Every day when I read the paper, I’m more and more incensed and bewildered. How in the world is President Bush able to pull the wool over so many eyes? Why don’t people see what he and his cronies are, and what they are doing?
I’m pretty certain now that politics has become a religion. The right and left now behave just like religious zealots — they have complete and total faith in their beliefs, no matter how bizarre or improbable. You can’t shake them, you can’t tell them anything, and it’s pointless to try.
Here are some tidbits from today’s Washington Post.
Address Will Depict Bush as Above Politics
A day after the Iowa caucuses reset the Democratic field, President Bush will ignore the campaign as he goes before Congress on Tuesday night to deliver his final State of the Union address before he faces reelection.
White House officials said they hope to use the televised speech, and its audience of more than 60 million, to foster an image of Bush as a wartime visionary who stands above the fray of politics — the commander in chief, not a candidate.
According to Bush advisers, this is the gist of his speech, which will have solemn passages with an overall tone of optimism:
We are a nation at war. My bold decisions have made America safer, but we are not yet safe. At home, my administration’s policies have made us better and more prosperous. But I am not satisfied, and Congress must pass more of what I have proposed.
I don’t know about you, but I have never felt less safe than I do now, under the watchful Big Brother gaze of the Bush administration. And if you believe that Bush is above politics, you probably also believe that touching the hem of his tailored suit will cure you of all ills.
Hopes for Civility in Washington Are Dashed
Thirty-seven months ago, President-elect George W. Bush stood in the Texas House chamber and called for the nation’s leaders to “put politics behind us and work together” after the bitter Florida recount.
But as Bush begins the final year of his term with Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, partisans on both sides say the tone of political discourse is as bad as ever — if not worse.
Democrats complain that they have been shut out of all legislative action and that those who challenge Bush have their patriotism questioned and may be accused of aiding terrorists. Republicans counter that Democrats seem intent on blocking all Bush initiatives and are running a presidential primary campaign based on personal attacks on the president.
It took them four years to write this article? Where the hell have they been? And why aren’t more people incensed by this — isn’t it galling to know that even though the nation is pretty much evenly split between Republican and Democrat, that even though the Democrat won in the 2000 election, the Republicans seem to control everything? They have managed to completely take over government, without a mandate from the people, and in defiance of their lack of majority. Why in the world aren’t more people shocked and appalled by this? And why in the world have the Democrats been so ineffectual in the face of it?
Now, at the same time the Bushies are planning on presenting a President “above the fray,” they’re working on stuff like this:
Bush Ad Scripts Test New Law and Tough Approach
President Bush is preparing to revive some of the bare-knuckled politics he used during the 2002 midterm elections by suggesting that Democrats are opposed to keeping the nation secure.
That is the early indication from ad scripts Bush-Cheney ’04 filed this month with the Federal Election Commission. The ads, in which Bush endorses a congressional candidate, indicate that Bush plans, once again, to inject himself heavily into congressional races.
“American values. If you share the values of President Bush, you’re going to like Alice Forgy Kerr,” begins one script submitted to the FEC, referring to a Kentucky congressional candidate. “They are cut from the same cloth. While others attack the president’s economic program, and his fight to protect our national security, Alice Forgy Kerr stands with President Bush.”
Again, let me ask — do you feel secure? If so, maybe it’s because you don’t order Chinese food:
For Dining In, Security Is the Order of the Day
New Yorkers tolerate so much in the name of security these days: machine-gun-packing soldiers on subway platforms, random checks at tunnels and the infernal whirr of the police helicopters. But now the post-9/11 world has infringed on that most basic right of city living: Having dinner delivered to your apartment door.
Evidently worried that something lethal might be hidden inside the packages of General Tso’s chicken, charbroiled burgers and bagel sandwiches, managers of some of this city’s poshest apartment buildings have begun demanding that deliverymen show ID. If the deliverymen — a great many of whom are undocumented — cannot do so, tenants must pick up the food at the front desk or go hungry.
Like all religion, there’s no arguing with a believer. And that’s why religion has caused more war and suffering in this world than anything else. Hope everyone enjoys drinking that Bush Kool-Aid…
