Going on the Offensive
Maybe I am a Democratic wussieboy, but I do feel that a modern election doesn't have to be mired in muck and mud and distorted realities that take time away from the real matters at hand. That said, it always seems that a certain major political party comes out loaded for bear and starts firing. (I was about to say indiscriminately, but they know what they're doing.) This year, it's happening again--the Democrats have been pushed to the edge. And it's time to fight back (check out Terry MacAuliffe on this audio link). I'm not looking forward to this, and I'm not grinning from ear to ear thinking, "Damn, Bush and Rove are getting it as good as they give it." But I'm not feeling sorry for them either. As the saying goes, you reap what you sow. And with Kerry and the Democratic party and its many followers being pushed to the brink like Clint Eastwood as William Munny in Unforgiven, what did they expect? (Probably the reaction of another Masschussetts liberal defeated by a Bush.)

But let's remember the real deal about the raw deal that's been served by this administration, succinctly put by The Poor Man (with tongue in cheek, referring to the following as "revelations" found in the new Kitty Kelley book):

1. Iraq didn't have any WMD, or any significant ties to al Qaeda! The war has cost over $200 billion dollars, and Iraq's oil wealth has not paid for reconstruction! Also, Iraqis have not welcomed coalition troops with flowers and candy, and over 1,000 American troops have died, the country's falling apart in ethnic and nationalist violence, and the best excuse for this clusterfuck anyone can offer is some happy talk about painting schools and turning metaphorical corners!

2. George W. Bush is not a West Texas rancher whose simple heartland values and quiet inner strength have guided his climb to political and financial success! Actually, he was born into a wealthy Eastern establishment family, his grandfather was a US Congressman, and his father was a US Congressman, Director of the CIA, and Vice-President and President of the United States! George W. Bush went to Harvard and Yale, where he didn't work very hard; he was a spoiled rich wastrel until at least his 40th birthday; he summers in toney Kennebunkport, Maine; he has relied on his family's wealth and influence to get everything he got in life; and his Southern accent is totally phony!

3. The economy is not strong, and it's not getting stronger! In less than four years, George W. Bush has lost 2 million jobs, taken the United States from record budget surplus to record deficit, saddled the American taxpayer with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of federal boondoggles, and transferred the tax burden of the ultra rich to the poor and middle class! Indeed, his former chief economic advisor, Paul O'Neill, wrote a book which charged the President neither understood nor cared to understand anything about economics!

4. The reputation of the United States has been demolished over the last four years! We have alienated allies, embarrassed ourselves in front of the UN, and undermined the struggle for human rights around the world by holding secret prisoners, sending innocent people abroad to be tortured, and torturing prisoners to death in Iraq and Afghanistan!

5. George W. Bush is an idiot! Really! He can't form a coherent sentence, he shows no aptitude for or interest in any intellectual pursuit, and he routinely embarrasses himself and the country with his shocking displays of ignorance! He falls down constantly, and he almost died eating a pretzel!

6. George W. Bush is a horrible President! When given a daily briefing entitled "Bin Laden determined to attack in the United States", he took no action, went on vacation, and a few weeks later 3,000 people were dead! Then he failed to get the guy behind the attacks because he had to invade another country which had nothing to do with anything! Now, North Korea and Iran are well on their way to developing nuclear weapons, view us as an immediate threat to their survival, and we lack the diplomatic clout or ability to organize the world against them! Meanwhile, Bush's major concerns are gay people getting married, putting a man on Mars so we can say we did, and getting steroids out of sports! America is weaker, poorer, less safe, less respected, and less sane than it was before George W. Bush became President, it's pretty much all his fault, and he just isn't interested!

OK, maybe we should forget that our dear President was nearly knocked to the grave by a pretzel. But the simple fact of the matter, as explicated by the bloggers at Daily Kos is that Georege W. Bush is a miserable failure. End of story. It's time to turn the keys to the house over to folks who have plans for growing the economy sensibly, ensuring that as wide a swath of Americans benefit from the economy, preserving social safety nets (maybe not the way we see them today, but not gutted completely), and dealing with terrorism not just in a reactionary manner but in a proactive way that fosters trust and stability in troubled regions (from the Middle East to Africa to Indonesia).

Remember when Bush, in the last election, said that he wanted to change the tone of Washington? In the immortal words of Max Fischer (from Rushmore), "It's time, homey."