Less than 1,000 to go, but who's counting?

Less than 1,000 days to go. Well, 987 to be exact. I wanted to write about this on the day of, but I've been really busy lately and didn't have time. Well, no better time than the present. Anyway, 987 is the magic number - that is how many days we have until January 20, 2009, when a new president takes office. I cannot believe it has happened so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was outraged at the fraudulent results of the 2000 election. Yea, I know what some of you will say - "RJ, it was six years ago - let it go." Oh, I have let it go, but I cannot and will not ever forget the outrage that happened in 2000. But, time has a way of healing all wounds, and this one is the sweetest of all: Katherine Harris has virtually no chance of being elected to the U.S. Senate. Her ratings are rock bottom, and now the Bushes are even publicly stating that she doesn't have a chance to win. How residents of Florida ever had the stomach to elect her is beyond belief. Anyway, it all works out in the end - she thought she would ride her 2000 favor for the Bush campaign all the way to the Senate. But, the people of Florida are a little smarter than that, finally. The House of Representatives is one thing, but the Senate is another, make up queen. (For those of you who don't remember, she was Florida's secretary of state in 2000, while simultaneously co-chairing Bush's Florida campaign in 2000. Can anyone say conflict of interest?)

Anyway, I just thought I'd muse at all of the ridiculous events that have happened on Bush's watch, from the 2000 primaries until now.

Does anyone remember...

...The effort on the part of the Bush campaign to completely discredit John McCain immediately before the primary in South Carolina. To wit, many voters were called in the middle of the night by an organization tied to the Bush campaign and asked, "Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain if he fathered a black baby?" This happened in South Carolina no less - one of the most racially biased states in the union (and the last state to fly the Confederate Flag). Of course, Bush denied involvement. (McCain and his wife adopted a baby from Bangladesh.)

...The Bush campaign's wild distortion, that sticks to this day, that Gore claimed "I invented the Internet." Gore never said it, but he didn't fight back and answer the accusation in a timely manner, either, which is almost as bad. What he said, in the context of discussing the legislation that led to the Internet as we know it today: "I took the initiative in creating the Internet." (He sponsored some of the legislation that made the Internet possible.)

...Bush's visit to Bob Jones University - a college known for favoring segregation and which, until recently, had a ban on interracial dating.

...Bush's denial of cocaine use/abuse during his college years. He dismissed the allegations with the wave of the hand and a glib tongue: "I'm not going to get into that stuff," he whined. In effect, he was saying it was no one else's business. Funny, that argument didn't work for Clinton in 1992. Yea, it's a liberal media. The press totally and completely let him skate on that one.

...Candidate Bush's quote that if you don't believe in Jesus, then you are going to hell. He quickly apologized and had to retract that gem.

...The astounding voting irregularities that occurred in Florida, Ohio and several other states during the 2000 election. (This occurred again in 2004.) Bush carried Florida by less than 600 votes. In one county, 4,000 absentee ballots cast for Bush that should have been disqualified because they did not have the necessary signatures disappeared, and the next day reappeared with the proper "signatures." The ballots were counted toward Bush's vote total for the state.

Many conservatives shout, "How could there have been an accurate recount?!?" There probably could not have been. Fine. But, when Gore offered to have another election in Florida - to completely start over and have all of the votes counted, Bush flat out refused. Of course he did - because there simply no fucking way Bush would have carried Florida if all eligible voters who wanted to vote would have had their votes counted. That should tell you all you need to know right there - Gore said let's do it again and have all of the votes counted, and Bush refused - he figured his team of lawyers would win the election for him. They did.

Quick aside - funny how Bush used lawyers to gain the presidency, yet during the 2004 election, he decried Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, as "some trial lawyer who's going to solve the medical malpractice crisis in America." Hey dipshit, his thumbnail knows more about medical malpractice than you do, and your proposal for plaintiffs to be limited to $250,000 for pain and suffering in medical malpractice suits so insurance companies can get richer should qualify you for a mental institution, you stupid, stupid moron.

...Bush's first attorney general, John Ashcroft. I don't even have enough time to run down stuff about this guy, except to say two things. One, the people of Missouri preferred the dead over John Ashcroft. What do I mean by that? Well, former Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash on 10.16.00, just weeks before his election against Ashcroft, who was up for reelection in the U.S. Senate. Missouri law would not allow Carnahan to be removed from the ballot so close to the election. In one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a national election, Carnahan defeated Ashcroft in the election anyway.

