Does Anyone Else Feel Guilty?

[MaryH]

I want Kerry and Edwards to win. I want Bush and Adm. gone for ever.

So when we have a bad day in Iraq sometimes I feel pleased. And I really don't want the Iraqis to have to endure any more. And I want our troops to be safe. And I want them all to come home.

I was glad to hear the jobs numbers were awful this morning. But only because I want Bush gone. I really want those unemployed people to get good jobs - and good healthcare.

Is Bush is making me into a bad person? He makes me wish for bad things just so it will make him look like the liar he is.

Kind of a kunundrum?

[noonwitch]

1. I feel sad whenever we have a bad day in Iraq, so I don't feel ashamed

I'm sad because this is what Bush has brought our country. I love my country, appreciate the military and hate to see our soldiers die in vain.

[demnan]

2. Yeah, guilty

But I want the best for my country, and that ain't 4 more years of hell from Bush!

[seventhson]

3. You are happy to be proven right - Malcom X's Chickens Home roosting

you are NOT happy that bad things happen.

It is like the Malcolm X quote on JFK assassination. It is like the "chickens coming home to roost" - meaning a violent society will NATURALLY lead to such things as this horrific murder and war and economic cirsis.

X said that because this was a NATURAL consequence of America's conduct that he was HAPPY that the natural order, like chickens coming home to roost at the proper time, in their natural order, was progressing in a natural way. He said this was a GOOD thing.

Malcolm X was misunderstood in this statement as it was too obscure and intellectual for most people. He did not mean that the murder of JFK was good, but that the fact that it occurred indicated the world was in the proper order - it is like the sun rising every day.

To say that the Bush administration is obviously unravelling and that this is borne out by the horrors globally (and that this is a good thing because it means MAYBE that help is on the way) is NOT the same as saying we are happy people are out of work, in trouble, or dying on the fields of Bush's war.

It is like the prisoners in Aushwitz when they saw the bombs falling on the camps: they were HAPPY even though they might be hurt or killed, that it meant the end of the pain was coming.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

10. THAT IS AN ABSOLUTLEY FANTASTIC RESPONSE

Yes! That is what it is, absolutely. This type of sentiment is so easily misrepresented.

Kudos on thinking this through in all its nuances!

:yourock:

Sorry for the all-caps - you just made my day!

[King Coal]

4. You sound like a really good person Mary.

No need to feel guilty about that.

[Obamarama]

5. Great discussion point, Mary...

I often struggle with the same issue and feelings.

Of course I don't WISH for bad things to happen in order for Bush's evil motives to be exposed and to help improve Kerry's chances of unseating the chimp in November.

But when such things do happen, as they are happening more frequently these days, I view them as inevitable. Bush is steering this country down this course and everything that's happening (or not happening) in Iraq, the economy, national security is a direct result of his ineptitude.

I just expect these things to happen while he and his henchmen are at the helm.

If I feel anything, it's anger that one more person had to die or that one more person exhausted their unemployment benefits, or that one more person lost their job today BECAUSE of this despicable man.

THESE people...the victims in war, our troops, the unemployed....they are the true casualties of this administration. It is up to us to do what we can to make a difference and elect someone who can start to properly govern our way out of these messes.

So, while I feel bad to an extent, I feel anger more than anything else, which is the catylyst for my support of Kerry and my anti-Bush activism.

[MaryH]

7. But what does it say about 50% of us

if we support this administration? Well, 42% now.

What does it say about how we feel as a nation? What we are made of.

This whole race has been very disturbing to me. How can Americans cheer the deaths in Iraq? Or the chaos in Afghanistan?

This whole mindset doesn't sound like us. How can so many of us defend this "shallow, unfeeling man" who backs big business over anything else, and selfish goals of one minority over the US Constitution and Bill of Rights for all of us.

It is so puzzling to me.

[EST]

8. I have a theory...

that every few years the solar system passes through a particle swarm in space that, for those who are susceptible, increases venality, stupidity, cupidity, shit-for-brains ism, and all that other stuff that makes a huge fraction of the human race revert to something less than human. Sad, but unavoidable. Maintain...

[StClone]

6. "So when we have a bad day in Iraq sometimes I feel pleased."

No you are feeling comforted by the fact that you were correct in you belief that the invasion of Iraq was bad and having it confirmed is a relief.

It is of little comfort though, and a major internal conflict for many that we were helpless to stop the madness even with the world's largest anti-war demonstrations. I am past that stage and dread the thought that we have learned little from this Iraq mistake as shrill voices rise to divide of nation further.

[flpoljunkie]

9. Our troops are dying because our Commander-in-Chief has failed them!

Read today's NYT Paul Krugman column. He, too, fears that Bush will be able to paper over his failures in Iraq--because the war now has an "Iraqi face" and stories are increasingly relegated deep inside our leading newspapers.

This failure of our media to do their jobs once again, would be tragic--and just might lead to "four more year of hell"--a very frightening possibiity, indeed!

As for the economy, we know tht trickle down does not work--never has, never well. When the employment figures show this, this reinforces the truth of Bush's failed economic policies--while at the same time, we can certainly empathize with all the people who have lost jobs an continue to lose jobs under this failed presidency.

We need new leadership, and we need it badly!