HOW LONG AGO DID YOU HATE BUSH?

HOW LONG AGO DID YOU START TO HATE BUSH?

By Peter Fredson

June 22, 2005

This is an off-shoot of the famous WATERGATE question: “What did you know and when did you know it?” It took quite a while for anyone to stay that he knew anything, and even then the object of the investigation played the denial game to the end, but gradually much of the true story oozed out through administration censorship.

Still today, with Deep Throat revealed, the conspirators are unrepentant, bitter, and resent that their schemes were revealed. They excoriate the revealer, not the criminal.

Most of the public believed that Bush had lied, (misdirected, equivocated, prevaricated) about reasons to declare war against Iraq. During the Congressional rush to canonize Bush as a 9/11 Saint George and use Shock and Awe to kill Muslims, at least a quarter of the American public decided it was a scam or a grab for power.

But the Bush administration loudly beat the war drums, and shouted down any rational discussion of issues, alleging patriotic citizens did not criticize their “commander-in-chief” even if he may have been a draft-dodging AWOL rich boy cynic.

One of the Bush trump cards was that he speaks to God, was chosen by God, and is actually on a mission to eradicate heretics and bring about the apocalypse. That for many people is enough to enshrine him forever. For me, his pious prating is exploitation of religion for political power.

Never mind that the deficit was world-shattering. Never mind that the environment was being gradually degraded by profit-minded corporations. Never mind that the education programs were never funded. Never mind that the sick and aged were going down the drain.

The important thing is that the Saint could swagger about a carrier and say “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.” About half the public still believe in him. The other half now fervently despise, hate, or fear him, or actively express contempt toward his cabinet.

Gradually the true intentions of the Bush administration as to world domination were revealed and then about half of the American public decided they had enough of his swaggering, lies, and mismanagement of the national economy, environment, education, etc. etc. By 2003, about half the American public decided they had more than enough of whatever Bush was trying to sell.

Now we have the Downing Street Memos. They outline the Bush pre-election strategy called for by neoconservatives in their quest to dominate the world. And, like Watergate, the same denials are made, the same secrecy instituted, the same bullying of critics occurs, and this time most of the media have tried hard to overlook the Downing Street Memos as a kind of prank, old news, nothing new, scarcely credible, let’s look at Michael Jackson instead, Terry Schiavo is dying for lack of a drink of water, we need to teach Iran a lesson, what environment?, just try praying, obstructionists are ruining our fine administration, and a hundred other distractions.

Shall we begin, at least, investigation of Bush’s lies, as preliminary to impeachment? The same Republicans that expressed enormous moral outrage at Bill’s blow-job and his male-ego lie about it not being sex, are now strangely morally silent on lying to start a war, on lying to get 1,700 American soldiers killed for power and oil, on any kind of investigation into the decline of American prestige and moral leadership due to presidential arrogance, bullying of nations, killing of 100,000 civilians (because they are, after all, only Muslims), and the enormous corruption of his contractors.

No one is curious, in the Bush administration, about missing billions of dollars, about losing tanks, guns and planes, about an entrance or exit strategy, or about getting out of a country that we invaded by lies and killed their civilians and destroyed huge parts of their property and resources.

No curiosity at all from the very people that are supposed to be safeguarding our democracy. I don’t know of any single Republican that has even suggested any investigation of Presidential misdeeds, corruption, prevarication, or incompetence.

As for myself, I began to detest, perhaps even hate, the President of our Country as a prevaricating, petulant, arrogant, war-mongering, ineffective President in favor of the wealth, the True Believers, and the sycophants, as early as 2000. My opinion has not slackened since, in fact, as Senator Robert Byrd once said, “I shudder for my country.”

So, for half the country that hates or detests George Bush, when did you know that he was a scoundrel? For, the other half, Rest in Peace as your country slides into rack and ruin.

Don’t worry, George doesn’t.