Prayer and Probability

The Politics Of George W. Bush
Fear And Lying In The West Wing

George Bush is running scared. Fear, the very emotion he has used for the past four years to bully and scare the nation into following his radical positions has turned its ugly head toward him. He and his Orwellian trainer, Karl Rove, failed to understand that once loosed the beast takes a life of its own. They tried desperately to regain control over it this weekend with two speeches (1 and 2 to the nation. They attempted to turn the beast once again toward the American people. It is possible perhaps even probable that they will succeed in the very short run. They used their standard extremists’ tactic of lying and misrepresenting the facts and this has proven to be quite successful in the past. But since they so seldom deal in truth, Bush and Rove miscalculated once again. Once the truth is set free and is known there is no covering it up again. Their resurgence will be brief if at all.

They will fail because they are already being consumed by their own fear. Both speeches lacked the constantly used macho swagger that Bush and Rove so admire. They even made an attempt to project a small sense of contrition and candor but it was revealed for what it was, political spin, because all that they said that went wrong was someone else’s fault not theirs.

As always we just have to take their own words to show how corrupt they are. Bush said, “I see a global terrorist movement that exploits Islam in the service of radical political aims -- a vision in which books are burned, and women are oppressed, and all dissent is crushed.” Now can anyone and I mean anyone tell me the difference between that statement and the goals and tactics of Bush, Rove, and the far right.

With a classic example of misdirection Bush said, “September the 11th, 2001 required us to take every emerging threat to our country seriously, and it shattered the illusion that terrorists attack us only after we provoke them. On that day, we were not in Iraq, we were not in Afghanistan.” It is true that we were not then in Iraq or Afghanistan, however bin Laden cited the American presence in Saudi Arabia (we have had a military presence there since 1943), along with our support of Israel, and his desire to overthrow ‘corrupt’ Islamic governents as the reasons for the attack on the World Trade Center, not American involvement in Iraq or Afghanistan, for quite clearly there was none.

Dubya also made this statement, “I will make decisions on troop levels based on the progress we see on the ground and the advice of our military leaders -- not based on artificial timetables set by politicians in Washington. That is an excellent idea. But again he has done just the opposite. He hasn’t listened to his military commanders and has made decisions based solely on timetables and plans set by politicians (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Fieth, etc.) in Washington.

Bush’s entire Presidency was best summed up by him when he said, “We're approaching a new year, and there are certain things all Americans can expect to see. We will see more sacrifice -- from our military, their families, and the Iraqi people.” How true and we will continue to see no sacrifice from him or his elitist supporters. He continues to ask for tax cuts for the wealthy while our troops are ill equipped in Iraq, while he asks for spending cuts for education, unemployment, medical benefits for poor children, and assistance for food and housing. Yes for Bush, No sacrifice is too great for others to make.

The Bush Credo - No Sacrifice Is Too Great For Others To
Make.