sled
02-02-2003, 03:39 PM
good read:
January 27, 2003 - Remember when George Bush was a moron?
Remember when George Bush was a moron? A poor student who spent most of his life in a substance abusing haze, who cost America billions in the Savings and Loan bailout, whose only foreign policy experience was the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland, and who stole the presidency despite forming sentences like the kid from "Deliverance"? Up until September 10 2001, Bush was the favorite whipping-boy of talk show hpsts and columnists. But, in the wake of the Al Qaeda attacks, somehow that same George W. Bush became a hero. And a recent poll found that a surprising majority of Americans think George Bush is doing a good job as president. A god job? In the 3rd year of his presidency the US economy is still in tatters while he runs around touting a foreign policy that can be summed up as "Hulk Smash", and people consider that a good job?
Many people cite his performance after September 11. Huh? Why do they think Bush did a good job after September 11? Because he publicly led America's response to the attacks? He's the president, what other option did he have? Curl up in a fetal position and drool like Ozzy Osbourne? Hell, maybe if he got in a plane like Bill Pullman in Independence Day and actually joined the battle, fine, but giving him high marks for making speeches and waving his fists is like giving a student straight As just for showing up to class.
Maybe they think Bush deserves extra credit for ordering post-911 military retaliation against those deemed culpable. Wow, what a bold, groundbreaking move. Much as I supported the action, an American President ordering a military response is like the guy at the drive-thru asking if you want fries with your order. It's the most basic, perfunctory function of the job.
And what did he do after he took out the Taliban? Help keep Afghanistan from the clutches of nasty local warlords and gangsters? Start to build bridges with the anti-western world? Or maybe even pay attention to the continuing-to-falter American economy? No - he looked for someone else's ass to kick. Bush with his military is like a boy who's just discovered his penis - he can't stop playing with it. After all, the War on Terror distracted people from realizing Bush was the same election-stealing, silver-spoon moron he was on September 10th, so why not keep it going?
And so George W rooted around in his dad's war-chest and pulled out some old scripts, and once again Iraq was the enemy. No question, Saddam Hussein is a world-class tyrant, torturer and oppressor of his own people. You'd think it would be easy to find a reason to take him out. But in the months since Bush focused his monkey-like attention on this shiny object, he still hasn't been able to convince anyone but his cronies that war against Iraq would actually provide any benefit. It would de-stabilize an already volatile region, engender greater hatred of the west among Middle-Eastern nations, seriously damage any existing good relations with Arab countries, and likely only result in greater terrorism against the west. But Bush keeps stamping his feet and demanding his war, like a 2 year-old in a Toys R Us aisle screaming for a new BeyBlade.
And that's what really puts the lie to the notion that Bush is doing a good job - after months of trying, he actually has fewer people convinced the US should war with Iraq. If he was a halfway competent President, he could have cooked-up some decent Gulf of Tonkin, tossing babies from incubators propaganda by now. In fact, Bush is such a lousy president he can't even convince Americans to go to war, which is, let's face it, like trying to keep a dog from licking itself.
I don't really blame Americans. Their media's become an extension of Ari Fleischer, they're scared, and they want to believe - no, need to believe - that the guy in charge of their safety knows what he's doing. It's like the Emperor's New Clothes, but with tanks, bombs and chemical weapons.
But hey, maybe I'm looking at things the wrong way. Like Obi-wan Kenobi said, truth is all a matter of your perspective. So yes, Bush has done a "good job". A good job of using a tragedy to boost himself and further his repressive agenda. A good job of turning the victims of September 11 into a callous pretext for turning the US in the direction of the kind of fascist state you usually see in straight-to-video Rutger Hauer sci-fi movie.. And a good job of making the UN his prison bitch. See, it's better to focus on the positive, and maybe that's what the American public is doing.. But while some may prefer the view with their head up their ass, there's no getting away from the stink.
I'm Ed the Sock.
January 27, 2003 - Remember when George Bush was a moron?
Remember when George Bush was a moron? A poor student who spent most of his life in a substance abusing haze, who cost America billions in the Savings and Loan bailout, whose only foreign policy experience was the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland, and who stole the presidency despite forming sentences like the kid from "Deliverance"? Up until September 10 2001, Bush was the favorite whipping-boy of talk show hpsts and columnists. But, in the wake of the Al Qaeda attacks, somehow that same George W. Bush became a hero. And a recent poll found that a surprising majority of Americans think George Bush is doing a good job as president. A god job? In the 3rd year of his presidency the US economy is still in tatters while he runs around touting a foreign policy that can be summed up as "Hulk Smash", and people consider that a good job?
Many people cite his performance after September 11. Huh? Why do they think Bush did a good job after September 11? Because he publicly led America's response to the attacks? He's the president, what other option did he have? Curl up in a fetal position and drool like Ozzy Osbourne? Hell, maybe if he got in a plane like Bill Pullman in Independence Day and actually joined the battle, fine, but giving him high marks for making speeches and waving his fists is like giving a student straight As just for showing up to class.
Maybe they think Bush deserves extra credit for ordering post-911 military retaliation against those deemed culpable. Wow, what a bold, groundbreaking move. Much as I supported the action, an American President ordering a military response is like the guy at the drive-thru asking if you want fries with your order. It's the most basic, perfunctory function of the job.
And what did he do after he took out the Taliban? Help keep Afghanistan from the clutches of nasty local warlords and gangsters? Start to build bridges with the anti-western world? Or maybe even pay attention to the continuing-to-falter American economy? No - he looked for someone else's ass to kick. Bush with his military is like a boy who's just discovered his penis - he can't stop playing with it. After all, the War on Terror distracted people from realizing Bush was the same election-stealing, silver-spoon moron he was on September 10th, so why not keep it going?
And so George W rooted around in his dad's war-chest and pulled out some old scripts, and once again Iraq was the enemy. No question, Saddam Hussein is a world-class tyrant, torturer and oppressor of his own people. You'd think it would be easy to find a reason to take him out. But in the months since Bush focused his monkey-like attention on this shiny object, he still hasn't been able to convince anyone but his cronies that war against Iraq would actually provide any benefit. It would de-stabilize an already volatile region, engender greater hatred of the west among Middle-Eastern nations, seriously damage any existing good relations with Arab countries, and likely only result in greater terrorism against the west. But Bush keeps stamping his feet and demanding his war, like a 2 year-old in a Toys R Us aisle screaming for a new BeyBlade.
And that's what really puts the lie to the notion that Bush is doing a good job - after months of trying, he actually has fewer people convinced the US should war with Iraq. If he was a halfway competent President, he could have cooked-up some decent Gulf of Tonkin, tossing babies from incubators propaganda by now. In fact, Bush is such a lousy president he can't even convince Americans to go to war, which is, let's face it, like trying to keep a dog from licking itself.
I don't really blame Americans. Their media's become an extension of Ari Fleischer, they're scared, and they want to believe - no, need to believe - that the guy in charge of their safety knows what he's doing. It's like the Emperor's New Clothes, but with tanks, bombs and chemical weapons.
But hey, maybe I'm looking at things the wrong way. Like Obi-wan Kenobi said, truth is all a matter of your perspective. So yes, Bush has done a "good job". A good job of using a tragedy to boost himself and further his repressive agenda. A good job of turning the victims of September 11 into a callous pretext for turning the US in the direction of the kind of fascist state you usually see in straight-to-video Rutger Hauer sci-fi movie.. And a good job of making the UN his prison bitch. See, it's better to focus on the positive, and maybe that's what the American public is doing.. But while some may prefer the view with their head up their ass, there's no getting away from the stink.
I'm Ed the Sock.