|
Is
Bush Finished?
November
21, 2003
By W. O. Coach
In a normal world, any President heading into an election
year with the three year old luggage Bush is carrying, would
be deader than the proverbial doorknob. Yet if polls can be
trusted, he's still riding around at a 50% approval rating.
This begs the question, what the hell is wrong with America?
Really, from the suspect circumstances that he was awarded
the Presidency in the first place, Bush policies have decimated
the economy, moonwalked on the environment, and given new
meaning to incompetence in foreign relations. From a pure
results point of view, is it possible to write a worse script
about the effects of his policies for 95% of Americans?
These disastrous policies certainly haven't gone unnoticed
by the rest of the world, who wonder in amazement what Americans
must be thinking. The discredited "coalition of the willing"
in Iraq, which is mostly Britain, with a few Aussies thrown
in, are upwards of 70% against Bush. The Muslim world now
hates us and in spite of the BS politely described as spin
coming out of the White House, we are anything but safer since
preemptively invading and occupying a practically defenseless
little country like Iraq. In fact, it's insulting that this
administration even called it a war in the first place. Would
the Florida Marlins against your local little league team
be a real baseball game?
Pollsters tell us that domestic issues, and mainly the economy,
will be the number one issue in '04. With the worst record
of job losses since Hoover, record red ink budget and trade
deficits that will have to be repaid, a still repressed stock
market and a sinking US dollar, you'd think it would be game
over for Bush. But no, he still has 50% of us who think he's
our guy according to recent polls.
This does not make a thimble-full of sense.
Are the polls wrong, or are half of us really that stupid?
Or are too many of us simply ignorant of the facts or getting
our information from Fox News and AM hate radio? I can see
over-paid blowhards like Rush or Rupert Murdoch putting greed
ahead of what's best for the country, but what about the people
who work for these rich egomaniacs? Surely they have enough
sense to realize that what is good for say Rush, as in tax
cuts for the rich, is in no way similarly going to benefit
them.
Apparently not.
Okay, so maybe it's the religious factor. It's been argued
that America is the most religious country on the planet,
and the Christian right wing of the Republican party has been
particularly successful in herding their sheep towards born
again G. W. Bush in return for hundreds of millions in faith-based
freebie government funds, and the turning a blind eye to the
constitutional protection separating church versus state.
But that's only 30% of the population. Where's the other
20% coming from?
Aha! (Light bulb goes on.) Is it possible our forth estate
has failed to do their job of informing the public against
the excesses of a corrupt regime? Corrupt... too strong a
word?
Is leading your country into a preemptive war under false
pretenses which will put your citizens at greater risk and
only benefit a few wealthy campaign donors at the cost of
hundreds of billions to taxpayers corrupt? Whichever side
of the political spectrum you're on, the bottom line is Saddam
Hussein was a bad guy, but he was no threat to the United
States of America, let alone his neighbors, and this ill-conceived
adventure is going to cost America a fortune in innocent lives
on all sides, money and good will throughout the world community.
I think we can safely conclude that's a tad corrupt.
The media has been complicit in this by virtue of their
treatment of Al Gore in 2000 and the free ride they gave Bush
up until now. And only now are they starting to ask some tough
questions and write a few less than complimentary columns.
But is Bush finished? While he should be, we know he's got
40% of the vote wrapped up through the religiously insane
right wing of the Republican party plus his corporate donors
and the already rich who actually benefit from his tax cuts.
We also know they will disenfranchise minorities in States
like Florida and try to steal votes via unverifiable touch
screen voting machines.
Knowing full well that I'm speaking to the choir and that
we all want to send Bush to a one-term political graveyard,
it's not going to be that easy until we wake up and smell
the stench emanating from our mainstream, lazy, lapdog media.
The GOP recognizes this with their daily spin talking points.
They seem to play the game better than us. It's time we get
up on our hind legs and answer the bell by criticizing every
layer of dishonest media hype for Bush.
How hard can this be?
|
