How can people still believe the administration is "inept?"

[Syrinx]

People are still calling the administration "clowns" and "inept." This just doesn't make any sense to me.

Because they are getting everything they want.

They are getting power and money for themselves and for the corporate interests that they represent.

They are closing down the American society. That's been Cheney's wettest dream all his life. He has always wanted an all-powerful executive branch of government. By all appearances, that has been achieved.

For three decades Vice President Dick Cheney conducted a secretive, behind-closed-doors campaign to give the president virtually unlimited wartime power. Finally, in the aftermath of 9/11, the Justice Department and the White House made a number of controversial legal decisions. Orchestrated by Cheney and his lawyer David Addington, the department interpreted executive power in an expansive and extraordinary way, granting President George W. Bush the power to detain, interrogate, torture, wiretap and spy -- without congressional approval or judicial review.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cheney/

They are stealing trillions of dollars in taxpayers' money. The current estimate is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will end up costing each one of us $8,000. And I think that is a low-ball figure, considering how long the Iraq occupation is likely to last.

WASHINGTON \u2014 The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion through the next decade, or nearly $8,000 per man, woman and child in the country, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate scheduled for release Wednesday.

A previous CBO estimate put the wars' costs at more than $1.6 trillion. This one adds $705 billion in interest, taking into account that the conflicts are being funded with borrowed money.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-10-23-wacosts_N.htm

Remember, this Iraq war was supposed to cost no more than $50 billion. And Iraq was going to pay for most of that, with oil revenue.

Looks like that figure was a bit off the mark, eh?

Inept?

Inept like a fox.

The more screwed up things are in Iraq, the more money they are able to steal from the American people.

Touchy subject -- you've got a "cost-plus" contract, which means you're guaranteed a base-line profit of three percent of your total costs on the deal. The more you spend, the more you make -- and you certainly spent a hell of a lot.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/16076312/the_great_iraq_swindle

This administration is not inept. They are getting everything they want.

And this administration is not clownish.

This administration is evil.

They don't care about the people of Iraq. They don't care about the people of New Orleans. And they don't care about the people of San Diego -- beyond their wealthy benefactors that happen to live there.

They don't care about people at all. (How else can you explain their hatred of a program like S-CHIP, that provides health care for children, for god's sake?)

They care only about power and money.

I don't know if they intentionally let the attacks of September 11th happen, but I wouldn't be shocked by such a disclosure. Not shocked at all.

Would you?

I do find it odd that the president's father is the only person that I've ever heard, that was of maturity in 1963, say that he can't remember where he was when President Kennedy was assassinated.

More peculiar still, that he just happened to be a business associate of John Hinckley's father?

Inept?

No.

That's not the particular description that I would choose.

[Felinity]

1. Good points, all. K&R

Just because there are clowns at the circus, doesn't mean that the high wire performers are morons.

[nvme]

24. clowns nothing

This PNAC group accomplished the goals they set. Expanded Military, Expanded US Influence, a Big boost for their supporters financially. sociapthic pursuit of the objective.

[madokie]

2. I just looked inept up and yes you are right

1 : lacking in fitness or aptitude : unfit <inept at sports>
2 : lacking sense or reason : foolish
3 : not suitable to the time, place, or occasion : inappropriate often to an absurd degree <an inept metaphor>
4 : generally incompetent : bungling <inept leadership>

criminal would be more like what they are, traitors too, but coming from me I guess that doesn't mean much beings as how I'm just a vet over here still pissed about being lied into a war so many years ago. inmate, is the word I want associated with each of these much less than honorable men

[immoderate]

19. "It's not a war; it's a heist."

I'm quoting myself :) but I'm not the first to get it. If you take that claim to heart, Bush, et al, are very successful.

--IMM

[Kahuna]

3. I agree.

nt

[rock]

4. Criminality trumps ineptness

[HughBeaumont]

5. They knew from DAY ONE what they were doing.

Ineptness doesn't factor into a plan which dictates that the wealthy and their corporations run roughshod 100 billion-fold over the unwashed. It's cool and calculated to the idiotry out there. They don't want people who have this all figured out.

[iamahaingttta]

6. The "ineptness" is a front.

They just want us to think they're inept.
They are, in fact, quite ept!

[superkia]

25. Sounds like we are talking about congress here too!

I notice allot of people think that congress has been weak and hasn't got things done, I disagree. I think they have been very successful in attaining their own agendas and I feel they are the same as the current administrations.

[RufusTFirefly]

7. Excellent post. I totally agree!!!

Gonzo wasn't incompetent, and Brownie really did do a heckuva job.

[VP505]

16. Inept also allows

them to continue business as usual while claiming to be trying to fix things or replace the "inept" individual, hopefully long enough to fade from the memory of voters.

[the other one]

8. Tinfoil: The "ineptness" excuse is a 911 ruse.

They were too inept to stop 911 inoculates them from accusations of being responsible for 911.

This works for everything: They can't be evil, because they are just bumbling idiots.