The other thing memorable about the Ashcroft justice department is how it spent $8,000 of taxpayer money to cover up the Spirit of Justice statue in the justice department's Great Hall. The statue depicts a woman with one breast exposed. The puritan-like Ashcroft did not want to be photographed in front of the statue. Apparently, this administration realizes the irony of a penis being photographed in front of a breast.

...Bush's mammoth tax cuts, which overwhelmingly favor the rich, in the spring of 2001 and several more later. Even though there was evidence that the "projected" surpluses were widely believed to be a total fucking joke, Bush and the Republicans forged ahead anyway, insisting it is "the people's money." Incidentally, I believe it is, too, but I sided squarely with Democrats, who proposed that some surpluses could be returned to taxpayers when the "projected" surpluses turned into "real" surpluses. The Republicans turned them down cold... for political gain. Yes, yes, yes, I know - Gore campaigned on the same thing, and deserves criticism here, too. So noted. Both were pandering for votes, but they both knew the truth - the surpluses were mostly wishful thinking - a one-time fluke. But, Bush gets the brunt of the criticism because he "won" the election, and also because at the time the cuts were implemented, there was plenty of evidence at that time that the surpluses would disappear quicker than a Pop Tart at the Rosie O'Donnell breakfast table.

...In February 2001, when the FBI and CIA finally could prove who was responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole. The American response? Nothing. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was quoted on the Cole incident by saying, "It would make us look weak to respond four months after the attack." So, how does not doing anything make us look, asshole?

...John Ashcroft cutting the FBI's anti-terrorism budget in the summer of 2001. When this comes out in the months following September 11, it was dismissed as propaganda from the "liberal media."

...The September 11 attacks themselves. No one who lived through it will ever forget one of the worst days in American history. I was one of many who defended the president against people who savaged him for not returning to Washington, D.C. immediately following the attacks. Hey, if the capitol is not secure, keep our leader away until it is. I was fine with that. I was also fine with the fact that we attacked Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden, the man largely responsible for the attacks. Bravo, Bush. I was with him all the way, especially during his very memorable speech to a Joint Session of Congress on September 20, 2001. My favorite lines:

"We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind [al Queda] before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions - by abandoning every value except the will to power - they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends: in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies."

And, best of all...

"Our nation -- this generation -- will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail."

This was Bush at his best. Our commander, our leader, our president who was going to kick ass and find, root out and kill the MFers who did this to us. But, Bush single-handedly squandered the goodwill and sympathy that virtually the entire world felt for the United States and Americans immediately following the attacks. Who can ever forget the Star-Spangled Banner being played at Buckingham Palace, the Brandenberg Gate and on the streets of Paris? Paris! I ask you, can anyone, anyone possibly imagine any of that happening now? We are so universally hated in the world, you'd never, ever see it. Following the attacks, the world cheered us and was behind our efforts. Now, they burn American flags and count the days until Bush is out, just as I do.

One other thought on the September 20 speech. He said something during that speech, which, seen through the very partisan filter that dominates America today, seems remarkable. Looking out into the audience very early in his speech, he said:

"Speaker Hastert, Minority Leader Gephardt, Majority Leader Daschle and Senator Lott, I thank you for your friendship, for your leadership and for your service to our country."

I ask - can you imagine Bush saying that to Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi today? Unthinkable and impossible. Bush ran in 2000 as "A uniter, not a divider," yet he has done nothing but divide us and use wedge issues to fire up the right since he walked into the Oval Office in Januray 2001. More on that later.

More Memories
Does anyone remember...

...Bush's vehement opposition to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security? Originally, Joseph Lieberman was a part of the proposed legislation that would create a cabinet level position and a new government agency, totally rearranging the intelligence and investigative agencies. The president was flat out against it, until the public and most of Congress favored the idea, including members of his own party. Bush, who just usurped the Gore/Lieberman ticket less than a year before, wasn't about to let Lieberman get any credit for the reorganization of the government following the September 11 attacks. So, Bush employed what is a now familiar tactic - he switched sides, took credit for the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, signed it into law, and viola - the president is doing something about terrorism! In just about every speech the president has given since the attacks, and I don't care what the speech is about, he will somehow weave in the War on Terror, and in many of those speeches, he will take credit for the Department of Homeland Security. Hey W, few Americans probably even care and fewer still probably recall what really happened, but I'm not one of them.

