Friday, January 12, 2007

In which I get all political on your asses

Do you watch Keith Olbermann on MSNBC? My liberal, tree-hugging, crunchy-granola heart loves him to bits. To. Bits. He says things that I think, only he says them better and in a public forum. Things like this:
"Mr. Bush, the question is no longer “what are you thinking?,” but rather “are you thinking at all?”

Last night, in his Special Comment, he read a list of things that Bush has said over the years about this debacle in Iraq. I knew all this stuff, but to hear it read back to back to back like that really drove it home, just how wrong-headed this President is, just how awful he has been for this country.

  • Before Mr. Bush was elected, he said nation-building was wrong for America.
  • Now he says it is vital.
  • He said he would never put U.S. troops under foreign control.
  • Last night he promised to embed them in Iraqi units.
  • He told us about WMD.
  • Mobile labs.
  • Secret sources.
  • Aluminum tubes.
  • Yellow-cake.
    He has told us the war is necessary:
  • Because Saddam was a material threat.
  • Because of 9/11.
  • Because of Osama Bin Laden. Al-Qaida. Terrorism in general.
  • To liberate Iraq. To spread freedom. To spread Democracy. To prevent terrorism by gas price increases.
    Because this was a guy who tried to kill his dad.
  • Because — 439 words in to the speech last night — he trotted out 9/11 again.
  • In advocating and prosecuting this war he passed on a chance to get Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.
  • To get Muqtada Al-Sadr. To get Bin Laden.
  • He sent in fewer troops than the generals told him to. He ordered the Iraqi army disbanded and the Iraqi government “de-Baathified.”
  • He short-changed Iraqi training. He neglected to plan for widespread looting. He did not anticipate sectarian violence.
  • He sent in troops without life-saving equipment. He gave jobs to foreign contractors, and not Iraqis. He staffed U.S. positions there, based on partisanship, not professionalism.
  • He and his government told us: America had prevailed, mission accomplished, the resistance was in its last throes.
  • He has insisted more troops were not necessary. He has now insisted more troops are necessary.
  • He has insisted it’s up to the generals, and then removed some of the generals who said more troops would not be necessary.
  • He has trumpeted the turning points:
  • The fall of Baghdad, the death of Uday and Qusay, the capture of Saddam. A provisional government, a charter, a constitution, the trial of Saddam. Elections, purple fingers, another government, the death of Saddam.
  • He has assured us: We would be greeted as liberators — with flowers;
  • As they stood up, we would stand down. We would stay the course; we were never about “stay the course.”
  • We would never have to go door-to-door in Baghdad. And, last night, that to gain Iraqis’ trust, we would go door-to-door in Baghdad.
  • He told us the enemy was al-Qaida, foreign fighters, terrorists, Baathists, and now Iran and Syria.
  • He told us the war would pay for itself. It would cost $1.7 billion. $100 billion. $400 billion. Half a trillion. Last night’s speech alone cost another $6 billion.
  • And after all of that, now it is his credibility versus that of generals, diplomats, allies, Democrats, Republicans, the Iraq Study Group, past presidents, voters last November and the majority of the American people.
Mr. Bush, this is madness.
You have lost the military. You have lost the Congress to the Democrats. You have lost most of the Iraqis. You have lost many of the Republicans. You have lost our allies.
You are losing the credibility, not just of your presidency, but more importantly of the office itself.
And most imperatively, you are guaranteeing that more American troops will be losing their lives, and more families their loved ones. You are guaranteeing it!
This becomes your legacy, sir: How many of those you addressed last night as your “fellow citizens” you just sent to their deaths.
And for what, Mr. Bush?
So the next president has to pull the survivors out of Iraq instead of you?




I'm glad, finally, that people are speaking up, that Congress and the Senate are fighting back, that the Democrats have the majority in both houses, but what the hell took so long? How did so many people allow themselves to be persuaded by this guy? Was everyone really that afraid? Did everyone decide that they'd rather give up their personal freedoms on the off chance that we might be safer some day? Did no one think that going in to the Middle East was only going to increase how pissed off the fundamentalists were going to get? I don't get it. I've never gotten it. Bush is now able to listen to our phone conversations, read our emails and intercept our regular mail and he's done all this via special signing statements, not by going through the normal routes and getting warrants. No, just because he says he can, thus, hey, presto, he can. How does this not outrage everyone? Why are people just sitting back and saying "Ok, go ahead, read my mail, listen to my phone calls, I don't care." Well, you bloody well SHOULD care!

