Now comes the onslaught: A
sampling of some truly outrageous tactics and statements. First, this
one: 

1) “The American President must be clear in his thinking and must
be clear in his speaking in order to effectively lead.”
(hahahahahahaha) Right after this, I believe he mispronounced both the
word “bio-deisel” and the name of the Japanese Prime Minister.

2)    “I will never turn over America’s national
security decisions to other countries.” Trust me. No other countries
want anything to do with us any more, and most certainly they don’t
want to be fighting our unnecessary wars. They have problems of their
own, and the cost of ours has shown them that this is NOT the way.

3)    “Liberty can transform an enemy into an ally.”
This is a Harry Truman quote. Some nerve. There is no real proof that
liberty, alone, has made any country I am aware of our “ally.” France
has liberty. They used to be our ally. I think the past tense is
perhaps the important thing here. Insert your own support for this
quote…if you can.

4)    “I want a chance for our children and
grandchildren to grow up in a more peaceful world.” (Certainly why he
bombed Iraq back to the Stone Age and is purportedly amassing troops
now to move on Iran.) George W. Bush is many things. A pResident on the
side of peace he is not. I just want a chance for my 17-year-old to
grow up AT ALL, since we may have to re-institute the draft once “W”
really gets rolling on his “Save the World Crusade.”

5)    “Freedom is powerful.” So is money. So is oil. So is the stench of bull—t.

6)    “I want to spread freedom to the world, not
because it is America’s gift to the world, but because freedom is the
Almighty God’s gift to the world.” Careful, George. Some people call
him Allah. Some people don’t call him at all. Some people would like
you to just NOT spread anything you touch in their direction, at this
point, because it is all turning to (rhymes with twit).

7)    “We will continue to lead the world to make it
free and more peaceful.” OK. I can’t help myself. One more
“R-iiiiiiiight!”

8)    “I will never relent in defending America,
whatever it takes.” I would reference the previous article on “The Fog
of War,” and how Castro was prepared to let Cuba be nuked into
oblivion. And McNamara’s response which was, “Bring down the temple
about our heads!” He found it unthinkable as a strategy that the leader
of a country would allow it to be totally destroyed, just so he could
continue on a path of destruction. “W” quotes Kerry, “The whole thing
was a complicated matter.” Then, by way of retort, he says, “There’s
nothing complicated about supporting our troops in battle.”
Uh,…George. We wouldn’t BE in battle if you weren’t so trigger-happy
and bellicose. “Bring it on!” indeed. Any war is complicated. Maybe if
you had spent half as much time on studying while at Yale as you did on
partying and cheerleading and drinking and carousing, you would know
this. Wars are very complicated, indeed, and usually dangerous to
people and other living things.

9)    “We will not stand for the few who would stop the
hopes of the many.” Nor will the Bushies stand for the many who would
(try to) stop the grab for power of the few….their few.

10)    “Only four voted for the war and then didn’t vote
to defend it.” This is a slam against Kerry’s Iraq position. My
feeling……which I articulated in the report on the Andre Heinz
speech…..The Johns (Kerry and Edwards) have got to take it to George on
the war. Continuing to waffle and not speak out against Iraq is hurting
Kerry’s campaign. Everyone wants a strong Dean-like voice to say, “This
is wrong. Stop it. Get us OUT of there!” The economy. Jobs. Medicare.
Bush is killing us on the issue of how only HE, the draft-dodger, and
his draft-dodging partner Cheney, can “keep us safe.” (Mr. Kerry and
Mr. Edwards, if you’re reading this: TAKE IT TO BUSH ON THE WAR ISSUE.
Thank you. This has been an editorial comment not necessarily supported
by the blog, but I felt I needed to say it.)

11)    “I’m running against a fellow who likes to raise
taxes. The rich hire lawyers and accountants for a reason: to stick you
with the bill. But I’m not going to let him tax you.” (Insert your own
gag reflex joke here.) There’s that old saying about the pot calling
the kettle black, but it would be too much of a cliché to include it,
so consider it omitted.)

12)    “We’ve got to stop frivolous law suits that are
running up the cost of health care. I don’t think you can be
pro-doctor, pro-health-care and pro-trial-lawyer. My opponent made his
choice. He put him (Edwards) on the ticket.” There is dirty and then
there is dirtier. And then there is dirtiest. To suggest that Edwards,
a true “man of the people,” the son of mill workers, and that other
criminal trial lawyers, are the entire reason this country’s health
care system is in a mess is dirty pool, but you know George. As
Pollster Frank Luntz once told Republican members of Congress, “It’s
almost impossible to go too far when it comes to demonizing lawyers.”

