In the 1960's, when many young Americans were discovering that they could change the world through protest, song, or dress, George W. Bush was a cheerleader. Literally. He rooted on his pals at Phillips Academy. Win or lose, he would cheer just as hard, and make his enthusiasm heard throughout Andover.
In 2007, President Bush has sent hundreds of thousands of Americans to Iraq, without a plan for success, without a plan to bring the troops home, and without a political solution that will actually end the war.
Yet, he continues to be a cheerleader. The score of the game does not make a bit of difference to this President -- he's going to boost his team's spirits, for that's the purpose of a cheerleader: to promote unity and spirit. And W. is determined to do that for his team -- the troops.
This week W. took the liberty of comparing a withdrawal from Iraq to the disaster of our withdrawal from Vietnam. As always, W. took the wrong lessons from history. He should have been more honest: he is to Iraq what the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders were to Vietnam.
They were there to boost morale -- to yell, "Go, team!" and to give the troops a thrill -- the Cheerleaders love us!
W. is there to boost morale for Iraq -- to yell, "Go, team!" and to give the troops a thrill -- the President is on our side!
I doubt that anyone was really interested in the Cheerleaders' opinions of Vietnam, just as, at this point, no one takes this President very seriously when he talks about Iraq.
It's a shame. An honest assessment of what's occurring is vital.
We need a coach, not a cheerleader.
General Petraeus will be here soon to give a truer perspective on Iraq. He can be expected to try to boost his team, too, but he appears to be an honest man who is trying to do the best he can in the most difficult circumstances.
The shame of it all is that we have to wait for the General, and that we can't count on our President to give us honest information.
There are Presidents who lead. And there's a President who cheerleads. Regrettably, we are stuck with the latter.
On June 1, 1972, Nixon gave a speech in which he stated, "Last Friday, in Moscow, we witnessed the beginning of the end of that era which began in 1945. With this step, we have enhanced the security of both nations. We have begun to reduce the level of fear - for our two peoples, and for all peoples of the world."
Nixon left office under a cloud and in a scandal and Ford came in, and Ford's Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, and chief of staff, Dick Cheney, believed it intolerable that Americans might no longer be bound by fear. Without fear, how could Americans be manipulated?
These two men undertook to undermine the detente and directed trillions of tax dollars away from social services and domestic programs and instead gave it to defense contractors. They accepted jobs in the defense industries and went on to sell the politics of fear.
Bush is their cheerleader. He is in fact a FEAR LEADER.
Bush danced around the sidleines while the game was played by the real people. How could he have know that there was something called a "game plan"? How could he know about "plays", getting them right in gut grinding two a day practice in August heat, the first string and backing up a position, fundamentals, execution and playing hurt?
He wasn't even the equipment manager? You need equipment, you need to get it to the game and make sure its working and have spares. You need to change which cleats you use by field conditions for god's sake.
How could he know that what he did on the sidelines was not the key element of victory or defeat? Yep, explains a lot.
As for citing that tired, old "Jane Fonda" saga.
Jane has more brains in one of her toe-nail clippings than are in the entire Bush White House, a whore-house for republican RICH CORPORATE WELFARE QUEENS.
Remind them that Jane apologized YEARS ago.
Then staaand back....
C student and dry drunk: Cheerleader is the best he can do.
I just don't remember a constitutional amendment that made a general the commander in chief and the commander in chief a cheerleader.
If the Viet Nam war had not been started, or had been ended early, we would have had the choice of 100s of thousands of young men with REAL leadership ability.
The hidden cost of war
The lost generation of male leaders
You kill the wrong genepool off
Unless you are a sadist
With an end-time wish mentality.
Are there any contingency plans in place?
I have nothing against cheer-leaders, but most of them grow up to take more proactive roles in life.
Bush and those he appoints are either incompentent or without consciences. Maybe they share a conscience and they fumble it around and damage it every once in a while. Maybe they should stay on the sidelines.
I'm certainly glad that I didn't bet on that last election because I would have bet and lost everything. That's how sure I was the we had seen the light.
Now all I can do is be frustrated and embarassed
by the daily clown show.
Maybe the blue states ought to rethink the positives of leaving the Union. I mean, can we really afford these bozos on the bus* with us?
*See Firesign Theater
They NEVER come up into the hills....
Kick 'em in the knee
Rah Rah Rass
Kick 'em in the
rat infested V.A. hospitals and make sure you bring back reservists 1 day prior to elegibility for education benefits. And don't forget to delay the armor.
Respectfully,
Mike
Kick 'em in the knee
Rah Rah Rass
Kick 'em in the other knee.
She may not have realized it until later, but it took guts to be Jane. (the sort I see nowhere now)
There will be a list of those who stood up at this darkest point in the history of America.
And a list of those who sat.
And no one can ever say that "they had no choice."
Those heroes WILL be remembered, for a lot longer than they were persecuted....