The November elections were a great start. Now, please, please, please, can we elect someone in 2008 who can act more like a President and less like a dictator?

16 comments:

LJ said...

I'm Canadian and I still say AMEN Sistah!!

MsCellania said...

I do believe we are in for an Orwellian 1984 existence because of this dry-drunk, better-than-Daddy, shoot first ask later, narcissistic asshole. I have lots more adjectives, but I'm in a hurry.

It's going to take us 25 years to even ATTEMPT to undo all the evil he has started. And I fear it is not un-doable at this point. Fanaticism is the fastest growing 'religion'. He's made us a supremely easy target to despise.

So tragic. So sad. For the whole world.

Shannon said...

test

Shannon said...

Oh sure, I leave a test comment and it works, but anytime I leave a real comment, it doesn't come up.

I left a comment here earlier that didn't show up.

All I wanted to say is that I wish Bush focused on taking out Bin Laden and whoever else was specifically involved.

I guess he never heard of the phrase "keep it simple stupid". He bit off more than he could chew be being President. (consider that to be an understatement).

Anonymous said...

Here, here!

As another liberal tree-hugger, I second this post.

If not a mother... said...

AMEN!!!

I'm reading Stanley Karnow's Vietnam right now and I'm just thinking about how the same mistakes have been made.

SIGH.

art-sweet said...

JULIA FOR PRESIDENT!!!!

Felix Kasza said...

Amazing. If Bush is the fascist dicator the Left paints him as, silencing dissent before breakfast even, hen why aren't you being carted off to labour camps?

Curious,
Felix.

Mother Hen said...

is it true that george bush himself dodged going to war? this man is a disaster. who is voting for him? the world hates him yet he remains in power... what a muppet. it makes my blood boil!

SUEB0B said...

Stay away from Olbermann, wench. He's MINE, all MINE! I imagine snuggling with him as he practices his rants...oh, how sweet that would be.

Bec said...

Felix sounds like such a nice man. One of those nice people who can construct simple answers to complex problems because - - - oh yes! they're too stupid to understand complex answers!!

Sorry Julia, what a terrible way for me to de-lurk! But I just realised that might have been what you were doing on my blog this week and since I do wind up here ever-so-silently from time to time, I did feel entitled to have a crack at Felix.

It was wrong. I know. I'll regret it later.

But not yet!

Bec.

Anonymous said...

Amen, sister.

Anonymous said...

I rued the day back in 2000 when he was first elected and I rued the day in 2004 when he was re-elected. I voted for the other guy both times. The thing about this Mr. Bush that gets me is this: he seems to think the Office of the Presidency guarantees him a blank check to act according to his own whims.

He will go down in history as the President who left this country in the worst ruins following his leadership, if you could even call it that. I can't wait until we get someone decent back in that office and can clean up his mess.

Andrea
http://littlebalddoctors.wordpress.com

Major Bedhead said...

Waya (hi, by the way, thanks for stopping by.) - Fox seems to give as good as they get. They're constantly dissing Keith and NBC/MSNBC all the time. Seems to go both ways.

Besides, I hate Bill O, so it doesn't bother me in the slightest. :D

Mad said...

Yes, Mr. Bush scares me to death even here in Canada. BTW, in response to your comment on my blog, I have written a review of "Love you Forever" on my blog. It is in the November archive in case you are interested but the name of the post is "Picture books I abhor, pt 2." That about sums up my feelings.

Thanks for stopping by.

smileymamaT said...

Thank you, thank you. These words sum up how I feel, how so many of us feel. I, too, have never "gotten it", only a vague fear and bewilderment that is basically summed up with "What the hell is he thinking??" So, hmmmm.....I guess there's so much to say but with no sense of control....how very frustrating, and on a daily basis. And I'm an American in Canada, and frankly, glad to be here. My brother is in MA (Woosta, he calls it) and I fear for the draft.
-T