Soapbox

Georgie’s Adventure in wonderland

“Well the world seems bent, and the President
Has no good idea who the masses are.
I’m one of them and I’m among friends:
We’re trying to see beyond the fences in our own back yards.”

~Let it Be Me by the Indigo Girls

This week, President George W. Bush fired the opening salvo in what is sure to be a long and bloody war for the White House. The President began with an ad campaign that he no doubt thought would warm the hearts of Americans everywhere and show what a towering statesman and fearless leader he has been.
Some of us have always said that Bush is living in a fantasy world, and this just proves our point.

Survivors and victims’ family groups from September 11th were quick to speak out against the ads’ use of scenes from 9/11 to further the President’s political ambitions, despite his having promised in 2002 never to use the tragedy as a political issue. A woman who lost her husband in the twin towers said that she wouldn’t mind it so much if she had a sense that Bush had demonstrated any real leadership as that terrible day unfolded. She also pointed out the hypocrisy of Bush using 9/11 to make himself look like a hero when “he has done everything in his power to thwart investigation into the death of 3,000 people.”

The president of the International Association of Fire Fighters called the ads “political opportunism” and cited Bush’s dismal record of financial support for emergency services while he tries to “trade on the heroism of firefighters to promote his re-election.”

Of course, not everyone objects to the ads. A Bush advisor said that the commercials feature a “very, very tasteful image”, which certainly applies to the pictures themselves, if not Bush’s use of them. Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani said that Mr. Bush’s “leadership on that day is central to his record…”.

His leadership on that day? I’m sorry: wasn’t he HIDING in a bunker in South Dakota or some such place while firefighters were risking their lives?

If George Bush would run on his real record, and not the fairy-tale confection that his campaign spins, John Kerry could just move into the White House today. But first it’s necessary to separate the Bush fantasy from harsh reality.

Fantasy: George Bush has demonstrated strong leadership through the tragedy of 9/11.

Reality: George Bush has certainly talked about strong leadership, but the reality is, he doesn’t practice what he preaches. Bush tried to prevent the creation of the 9/11 commission to investigate the truth of how the twin towers attack came about. When that didn’t work, he had the gall to appoint as head of the commission Henry Kissinger, the master of clandestine government improprieties and how to keep them secret. His administration has tried everything in its power to keep the report from being released anytime near the November elections, leading one to wonder what he thinks it will say.

Fantasy: America is safer from terrorism today than before Bush took office.

Reality: Bush refuses to budget money for firefighters and other first responders. Since 9/11 they have been unable to even purchase equipment that would allow them all to communicate directly with each other in a disaster. Report after report finds that security at nuclear facilities, chemical plants, etc. are woefully inadequate because of poor funding.

Bush has used the fear of terrorism to make this country a place where it is unsafe to disagree with the government. In a move that would make Joe McCarthy proud his administration shamelessly claimed that anyone who questioned any provisions of his Patriot act was “helping the terrorists”! Apparently true patriotism in America lies in abandoning civil liberties and imprisoning without trial dozens of people with Arabic names. When plans of the follow-up, Patriot II were leaked, Americans objected to the blatant subversion of civil liberties it proposed. Bush backed down but hasn’t give up on Patriot II.

Fantasy: The U.S. war in Iraq has made the world a safer place.

Reality: George Bush has presided over the biggest failure of diplomacy in history by turning the massive outpouring of sympathy and respect from 9/11 into distrust, anger and hatred around the world. He is the first president in U.S. history to order an un-provoked, pre-emptive attack against a sovereign nation, and did so against the direct wishes of the United Nations.

George Bush has insulted and demeaned long-term allies, defied the Geneva Convention with his detention of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, withdrawn from the World Court and got the United States removed from the U.N. Human Rights Commission!

George Bush, who was in so anxious to save the world from a phantom Iraqi nuclear program, has given a pass to Pakistan and their pardoning of Abdul Qadeer Kahn, admitted exporter of real nuclear technology to unstable nations like Libya and Iran. Such a lax attitude would seem to be in conflilct with Bush’s anti-WMD position until one learns that, in exchange for a hands-off attitude about Kahn giving the world the bomb, Bush may be allowed to send Marines into Pakistan after bin Laden, just in time to score him some big points for the election.

Fantasy: Iraq and the world are better off now that Sadaam Hussein is in prison.

Reality: No sane person has anything good to say about Sadaam Hussein, and I won’t go into all the decades in which the United States supported his reign of terror. However, unemployment in Iraq is desperately high, women’s rights are under attack and more people die every day now than when Sadaam was president. Power and other utilities are sporadic at best in many parts of the country a year after the war began, and health care is severely compromised. Roads, bridges, and factories remain in terrible shape, but Bush is pushing ahead to swear in an interim government and declare “Mission Accomplished” yet again in a country where the mission is still being defined.

Exactly as the weapon’s inspectors thought, there were no remaining Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, so the world cannot be made safer from a threat that never really existed.

The Bush administration, by the way, wants to build a nuclear “Bunker-buster” bomb, which is nothing if not a Weapon of Mass Destruction.

Fantasy: The U. S. invaded Iraq to prevent terrorism.

Reality: To date not one shred of evidence has been uncovered linking Sadaam Hussein to al Qaeda or any other major terrorism group. This is just another in the series of fraudulent excuses given by the President to cover up the fact that he had a plan to invade Iraq from the day he took office, as evidenced by the fact that the first ever Bush cabinet meeting included outlines for invasion plans.

Fantasy: “They hate us because we’re free.”

Reality: The United States Constitution has been a model for more emerging democracies than any other document on earth. “They” don’t hate freedom! No one hates Canada, for instance, and they’re as free as we are.

