Pots and Kettles

I’m gonna be using that title a lot through November. It seems that every day brings another example of Dubya throwing stones from his glass house. For instance, yesterday Bush claimed that Kerry’s trade and tax policies would be “a recipe for economic disaster.” He said this in Ohio, which has lost about 250,000 jobs under Bush’s trade and tax policies. Disaster, indeed.

Let’s parse a little rhetoric, shall we? From Bush’s Ohio speech:

“Manufacturing communities like Youngstown and Cleveland have been hit particularly hard. I understand that,” he said.

Yeah, he understands. He just isn’t doing anything to fix it. Don’t you just love that political-speak, where they claim that they “feel your pain” or they “understand” or they “stand with you”, but that’s all?

In the portion of his speech that slammed Kerry, Bush said “some politicians in Washington” seek “to increase federal taxes, to build a wall around this country and to isolate America from the rest of the world.” He said: “The old policy of economic isolationism is a recipe for economic disaster. America has moved beyond that tired, defeatist mind-set, and we’re not going back.”

First off, why do people still buy this use of the buzzword Washington? “Some politicians in Washington.” Why, isn’t the President a politician in Washington? Oh, wait — he spends most of his time in Texas, clearing the infinite brush.
Do you remember back, oh, 4 years ago when Bush advocated isolationism, railing against globalism? Now he uses call centers in India to do his fundraising. I wonder how many people in Ohio could have used those call center jobs?
Well, at least he can increase manufacturing jobs by stopping lawsuits against fast food. His White House has re-classified fast food jobs under the heading “manufacturing” — since they’re manufacturing hamburgers.
Yeah, and ketchup is a vegetable.