Friday, February 13, 2004

Get your Bush souvenir program! Where's the best place to go to find glossy photos of our beloved president? Paul Krugman suggests you try the federal budget: By my count, this year's budget contains 27 glossy photos of Mr. Bush. We see the president in front of a giant American flag, in front of the Washington Monument, comforting an elderly woman in a wheelchair, helping a small child with his reading assignment, building a trail through the wilderness and, of course, eating turkey with the troops in Iraq. Somehow the art director neglected to include a photo of the president swimming across the Yangtze River. It was not ever thus. Bill Clinton's budgets were illustrated with tables and charts, not with worshipful photos of the president being presidential. The issue here goes beyond using the Government Printing Office to publish campaign brochures. In this budget, as in almost everything it does, the Bush administration tries to blur the line between reverence for the office of president and reverence for the person who currently holds that office. Operation Flight Suit was only slightly more over the top than other Bush photo-ops, like the carefully staged picture that placed Mr. Bush's head in line with the stone faces on Mount Rushmore. The goal is to suggest that it's unpatriotic to criticize the president, and to use his heroic image to block any substantive discussion of his policies. In fact, those 27 photos grace one of the four most dishonest budgets in the nation's history -- the other three are the budgets released in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Just to give you a taste: remember how last year's budget contained no money for postwar Iraq -- and how administration officials waited until after the tax cut had been passed to mention the small matter of $87 billion in extra costs? Well, they've done it again: earlier this week the Army's chief of staff testified that the Iraq funds in the budget would cover expenses only through September. I don't know about the experiences of other professors, but when I receive a student paper with an exceedingly nice binding, I become suspicious. 12:52:45 AM    comment [] Medal Inflation Pretty soon showing up for a dental appointment will garner an Army reservist the bronze star. 12:31:53 AM    comment [] Why is this show still on television? I've watched Colin Quinn's show, Tough Crowd, several times now (times I've absentmindedly left the TV on after watching Comedy Central's good shows), and I think I can honestly say it's the most unfunny show on television. Who in the world ever thought that Colin Quinn was funny? And an unfunny host by necessity invites unfunny guests. As the ancient Greek sages used to say, "Like attracts like." Has Dennis Miller written a thank you note yet? 12:14:55 AM    comment []

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