...Who can forget the now famous Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism law, known to the world as the USA PATRIOT Act? Talk about an acronym that only the U.S. government could come up with. There's a fine line between giving the government the tools to track down terrorists and taking away the rights of ordinary American citizens. It's not always an easy distinction to make, but the last thing I ever want to see, under just about any circumstances I can think of, is to give the government virtually unlimited powers to search and seize Americans and their houses and property without a warrant. Yet, that's just one of the things that this law allows for. (Incidentally, most of it has been renewed by the GOP dominated Congress).

It's pretty tough to forget Dick Cheney, the administration's favorite attack dog and king demagogue, criticizing opponets of the PATRIOT Act as "people who side with the terrorists." So, I guess we get attacked, and good old fashioned debate and consideration go right out the window. It's called a democracy, Dick, and debate and careful consideration are intregal parts of that. But I guess that principle doesn't apply if you dare disagree with this administration. The minute people disagree with Bush, and this continues to this day, they are "siding with the terrorists, or giving terrorists comfort." It's true! It's true! Hey, if credible authors like Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity are saying it, how could it not be true?

...Anyone remember a bunch of high ranking Saudi officials being whisked out of the country following the attacks, including a few relatives of Osama bin Laden? There has been some debate and controversy about the actual date of when they left, but who cares about that? (I've recently read September 14, and Richard Clarke, amazingly enough, still defends the decision to let them go. This is one of the few things I vehemently disagree with him aobut.) Anyway, debating when they left just clouds the issue. Okay, even if these people left after the ban on flights was lifted, the real issue is this - why were they not kept and interrogated until they were blue in the face? Hey, if you've got one or more of bin Laden's relatives on American soil following an attack like this, don't you want to get a few days if not weeks with this person to see what he or she knows? Of course you do. It's crime solving basics - if someone gets murdered, you question a suspect's friends and relatives to find out what you can, not turn them loose and say, "Thanks."

...Probably my favorite Bushism about terrorism is his now famous use of the phrase "Axis of Evil" in his January 2002 State of the Union speech. The president referred to Iran, Iraq and North Korea in his speech, and how these states sponsor terrorism and possess weapons of mass destruction. Bush talked tough about all three nations, but the only one he's done anything about is the runt of the litter and the country that posed the lowest threat to us, by far - Iraq. The real threats are Iran and North Korea. Funny how I remember Bush and the neocons deriding the Clinton administration for failed diplomacy and how diplomacy doesn't work against these countries. Pretty funny, though - the only thing Bush has done about North Korea and Iran is talk, along with some half-baked, feeble attempts at diplomacy. But, we are right back to square one with North Korea, after Bush all but ignored the nation for his first few years in office. And the president has done little or nothing about Iran. Now, am I saying we need to go to war with these two nations? Only if it's absolutely, positively necessary as a last and final resort, if they are posing an immediate threat to the United States or a close/important ally. Of the three, Iraq was a solid third in the president's axis before the war in Iraq (and continues to be third, actually). When I heard the phrase in Bush's speech, it immediately struck me as phony. That's just the way it struck me; an attempt by Bush and his speechwriter, David Frumm, to make history. Real leaders don't try to make history - they do what's right for their country, an in the process, make history. If Bush was serious about this axis, he would have done much more about North Korea and Iran than he already has.

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Turning away from The War on Terrorism for a minute, Bush had some other whoppers in his first term. Remember...

...Bush campaigning on totally free markets, then slapping tariffs on imported steel, sparking outrage around the world? Even many people in the U.S. steel industry didn't support the move. This was such a transparent pander for votes in the '02 and '04 elections, and the people weren't fooled. He later quietly recinded the tarriffs, after they were ruled illegal by the World Trade Commission. Oops. And you called Kerry a flip-flopper, Mr. President? (And you didn't carry Pennsylvania, anyway, despite visiting my state more than any other in your first term. :o)

...Nor will I forget about the corporate scandals that rocked America and the stock market early in Bush's first term. Enron was one of Bush's biggest contributors. Clearly there was more than just a passing connection between the Bush administration and Enron. But we'll probably never find out about it.

...His campaign pledge to limit carbon and greenhouse gas emissions, then upon assuming office, promptly calling for voluntary reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Talk about a sop to big oil and big business. Another promise broken, another lie to the American people.

