Let's start with the kneading of intelligence to go to war. Bush told us there were reasons to invade Iraq. But to his staff, he requested scary evidence to convince us that war in Iraq was absolutely necessary. When confirmation wasn't sufficient, George W. fabricated it, linking Saddam to 9/11 and talking the terrors of WMD. He brushed war paint on our troops and spoke nationalistic rhetoric to send them off to die or be maimed in a bloody occupation misnamed "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Strange, the Bushies aren't calling it this anymore. Reprehensible and unconscionable are adjectives too weak to describe what we're doing in a war that never should have been fought""not just to our military which three years into the conflict still has inadequate armor""but, also, to the people of Iraq.
Next, let's touch on the tether to fear. Karl Rove says the Republicans have a post-9/11 plan while the Democrats are living in a pre-9/11 world. In other words, if you vote for a Dem, there will be another attack. Yet, the warning of planes being used as weapons by terrorists hit Bush's desk just before vacation time in Crawford. Biking, exercising, and barbequed ribs smoky from the grill were too important to sacrifice. To "heck" with the reports. Off to the ranch George went. And while he tells us his spying program is for our protection, he's failed to follow multiple security recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. The recent Bush announcement about a foiled plot to hijack a plane and take down a tower in Los Angeles has many, including those in the intelligence community, asking, "Why is he revealing this now?" Probably, we'll learn of many, many more foiled al Qaeda plans in the run up to the 2006 elections.
Then, there's Abramoff. And Brownie. And Libby. These slick and slimy, packaged goods are implicating those at the top rung of the ladder. Abramoff was photographed nearly a dozen times with George W. Bush whose memory (Bush has no recollection of meeting Jack) is as faulty as Samuel Alito's. Michael Brown, weary of being the scapegoat, has stated with certainty that those higher on the food chain ignored his pleading e-mails for help during the Katrina disaster. And Scooter Libby has given up Richard Cheney as the rat who exposed Valerie Plame's identity.
Until now.
And you know. You know that the steam tables at the Bush feast are losing power. Reviews of his malevolent artistry in preparing recipes for disaster are, finally, now being presented by a mainstream media that has failed miserably in its craving for the slightest taste of investigative reporting. Even some among Bush's base, the Christian Right, are pushing back from the table to address his disregard for global warming.
And Poppy Bush""well, he's out there dribbling trail mix, urging students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor to envision "one thousand points of light." Sounds like something the First Mother would say to Katrina victims.
The president must know he's in deep trouble. That's why he's issuing frenzied invitations to the fear fest. Please RSVP in the negative.
George's smorgasbord is rotten with lies and corruption. The war is not rosy. Its cost in human lives and money is staggering. Bush has democratized Iraq but doesn't like the outcome, since so many of the voters chose a theocracy. Hamas won the Palestinian election. The Taliban is regrouping in Afghanistan. Iran isn't backing down to our threats. The economy is thriving""for the wealthy. The Medicare drug program which Bush says he's modernized is a morass of obfuscation.
The George Bush banquet of life is receiving an eat-at-your-own-risk rating. Maybe, the electorate will demand the closing of this contaminated buffet. We should. It's toxic.