Reply #14: George W. Bush is the most anti-American person I know!

[Lisa]

Jack, I think you're onto something with that "welfare queen" stereotype -- funny that it turns out to be way more true of Dubya and his cronies than actual single mothers on social assistance! Talk about a sense of entitlement! They've had life handed to them on a silver platter and all they want is more! (For example, Poppy and Bar were terribly put out after they lost the 1992 election -- they sulked and brooded about it and were determined to "get back" the American people for the insult. Instead of being grateful that they had a chance to hold the highest office in the land!)

When one thinks of the ideals espoused by most Americans of my acquaintance -- generosity, hard work, creativity, open-mindedness, persistence -- not only are they almost entirely lacking in that man's character, but his most obvious traits are quite opposite. He's selfish, mean-spirited, intolerant, and insincere. As a Canadian, I've had my moments of rebellion against the elephant to the south -- but his assaults on American society, the nation's environment, its Constitution, and its perception around the world far surpass any damage I could do!

As others have said in this same thread -- there's nothing inherently "evil" about being wealthy, or even lazy. It's what he's chosen to do with his advantages that's so appalling. He has squandered them or put them to ill use -- swindling the Texas taxpayers of their money (for that sports stadium), subverting an election and just skipping off as if nothing had gone wrong, and a parade of other fiascos. People have given him their trust -- they let him get up on that podium on Inauguration Day, they let him lead them into war -- and he's betrayed them.

I teach at a small college, and I've met plenty of indulged rich kids who go on to be either happy-go-lucky hedonists or develop a budding social conscience. They are no worse than the majority of people, and sometimes go on to make positive contributions. Bush, on the other hand, seems to have slid backwards from his college days. I know people who overindulge in alcohol and drugs, have DUIs, dodged the draft, are bone-idle, and have made decisions in the past that harmed others (sometimes several of the above!) but they seem to have learned from their experiences. Bush just seems to go on to greater and more spectacular disasters ... not wanting to examine his own life, and these days, he's surrounded by folks who spend every waking hour making sure he doesn't.