I never bought it. I don't think Bush is a moran; he just plays one in the white house. While everyone mocks him for being an idiot his henchman are getting away with stealing the treasury and destroying the constitution.

[Raster]

12. "...ooops! We fucked up again...but it sure did work out well."

Coincidence is no long an option.

[BeatleBoot]

9. Clowns? Inept?

Oh, that would be me using those terms.

Nice re-post.

I'm spending the day today learning more about the "controlled demolition of building 7" on YouTube.

NOT!!!!


:rofl:

[Ezlivin]

17. Yeah, WTC 7 just fell down!

Every building that has a few fires and a little damage will do that. Every single one.

But other buildings (like the WTC3 below) were built of sturdier stuff and didn't collapse.


Gee, why would anyone think that the free-fall collapse of WTC 7 in the late afternoon of 9/11 was suspicious? :eyes:

[BeatleBoot]

20. Based on that, then the most logical conclusion is

the Bush Administration was "in on it"?

I swear that the only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions.

[Ezlivin]

22. You read WAY too much between the lines

Bush had nothing to do with 9/11. He was just as dumbfounded as we were (watch him in the classroom on 9/11).

But are some elements of this administration and/or government involved with either letting it happen or ensuring that it happened? Well, buildings just don't fall down. Architects and engineers are looking into the structural failures on 9/11 and do not believe that the official story is valid.

If it is proven that explosives were used then the next question would be who put them there. Right now we are only examining the multiple failures of steel structures.

First the "how", then the "who" and finally the "why". (Although it's plain to see who benefited the most from 9/11. Hint: It's not Osama.)

Apparently you got your exercise for the day. You can quit jumping now....

[BeatleBoot]

23. Thank you. I appreciate your point of view.

I think you are in the minority with the tinfoil folks around here if you agree with me that Bush had nothing to do with 9-11.

I agree that he was dumbfounded because that's his nature. It's his first reaction to anything - whether it's watching running water from the tap or having a conversation with Vladimir Putin - he's an idiot.

I also appreciate your research. It's above and beyond the call.

If it is ever proven that explosives were used, then the floodgates open up as far as conspiracy theories go.


My stance is this: If I am sitting at a bar and someone runs in and yells, "the martians have landed", then it's not up to me to prove or disprove that person's claim. The responsibility rests with the one making the claim.

So until I hear something rooted in reality, I have to look upon "the Bushies were in on it" crowd with skepticism.


And by the way, I may need a few more conclusions to jump to if I'm ever going to get rid of this paunch..

[babylonsister]

10. I think the problem is they have no one who's calling them on their

failings. They are inept, but they're getting away with it because no one is pushing back.

[barbtries]

11. yep.

the first time that really became very clear to me was hearing gw tell his crony he was doing a great job in the midst of the post-katrina genocide. i thought, he means it. fucking brownie and all of them are doing exactly what they want to do to get what they want to get. murderous traitorous bastards.

[Toots]

13. Bill Clinton said in early 2001

"Underestimate Bush* at your own peril" Clinton is not known for being stupid..

[Golden Raisin]

14. In many ways this is the most succesful

administration ever. They've consolidated power in the "unitary" Presidency, emasculated Congress, stacked the Supreme Court, enriched themselves, their cronies and supporters, destroyed the Constitution, learned how to successfully manipulate/rig elections, coopted the media into serving as a semi-official propaganda arm of the administration, plundered & spent the national treasury so future generations of Americans will be in eternal & immeasurable debt, begun the process of replacing the army with a private army of mercenary stormtroopers, and have almost achieved complete, unopposed power. And I love all the people who start having orgasms when Bush's poll numbers drop another point. Sure, I'd rather the numbers be low than high, but he is still in power, still unimpeached and still sneering at us. What good are the low poll numbers if he's still in power?

[frogcycle]

15. I think they are extremely ept

[hisownpetard]

18. Even in the circus, it's the clowns who are driving the bus.

[acmavm]

21. The PNACers aren't inept.They chose a left-brained simian AWOL

mean-spirited egotistical bastard for their front man. But as for the guys really pulling the strings, they've got it coming and going.

While we blame Chimpy and make fun of his drooling idiocy, they're behind the scenes pulling off the theft of our country. In fact, it's pretty well Mission Accomplished from what I can see.

[Perry Logan]

26. Give me a break! This Administration couldn't run an elevator, much less a country.

The OP shows signs of industrial-strength cherrypicking. Hardly a day goes by without some further proof of the mind-boggling incompetence of the Bushites.

Incompetent people can sometimes succeed--especially when the game is rigged in their favor. This is the whole story of today's Republican Party.

Harold Meyers: Bush the Incompetent

Incompetence is not one of the seven deadly sins, and it's hardly the worst attribute that can be ascribed to George W. Bush. But it is this president's defining attribute. Historians, looking back at the hash that his administration has made of his war in Iraq, his response to Hurricane Katrina and his Medicare drug plan, will have to grapple with how one president could so cosmically botch so many big things -- particularly when most of them were the president's own initiatives.