...Speaking of oil, anyone remember big oil executives meeting with Dick Cheney to help shape energy policy? When watchdog groups demanded that notes from those meetings be made public, the president arrogantly refused, citing executive priveledge. Of course, those documents will never see the light of day, but we're led to believe that the meetings were just "routine," and that energy policy was neither discussed nor implemented. Riiiiight.

...Bush's attempt to have it both ways in the stem cell research debate? He later ruled that research could continue on a few select embryos, but no new funding and no new embryos or leftover eggs could be used for research. And no government funding for these cells, which hold so much potential to those people who are less fortunate and suffering from diseases such as Alzheimer's, paralysis, Parkinson's, etc.

...The president's proposed mission to Mars. Bush's father tried to propose the same thing while president in the early 1990s, and it was meant with yawns. Bush "43" proposes that we scrap the space shuttle program and develop a new vehicle for manned missions to the moon and Mars, but of course offers no plan on how to pay for it. He conveniently pushes the funding decision off to our 44th president, who will have that funding grenade thrown into his lap almost immediately upon assuming office. An interesting footnote to Bush's Mars brainchild: it received such enthusiasm, he failed to mention one word about it in his State of the Union speech less than two weeks later. I must note here that I think the Moon and Mars missions are a terrific idea, and I hope they both happen, but the money has to come from somewhere. It takes no balls for the president to propose such a bold initiative and then not offer up any ideas on how to pay for it.

...Bush's refusal to allow the formation of a bipartisan 9-11 commission with subponea power. He later agrees to a watered down version, and his first choice to head the commission? Henry Kissinger. Nice choice, jackass. He then got smart and offered up a much better choice for the job - former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean. Then there was the whole fiasco about who would appear before the commission, what they would say, what would be allowed, the findings of the commission, etc. The highlights...

Apparently the FBI, at low levels, knew about foreign nationals attending flight school and not wanting to learn landing procedures. FBI agents also knew in August 2001 about the possibility of terrorists hijacking planes and flying them into targets. This alarms no one of importance, and most importantly, the president, who takes the month of August off to clear brush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

First Condi Rice was going to testify before the commission, then she wasn't going to testify, then she was just going to talk to the commission, but not under oath, and finally, she appeared. Why all the road blocks, Mr. President?

It's also important to note about the discovery of a memo addressed to Bush in early August 2001 detailing the likelihood of terrorists hijacking civilian airliners and flying them into civilian targets. I wonder if Bush ever saw it? We'll probably never know.

Probably my favorite thing about the commission is the proposal by Republican majority leaders in both houses of Congress to delay the final report until after the 2004 presidential election. They would have gotten away with it, too, were it not for the uproar from 9-11 families and the public in general.

Who can forget Richard Clarke, the former terrorism chief under Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton and then Bush, appearing before the commission, and his unforgettable book, "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror," which blew the lid off of the Bush presidency's response and preparedness to terrorism before and during and after September 11. Of course, the right wing spin machine moved to destroy him, painting him as a jealous beauracrat who got mad when he didn't get promoted. Unreal. Clarke's book is now being made into a major motion picture. If you haven't read the book, I urge you read it cover to cover. Even today, it's as relevant as it's ever been. This is a guy who sacrificed his career, after working for Democratic and Republican presidents alike, to get the truth out about what happened. What he got in return was a Nixon-like trashing of Daniel Ellsberg. Clarke is as much of an American hero as Bush has ever dreamed of being.

...Of course, no one can talk about the War on Terror without discussing Iraq. It was and is one of the biggest frauds ever perpetuated on the American people. From the fall of 2001 until the war started in the spring of 2002, a PR campaign was begun to trick the American people into thinking that Saddam was somehow involved in the 9-11 attacks, when no credible proof has ever been presented, to this day.

To its credit, the Bush administration kept trying different messages until they felt they had one that resonated with the American people. First it was Cheney saying "We'll be greeted as liberators." This isn't a made-up quote - he was on Meet the Press saying this stuff. Video can be dug up of Cheney saying this shit. Well, that didn't exactly pan out. Then it was Saddam committing genocide. When that didn't work (he committed most of his genocide in the 80s and early 90s immediately after Desert Storm, when a relative of the current president was in the Oval Office), they went with nuclear weapons. When the nuclear evidence didn't pan out, it was simply WMDs. When that didn't work, it was "We're spreading Democracy in the Middle East," like it can be transplanted so easy like a pot of fucking daffodils. Then, once Baghdad fell, we got treated to our commander in chief landing on an aircraft carrier, declaring in March 2003 that "major combat operations are now over."


