VOTE Action Committee

Print This Article

Tuesday, August 30th, 2005

Bush Unbalanced As Polls Plummet

Bill Gallagher/Niagra Falls Reporter

With George W. Bush,
a certifiable madman, in power, it shouldn't be surprising that the
rest of our republic is going bonkers. Bush, our commander in sleep,
has spread the virus of neo-fascist fever and the bug is gripping our
nation like the flu in February. The evidence is compelling.

The national commander of the American Legion demands an end to all
"public protests" and "media events" against the war. Commander Thomas
Cadmus declared, at the legion's convention in Honolulu, that "it would
be tragic if the freedoms our veterans fought so valiantly to protect
would be used against their successors today."

I get it. Here's what's wrong with America these days: freedom of
speech, the freedom to peaceably assemble, and the right of people to
petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Those items found in the Bill of Rights are the scourges of our nation.
Get rid of those damn freedoms at home and the Iraqis will start
tossing rose petals at our troops.

The 4,000 American Legion delegates voted unanimously for a resolution
declaring, "The American Legion fully supports the President of the
United States" and "our armed forces" engaged "in the global war on
terrorism" and "in protecting our values and way of life."

They apparently believe the First Amendment no longer reflects "our
values," but the bloody, illegal and futile occupation of Iraq does. I
didn't know there was that much beer in Hawaii.

But other veterans have a more sober and sane assessment of George W.
Bush. Last week, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Salt
Lake City, Bush repeated the great lie of our times -- that the war in
Iraq is linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and that the imperial war
there makes us safer at home.

"The lesson of Sept. 11, 2001, is that we must confront the threats
before they materialize," Bush said in his speech.

Bush speaking to the VFW gathering is like an Orthodox rabbi offering
advice on pork recipes to a cooking class. Joyfully, not all the
delegates were buying his fantasies. One of them, 73-year-old Bill
Moyer, wore cardboard covers over his ears labeled "bullshit
protectors."

Such irreverence sent Bush into an obscene tirade, according to a
report in Capitol Hill Blue, an online journal that occasionally
chronicles Bush's unhinged behavior. Bush refers to those who protest
his war as "motherf---king traitors" and he was so enraged when he
heard reports about the "bullshit protectors" that he screamed at his
aides, "Tell those VFW assholes that I'll never speak to them again if
they can't keep their members under control."

Capitol Hill Blue has long dealt with a topic that the corporate media
won't touch -- Bush's mental fitness for the presidency and the
behavior patterns associated with his addiction-damaged personality.
The journal reports Bush's doctors are trying to control his dark moods
with anti-depressant drugs.

While the Busheviks have sold the myth that their man is an affable
"nice guy," the reality is that he is often vile and profane. His
explosive temper is increasingly displayed. At a recent strategy
session, discussing polls showing most Americans are now against the
war and don't believe Bush, he reportedly bellowed to his staff, "I'm
the president and I'll do whatever I goddamned please. They don't know
shit."

George W. takes much more after his acerbic and vindictive mother,
Barbara, than his more even-tempered father. The president's pattern of
blame and denial and his rattled response to the criticism of his
disastrous war are manifestations of his addiction-damaged and
dangerous personality, according to psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank,
author of "Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President." He
sees Bush's history of substance abuse shaping him into a fear-driven
bully. Confrontation -- like Cindy Sheehan's vigil -- unveils the real
Bush.

"Actually confront him in a clear way, to bring him out, so you would
really see the bully, and you would see the fear," Dr. Frank says.

When aides suggested Bush meet with Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq,
Bush screamed, "I'm not meeting with that goddamned bitch. She can go
to hell as far as I'm concerned," Capitol Hill Blue reports.

No one from the White House press corps will dare raise questions about
the report. Most of them are content to attend Bush's barbecue for the
media at Crawford, where all discussions are off the record.

None would dare mention passing Camp Casey as vans spirited them into
Rancho Wacko to enjoy grilled catfish and potato salad with the
president and first lady. They won't risk expulsion by asking questions
about whether George W. is having reoccurring episodes of that
mysterious pretzel-choking phenomenon.

Certainly, NBC White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell would never
broach such a delicate topic. She's too busy pimping for the Busheviks
and repeating their talking points. As the recent guest host of MSNBC's
"Hardball with Chris Matthews," O'Donnell referred to Sheehan and the
demonstrators outside Bush's Crawford ranch as "anti-war extremists."

