Had George Walker Bush begun his speech with "Ladies and Gentleman I am taking my leave and retiring from the Presidency" there would have been tidal waves of standing ovations sweeping from the Congress through the nation to the far corners of the free world.
After a modest courtly bow to fhe first woman Speaker and the party that triumphed in the last election, the President continued his contempt for what Jefferson called the decent opinion of mankind.
Still; he escalates his war, showing contempt for what the voters demanded in the election.
Still; he escalates his almost unbridled scorn and contempt for the very idea of diplomacy itself, refusing to negotiate, knowing only how to escalate.
Still; he shows his contempt for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the overwhelming majority of our commanders, ignoring and disrespecting their advice, forcing them to falsely applaud the words they privately so strongly disagree with.
Still; he shows his contempt for leaders and peoples throughout the free world who have publicly, privately, sadly, desperately and angrily pleaded with him to stop this disastrous policy he so obsessively escalates, again.
Still; he is the first American President since 1948 who has shown zero leadership and zero commitment to seeking a broader and truly comprehensive peace in the Middle East. The President last night, had nothing to say about this.
Still; he falsely claims the unilateral powers to personally violate the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and laws of the land through secret actions and signing statements.
Still; he ridicules and demeans the Baker Hamilton Group through his actions, orders our troops into unwise missions that risk their lives on ventures our military leaders privately oppose.
Still; he stands isolated and out of touch with reality, virtually alone and disrespectful of good advice from every other quarter, incapable of any action except escalating the catastrophic mistakes that have caused catastrophic results.
His answer to 9-11 was to use 9-11 for partisan politics, to spread fear in the land to promote his unwise war.
Still; the President addresses the nation with false and sophmoric claims that lump together his disastrous war in Iraq with the war against terrorism he has neglected so dangerously, to pursue this war so disastrously.
Still; in the name of fighting terrorism, the President creates more terrorists. In the name of democracy, the President violates principles of democracy. In the name of what he calls the create ideological battle of our age, he remains the first American President in our history to justify what everyone throughout the free world calls torture.
Still, against enemies that murder children, that kill innocents in houses of worship, he is decimated the battle of ideas, while the government we support decapitates prisoners in our custody, while cheering death squad supporters do primitive war whoops during executions done in the name of justice.
Beneath the bromides of bipartisanship and the cliches of consulting, the war continues with business as usual, the carnage and chaos spreads while the Presidents sends more battleships to the region.
This President demeans consultations with our allies through contempt for what they advice; demeans the concept of bipartisanship by deciding he will do what he wants, which is escalating this war, no matter what Congress may say, no matter what advice its leaders may offer, no matter what laws they may pass, which he believes he is not obligated to faithfully execute.
Brent Budowsky is a regular columnist on thehill.com. He served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including one of the core drafters of the CIA Identities Law. Served as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Whip, House of Representatives. Currently a member of the International Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit. Left goverment in 1990 for marketing and public affairs business including major corporate entertainment and talent management.
For a second, I imagined that I was at a Baptist Church and heard the shouts of approval at the end of each one of your declarations. And I heard the echoes of Martin Luther King as well. Amen & Halleleujah, Brother!
by
boing007 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 16 comments)
on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 9:44:29 AM
I agree with your criticisms of Bush Jr, but your proposed
remedies seem incompatible with the insights implied by the criticisms.
The difference between Bush Jr, his daddy, and Bill Clinton are not remotely as great as you seem to imagine. Bush Sr was also a criminal, deeply involved in crimes of state such as the 1980 October Surprise, Iran-Contra, providing WMD to Saddam Hussein during the '80's, covering up for the Chilean terrorists who assassinated Orlando Letelier in DC in 1976, pardoning other Iran-Contra criminals in '92 who could have testified against him, using state power to impugn Clinton's loyalty during the '92 campaign, invading Panama on a ludicrous pretext, & other things as well. Many of these incidents are detailed on Robert Parry's website (where you have actually contributed a few guest essays!).
Clinton was also no angel. His Kosovo war was in important respects not qualitatively different from what Bush has done in Iraq. And the fact that he has trotted around the world, cozying up to Bush Sr, as though they were best buddies -- meanwhile refraining from so much as a single criticism of Sonny Boy, in all the important areas your essay today delineates -- all this demonstrates Clinton's own stunning lack of principles.