Some of our war dead, in the form of our self-described "Wartime President"



This one speaks for itself...




...as does this one. My favorite part about the above photo, taken on board the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, is that the banner was the White House's idea until there was a backlash. Then the White House claimed that it had nothing to do with the "Mission Accomplished" banner - it was the Navy's idea. Does anyone actually believe that who is not a part of the Bush spin machine? Hilarious.


This one could be my favorite. What an incredible waste of taxpayer money, much less an unnecessary risk to the president. And if there hadn't been such a public outcry, surely Rove would have worked these publicity stunts into the '04 campaign. Thank you, Rupert Murdoch. Wait, it's a liberal media!

###

Anyway, the war has not worked out as the president and vice president promised us it would. There is overwhelming evidence that there was very faulty intelligence, and that the administration is partly to blame for much of that faulty intelligence. This intelligence and the run-up to the Iraq war leads me to two very important topics - the 2004 election and the Plame affair.

The Valerie Plame affair
No need for a total description of the events here, but the short of it is that Valerie Plame, a former CIA agent, is married to Joseph C. Wilson IV, a career diplomat. In late February 2002, Wilson had been sent to Niger on behalf of the CIA to investigate the possibility that Saddam Hussein had attempted to buy enriched uranium yellowcake, a critical ingredient necessary to manufacture a nuclear weapon. Wilson concluded then that there "was nothing to the story." That wasn't good enough for the Bush, who, in his January 2003 State of the Union speech, went on to say that "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," despite advice from Wilson and others to omit this from his speech. When Wilson went public with his objections of its inclusion in Bush's speech, Bush and company were outraged.

This led to the subsequent outing of Wilson's wife, Plame, as a CIA agent, in a column by Robert Novak on July 14, 2003. Novak has not and will not reveal his source, but it's clear that it came from someone high up in the Bush administration. Novak is a real scumbag, and deserves all the scorn he gets for his involvement in this scandal. It's not illegal for the president to disclose someone as an agent or declassify intelligence; he can do that on his own free will. But, it is illegal for someone else to do it. This has led to the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff. And it could lead to more indictments, including possibly Karl Rove. We can hope, can't we?

It's pretty clear that the administration didn't like Wilson's forthrightness on the subject of Iraq's capability to acquire nuclear weapons under Hussein. His findings didn't agree with what the administration wanted to find out. So, to take revenge on Wilson, they threw his wife under the bus. I'm so glad that this administration can play fast and loose with someone's career, and maybe even someone's life, to further its goals. That should come as no surprise, though. The way the administration has conducted this entire war has been playing with the lives of U.S. soldiers, as far as I'm concerned. There were too few to invade, there are too few to control the population of Iraq, and many troops today don't even have the necessary equipment to protect themselves and to do their jobs correctly. Pathetic and sad.

But, what's even more pathetic and sad is the treatment that Rove and company gave John Forbes Kerry during the 2004 campaign? It will go down as a lowpoint in American political history.

The 2004 primaries and election bring back loads of unpleasant memories, and some funny ones, too. I can still remember...

...Bush calling for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. This was clearly pandering to the radical religious right. You could even see it in Bush's eyes that he didn't really have the heart to fight this fight - his nonverbal language tells the whole story. But, it fired up the base to dramatic effect. Before you knew it, the liberals were being painted as nothing but adulterous, secular fags, threatening the highly successful institution of marriage in the United States. Incidentally, what is the divorce rate up to now, about 55%? Oh yea, nothing like protecting something sacred and successful.

...the "War on Christmas" and "War on Religion" and other "wars." Again, more wedge issues meant to divide us. And it works, to a certain extent. If I get one more fucking e-mail complaining about how people don't say "Merry Christmas" anymore, I'm going to puke. This is not a Christian nation, people. Deal with it. And I'm a Christian saying this! My other favorite was how some stupid judge ruled that "Under God" shouldn't in the Pledge of Allegiance, and I think another judge ruled it shouldn't be on money. Next thing you know, liberals were ruining the country, along with "liberal activist judges," as Bush likes to call them. Mr. President, they're only "activist" when you disagree with them. Does that make the Supreme Court "activist" when they ruled you could be president? You can't have it both ways.

