The Legacy of G. W. Bush

THE LEGACY OF GEORGE W. BUSH 1

Part One

By Peter Fredson

January 28, 2006

The passionate interlude of William Clinton with Monica Lewinsky started my computer files of Presidential adventures. Soon thousands of files of interesting escapades filled my computer hard-drive, although none as sexy as those of Bill and Monica.

There was a great moral outrage of Republican Senators over the Presidential blow-job with a tremendous sackcloth-and-ashes routine for months, including special prosecutors, over the denials of Bill that he “had sex.” Their insistence on impeachment spent months of media outcry, millions of dollars, senatorial investigations, pulpit pounding, and highly flammable rhetoric alleging the demise of morality, and demanding the resignation of Bill Clinton.

Preachers and televangelists pounded pulpits and thumped bibles, spouting hell-and-damnation on every channel with fascinated congregations demanding more juicy details. Semen stains on a dress were probably the highlight of the year.

Many Republican senators declared that consensual sex and lying were grave sins, possibly meriting castration and expulsion from civilized society. Years later the very same senators that expressed great revulsion toward lying or sex became very compassionate, forgiving and understanding of the daily deceptions, misinformation and deliberate lies of many of the Bush cabinet members.

Party politics indeed make strange bed-fellows.

Files began filling up my hard drive soon after George W. Bush was handed his office by the partisan vote of the Supreme Court in the disputed 2000 election. Hanging chads, Bush riotous thugs in Florida, Jeb Bush coming to the aid of his brother, then 9/11 as the major distraction, came in quick succession.

Bush made daily pronouncements, many garbled and inarticulate, destined to arouse controversy, leading people to question his intelligence or the extent to which he was “handled.” This puppetry aspect is still very much present today, with a very powerful Vice-President and a dirty trickster like Rove to guide GWB.

Historians in the not-so-distant future will be hard-pressed to make sense of the bewildering attacks of the Bush administration on American democracy. They must also contend with the inception of abiding hatred of a few Muslims who were determined to make the Bush family, and other Ugly Americans, pay for their insolence and contempt of their sacred beliefs and practices, which continue unabated today.

The story of Osama bin Ladin versus the Bush family makes an interesting background to the present dilemmas.

Ideological zealots of all stripes were involved in this interplay, many vicious, some loony, many indoctrinated in religious dogma and practices, that support GWB. There are very rich corporate individuals in this drama, very influential individuals in politics, strange economics and warlike dominionist religionists, very aggressive individuals, extremely gullible people, and scam artists involved in the rise of GWB and the strange demise of a fairly normal democracy by theocrats and plutocrats.

There are dirty tricks galore, bribable “journalists”, pliable media dedicated more to yellow journalism than to any probing for truth, large numbers of weasel lobbyists selling arms, munitions and influence to high bidders.

There are obscene and contemptible practices that no one from a democratic tradition should countenance but have become shameless tactics followed by people formerly sworn to uphold our Constitution. There are grave violations of civil rights that other administrations would surely have disowned as Unamerican and unconstitutional.

Torture, abuse, kidnapping, secret jails, renditions, warrantless detentions, surreptitious flight over sovereign territory, daily violations of civil rights, contempt for our Constitution, avoidance of all responsibility, deniability of executive actions, have become normal procedure, pleasing to a sadistic chief executive and his minions. Arrogance and preemptive actions have replaced all diplomacy, logic and moral behavior. Misinformation, deceit, stealth and lying have replaced American candor, honesty and forthrightness.

Secrecy has replaced justice. Breaking down doors, handcuffing, violent assaults, indefinite detention, all accompanied by a great show of aggression by heavily armed agents, are commonplace occurrences. Propaganda is preferred to obscure any vestige of truth.

Obfuscation, denial, and distraction form some of the rich elements of Bush discourse. Railroading and bulldozing do not refer to construction but to the Republican tactics to eliminate the Democratic Party from any participation in national affairs. Legislation is deliberately hurried or passed after secret caucuses so Senators cannot have time to read any of the dirty or corrupt details present in any document.

Partisan chairmen command all investigatory procedures and, in advance, proclaim the chief executive to be without sin or blame. All investigation by responsible agents are blocked, whistle-blowers punished or fired, papers sealed or stamped secret, and participants commanded to keep silent.

Lobbyists often control the language of legislation, for which they pay handsomely. Bush often pleads for bipartisan support while simultaneously giving the upraised finger and an epithet to critics of his failed policies and exercises. He dearly tries to have it both ways, but is quite willing to “go it alone.” He even suggests that it is treason to criticize his judgment, as long as he is War President, with all indications that this is a War that will never end.

Rich and powerful people are courted shamelessly, while the poor, handicapped, colored, homeless, and sick people are regarded as trash to be discarded. There is not much security in security. The Bush people tried to transfer Social Security funds to their private accounts in an enormous display of rhetoric, fomenting fear deliberately, but eventually the public cast doubts on their honesty in trying to privatize government funds and resources into the hands of large investment firms.

It is my desire to comment on some details of what GWB thinks might be his “legacy” to give some individual flavor to sycophant inner-directed media who curry favor in high places. Thus this is a commentary by a single individual, not allied with any political party, not under any pressure of any politician or priest, not with any prior agenda other than to quietly participate in a fairly good democracy, not rewarded by cash or gifts or trips or ego-stroking.

