Mikey: Bush's greatest damage to the country has been to keep you alive and free for 8 years.
On Dec 30, 6:56 am, "mike [never forget] 532" <[email protected]> wrote: > Add Up the Damage Bush has done to this > country.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/opinion/30herbert.html?_r=1&th&emc=th > Does anyone know where George W. Bush is? > > You don’t hear much from him anymore. The last image most of us > remember is of the president ducking a pair of size 10s that were > hurled at him in Baghdad. > > We’re still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel is thrashing the > Palestinians in Gaza. And the U.S. economy is about as vibrant as the > 0-16 Detroit Lions. > > But hardly a peep have we heard from George, the 43rd. > > When Mr. Bush officially takes his leave in three weeks (in reality, > he checked out long ago), most Americans will be content to sigh good > riddance. I disagree. I don’t think he should be allowed to slip > quietly out of town. There should be a great hue and cry — a loud, > collective angry howl, demonstrations with signs and bullhorns and > fiery speeches — over the damage he’s done to this country. > > This is the man who gave us the war in Iraq and Guantánamo and > torture > and rendition; who turned the Clinton economy and the budget surplus > into fool’s gold; who dithered while New Orleans drowned; who > trampled > our civil liberties at home and ruined our reputation abroad; who let > Dick Cheney run hog wild and thought Brownie was doing a heckuva job. > > The Bush administration specialized in deceit. How else could you get > the public (and a feckless Congress) to go along with an invasion of > Iraq as an absolutely essential response to the Sept. 11 attacks, > when > Iraq had had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks? > > Exploiting the public’s understandable fears, Mr. Bush made it sound > as if Iraq was about to nuke us: “We cannot wait,” he said, “for the > final proof — the smoking gun that could come in the form of a > mushroom cloud.” > > He then set the blaze that has continued to rage for nearly six > years, > consuming more than 4,000 American lives and hundreds of thousands of > Iraqis. (A car bomb over the weekend killed two dozen more Iraqis, > many of them religious pilgrims.) The financial cost to the U.S. will > eventually reach $3 trillion or more, according to the Nobel laureate > economist Joseph Stiglitz. > > A year into the war Mr. Bush was cracking jokes about it at the > annual > dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents Association. He > displayed a series of photos that showed him searching the Oval > Office, peering behind curtains and looking under the furniture. A > mock caption had Mr. Bush saying: “Those weapons of mass destruction > have got to be somewhere.” > > And then there’s the Bush economy, another disaster, a trapdoor > through which middle-class Americans can plunge toward the bracing > experiences normally reserved for the poor and the destitute. > > Mr. Bush traveled the country in the early days of his presidency, > promoting his tax cut plans as hugely beneficial to small-business > people and families of modest means. This was more deceit. The tax > cuts would go overwhelmingly to the very rich. > > The president would give the wealthy and the powerful virtually > everything they wanted. He would throw sand into the regulatory > apparatus and help foster the most extreme income disparities since > the years leading up to the Great Depression. Once again he was > lighting a fire. This time the flames would engulf the economy and, > as > with Iraq, bring catastrophe. > > If the U.S. were a product line, it would be seen now as deeply > damaged goods, subject to recall. > > There seemed to be no end to Mr. Bush’s talent for destruction. He > tried to hand the piggy bank known as Social Security over to the > marauders of the financial sector, but saner heads prevailed. > > In New Orleans, the president failed to intervene swiftly and > decisively to aid the tens of thousands of poor people who were very > publicly suffering and, in many cases, dying. He then compounded this > colossal failure of leadership by traveling to New Orleans and > promising, in a dramatic, floodlit appearance, to spare no effort in > rebuilding the flood-torn region and the wrecked lives of the > victims. > > He went further, vowing to confront the issue of poverty in America > “with bold action.” > > It was all nonsense, of course. He did nothing of the kind. > > The catalog of his transgressions against the nation’s interests — > sins of commission and omission — would keep Mr. Bush in a > confessional for the rest of his life. Don’t hold your breath. He’s > hardly the contrite sort. > > He told ABC’s Charlie Gibson: “I don’t spend a lot of time really > worrying about short-term history. I guess I don’t worry about long- > term history, either, since I’m not going to be around to read it.” > > The president chuckled, thinking — as he did when he made his jokes > about the missing weapons of mass destruction — that there was > something funny going on. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. 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