CONASON: "All the president's fantasies" | and a GREAT pic!

[nostamj]

Demonstrators line Pennsylvania Avenue as President Bush passes by in his limousine during the Inaugural Parade in Washington Thursday

All the president's fantasies
In his florid inaugural address, Bush proved that he's still living in his own private Idaho -- unwilling to acknowledge the bloody consequences of his policies.

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His effort to link his worldwide crusade with his campaign to dismantle Social Security is almost too silly and bizarre to refute. His speechwriters believe in argument by assertion and so had Bush say that privatization derives from the same noble impulse that first created Social Security, the Homestead Act and the GI Bill of Rights. All three were "big government" programs, of course, that are anathema to Bush and his conservative cohorts. And nobody is supposed to notice that by privatizing Social Security, the president proposes to load future generations with debt while slashing their benefits. How that would serve the "broader definition of liberty" he has yet to explain in detail.

Patriotism, not detailed policy, is the stuff of inaugurations -- and to be authentic, patriotism must be inclusive and unifying rather than partisan. That is why the most poignant moment in Bush's inaugural address came when he promised yet again to unite rather than divide.

"We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes -- and I will strive in good faith to heal them," said the president. "Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and fellowship of our nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart."

That curious combination of cynicism and sincerity is typical Bush. He seems to believe that he can revive the "unity and fellowship" that arose after Sept. 11 with a few words at his inauguration. But like so much else in his speech, that too is fantasy.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/01/21/inaugural/index.html

[Spazito]

1. Conason is great!

bush is severely delusional, imo. Fantasy is reality to him.

[Catfight]

2. Somebody cough Bullshit! Bush is a fake. nt

[KansDem]

3. "Bush proved that he's still living in his own private Idaho..."

Priceless! :D

[BlueEyedSon]

4. kick

[realFedUp]

5. Bush is like a kid in a toy store

who wants what he wants, doesn't care how
much it costs or who made it because he's
not going to pay for it and his parents
who are way overextended on their credit
cards can't say no to his demands.

When he gets his toys his interest stays
for a day or until he breaks them and the
demands start all over again.

[nostamj]

6. sadly...

he's not playing with toy soldiers...

[realFedUp]

7. indeed.

out of sight, out of mind.

[nostamj]

8. kick