Saul Landau: Where is the Love? Will the Filthy Rich Dump Bush?

[Barrett808]

...

In a USA Today opinion piece Web accused Bush of having "committed the greatest strategic blunder in modern memory. To put it bluntly, he attacked the wrong target. While he boasts of removing Saddam Hussein from power, he did far more than that. He decapitated the government of a country that was not directly threatening the United States and, in so doing, bogged down a huge percentage of our military in a region that never has known peace. Our military is being forced to trade away its maneuverability in the wider war against terrorism while being placed on the defensive in a single country that never will fully accept its presence."

Webb then resorted to the older notion of conservatism so as to distinguish himself and his grouping from the neophytes in the White House.

"There is no historical precedent for taking such action when our country was not being directly threatened. The reckless course that Bush and his advisers have set will affect the economic and military energy of our nation for decades. It is only the tactical competence of our military that, to this point, has protected him from the harsh judgment that he deserves."

Indeed, at one DC fete, an influential dowager opined that the Bush boy's invasion of Iraq and his failure to encounter those awful WMDs did not inspire the truly important people with confidence. And why didn't our CIA lads know something after employing all that hi-tech seeing and listening technology that one sees in the movies? Can the affable young man in the White House find the proverbial pimple on his you know what?

(more)

http://www.counterpunch.org/landau03092004.html

[Vogon_Glory]

1. Why The Filthy Rich SHOULD Spurn Dubya

I could think of plenty of reasons why deep-pocketed individuals should be leery of George the Lesser and the bunch that is currently running the GOP--they're running the federal government into the ground.

I imagine that at least some of the filthy rich are annoyed at the way that the US dollar has plunged against international currencies like the Euro--unless they themselves had already converted their holdings from the dollar to another currency ahead of time. I expect that others are also beginning to wonder whether they'd really get to enjoy the full benefit of Shrub's tax cuts; a federal government forced to gut one non-defense program after another is not likely to spend much money either on scientific research or on law enforcement like the federal government did.

It has probably occurred to some of the very wealthiest that a US with a law enforcement situation with tens of thousands of little Boss Hoggs with underpaid, understaffed, corruptible deputies are going to be no match for criminal organizations that are better-organized, better-financed, and better armed than the forces of law and order. The money they might have been enjoying from their tax cuts would instead be going to pay for more bodyguards, burglar alarms, and security systems. The freedom from fear that the old law and order structure provided will be absent in post Dubya America.

[PATRICK]

2. It's the money

Most businessmen, even those profiting by various giveaways, are very afraid the country is going to tank and the crazy excesses will come home to roost. The real failure in Iraq was to game the acquisition of oil. The failure to get Venezuela was another example. As it relates to foreign policy they can opine on ideals and results but it is failure and pessimism that scares them most. The fascism and the excesses would be something they could live with- however personally troubling- if the dangerous failures and madness were not so evident and unstable.

[PATRICK]

3. Very simple

The permissive rewarding and enabling(without oversight or consequences) of "do what you want" to the worst business practices and market hype does NOT translate into "Now, do what we tell you."

Weak federalism in the Confederacy was a major factor in hobbling the war effort and support of the military.

Trying to game or bully the market is not the same as regulating especially when all efforts so far have rewarded anarchic bad behavior as a matter of "principle". You can so far with permissive self-contradicting madness.

[enki23]

4. yeah right. that's why he's still raking in the money

the ultra-rich know that their bread's buttered on both sides, sure, but they know which side's got the most butter. the ultra-rich are a very minor minority, in terms of numbers. it doesn't matter who they *vote* for, only who they donate to (and garner donations for.) and they've already made that vote. they're making it right now, in fact, and it ain't going to favor the democrats.