skeletons in their closets. I'd like to believe that Rove will have his work cut out, though: I don't foresee any great improvement in your performance between now and then. But who knows what the war president might dream up in the coming weeks and months to reverse his slide in the polls? And who knows what might yet be achieved by the grandmaster of spin?
About Me
- Peter Clothier
- Born and raised in the UK, lives in Los Angeles, California. A writer about art and artists, essayist, social observer, daily meditator and student of the Buddhist dharma.. and a long-time recovering academic. Happily out of a "job" since 1986--but "works" every day. Father to three great kids (why don't we have a proper word for, um, middle-aged "children"?) and grandfather to four wonderful grandchildren. Even after all these years in America, he still speaks English.
4 comments:
Hello Peter and fellow Progressives!
I'm starting a propaganda campaign to fight the ridiculously successful, humanity-threatening propaganda campaign of the "NeoCons" (NeoNazis is more like it.) I'd like to ask you all from now on to only refer to GW Bush as "BITLER." (Photos of him with a Photoshop-added Hitler-type mustache will add to the effectiveness of our campaign.) You can check out www.cadu.org.uk to find an example of serious damage Bitler is doing to the human species.
Btw, "BITLER," if anyone asks, is an acronym. It stands for "Bush's Imperialist, Totalitarian, Lawless Evil Regime."
In case you think that comparing him to Hitler is a little much, just compare the two men: Imperialist "Christian" totalitarian fascists with dreams of world domination and a taste for genocide..."W" isn't just Nixon without the brains...he's Hitler with Money (and nuclear weapons, eep!). Sure, instead of going after Jews and blacks and gays, Bitler is going after Arabs and blacks and gays, but it amounts to the same thing: We are witnessing the rise of the next Hitler...What are we gonna do about it?
Our first stepping stone is to point out to the American Idiots in our midst that Bitler IS another Hitler. Oh, with a few exceptions:
Q. What are the Top 10 differences between Hitler and GW Bush?
10) Hitler had a snappy brown suit.
9) Hitler could probably pronounce "nuclear."
8) George has had no luck growing 'that little mustache.'
7) Hitler once wrote a book; George has never even read one. (No, "My Pet Goat" does NOT count!)
6) Goering was never known to have personally shot an old guy in the face.
5) Germany didn't have nuclear weapons...the U.S. does. (Uh-Oh!)
4) Hitler said, "Life does not forgive weakness," which isn't quite as pithy as George's "Don't Mess With Texas!"
3) Hitler actually served in his nation's military.
2) Hitler has been described as having had "charisma."
And the #1 difference between Hitler and GW Bush aka "Bitler"...
1). Hitler was elected.
Other than that, they're more or less the same guy. And if we don't stop him this time, our entire species may be wiped out. (Need proof? Read up on climate change, about which Bitler does nothing, and Depleted Uranium, which he has our military using despite grave consequences for our species; see www.cadu.org.uk. Have you noticed that when the subject is Women's Rights, Bitler pretends to be "all about the fetuses," but when his DU-coated weapons cause birth defects and infant mortality, all he cares about is that DU kills our "enemy" more efficiently (you know, Iraqis, the people who did nothing to deserve Bitler's 'faith-based' holocaust against them...)
Save The Humans...fight Bitler at every step!
(feel free to copy and reprint this everywhere)
Always glad to host an opinion, Karen. I've always avoided the comparison you make: I was alive during the Nazi reign of terror in Europe, and I see it to be different from what's happening here. As I see it, Adolph Hitler was the true leader and instigator of Nazism. Bush is the symptom and tool of something much more powerful than himself, and something we'll continue to have to fight once we get him off the stage. Removing Hitler proved the (perhaps temporary) end of European fascism. Removing Bush still leaves the corporate power that enabled his election. That's what scares me. That's what, unchecked, could really lead to the destruction of this planet. Best to you, PaL
As much as I agree with the idea behind your comments about referring to GW Bush as "BITLER", I am highly offended, as Bitler is my maiden name and do not want to be associated with Bush in any way. I support your campaign, but how about "BUSHLER"
My wife is Bitler who wrote in earlier, and she has taken flak her whole life for it's similarity to the facist bastard(Hitler). What can be said about these ironies; our president gives common shrubbery and female anatomy a bad name. I think you do have a point though in comparing G.W to Adolph, and hope you continue your quest in seeing him outed from office with his tail between his legs.
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