Perhaps they hate us because our President thinks the whole world has to do things our way. The U.S. under George Bush has broken nearly every old treaty and refused to enter into new ones unless they conform to our demands. Perhaps “they” object to a megalomaniac president who has the gall to say that anyone who does not agree to help him invade a country is supporting terrorism! Or maybe they’re just confused by a man who says, “When we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.”

Fantasy: People who disagree with the administration’s actions in Iraq or voted against the invasion are unpatriotic and do not support our brave troops.

Reality: George Bush himself does not support the American troops, the real defenders of this nation. He is demanding that National Guard units, never intended to be full-time troops, spend a full year in Iraq, in the direct line of fire. They were not provided with decent equipment and many had to write home and ask for the high-quality gas masks and bulletproof vests that George Bush wouldn’t give them. Their families are suffering great hardships from their prolonged absences, yet they hope and pray their loved ones won’t come home early- in a body bag.

Bush himself was apparently unable to honor even the simple commitment of a few weekends flying around the state of Alabama in the 1970’s when he was in the National Guard. It’s a good thing no one asked him to spend a year in Iraq!

Combat pay for the regular soldiers is so low that the daily cost of their hospital meals (which current policy requires them to pay if they are injured in his war) actually exceeds their combat bonus!

In addition to picking up part of the cost of their own care if they are so careless as to be wounded, the funeral benefits for those who give their lives in Iraq are a pittance. President Bush has not attended even one funeral service for one American soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Perhaps he’s too busy with his grueling schedule of fund-raising trips.

This man, who comes under fire regularly from veteran’s groups for trying to cut their benefits, has let his political machine attack the service record of Senator John Kerry, decorated Vietnam War vet. Whatever your opinion on Kerry’s fitness to be president, a man who was wounded 3 times in combat earned the right to criticize the US government’s Vietman policy once he got home. The “Hero of the Alabama National Guard” has no room to open his mouth on this issue.

Fantasy: George Bush’s economic policy is based on sound Republican principles and will keep this nation strong.

Reality: Even many Republicans are puzzled by the Bush economic policy, which seems to boil down to this bizarre formula:
If there are surpluses, cut taxes.
If social security is threatened, cut taxes.
If people are out of work, cut business taxes.
If the stock market tumbles, start a war and give billionaire CEO’s a tax cut.
If that causes massive deficits, start another war and give business another tax cut.

Thanks to many factors, the record surplus projected when Bush took office has turned into a future of the largest deficit in U.S. history. In just his first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs. Despite his claims that the economy is growing, last month’s job increase was only 1/5 the size the White House had cheerily predicted.

Bush policy does not discourage outrageous salaries and bonuses for CEO’s of companies whose companies go bust and whose employees can barely pay their rent. He has protected from investigation and prosecution numerous FOB’s (Friends of Bush) at Halliburton, Enron and other corporate cheats. Some of these unscrupulous businessmen have cost the American public billions in price-gouging and now-worthless stocks and pension funds, but while they party in their luxury estates, we’ll never recover a penny stolen funds.

Statements by the Bush administration that the trend toward outsourcing American jobs to India and the far-east is a good thing certainly haven’t been good for the uncertain stock market, unemployment and lines at soup kitchens, food pantries and homeless shelters.

Despite his carefully crafted double-speak to the contrary, Bush’s current plan calls for cutting social security benefits for younger tax-payers. He will keep benefits level only for those currently at or near retirement. The rest of us will have to invest that massive $300 tax cut he gave us in some magic beans.

Fantasy: George Bush is a straight-talking man of the people who will stand up for the little guy.

Reality: George Bush is a son of wealth and privilege who has never hesitated to take advantage of his family’s powerful connections. His entire history, from being admitted to Harvard and Yale despite poor grades to his numerous failed business deals that somehow made him money all revolved around knowing the right people.

Members of the Bush cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. His “poorest millionaire,” Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her. He has set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President, and is the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations. Bush is so far out of touch with the average American that he might as well be on the moon.

Fantasy: George Bush wants to restore honesty and integrity to the White House.

Reality: George Bush changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.. He has also appointed more convicted criminals to his administration than any President in U.S. history.
He pushes to reduce governmental regulation on business and industry, allowing polluters to regulate themselves. Yet his Justice Department wants to regulate almost every aspect of life for average Americans, from their library cards to their bedrooms.

The entire Bush family has a history of involvement and profit in the business of government. For example, a company run by his uncle, William Bush, made $63 million just from the sale of emergency bio-weapon shelters to the US military right before we invaded the country that Bush swore had bio-weapons. The weapons turned out to be figments of his imagination, but the $63 million is real enough.

George Bush is such a man of integrity that has never once accepted any responsibility when one of his administration’s many “errors in judgement”, “mis-statements” , “intelligence failures” or outright frauds has come to light.. The buck stops… somewhere over there, in the Bush White House.

His administration has strong-armed scientists to change or omit parts of their official reports in order to have their findings support administration policy. His Secretary of the Interior quit amid speculation that she was unable to continue to push a policy which she felt was often not in the best interest of the country.

And, George Bush took the man who was arguably the most respected member of his cabinet and reduced him to a yes-man. Colin Powell was once respected across party lines and around the world as a man of integrity and honesty. Last year Powell sold the “ We have proof of Sadaam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction” fairy tale to the United Nations, even though records show he knew it was not true.

President George Bush is living in Wonderland if he thinks his true record will get him re-elected. If people knew the real story behind his deceptive image, they’d be more likely to impeach him.

When he wraps himself in the tattered flag of 9/11 and declares it a defining moment of his presidency; he is right. It defines him as a man with no scruples, a moral coward and someone who is completely out of touch with the real world.