...However, what really takes the cake is what Bush, Rove, etc. did to Kerry, a Vietnam veteran who earned three purple hearts, a bronze star and a silver star during two tours of duty. The Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, backed and bankrolled by the Republican party, set out to destroy Kerry, and to a point, they succeeded, questioning how he won his purple hearts and the authenticity of his combat service awards. What really pissed off the veterans, in my opinion, was the fact that Kerry protested the war when he returned home and threw away some of his medals. This all could have gone down as forgotten bullshit, were it not for Kerry's complete ineptitude in responding to these charges. First, he waited much too long to respond, and when he did, he handled the situation about as bad as one can.

So, he deserves some blame for bad tactics and for letting the Republicans and their thinly disguised organizations get away with this outrageous attack. What I find breathtakingly hilarious is that voters were tricked into thinking that Kerry was some kind of coward during Vietnam. Where was Bush? Protecting Texas from Oklahoma, as Arianna Huffington once sagely pointed out with aplomb.

And Cheney, benificiary of five deferments during the war? "I had better things to do [than serve]," he commented when asked where he was during Vietnam. Pretty ironic that two men who don't know Dick about the cost of war are so eager to go to war - sending others' sons and daughters off to die for questionable reasons, at best.

...Also tough to forget the whole Mary Cheney uproar during the '04 election. Mary, Dick's daughter, is openly gay. Kerry mentions her during the campaign, and all of a sudden, he's some scumbag who is using her for political gain. It's the fucking Republicans who used gays for political gain and who brought this issue to the forefront during the campaign, not Kerry. Right after Kerry (and John Edwards, during the vice presidential debate) mention Mary by name, and Dick Cheney's wife, Lynne, is on TV saying this about Kerry: "This is not a good man!" And this coming from an alleged Christian? That's what's most hilarous of all. Why was Kerry not a good man? Because he mentions that the Bush administration is actively trying to ostracize gays with a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage? Kerry was right and ballsey to point out the administration's hypocrisy.

This old debate has bubbled to the surface in the last few days, ironically enough. Things flashed pretty hot yesterday and today, when Mary Cheney called Kerry a "son of a bitch" for mentioning her during the campaign. Kerry's spokesman, David Wade, shot back, "Seems like a suspicious lecture from a political operative who flacked for the most anti-gay administration in history and allowed Karl Rove to divide America for political gain," Wade said. "She'd be more credible if she pushed dad's administration to support hate crimes legislation and equal rights for gay Americans." Right on, Wade, right on. Get more on this story Here.

...Rove and Bush pretty much spent the whole campaign trying to scare the shit out of the American public, with Bush never missing an opportunity to parrot that he was the best person to protect us from the terrorists. What a joke. Nevermind that our ports are still wide open, cargo containers are still being "matador'd" through, and our borders are a complete joke. It's luck, not our preparedness, that has prevented another 9-11. But wait, maybe it's Bush's proposed missile defense shield that is keeping us safe! What a waste of hundreds of billions of dollars. Thank you Ronald Reagan, and now, Bush. Clinton deserves scorn for not killing this idea, but politically, he couldn't, with Republicans ruling Congress.

Anyway, for the most part, I'm not putting down Kerry for how he conducted his campaign. I was pretty happy with it. I put in many hours of hard work on the campaign trail and in phone banks leading up to the election, and I cherish many of those memories.

But, I'm still convinced that there were lots and lots of voting irregularities that the press never bothered to investigate in '04. (You could almost see the handwriting on the wall with the press - "We don't want another 2000!") Yea, I didn't want one, either, and the press should have been preventing it with aggressive and investigative reporting. I'll always believe that there WAS another 2000, it's just that the press didn't pick up on it, or chose to ignore it. But, it's a liberal press, right? You need look no further than Ohio and Florida. There was lots and lots of intimidation in Florida. And who's the governor there again? Oh, right - Jeb. In an Aug. 20, 2004 New York Times Op-Ed Piece, Bob Herbert covered a great deal about voter intimidation. Depressing that it can all happen in our society. And to think, we monitor other elections around the world, yet we can't even stage a legitimate one here!

So now, here we are, with less than 1,000 days to go. Time to cook some lame duck. And I sure as hell hope the oven gets turned on in time for the 2006 election. I think the Republicans are going to lose, and lose big. They are so out of touch, it's breathtaking. Probably the latest and greatest example is the party's leadership, led by Bill Frist, who offered up a $100 rebate to motorists for relief of their gas bills. What a whorish pander; and the American public saw right through it. That rebate shit worked in 2000, to a certain extent, but it won't this time around. The good news is that Frist, with that idiotic move, coupled with his embarrassment over the whole Terry Schiavo fiasco, has probably about as much chance at being president as David Duke. See ya later, dickhead.

