Top Ten Heroes of the George W. Bush Era

As the W. Bush regime comes to an end it seems appropriate to pay tribute to the countless individuals and groups who have spent the last nearly 8 years exposing the atrocities of this government that shamelessly hijacked the electoral system of the United States in its mission to pilfer, divide, and conquer the world. Here is my list of:

The Top Ten Heroes of the George W. Bush Era

10. Valerie Plame, Joseph Wilson
...and all the Whistleblowers

The Plame case was the first high profile example of a participant in the Bush administration taking a stand and exposing their superiors as criminals. What followed were the Teresa Chambers, Jack Spadaros, and Scott McClellans of the W. Bush administration, not to mention the former and current generals and Pentagon staff who somehow found the courage to speak up and admit the truth about their boss and his pals. Even as millions of individual Americans and world citizens provided well supported accusations against these individuals of the W. Bush administration, it took the admissions of these insiders to make it clear to the American public that there was something very wrong in their government.

9. Naomi Klein
...and the other authors who exposed the hideous truths of the W. regime and its allies with well-researched facts and information

Klein is the undisputed leader of the general readership sociopolitical dissertation. Starting with No Logo and moving toward the latest Shock Doctrine she has led a movement of well-researched, focused, and easy-to-read political theses that address the core problems of our contemporary sociopolitical systems. In the last 8 years, countless best-selling books have been written about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, political oppression in the United States, the curtailing of civil and human rights in the United States and the world, and the true histories of members of George W. Bush's administration and alliance leaders worldwide. An exceptionally high number of members of the public made these books bestsellers and were better off for having read them.

8. The grass roots progressive political movement in the US and worldwide

Starting with the 2003 American and international protests against the upcoming pre-emptive strike against Iraq, political demonstrations were revived during the W. Bush era because the public worldwide had no choice but to stand up and march for democratic values, human rights and basic decencies. The millions of marchers then and since revived the protest culture of the 1960s and welcomed a whole new generation of Americans to the idea that it is patriotic to speak up and march to save your country from itself.

7. Cindy Sheehan
...and other veteran families who stood up and made their opposition heard

This woman - much maligned by the mainstream American press - is a leader and a hero. An everyday mom whose fury at the loss of her soldier son in the Iraq War and the subsequent disregard for his service and his family's rights, Sheehan did what few have the energy and strength to do: she fought back. Her Crawford protests outside W. Bush's vacation ranch gained deserved international notice and exposed George W. Bush as such a careless and insensitive commander-in-chief that he couldn't make time to meet with those so hurt by his war. Her demand for dignity for the veterans and their families did not stop there - she fought on and even when it looked like she had given up, she took it upon herself to draw national attention to the democratic leadership in Washington that kept promising change and an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but never delivered. While she lost her bid to replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress, she drew massive attention to the power of the individual.

6. The Iraqi and Afghani People

They are silent heroes - those who have suffered the pre-emptive war and current occupation of Iraq and those who have suffered both at the hand of the Taliban and the US-backed government in Kabul. Both are people who have seen little but war in the last 30-odd years. Both have suffered inexplicable and mostly unknown atrocities. Both continue to survive despite all indications otherwise.

5. Democracy Now!
...and the massive independent media movement, including Bill Moyers and the extremely few mainstream journalists who used their anger to better inform the American public

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez's Democracy Now! media organization has turned a grass roots media effort into an independent media revolution, proving that the public will follow independent news when given the opportunity to do so. Their alternative view of the daily news provided and continues to provide Americans a contrast to the corporate mainstream media that has rarely demonstrated independence and has overlooked the importance of in-depth news coverage and expert analysis that is not tied to special interests either in Washington or the corporate world. It seems likely that Democracy Now! played no small part in opening the door to the bravery of some mainstream journalists like Bill Moyers who didn't shy from their anger against the W. administration and its policies. Moyers's exposes on government corruption, veteran mistreatment, and the crimes of war gave Americans an important view into the realities of their government and its policies at home and abroad.