In numbing profusion, the newspapers are filled with litanies of screw-ups. Yesterday's New York Times brought news of the first official assessment of our reconstruction efforts in Iraq, in which the government's special inspector general depicted a policy beset, as Times reporter James Glanz put it, "by gross understaffing, a lack of technical expertise, bureaucratic infighting secrecy." At one point, rebuilding efforts were divided, bewilderingly and counterproductively, between the Army Corps of Engineers and, for projects involving water, the Navy. That's when you'd think a president would make clear in no uncertain terms that bureaucratic turf battles would not be allowed to impede Iraq's reconstruction. But then, the president had no guiding vision for how to rebuild Iraq -- indeed, he went to war believing that such an undertaking really wouldn't require much in the way of American treasure and American lives.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/24/AR2006012401163.html

[iamahaingttta]

27. It's WILLFUL incompetence!

That's the point. The incompetence is part of the agenda. Incompetence is easier to defend than evil.
And incompetence is VERY expensive!

[Syrinx]

32. I think you have missed my most basic point

The Bush administration doesn't care about Katrina.

Nor do they care about New Orleans.

And they don't care about Medicare.

And they don't want a peaceful Iraq.

Nor do they want to increase "freedom" in any tangible way.

They make more money when Iraq is in chaos.

They stand to make more money when America is in chaos.

The administration has proven itself fully competent in regards to accomplishing its real goals.

It's goals just have very little in common with the goals that our nation should set.

Our American leaders should promote freedom and justice.

And I will continue to object and protest when they pervert those ideals in my name.

The Bush administration is not inept.

It is corrupt to its very core, and it has conducted itself very skillfully in pursuit of its goals.

To deny this fact, is to be either naive or dishonest.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

40. It's doing an excellent job of controlling oil flow so big oil sees huge profits.

It's NOT incompetence.

There is a turf battle between the neocons and big oil/corp with Cheney in the middle.

However, big oil ALWAYS wins.

[flashl]

28. There is a new DMS: Americanistic Personality Disorder

Americanistic Personality Disorder

Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder almost always rely on extortion or violence to get their needs met and to resolve conflict. Believing in their inherent superiority, they eschew laws or rules except when they can utilize them for personal gain or when they fear punishment. Given a choice between a just resolution to a situation and the opportunity to humiliate, subdue, or subjugate the other party, they will choose the latter with a high degree of frequency. They have an amazing capacity to justify their unethical or criminal behavior using false pretexts such as self defense, good intentions, ignorance of the consequences of their actions, or asserting that they were merely carrying out orders.

[tanyev]

29. You don't stage a coup unless you have an agenda.

The really scary part is that most people would hesitate to create an all-powerful executive branch unless they also had a way to guarantee that their successors would let them get away with it.

:scared:

[DutchLiberal]

30. I'm sorry I can't recommend anymore. I agree with you 100%, though.

I even get angry when I hear people say Bush is "dumb" or the administration is full of "clowns". No, they're not. They are very, very smart, because everything that happened went according to their plans. People don't seem to realize that, not even some of the Democratic presidential candidates (or at least they're not saying it).

[DutchLiberal]

31. Also, regarding your comments on 9/11: watch this documentary:

http://www.eenvandaag.nl/index.php?module=PX_Story&func=view&cid=210&sid=29882&nav=29882,29834,28645,28525,24416,0#

(Just click 'bekijk video' (= 'watch video') and then select full screen.)

It's a Dutch documentary, which has English subtitles (this was done because of popular demand from Americans). It was made for Dutch public television, and it sets out why I believe the Bush-administration knew about the plans to attack on 9/11 but did nothing to stop them.

[Syrinx]

33. thanks!

I will watch tomorrow!

:hi:

[DutchLiberal]

34. You're welcome. I really recommend you watch it. It changed my take on the 9/11 attacks.

There is just too much evidence pointing to knowledge of the attacks by the administration.

[raccoon]

36. Thanks for the link. I just watched it. nt

[DutchLiberal]

37. What are your thoughts on the issues discussed?

Do you agree or disagree with my theory -and the theory developed in the documentary- that the Bush-administration deliberately let 9/11 happen?

[raccoon]

38. Yes, I think they deliberately let it happen.

Who benefited from it?

[DutchLiberal]

39. That's the only question you have to answer to know: they did let it happen.

[Summer93]

35. Who gains?

Think about what this entry says:

"From tanyev
You don't stage a coup unless you have an agenda.

The really scary part is that most people would hesitate to create an all-powerful executive branch unless they also had a way to guarantee that their successors would let them get away with it."

From the time that this administration began to tell us that Iraq was a threat to the U.S. I began to question. The no fly zones had kept their planes on the ground for 11 years or shot them down each time they attempted to fly. They did not have the planes to be a threat! So the fact that the people of the U.S. believed that Iraq was a valid threat had not paid attention over the past 11 years. It was a set up. A country which was not a threat was about to be demolished. For what gain I ask.