The American public is crying out for change. Bush is suffering from the worst poll numbers in over 50 years, and that includes Nixon during Watergate. That's pretty heady stuff. Yes, polls aren't everything, and there are too damn many of them, but they are an indication of the mood in our country. Even Fox News had his approval rating pegged at 33% the other day. Fox News!

Now, I'm not jumping up and down saying the Democrats are perfect or that they are the miracle medicine for all that ails America. But right now, they seem to be the only logical choice. The Republican spin machine is already kicking it into high gear, and it's only going to get worse. "The Democrats will raise your taxes" is going to be one of the overwhelming themes. Let me just touch on that for one moment. What some people fail to realize is that the Republicans just borrow and we have to pay for all of this spending later, plus interest! So, in the end, the GOP just screws us more, not less. Yes, for the simple headline readers, it looks great that the Republicans cut taxes and the Democrats don't; it's more money now. If the Democrats are tax and spend, then the GOP is "borrow and spend," and the latter is by far the more expensive option. If Bush had vetoed one spending bill - ONE GODDAMN BILL, then he would have even an ounce of credibility when it comes to the deficit. But, the Republicans have not cut spending anywhere, and they have been in power, in both houses of Congress, for the bulk of the Bush presidency. That should tell you a lot. I ask you this - how will everyone feel in 20 years when the bill comes due and all sorts of important programs get cut to the frickin' BONE to pay down this debt? Yea, they won't like it. And I doubt Bush will get the blame, either - there will be another Peggy Noonan-type, carrying on the Bush legacy and licking his boots, defending him against all comers.

Three other things that bear mentioning are Hurricane Katrina, the Jack Abramoff scandal and the whole immigration fiasco.

No natural disaster was and continues to be more mismanaged than Katrina. The federal government looked as hapless as it ever has in responding to a natural disaster. And no one looked more foolish than Bush, when, on national TV, he said for the world to hear, "Heck of a job, Brownie, heck of a job." He was referring to former FEMA chief Michael Brown, who, as it turned out, was remarkably unqualified for the job, but the "liberal press" didn't pick up on that until after this catastrophe. His job prior to FEMA was the head of the International Arabian Horse Association. Heck of an appointment, Georgie, heck of an appointment. It didn't take long for the finger pointing to begin following the disaster in the Big Easy, and soon "Brownie" was sent on his way. Recently, it's come to light that Brown was more worried about FEMA's publicity than anything else. Get more on that Here.

The Abramoff scandal is bittersweet. I love that it's bringing down some Republicans who deserve nothing less, like the contemptable Tom DeLay, but it's also pathetic and sad about what money has done to our political system. Abramoff has plenty of connections to Bush, too; he was a Bush Pioneer during the 2000 campaign, and his wife gave $10k to Bush's recount fund in 2000. So, I don't cry for any of these people. In fact, this paragraph is the most fun I've had typing this blog entry. I hope Abramoff just turns into a pigeon and continues to bring down Republicans.

Bush just continues to commit error after error. He was on TV last week saying that the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and if people live here they should learn English. I agree with those things in principle, but he was pandering to the increasing xenephobia and jingoism that is pervading American culture, especially as corporations continue to offshore jobs for cheaper labor overseas. By the way, this is a problem the president has done absolutely nothing to combat in his over five years in office. My favorite part about last week's national anthem fiasco is that people dug up footage of then candidate Bush in 2000 dropping by Latino and Mexican neighborhoods to sing the national anthem in Spanish. Aye Carumba! Yet another gaffe by our favorite dumb ass.

Other than the War on Terror, which has been conducted and managed in a questionable way, and that's being charitable, and increased AIDS funding for Africa, is there anything that this president can point to with pride? Anything? Accomplishments? Goals? What? It's all a pathetic and sad joke. Get informed, outraged, motivated, and involved in some campaigns, people. A war's coming, and it's a war for your heart, mind, soul and vote. It seems the press now dubs every election as "the most important of our lifetime," but the elections in '06 and '08 truly are. Yes, we don't know the nominees yet, but one party is one the wrong side of history these past six years. You know where I stand. You decide.