DANCING FOR PROFITS
"The poets ‘round here don’t write nothin’/They just stand back and let it all be."
– Bruce Springsteen, Jungleland
Now that the national media have finally been backed up to the wall and forced to deal with the most dishonest, manipulative regime in US History, the American people are finally reverting to their previous bare-tolerance of the Bush presidency.
After losing the popular vote in 2000 and taking the office of the president from the people by the sheer sinister force of James Baker and Anonin Scalia, the Bushies came into office with little mandate for anything but a moderate care-taker government until the next election could settle things back to normal. Cheney even promised as much after Gore gracefully (but wrongfully – the Bushies did not deserve any courtesies) got out of the way, saying that they would have to govern "from the middle", the last statement of moderation ever heard from the Real Power in the Bush throne room. However, even before their overcoats and smirks were dry after an appropriately dreary, rainy coronation day in Washington, the Bushies took a Hard Right turn and have never looked back. Instead of governing with humility, which any other presidential candidate in US history would have done under the circumstances, the Bushies operated not only like they had a mandate, but like they had a Magic Scepter and the Blessings of God.
The US public did not appreciate this, and rewarded the real George Bush’s third-favorite son with low poll ratings and shaking heads about how this band of radicals could have possibly come to power in during a time of multi-cultural, pro-environment, pro-education, anti-wingnut consensus. All this, despite the 24/7 poisoning of the political discourse by the proliferation of wingnut talk radio and cable "news" shows. Junior’s ratings were in the tank and falling.
Alright, everyone say it with me: Then came 9/11. The most politically opportunist regime in US history now had a reason to make Bush a War President, with all of the power and hands-off impunity that (they claimed) came with that territory. The second tower hadn’t even fallen yet before Rumsfeld and Cheney were walking in one door of Air Force One with a demand to blow up Iraq NOW and Karl Rove and Karen Hughes were walking in the other, telling the Small One that he had to declare WAR, now. By the time the confused president was allowed by his handlers to land somewhere, he had his script in hand and hasn’t changed it since then. Well, he doesn’t say the name of Osama Bin Laden (or Saddam Hussein) any more, but he has a good reason for that, doesn’t he?
As they did after Bush stole the election process from Florida voters, Democrats fell in line behind "our president" and Bush benefitted from an enormous outpouring of good-will and unified purpose, both at home and abroad. The Bush regime then used that power as a blunderbuss, driving through unheard-of restrictions on civil liberties; taking all kinds of non-related public information off the internet and the public record (in keeping with its extraordinary claims of secrecy); making blatant political use of the 9/11 tragedies, including the almost-humourously bold scheduling of the GOP convention next year in NYC, a week before the third anniversary. The ultimate political use of 9/11 came when the Bushies used the indifferent ignorance of the US populace (60% wrongfully thought the hijacker-terrorists were Iraqi) and piled on many now-disproven "facts" to build the case for war. Even after hammering on the populace for months, a national consensus never developed. They started the war anyway.
Now, many of the lies told by the most deceitful regime in US History are coming back to haunt them. The Bushies are acting positively Nixonian – stonewalling, spinning the truth, and probably hunting for more documents to burn, even as we speak. Bush’s "16 words" are nothing compared to the other lies that built the case for war. But is it really any surprise that the Bushies would do or say anything to get their long-sought access to Iraqi oil fields and more secure (than Saudi) placement for their military bases? The polls show Bush right where he was before 9/11. And again, the arrow points Down.
Right now, the stockholders of Haliburton and Bechtel – both of which got no-bid contracts to run the oil fields and the reconstruction of Iraq – are drinking champagne and counting their war-profits. In the meantime, three more US soldiers were killed today, more spilled blood for nothing, while Bushies surrogates like Rush Limbaugh treat every death like it’s no big deal. Bush wanted his legacy to be him standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier, cheering a victory that will never come. Instead, he and his campaign contributors will be seen dancing on the graves of the unnecessary dead, the poor sons and daughters of the poor and working class who made the mistake of signing up when radical madmen ran the White House for their own selfish purposes.
The only problem with the bottom falling out of Bush's poll numbers is that these bastards will not allow that to continue. There will be new lies, new campaigns, new smearing of legitimately concerned citizens. The best thing to come out of the exposure of the Bush lies about Iraq will hopefully be that the US public doesn't believe them next time when they try to promote a war or a self-serving crisis.
7:25:48 PM 
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