Trimming The Bush
October 30th, 2005 by Adam
So… it would appear that everyone has stopped reading or just stopped bothering to comment. It’s puzzling, but maybe it’s my fault. Maybe I’m getting too personal with my pieces, telling stories in poetry and prose that don’t elicit a response. Or maybe the editorial style has gotten old and no one cares anymore. I hear of more and more people who read the occasional piece, yet the comment boards remain blank. So I think I’ll change gears a little and talk politics—nothing too serious, just some thoughts I have this morning while reading up on Scooter Libby’s resignation. Hopefully, someone out there will react and we can kick start some sort of god damn discourse around here. This site could be so much more than me shouting into the anus of cyberspace wondering if anyone is still listening.
It’s not a pretty day to be a Republican. What was hailed as a golden age of conservative ideology after 8 years of redneck sex-fiend rule has recently become a quagmire of scandal, partisanship and confusion. In just the past couple weeks we’ve seen Cheney’s top aide resign over the CIA leak investigation, Bush’s handpicked out-of-left-field Supreme Court nominee withdraw suddenly, the House Majority Leader step down, at least temporarily, to battle money laundering and conspiracy charges, and more possible indictments on the horizon as puppet master Karl Rove faces increasing scrutiny from all sectors. Bush’s biggest domestic platform—social security reform—has gone nowhere fast and his cornerstone foreign platform— the war on terror— is just as vague and impossible to win as ever. And though it means nothing for him personally as a second-term president, Bush’s plummeting approval rating is indicative of America’s general attitude towards their leadership. When even the most virulent conservative congressmen begin distancing themselves from the President and demanding an exit-strategy from Iraq, it’s obvious the afterglow of re-election has faded. I’ll bet the tension is palpable in those White House briefing rooms each morning when the Joint Chiefs gather to discuss the PR Nightmare-Of-The-Day that resident douche bag Scott McClellan will spend the morning telling the Associated Press is not really that big of a deal. I wonder—does he even believe it anymore? Is he a paid actor, knowing full well that Miers’ withdrawal WILL hurt the President and Libby’s indictment WILL have a serious affect on America’s perception of this administration? Or is he a party-line yes-man, blind to a fault, truly believing that everything is ship shape in the oval office?
Meanwhile, Iraq is the same bombed-out WMD-less sharply divided crater of a nation-state that it was this time last year, but the body count on both sides still creeps steadily. Of course, 2,000 dead is a ridiculously arbitrary milestone, but could it have come at worse time for this administration? At the same time, Iran can shoot of its mouth with impunity and continue developing nuclear technology knowing full well America can’t do shit because Bush used up our faith, patience and war chest leveling a country that didn’t have nuclear, biological or chemical weapons in the first place. The whole situation is just fucked up enough to make you wonder ‘is there any possible way for this to end well?’ The truly frightening part is comparing speeches about ‘the march of democracy’ and ‘perseverance in the face of adversity’ to speeches given by politicians in the Vietnam era to justify the endless body bags of that particular struggle. I don’t make that comparison lightly, but if you took a few speeches from 1969 and inserted ‘Iraq’, ‘Al Qaeda’ and ‘terrorists’ in the appropriate places, you’d have Bush’s speeches for the next month written.
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of this entire administration, especially Bush, but I gotta be honest: I feel bad for the mother fucker! What should have been smooth sailing with the strong Republican majority in every branch of government has quickly turned into a shit storm of scandal and allegations. The real question is: how will all of this affect the conservative majority in ’06? Don’t forget folks, we’ve got mid-term elections coming up in one year and unless Bush can pull Osama Bin Laden out his warmongering top hat, I’m predicting a thorough trouncing for the religious right come this time next year.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Adam
Yeah, there hasn’t been much good news coming out about those who represent (whether elected or not–I’m looking at you Rove) the ideological right. But then, I haven’t heard much good stuff coming from the left, and that includes you Adam.
I’m sorry to say it, despite your prose, that the rant above is pretty much identical to a fellow syncophant I met on the subway this morning. He as well struck all the points, from the murderous war in Iraq, the hypocrisy of a war on terrorism, cronyism, the theft of social security. and such. That’s all well and good, and, not to sound like I haven’t read the talking points, but what’s next?