4. Winter Soldier
...and Veterans Against the War

It's one thing for members of the public to decry the illegal basis for the Iraq war and the failures of the Afghanistan war - it is quite another thing to hear these things directly from the horse's mouth. Winter Soldier and the various other anti-war veteran organizations that have gained membership and attention during the W. Bush era have given weighty credence to the realities of these wars and the manifest culture of violence, aggression and anti-human behavior that they have bred in members of the military. Many of these soldiers have shouldered great losses as a result of their fearless admissions about the graphic and brutal reality of these two wars. But all of them have boldly proclaimed their pride in finally unburdening themselves of the guilt of knowing truths but not admitting them.

3. Michael Moore

Bush-backers tried to make him out as a treasonous instigator over the last 8 years, but he is arguably the greatest American hero of our generation because he achieved the one thing that no one else had: he politicized the American public. His movies, his books, his website, his personal fearlessness and great effort to not only inform the public of the politics that affect their everyday lives but to actively encourage them to participate in politics cannot be overstated. Before Michael Moore, if you travelled the world and discussed politics with people from other nations you found them to be informed and engaged on a level that most Americans simply were not. Since Michael Moore this political knowledge gap has vastly decreased in Americans. It's noticeable and it's good. Moore, in his immense capacity to use the media as a political tool also started the imperial movement of sociopolitical documentaries that are now a staple of film viewing and dvd rentals in the United States and the world. Many people may hate him, but most people have benefitted from his efforts.

2. The Internet
...and all the YouTubers and bloggers who tirelessly and voluntarily contributed to more informed coverage of the W. regime's atrocities in the US and worldwide

It is the most powerful tool for informing, engaging and including the public in the sociopolitical discourse of its life. People are no longer passive observers of the events that govern their lives, they are active participants in assessing these events, informing each other of these events, and interacting with each other to analyze and improve the world. The Internet has enormously ameliorated the process of human communication and information exchange. As an added bonus, the Internet has meant that corporate news and government lies are not an endpoint but a starting point for learning about the facts of our world. The anonymous bloggers and YouTubers who spend countless hours voicing their knowledge and views have brought a new level of democratic practice to news dissemination.

1. Every American who voted for Barack Obama

Republicans, Democrats, minorities, "rednecks", and Bush brownnosers of all ilks landslided Obama into the presidency, not with a request but a demand for change. Enough said.

Comments

[krocklin]

No one more than Keith Olbermann. Who relaxed the stranglehold of the 0'Reilly/Limbaugh/Hannity monopoly on the media.
And Scott McClellan. THE single Bush Administration member who unequivocally renounced the methods and legitimacy of that Cabal.
They are heroes who made their voices heard loud and clear.

[ryangr]

Reporters: Hendrik Hertzberg, Paul Krugman, Ron Suskind, Seymour Hersh, and Jane Mayer, for reassuring me the world hadn"t gone mad"or at least who were very publicly not in denial about the world having gone mad, and were hell-bent on chronicling the precise extent of its madness, and trying to prevent further madness.

Whistleblowers: Antonio Taguba, for doing his job and speaking out about Abu Ghraib.

Members of Congress: John Murtha, Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, Henry Waxman, and John Lewis, for their vocal opposition to the war and for publicly denouncing and investigating the Bush Admin"s abuses.

Public Figures: Al Gore, for An Inconvenient Truth. Jon Stewart, for out-Orwelling Orwell and making liberal look cool.

No longer with us: Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Bless all of them. They were rays of light in a dark, dark time.

[bdaved]

Mark Crispin Miller and Greg Palast keep disinterring the 2000 and 2004 elections.

[research]

Kucinich for trying to impeach these criminals.

[CatfishJohn]

..Scott Ritter----speaking truth to corrupt and dishonest power......

[Hugh-Gee]

Amen to that! And Hans Blix, for his role in informing the world re. the truth about the WMD BS.

In addition: how'bout ol' Howard Dean? He engineered the strategery of taking the Congress in '06, before the Dems laid waste to Republican ineptitude in '08.

For your 50-state strategy: Dr. Dean, we salute you.