She made that characterization in an interview with former FBI agent
Coleen Rowley, who is a Democratic congressional candidate in
Minnesota. Rowley, unlike nearly all other Democrats, had the guts to
visit Crawford and offer her support for Sheehan.

That prompted O'Donnell to question Rowley's decision, saying, "It was
reported that Republican leaders in your state were thrilled that you
had decided to align yourself with anti-war extremists. Do you think
that will affect your race for Congress?"

Rowley didn't hesitate to put O'Donnell in her place. "Well, I will
quickly correct the record that they are not anti-war extremists. The
majority of people I saw in Crawford were actually veterans' groups,"
Rowley responded.

O'Donnell's pretty face looked perplexed, her vacuous mind grappling
for a rejoinder.

"But, Coleen, they do oppose the war in Iraq, do they not?"

Rowley's 80-point IQ advantage over O'Donnell was apparent as she
explained opposition to Bush's war does not make one an extremist. In
fact, she said, the demonstrators in Crawford are "reflective of
mainstream America in many ways."

Imagine the howl if O'Donnell referred to supporters of the war in Iraq
as "radical warmongers." I'm sure General Electric, a major defense
contractor and NBC's owner, would frown on one of its employees using
such a characterization.

Remember, Coleen Rowley should have been given a medal for her
courageous but frustrated efforts in trying to stop the 9/11 terrorists
before they hijacked those airliners. She alerted her supervisors in
the FBI about all those Saudi (not Iraqi) men taking lessons to learn
how to fly jets. Her superiors ignored her warnings and the rest is
tragic history.

The CIA's pre-9/11 intelligence failures are finally getting a scolding
and the agency's inspector general has submitted a report to Congress
on what went wrong and who was responsible. Accountability, however, is
anathema in the Bush administration.

One of the big names targeted for criticism is former CIA director
George Tenet. He rivals Condoleezza Rice as a slave to sycophancy and
he was more than willing to do anything to please George W. Bush.

Tenet sold out his own agency when he took the rap for the bogus story
that Iraq was trying to buy enriched uranium from Niger. Tenet famously
told Bush that finding evidence of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction
would be a "slam dunk." He fouled out on that one, as he did in
ignoring evidence al-Qaeda was planning something big.

Tenet is frantically trying to keep the wraps on the inspector
general's report, so history will not note his mistakes and his
already-tarnished reputation won't take another body blow.

The families of the 9/11 victims want the unvarnished truth told.
They're demanding the immediate declassification and release of the
report. They issued a statement saying, "To shield CIA officials from
accountability and to continue to cover up deficiencies in that agency
puts the safety of our nation at risk."

For his intelligence failures and fabrications, but most of all for
unswerving loyalty to political policy-making, George W. Bush presented
Tenet with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest
civilian honor. I'm sure the apostle of assassination, the Rev. Pat
Robertson, must be in line for the same honor.

CIA Director Porter Goss and the Republicans on Capitol Hill will do
their best to deep-six the report, bury the truth and please the
president.

The 9/11 cover-up, Cindy Sheehan's valiant witness to the truth, the
futility of "staying the course" in Iraq, even Pat Robertson's insane
musing -- it's hard to find any prominent leaders in the Democratic
Party saying anything about those worthy topics.

Would just one of them venture off of Martha's Vineyard and their other
summer haunts to express outrage, support or indignation? We have the
worst president in American history and we hardly hear a peep from the
Democrats.

I can understand the neo-fascist, Christian fanatics who dominate the
modern Republican Party and form George W. Bush's base. They worship
power and the political value of war. But what about people who know
better?

Former Democratic senator Gary Hart wrote an eloquent op-ed piece in
the Washington Post last week urging leaders of his party to stand for
something. He chided the "tongue-tied" Democrats, too meek to challenge
Bush.

"What will history say about an opposition party that stands silent
while all this goes on?" he asked.

Where are senators Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, John Kerry, Joe
Biden and Joe Lieberman? They all voted for Bush's war.

As long as those gutless Democrats are the party's "leaders," George W.
Bush will continue his senseless war. People with sense are listening
to Cindy Sheehan and following her admirable leadership.

Bill Gallagher, a Peabody Award winner, is a former Niagara Falls city councilman who now covers Detroit for Fox2 News.

SOURCE

Print This Article