Just when I thought that I finally had the real Bush pegged as,
essentially, a shallow, bullying, mean person, pig-headed and
vengeful, he goes to Tipp City, Ohio and proves, even to my mother,
that he is a blithering idiot.
Remember, my mother has voted twice for Bush, even though she is
moderate to progressive on most issues. I may not have shared with the
Huff Posters why my mother never votes for Democrats -- it's because
during the thirties, the Democrats got in bed with the big labor
unions. At any rate, while I tried to talk her out of voting for Bush
in 2004, she did not cave, and voted for him anyway, thereby incurring
a penalty at Christmastime when I bought her Christmas present. I do
not think the penalty is the reason she now thinks Bush is an
astonishing, amazing, and unbelievable idiot, a one-in-a-million
dunce. I think he proved that to her himself.
My mother moonlights as a pundit in verse. Her first book of light
political verse was called 2002: Whew! It was funny and smart and she
did readings in retirement homes in Florida. She dedicated her book to
me and my siblings, and even wrote poems about us. Mine reflected upon
my penchant, as a child, for never taking "I don't know" for an
answer. I admit I was tiresome with the questions. She planned
additional volumes, but found herself daunted by events--somehow she
could extract nothing "light" from them. Now, however, she is working
on her 2007 volume (eventually to be sold on my website,
therealjanesmiley -- wait for it).
My mother supports me in my view that Bush should never ever be given
a break, even a break on account of idiocy. The reason he should never
be given a break is the Iraq War. Let me be absolutely clear, here,
for the sake of Johnny- and Sally-come-latelies to the anti-war
majority: there was no excuse for the Iraq War. The Iraq War is and
always has been morally wrong, intellectually misguided, prosecuted in
ignorance, intentionally corrupt, and motivated by opportunism at
every turn. It's a whole package. No one piece of the package
predominates and they all depend on the others. For the intellectually
misguided and prosecuted in ignorance part, I think we can blame
Perle, Wolfowitz, Feith, Bolton, Rice, Colin Powell, and, of course,
Cheney, who is also primarily responsible for the intentionally
corrupt part, and not just getting Iraqi oil for himself and his
friends -- just today we have had to consider, thanks to Steve Clemons,
how Shaha Riza got her security clearance, yet another in an armload
of intentionally corrupt acts by the vice-president or his equally
corrupt daughter, Elizabeth.
No matter how stupid Bush is, it is he who is responsible for the
morally wrong part (since he knew everyone was lying, including
himself, and since he always has shown indifference to the care of the
soldiers whom he sent to do his dirty work). He knows this.
But the worst thing Bush has done is to use the Iraq War, first and
foremost, as a cynical bid to maintain himself and his faction in
power in this country. It's not simply that he started the war for
selfish reasons, it is that he set out to use the Iraq War to
undermine the structure of constitutional American government to the
advantage of himself and his transnational corporate and investment
class. This is a patriotic crime, some, as they say, would call it
treason. But, I would say, he has done something worse--he's used the
Iraq War as a reason for torturing and destroying particular lives at
Guantanamo and elsewhere. He has made sure that the trials were
rigged, because allowing even the rudiments of proper and accepted
legal procedure would mean that Bush would lose cases, and thereby
lose face. He would rather see people crippled and tormented than
admit that he has been wrong -- in any particular! Is this not the
definition of an evil person? Of a person with no conscience and no
humanity?
Sometimes, journalists portray Bush as recognizably human. Even I
ended up, after that Tipp City article, thinking that there must be
some mistake here -- maybe it would be enough just to get rid of the
guy.
But no, blithering or not, we have to investigate, impeach, indict,
and imprison. If we don't, the right wing corporate ubermenschen will
be back with a bigger plan, a cannier mode of attack. We cannot allow
the sorts of things Bush has done to remain a part of the political
landscape, to remain options in the political game -- it's not just that
they are unworthy of Americans, it's that they transform American
democracy in a profoundly cynical and destructive way into a tyranny.
Bush has to be the example of what happens to Presidents, no matter
what their excuse, when they forget who they are and whom they work
for.
As for the Atlas of the Novel, we have 86 entries for North America
and 65 for Europe and Russia--almost none for South America, and not
many for other regions! Please add your contribution at
therealjanesmiley. The format is: author, title, date of publication,
regions visited. Thanks!