[bdaved]

I voted for Howard Dean in 2004, post-scream. I think he would've been a fighter.

[oregondaisy]

Oregon: Sen Ron Wyden- Rep Earl Blumenauer- Rep Peter DeFazio- Rep Darlene Hooley- Rep David Wu

4 of our 5 congressmen and 1 of our 2 senators voted against it, and Senator Gordon Smith who voted for it was just bounced out by the Oregon voters.

God, I love my state!!!!

[princessk]

Here's a list of Congresspersons who opposed the Iraq War resolution in October 2002. They deserve a mention, even though Congress, in general, failed us. Some, like Paul Wellstone, thought they might be jeopardizing their chance for re-election because of this "nay" vote:

Alabama: Rep Earl Hilliard
Arizona: Rep Ed Pastor
Arkansas: Rep Vic Snyder
California: Sen Barbara Boxer- Rep Joe Baca- Rep Xavier Becerra- Rep Lois Capps- Rep Gary Condit- Rep Susan Davis- Rep Anna Eshoo- Rep Sam Farr- Rep Bob Filner- Rep Mike Honda- Rep Barbara Lee- Rep Zoe Lofgren- the late Rep Robert Matsui- Rep Juanita Millender-McDonald- Rep George Miller- Rep Grace Napolitano- Rep Nancy Pelosi- Rep Lucille Roybal-Allard- Rep Loretta Sanchez- Rep Hilda Solis- Rep Pete Stark- Rep Mike Thompson- Rep Maxine Waters- Rep Diane Watson- Rep Lynn Woolsey
Colorado: Rep Diana DeGette- Rep Mark Udall
Connecticut: Rep Rosa DeLaura- Rep John Larson- Rep James Maloney
Florida: Sen Bob Graham- Rep Corinne Brown- Rep Alice Hastings- Rep Carrie Meek
Georgia: Rep John Lewis- Rep Cynthia McKinney
Hawaii: Sen Daniel Akaka- Sen Daniel Inouye- Rep Neil Abercrombie
Illinois: Sen Dick Durbin- Rep Jerry Costello- Rep Danny Davis- Rep Lane Evans- Rep Luis Gutierrez Rep Jesse Jackson, Jr- Rep Bill Lipinski- Sen Bobby Rush- Rep Jan Schakowsky
Indiana: Rep Julia Carson- Rep John Hostettler- Rep Pete Viscloskey
Iowa Rep Jim Leach
Maine: Rep Tom Allen- Rep John Baldacci
Maryland: Sen Barbara Mikulski- Sen Paul Sarbanes- Rep Benjamin Cardin- Rep Elijah Cummings- Rep Connie Morella

[princessk]

More of the list:

Rhode Island: Sen Lincoln Chaffee- Sen Jack Reed- Rep James Langevin
South Carolina: Rep Gresham Barrett- Rep James Clyburn
Tennessee: Rep John Duncan, Jr
Texas: Rep Lloyd Doggett- Rep Charles Gonzalez- Rep Ruben Hinojosa- Rep Sheila Jackson-Lee- Rep Eddie Bernice Johnson- Rep Ron Paul- Rep Silvestre Reyes- Rep Ciro Rodriguez
Vermont: Sen Jim Jeffords- Sen Patrick Leahy- Rep Bernie Sanders
Virginia: Rep Jim Moran- Rep Bobby Scott
Washington: Sen Patty Murray- Rep Jay Inslee- Rep Rick Larsen- Rep Jim McDermott
Washington DC: Rep Brian Baird
West Virginia: Sen Robert Byrd- Rep Alan Mollohan- Rep Nick Rahall
Wisconsin: Sen Russ Feingold- Rep Tammy Baldwin- Rep Jerry Kleczka- Rep David Obey

Source: http://usliberals.about.com/od/liberalleadership/a/IraqNayVote_3.htm

[LaMees]

Thank you Princessk, truly.