13)    “My opponent has proposed $1.5 trillion in tax
increases. That’s a lot, even for a Senator from Massachusetts.” Can
you say, “Dirtiest”? Nothing like slamming the Kennedys AND Kerry, just
after painting John Edwards as the root of all evil in our country’s
health care system. And the sad thing is: the doctors in this country
are buying it, from what I personally have observed. There has never
been any love lost between doctors and trial lawyers who sue them. This
is W’s way to solicit votes on the “tort reform” issue.

14)    Bush makes some comments about how home ownership
is at an all-time high and follows this with, “Fantastic, isn’t it?”
(Somebody feed me the real scoop on that). There are many things that
are “fantastic.” Me being here is really “fantastic.” It’s like my
friends with the questionable marriage who fought all the time. On
their 25th anniversary, she sent him a balloon bouquet which noted that
they had spent “Twenty-five interesting years together.” Didn’t say
“good,” just interesting. If we examine the definition of “fantastic”
in Webster’s, I agree with the idea that most of the pronouncements I
have heard here today are “fantastic.” The definition of “fantastic:”
bizarre…suggests that which is extraordinarily fanciful or unreal in
design, conception, construction, etc., because of startling
incongruities, extreme contrasts, etc. Grotesque: suggests a
ludicrously unnatural distortion of the normal or real. Existing in the
imagination; imaginary; unreal; grotesque; odd; strange and unusual;
extravagant; capricious/eccentric, i.e., “a fantastic plan.” Seemingly
impossible. Incredible.” So, I do agree that this entire experience has
been “fantastic,” as defined by Webster’s New World College Dictionary
(p. 514).

15)    “We’ve got a political plan to help people who
are uninsured.” No mention of what this plan is or might be. I can
imagine how much money Halliburton will make off THIS plan! Not to
mention the drug companies. It’s government to the highest bidder!

16)    “Simplify the tax code. There are over one
million words in the tax code.” I’ll believe this when I see
it…ever…from anyone. My husband does taxes for H&R Block.

17)    “We open up our markets to foreign markets. I
know American workers can compete so long as the rules are fair.”
(Insert your own joke here, based on recent closings of numerous
businesses that are quickly moving the good manufacturing jobs to
Mexico and other distant places abroad.)

18)    “We must become less dependent on foreign sources
of energy.” Ask Christine Whitman, former head of the EPA, how far she
got saying this sort of thing to President Bush when she was a Cabinet
member. Or Paul O’Neill, who championed the same cause. An oil man says
we aren’t going to use oil any more. Do we buy this?

19)    “I am a strong proponent of America’s community
colleges. We must expand Pell Grants. We must help more middle income
students start their lives with a college education.” While a noble
goal, costs of college, including junior colleges are rising. There is,
however, a concerted effort being made to recruit students from
unlikely areas, like prisons, through a variety of area programs with
names like the Career Assistance Center. Usually, it is a requirement
that no one in the student’s family has ever attended college. These
students, some of whom have been known to threaten their teachers’
lives and who seldom come to class, are worth something like $1400 on
the hoof to the college. They sit down next to your teen-aged
fresh-out-of-high-school naive son or daughter. Neither the professor
nor the student seated next to the Time-bomb-waiting-to-go-off knows
the history of the individual. Since reading is a problem for these
students, an entire cottage industry has grown up of people assigned to
read their work to them. These same assigned “helpers” may resort to
writing papers for the struggling students, in a misguided effort to
“help.” The student then graduates in a field, for example, nursing,
unable to read. The potential nurse shows up at the testing center
(which I used to run, boys and girls) unable to read. A “reader” has to
be assigned to read the test to them. So, you now have a nurse on your
floor who cannot read. This seems like a problem, to me, but it does
not seem like a problem to George W. Bush, or to Mary Teague who heads
up this program, locally for Eastern Iowa Community College. Her
response, “Take it up with the legislature.” Those, of course, being
the people who have voted to fund this effort in the first place.

And so it goes. Colorado retreats into the dimness of memory, and I
retreat to my bomb shelter to await the repercussions that may come if
we “stay the course” and continue in the direction we are currently
heading.

And on that happy note I will leave you to thinking about how
“fantastically” things are going for us under our current Republican
administration.

Over and out.