We oust Bush, bring the troops home, balance the budget, rewrite the civil service exam, and cut grandpa a check. Then what? What’s the future vision for America? Bush may sound like Jefferson at the Constitutional Convention, but he’s selling it. He started an f-ing war (maybe a couple how you count it) for freedom, democracy and the American way. Where’s the progressive movement’s big glory, glory halleluja’s?
If they’re promising bread and circuses, we have to do better than tell people to watch out for elephant shit. Where’s our catalog, showroom and polyester-clad salesmanship? I think there are tons of us with our wallets in our hands, but we haven’t seen anything worth buying yet. Give me something to look forward to that isn’t less of what we have now–whether it be Bush, bodies or video games (get a clue Ms. Clinton)–and I’ll be happy to do more than play devil’s advocate to a bunch of liberals.
As always, Ben Sheldon breaks through the cloudy veneer of anti-conservatism and begins clawing at the true question at hand: what promise does Liberalism, or anything else for that matter, hold for America? Sadly, no Democrat (except for Howard Dean, arguably) has approached the problem from anything other than a ‘vote for me because I’m not Bush’ standpoint.
I was actually discussing this with my brother today– where does America go from here? We talked the problem over in various ways and decided that what America REALLY needs to do before it moves forward or backward on any of its current ‘projects’ is seriously re-evaluate itself. It seems like we have half the country stumbling blindly towards destruction behind Bush, and the other half calling them assholes with no real better idea in mind. Simply put, America needs a reality check.
The fact of the matter is that since we leveled Japan and managed to stave off nuclear armageddon with the Soviets, America has been the uncontested world power, which has allowed us to exploit, invade and manipulate the rest of the world into assenting to our policies, giving us favorable nation status, etc etc. But those days of unquestionable supremacy are rapidly coming to an end. We’ve been overtaken in almost every social, economic, educational, health and technological benchmark by European, Middle Eastern and East Asian countries. The EU and the euro are thrashing the dollar; trade agreements in the Far East threaten our import/exprot businesses, nationalization of oil and other industries in the Middle East and Africa that began with Mossadeq in Iran in the 1940s has put a serious dent in America’s pocketbook, and the vast majority of the industrialized West is hammering us in social welfare, life expectancy, education and health. America may be ‘the greatest country on earth’ but from looking at any world index we actually seem to be hovering between 5th and 22nd overall.
Point being– we have to stop acting like we’re cock of the walk because those days will soon be behind us as China and other parts of the world modernize and nationalize. Better the reality check be of our own volition and not in the form of a sound military and economic thrashing at the hands of a ‘third world nation’.
On a practical level I think this means reigning in our obscenely vague foreign policy measures, taking a close look at social programs and the state of American society, taking a REAL look at education (NCLB doesn’t count) and adjusting our national, domestic and even local priorities to something more realistic than undisputed world power status for as long as our MTV-and-FoxNews-inundated minds can foresee.
It saddens me that you’re the only person willing to chime in on the subject, but it’s always a pleasure to hear your thoughts and share mine in return. On a more personal note, I will be largely absent for the month of November. I’ve got 26 hours to figure out what to write 50,000 words about, so looks like you’ll have to find some other loudmouth bastard to keep this place busy for a while.
I’m looking in your direction Dean….
First off, thought you would be proud to know that I ran across your site from a google search for the phrase, “drunk blog vomit”. Aren’t you the proud one, hehe.
Second, predicting a trouncing of the religous right doesn’t really make sense, in that, in the face of adversity, those that are indecisive - read those that can be swayed one way or another - will choose a conservative view in the face of danger.
Bush’s platforms have faced opposition from the Liberals, who will be judged by the voters as obstructing progress. While they may not be happy with his response to events that occurred within his term, they are smart enough understand the politic behind everything that transpires in Washington, including the Witch Hunt that Liberals are trying to initiate against Bush, hoping beyond hope that they will be able to smear him through innuendo for these last few years.
The only Democrat that, IMO, has a chance of retaking the White House in the upcoming election, is Evan Bayh. He is moderate enough to pull over some swing voters, he hasn’t really jumped on the “Let’s alienate 51% of the voters by making stupid comments about Bush” train, Indiana flourished when he was Governor, with a balanced book and a State Government that almost everyone got along with.
In a Republican State, he actually generated more votes in the last election than Bush did, for his region.
Assuming that the Religous right is going to get trounced thi next election is just rong, IMO.