There is no such thing as an American president being "the leader of the free world" (a phrase that stems from the Cold War, itself another product of the US need to artificially create "enemies"). As Chomsky has noted, all American presidents since WWII were in a very real sense war criminals, who would have been hanged if subjected to the same standards applied to Nazi bigwigs at Nuremberg. The Reagan-Bush war against the Contras was blatant aggression in the same way that Iraq is -- it was merely a smaller operation, whose true nature was thus more easily concealed from the public by the media.
by
Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1232 comments)
on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 9:53:52 AM
"him" we are up against. The day this is understood ...we can celebrate a major breakthrough, true progress. Who gives a flying "F" what "he" has to say ? Just look around yourselves. Look at what "they" are saying. Look at what "they" are telling "him" to say. Get the picture. Get real.
Got off "him".
by
Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments)
on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 1:56:27 PM
Still, the Democrats give Bush standing ovations, vote
for everything he wants, act like there's nothing unusual about having a Moron-In-Chief.
Still, Brent Budowsky writes articles that heap blame on Bush and the Republicans, while conveniently forgetting that they couldn't have done anything without Democratic concessions, Democratic support, and Democratic votes in Congress.
Still, people who claim that they oppose Bush and his agenda, continue to vote for Democratic and Republican candidates who support Bush and his agenda, claiming that they have no choice.
Therefore, it is true that our President is no longer the leader of the free world. People who have no choice but to vote against their own best interests, cannot be called free.
RichM and Ardee are correct. The President gets away with murder because the Democrats and Republicans in Congress won't try to stop him, and because people keep voting for them anyway.
Budowsky claims to be a member of something called the "Fighting Dems." I asked him to name me a fighting Dem, and he hasn't gotten back to me yet.....
by
Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments)
on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 8:00:52 PM
Let us not forget his never ending arrogant form of lying to the American public from day one. Should we dare think that he is genuinely sincere about the words that filled our ears and the ears of the congress and senate, well having the state of the union address.
His so called growth in the United States of over one million new jobs, likely can be attributed to general growth of the population. He has done nothing to stimulate those types of jobs that occur mostly in retail and restaurants. He claimed the wages of Americans continue to increase, that's a lot of crap as well. To began with he's not responsible for the raise in the minimum wages, and most jobs that pay fifteen dollars per hour and higher are being sent to Mexico and else where, so they can be done for slave labor wages without benefits.
Here is what will happen if they start to allow visa workers programs for migrant workers. They will have to pay tax's and FICA like normal working Americans do, the employers that use these workers will have to pay more in as well and cover them with programs like workman's compensation. Suddenly this cheap labor will need more money because its no longer tax free and not feasible to live off in a meager life style. Workman's compensation will see an enormous amount of new claims. It will become chaos for all that's involved.
As far as his tax relief to help workers pay for insurance benefits, which Peter or Paul will have to make up the difference. Let me guess it will be the suffering school systems he made claims to improving with his "no child left behind program. This program will end up over burdening the school systems mainly by crowding them with our children.
All I could do during Bush speech was shake my head back and forth . I thought is it possible Bush can screw things up worst than he already has in the past. If your not religious, I can honestly say its time you start praying, because Bush is a walking talking Dooms Day Achiever on the lose. This is without saying anything about his failed wars.
by
Fred F (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 361 comments)
on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 8:31:48 PM
There are many reasons why George Bush is no longer leader of the "Free World". First the "Free World" now has CNN, FOX,BBC, the internet etc, etc. Everyone can see(worse hear) him and marvel that he can be elected leader of anything---they assume that the majority of voters in the USA are as moromic as he appears. Beginning with the occupation of Japan and Germany(as a member of the US military) I am approaching sixty years "on the road", have lived or visited most significant places on this planet and watched respect for the USA deterioate to the point that most "Expats"(my ancestors arrived in Texas from Germany in 1795) with three digit IQ's or bank statements very carefully try to look and sound like anything but a "Yank". Most "non yanks" will tell you that after six years of George Bush the USA is not only not leader of the "free world"---you are no longer a member of it.
Richard Hovious
by
Napolean (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Thursday, January 25, 2007 at 8:34:35 AM
9 comments
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