On the eve of Iowa, here's a thought for helping choose our next president. A simple tie-breaker for those still on the fence. Let's pick someone who can handle a pop quiz where you have to fill in the blanks.
The current occupant of the Oval Office can't even handle multiple choice tests. Look at almost any decision Bush has made while in office, and you'll see that he has consistently chosen an answer that turned out to be wrong. He was wrong on Iraq, wrong on Iran, wrong on Katrina, wrong on energy policy, wrong on global warming, wrong on the environment, wrong on children's health care, wrong on No Child Left Behind, wrong about Putin, wrong on torture, wrong on warrantless wiretapping... wrong, wrong, wrong.
Faced with the multiple choices of who to back in Pakistan, Bush tried to pick e) All of the Above -- and you see where that has left us.
Bush, the Yalie with the C-average, is only able to handle True or False questions. He always picks False and hopes he'll be right 50% of the time. But flipping a coin is no way to run a country.
Next time, let's elect someone who actually knows the right answers, and doesn't feel compelled to cheat off the Dick sitting next to him.
Bush is not about leadership. His entourage simply "open the gates" and let shit happen.
Good shit for them in terms of tons of tax dollars into their pockets $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
and bad shit for middle-income Americans who are not part of the WEFARE STATE FOR THE RICH.
So, now we have a Republican party where the presidential candidates feel they have to publicly express doubt over the theory of evolution and discuss policy positions in the most simplistic terms possible.
On the other hand, this is also the party of such inhumane, end-justifies-the-means, Dr. Stangelove-esque brainiacs as papa Kissinger and his misbegotten neo-con progeny.
Apparently, the ideal Republican presidential candidate is a folksy buffoon on the outside and a willing pawn of the right-wing think tanks at his morally mushy center.
Can we reverse what has happened peacefully now? America has become fascist. The people still reelect the folks responsible. I am old and grew up through the peaceful civil rights and anti-Vietnam war eras; I am unsuited for the next strugge. But I don't believe anymore that we can change the present situation peacefully. Unfortunately I am imbued with pacific tendencies. It may, probably actually, take extreme violence. The robber barons control the House, Senate, Executive, Judiciary, most state houses, newspapers, television, radio, and are moving on the internet. The usual ways are closed. We have been stupid too long and the train has gone.
An elderly British gentleman standing next to me saw the book and made a condescending remark about Bush's IQ.
I agreed, but said I wasn't worried as Bush was too stupid to be President.
Peering at me through his spectacles, he said loudly "My dear young lady, I'm afraid he WILL be President. It matters not a whit if he's an idiot!"
I asked him why he thought that. Surely if enough people read about Bush's appalling record as Gov. of Texas, they wouldn't dream of voting for him. Gravely, he shook his head.
"Dear girl, he will be President because the American people are STUPID! They would rather vote for a good ol' boy than an intellectual scholar. GORE makes them feel dumb by comparison. When they look at Bush, they think 'He's just folks, like me".
His voice carried throughout the store, and I looked around warily. I fully expected a contingent of testy Americans to tell the nosy old Brit to mind his own business. No one said anything. This was liberal West Hollywood, and we were in a bookstore, surrounded by people who read. Not the sports page, not TV Guide, not the tabloids. Books. They probably agreed with him.
Sadly, it appears he was right.
" The ask me if I resent being made fun of on SNL time after time. Well, yes I do. But I won't do anything about that now. It would be unseemly.
But -- I'll get my revenge. One of these days -- I'll get my revenge."
Spoo-key...
The Old Corps Had a Motto, It was SEMPER FIDELIS, meaning "Always Faithful", Faithful to your Fellow Marines, meaning no one would ever be left behind to fend for themselves in the face of the enemy. There of course was the flip side of that motto that was simply stated, "Semper Fi", meaning "Fuck You I've Got Mine" and you are on your on. GW Bush chose the latter. the TXNG comes to mind - IE, Texas Air National Guard, which was only a draft dodgers haven in the 1960s and 1970s during the Viet Nam war. He ewould not do what he has demanded of our Armed Forces today. He could not make it in the Marine Corps. He didn't.