[princessk]

Here's the continuation of that list:

Massachusetts: Sen Ted Kennedy- Rep Michael Capuano- Rep Bill Delahunt- Rep Barney Frank- Rep Jim McGovern- Rep Richard Neal- Rep John Olver- Rep John Tierney
Michigan: Sen Carl Levin- Sen Debbie Stabenow- Rep David Bonior- Rep John Conyers, Jr- Rep John Dingell- Rep Dale Kildee- Rep Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick- Rep Sandy Levin- Rep Lynn Rivers- Rep Burt Stupak
Minnesota: Sen Mark Dayton- the late Sen Paul Wellstone- Rep Betty McCollum- Rep Jim Oberstar- Rep Martin Olav Sabo
Mississippi: Rep Bennie Thompson
Missouri: Rep William Clay, Jr- Rep Karen McCarthy
New Jersey: Sen Jon Corzine- Rep Rush Holt- Rep Robert Menendez- Rep Frank Pallone, Jr- Rep Donald Payne
New Mexico: Sen Jeff Bingaman- Rep Tom Udall
New York: Rep Maurice Hinchey- Rep Amo Houghton- Rep John LaFalce- Rep Gregory Meeks- Rep Jerrold Nadler- Rep Major Owens- Rep Charles Rangel- Rep Jose Serrano- Rep Louise Slaughter- Rep Edolphus Towns- Rep Nydia Velaquez
North Carolina: Rep Eva Clayton- Rep David Price- Rep Melvin Watt
North Dakota: Sen Kent Conrad
Ohio: Rep Sharrod Brown- Rep Stephanie Tubbs Jones- Rep Marcy Kaptur- Rep Dennis Kucinich- Rep Thomas Sawyer- Rep Ted Strickland
Oregon: Sen Ron Wyden- Rep Earl Blumenauer- Rep Peter DeFazio- Rep Darlene Hooley- Rep David Wu
Pennsylvania: Rep Robert Brady- Rep William Coyne- Rep Mike Doyle- Rep Chaka Fattah

[robinwhi]

Calling Michael Moore "arguably the greatest American hero of our generation" has made me very cautious of this website now. Give me a break, his baseless remarks and embellishements on truths makes him as bad as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity on the other side.

Until he adopts an MO of integrity and truthfullness, Michael Moore should remain in the doghouse of the Democratic party.

Just sayin'

[research]

You are being played by the Republican Noise Machine if you think Moore lack integrity and truthfulness. I don't always agree with his conclusion, spin or methods, but he is doing his best to reveal the core truth of the subjects he covers.

I you listened to the anti-Moore junk, you should read what Moore has to say about it:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/wackoattacko/

[skipfromrome]

At the time, Al Franken's "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" seemed a lonely, early voice of reason....Thanks be to Al for his prescience!!!

[RG5626]

I think Paul O'Neill deserves special mention. He was the first from the inner circle to confirm that all of our worst fears about Bush were justified. It was one thing to read criticism of Bush on a blog or hear it on Air America, but when the Treasury Secretary confirms that Bush was hell bent on invading Iraq and was shallow and disengauged, even Republicans had to take notice.

[StaninLA]

Please don't forget Al Franken, one of the early, lonely voices speaking out against the Bush Admins lying, illegal activities.

[sixx]

Franken was pro Iraq invasion way past the expiration date.

[darthdarcy]

How could you leave out Dennis Kucinich...?

Come on get him up there..!

[LaMees]

My thoughts exactly. My heartfelt admiration for the man cannot be put into words.

[BCubedReg]

I think Keith Olberman needs to be on that list. He has taken Bush and his administration to task countless times on his show and exposed every major failing of this administration

[blooddoc]

Agreed. I would add Rachel Maddow and even Chris Matthews as progressive-minded cable talking heads.

[not one of the sheep]

Thanks Shirin for the chuckle. When I got to Cindy it was a chuckle then when I read Michael I broke into a roar. My side hurts from this bit of comedy. This is equivalent to the right picking, Bush, Cheney, Rove, etc. This was a satirical post, right? If not, sweet Mary mother of God, watch for the guys in the white jackets coming to pick you up!

[davism97]

You left out Robert Greenwald but included Michael Moore? Google Greenwald and watch some of his movies of the past 8 years...