So, for what it is worth, here is what I have seen and heard from and about George W. Bush (hereafter referred to as GWB), to help inform historians on his “legacy.”

First, GWB came into high office as a self-proclaimed “compassionate conservative.” This became an election slogan, designed to mollify anyone suspicious of the motives and intentions of GWB. It was particularly designed to attract various Christian fundamentalists, along with their cash, support and votes.

Who, except a neocon, could object to anyone with “compassion?” And therein lies the cynicism, the hypocrisy, as I have seen little evidence of any compassion in any pronouncement or actions of GWB since he began endlessly voicing the word “compassion” as a campaign slogan to entice cash, support and votes from gullible fundamentalists.

For Bush “compassion” is his way of forcing his version of Christianity on the entire nation, choosing executive pronouncements as his major weapon, thus avoiding any legislative debate by congress. (This may not be necessary as the absolutely controls the entire Republican and majority party in Congress and the sycophant Senators will not cease praising him and promptly passing all legislation that he proposes, regardless of merit, stupidity, or constitutionality.)

There is no compassion for the homeless, poor, blacks, sick, blind, handicapped, unfortunate, but much contempt, exploitive photo-ops, and antipathy toward “inferior” peoples. GWB seems to believe that being poor or sick or black is a punishment from his Jahweh as a result of the sins of their ancestors, going back thousands of years, irremediable, and that any attempt to elevate their unfortunate position is to challenge the stern judgment of the Supreme Creator of all morality.

For GWB, anyone holding non-Christian beliefs or practices is a dangerous heretic to be exterminated and cast into a fiery hell in which compassion is replaced with gloating for the eternal pain of contrary beliefs.

Compassion is not to be considered by his exploiters of slave labor or child labor or “white slavery” as vigorous economic health for corporations is a foremost consideration for GWB. To raise minimum wages is not compassion for GWB but is interfering with maximum profits.

Compassion is not to be considered when unleashing Shock and Awe upon helpless populations, and any deaths resulting to innocent bystanders is simply “collateral damage” to be blithely overlooked for military glory.

Bush showed his “compassion” during the Katrina flooding when dead bodies floated through the streets while he held photo-ops showing him giving a sandwich to convenient bystanders, and regretfully giving up one of his eternal vacations on his ranch because the stench of incompetence was causing his regime embarrassment and loss of popularity.

Bush showed his compassion by playing a guitar, blithely eating cake with Senator McClain (whom he seems to despise), cutting brush and enjoying an extended vacation on his ranch, which I understand was a former pig farm now hosting foreign dignitaries. Instead of rushing to the disaster scene he gave a speech to raise funds. By being “laid back” he shows precisely his unconcern for any world problems. By appointing incompetent cronies to solve difficult problems he showed his disregard for the problems.

GWB also showed his compassion by looking out of the window of a plane while flying over the disaster area, and by numerous photo-ops demonstrating his compassion by offering some bystanders a sandwich, or letting people watch a crane repair a levee. The crane then left as soon as Bush left the photographers.

Barbara Bush showed her compasssion by visiting with hurricane Katrina evacuees in the Reliant Center adjacent to the Astrodome in Houston, Monday, Sept. 5, 2005, and saying condescendingly: "Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them."

Bush also showed his compassion by taking off his suit-coat and rolling up his sleeves as though he were actually going to help rescue victims, but then retreated to his helicopter before actually lifting a finger to help. In other words, impression-management for Bush is preferable to actions that might dirty his shoes. If people think he is sincere that is sufficient.

He doesn’t actually have to DO anything, just give the impression that he might.

In other words, Katrina showed the true nature of Bush as a carefree, uncaring, media-hound, publicity seeker, and nothing he can do in the future will erase his actions and replace them with impressions of a kind, wise, caring, and compassionate individual.

That is all a scam, a pretense, all fantasy-land which Bush inhabits. Or, as some pundits have observed, Bush lives in a secure bubble, free from all care, all worry, by hundreds of sycophants, secret agents, and heavily armed soldiers waiting in the wings with helicopters and gun ships. Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove assure Bush daily that everything is going splendidly.

Not a fly will dare to land on the Bush schnozzle. Even the ground is swept clean wherever Bush will place his feet.

Many more indicators of the absence of compassion in the Bush arsenal could be cited. I call GWB aloof, indifferent, distant, and uncaring except towards people of wealth and influence, or those who command votes and cash regardless of their “moral” virtues.

The Bush ego is very strong, outweighing any consideration for other people. He regards all religions, other than his own, as false and all beliefs that differ from his own, as grave sin, to be obliterated as soon as possible

Bush “compassion” is a ship that sailed far away since his first days in office, despite all of the propaganda deliberately foisted on the public to make him seem like a major saint.

I consider the Bush push for compassion to be a ploy for the gullible, an exploitation of his understanding of his religion, and an Orwellian double-think in which compassion equates with merciless Shock and Awe and the destruction of infidels.

(In my next blog, due to lack of space today, I will discuss more aspects of the “Compassion” of GWB as Christian fantasy land for a tool for proselyters. In still another blog I will discuss his claim to be a “uniter not a divider” and other boastful but empty promises. )