How Did We Ever Get in This Mess?

[indigobusiness]

Bush’s pathetic response to the tsunami disaster speaks volumes about his lack of leadership and character.

By Gerald Rellick



There has always been in George Bush, evident to critics and supporters alike, a shamelessness about his actions, almost a childish desire to show any lack of dignity or humility. Norman Mailer wrote of George W. Bush that he ignored the factual evidence about Iraq “with all the power of a man who has never been embarrassed by himself.”

snip

Perhaps the lowest point in this whole shameful episode came when the White House released a statement that tried to disparage in the most peevish, small-minded way the fundraising appeals of Bill Clinton. Bush’s staff couldn’t have their boss upstaged and shown to be the moral midget he is. As reported by Alan Bisbort of the Hartford Advocate, the statement read, “The president wanted to be fully briefed. . . . He didn’t want to make a symbolic statement about ‘We feel your pain.’ He believes actions speak louder than words.” In other words, “Bush, sensing he was being upstaged, turned this disaster into a pissing contest,” writes Bisbort. (see: The Ugliest American)

Has America ever known a president more shallow, more inept, more morally vacuous than George W. Bush? Has America ever, in its entire history, been more ill-served by a president? These questions must surely haunt millions of decent Americans each day as they open their newspapers and ponder what further shame the Bush Gang has heaped on the nation.

One obscenity replaces another so fast that it’s hard to keep up. There was Bernie Kerik, chosen by Bush to be head of Homeland Security--until he was found to be a crook and a liar. Actually, he would have fit in the Bush cabinet perfectly. Then there was the Rumsfeld obscenity: the lack of adequate armor for our troops in Iraq. This was quickly followed by the Alberto Gonzales nomination hearing this week. Gonzales, the White House mastermind behind bypassing the Geneva Convention on torture of prisoners, assured members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he “would follow non-torture policies.” In the gruesome realities of Bush World, perhaps that should be seen as comforting. And just when we thought it was impossible to find anyone more awful than John Ashcroft. These events have helped displace the greatest obscenity of all, Bush’s reckless and egomaniacal war in Iraq.

snip

http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=977

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Yet - has a "majority" of any generation been WILLING to....

accept so little from its president? Has any period in history witnessed such a complete whitewash by the media????

[DulceDecorum]

2. Alzheimer's

paved the way.

Indifference did the rest.

[DELUSIONAL]

3. That guy sure takes a rotten photo

It is amazing to me that the sob got any votes at all.

Some idiots admit proudly that they voted for this sorry excuse for a human being.

[AndyTiedye]

7. Diebold Voting Machinez Don't Look at Photos

> It is amazing to me that the sob got any votes at all.

[yellowdoggess]

4. Government in your daily life

So many people think and act as though gov'ment doesn't affect them. Washington is remote and they don't see the connection to their everyday lives of working the 3rd shift & trying to raise children at a less than adequate wage. The mobility of our society seems to have heightened a disconnect to true community and citizenship. There seems to be little "value" to the notion of for the good of the whole. Or we've become so purposely dumbed down. I hate to sound morbid, but I do fear for this society. Can't understand, comprehend why this regime persists.

[indigobusiness]

5. Be sure to have a look at The Ugliest American

I couldn't transfer the link from the article.

[cosmicdot]

6. the cartoon, article ... how about both?

The Ugliest American

His ¨actions speak louder than words¨

by Alan Bisbort - January 6, 2005



After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, nearly every nation in the world -- rich and poor, big and small, former ally and former foe -- came rushing to America's side. At few times in modern history have so many disparate peoples rallied behind one nation, this spirit of unity captured by the headline that appeared in Le Monde , France's largest daily newspaper, on Sept. 12: "We Are All Americans Now."

And yet that global goodwill vanished almost as swiftly as those four jets pierced America's bubble of invincibility. Now, three years later, the situation is completely reversed: Nearly every nation in the world has replaced goodwill with ill will, deep distrust if not outright fear and loathing.

The reason for this reversal of fortune is obvious: The Ugliest American resides in the people's house on Pennsylvania Avenue. Whether we like it or not, whether it's fair, whether it squares with any of our own feelings, George W. Bush is America's face around the world. He's our Nike swoosh, our golden arches, our Ugly American brand. Never was this more apparent than in the wake (literally) of the tsunami that has, at last count, killed nearly 150,000 people in south Asia.

What an opportunity for a real American leader! What a chance, when so many innocent people had suffered -- so many Muslims, too -- to deflate the ticking time bomb of terrorist recruitment efforts. Imagine the reaction throughout the billion-plus populace of the Muslim world had Bush flown to the area, heading a flotilla of cargo planes with food, medicine and hope. Four measly planes, let's say, and what a public relations coup that would have been! Al Jazeera would have been back-pedaling furiously on its newscasts, moderate Muslim leaders would have rushed to the front to grab this olive branch ... wait a minute ... I was dreaming of a time when we had real leaders. What was I thinking? We're stuck aboard this aircraft carrier for four more years with the Ugliest American.

So, where was George when the tsunamis hit? Oh, he spent the day pedaling his bicycle around his fake ranch like Pee Wee Herman. He could not be bothered to attend to an international crisis, not unless it involved oil. Finally, he took a break long enough to pledge, via his White House posse, a measly $15 million to the rescue effort -- one quarter of the cost of his coronation, er, inauguration on Jan. 20. Bush claimed he could adequately "monitor" the situation from his ranch (read: "I'll set out on the back porch and watch Fox News while I'm drinkin' my iced tea. I ain't givin' up my vacation for a buncha Third Worlders, especially if they ain't got any oil.").

~snip~

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=19382&mode=nested

[indigobusiness]

10. Thanks

The link in the article I posted, works. For some reason, I couldn't make it transfer to my post. Thanks for the version you posted.

[Skittles]

8. another thread has his approval rating up

precisely because of his "handling of the tsunami disaster". And therein lies the answer - that incompetent bastard is never, ever held accountable - for ANYTHING

[indepat]

9. Should these contentions have substantial merit, what a searing indictment

of the American people, the mainstream media, the Congress, the Supreme Court, all who would have been substantial enablers.

[indigobusiness]

11. That is true. This analyzes the how and the why of it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x96672

[Felix Mala]

12. Set the Record Straight

It was George I, during his 1992 re-election campaign, who introduced the phrase "I feel your pain" to the political lexicon...