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For 8 Years, George Bush Turned America Into an Episode of Beverly Hills, 90210

By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real. Posted April 22, 2009.


In George W. Bush's America High, it was decided that the best way to deal with countries they decided were NOT cool, was to not talk to them.

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Remember high school? I sure do. For most, well-adjusted, average teens, high school was an emotional Gitmo. Four years of waterboarding, without the board, or the water. Instead we were doused with peer pressure and slammed against the false walls of equally false "popularity."

Of course there were those handful who loved high school. For them high school represented a high-water market in their lives. And for a handful of them it represented  THE high water mark of their lives. Never again would they be as popular, successful or powerful than they were as members of a high school "in-crowd."

For most of the rest of us it would take some 20 or 25 years, and a high school reunion, to discover how few of these former in-crowders had gone on to accomplish dittally-sh*t as adults. High school really was their high water mark. Sad. (Okay, not so sad.)

But, from time to time some of these high school hot shots rattles his or her way into positions of power and authority. Just how this happens remains one of life's enduring mysteries. But it happens, and that's exactly what happened with George W. Bush and his fellow in-crowders.

They ran America like it was America High for 8 years. And if you remember, Rule 1 of all high school in-crowds was to refuse to acknowledge the existence of those not "in," and that meant not talking to them.

And so it came to pass that in George W. Bush's America High it was decided that the best way to deal with countries around the world they decided were decidedly NOT cool, was to not talk to them. After all, it worked  for them in high school.

So it was decided that America High would be the head in-crowd nation and would talk only to nations the GWBers decided were cool. Likewise, as the head in-crowder, America High would be the one to decide who in the world was "in" and who in the world was "out." The slogan on America High's letterhead was changed to read, "You're either with us, or you're against us."

Among those the GWB crowd would not talk to were  Cuba and Venezuela. As for the rest of Latin America, the word went out, "hang around with those two lefty-loser countries and we won't talk to you either."

After all, we didn't want all of Latin America to become losers, geeks, nerds (aka, "socialists.") Toe the simplistic in-crowd line  –  "capitalism good... socialism bad" – or the phone line goes dead. ("No habla, no mas.")

Well, how did that work?

By 2006 the numbers of Latin American countries that had joined Cuba and Venezuela had mushroomed:

Latin America's Leftist Shift
"Within the last six years in Latin America numerous social movements have gained momentum in the fight for human rights, better living and working conditions and an end to corporate exploitation and military violence. Recently, left of center leaders have been elected in Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela. (Full)

Nice going, Bushie in-crowders. You hauty, holier than thou non-talkers managed to turn half of Latin America into Cuba.

"We had this debate throughout the campaign, and the whole notion was that somehow if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness — and the American people didn’t buy it," Obama said at a news conference following a weekend gathering of leaders from the Organization of American States here. "And there’s good reason they didn’t buy it, because it doesn’t make sense." (Full)

The GWB crowd's silent treatment wasn't restricted to Latin American. Nor was the damage.  They also decided that Iran, Syria and Hezbolla were also not speak-worthy nations.


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See more stories tagged with: torture, george w. bush, high school

Stephen Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, which was nominated for a Pulitzer.

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Nice article...
Posted by: bonapartist on Apr 22, 2009 2:39 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
.. but let me point out a few things as I see them (for as much as it's worth).

Bush didn't turn Latin America leftist, it has been brewing for the long time. He certainly speeded the process up but US policies, neo-colonialism, domestic corruption, and ruling oligarchies (among other things) are at the core of this political development from at least 1900s.

Secondly, I curious how many so-called progressives are against Bush's policies because they were immoral and unlawful and how many because they just didn't work. Methinks a large swat of current Obama supporters would cheer Bush to high heaven if performances like Fallujah massacre produced results.

Thirdly, it is rather amusing to see US right-wingers getting angry at Obama for talking to Chavez and company. He just did a common sense thing but I suspect the fact that Russia has an agreement with Venezuela also helped. To sum it up most of us in Europe don't see Obama as a miracle of change, his actions just prove his not stupid above average like his predecessor.

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Distractions from Daniel Ortega
Posted by: SeattlePackedSnowandCollidedCars on Apr 22, 2009 3:17 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
most will probably agree with Daniel Ortega. I don't get a hoot about Chavez because that guy can barley run a dictatorship correctly. Chavez needs to sale his oil to us to fund his silliness (however I go out my way to not fill up at Citgo).

As much good America does around the world for President Obama to just say "hey man I didn't do it" was deplorable after Ortega diatribe. Someone needs to remind Obama that the man won and its safe to tell someone like it is, Southside Chicago style whats is up.

Then again most will agree with Ortega however most just want some single payer heathcare and food stamps to shop at Whole Foods.

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No Dialogue, No Peace
Posted by: DrBrian on Apr 22, 2009 4:11 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It really is amazing that we as a nation, and especially our leaders and foreign policy intellectuals, don't understand what all non-personality disordered adults know from everyday life: you can't resolve problems with people if you don't communicate directly.

So much was made during the debates when Obama, to his credit, said that he'd meet the leaders of Cuba and Iran. The McCain camp and its media camp followers went ballistic. But as Churchill (no pacifist, he) said, "Jaw jaw beats war war."

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Talk is cheap, but war is expensive
Posted by: taxidriver on Apr 22, 2009 4:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Imagine being too weak to shake the hand of Chavez?

Shaking hands is just common courtesy and implies no ringing endorsement -- I for one think Obama showed strength in his willingness to shake hands.

Besides, if they had to arm wrestle, my money's on Obama.

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little georgie was told
Posted by: weathered on Apr 22, 2009 4:29 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
what to say and how to say it.

Focus on his handlers, he's simply a symptom of the disease that swept in a malignancy of ill will.

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I read the article
Posted by: colinmeister on Apr 22, 2009 5:05 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Because of the picture of Nelson Muntz by it on the main page. There was no mention of Springfield Elementary in the article, and that disappointed me. I suppose, in the end, Alternet got to "Ha-Haa" me!

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let's get our facts straight about the middle east
Posted by: jjaj on Apr 22, 2009 6:06 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Hezbollah did not take over the gaza strip. Hamas, a political party, was elected into power by palestinians who were sick of corruption and other problems with the america-friendly Fatah party, and political infighting between the two parties led to Hamas taking total control of the gaza strip. The militants firing crude home-made projectiles into Israel are sometimes affiliated with Hamas and sometimes with other parties.
Hezbollah, on the other hand, is a political party in Lebanon which gained more popularity and more power in the government after the war they fought against Israel in which the latter devastated the entire country of Lebanon. Sometimes the militants affiliated with their party also launch rockets into Israel.
However, being a political party with an armed wing in an Arab country does not make you interchangeable (even in sarcastic articles) with other political parties with armed wings in other Arab countries.
(you can learn these things by not sleeping through your high-school geography or global studies class...)

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Wonderful character analysis of "conservative" thought!
Posted by: luzmejor on Apr 22, 2009 7:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I've been noticing the prominent high school attitudes for a long time and began to think that higher-ups picked Bush because of those dumb ideas of his. He has even ruined the Christian message to "love your neighbor."

But remember, he didn't do this damage alone.

We are faced with the knowledge that either most of the population voted for him, or our election process has probably been permanently hijacked by the thugs.

I suspect that right-wingers are displeased that Obama is so immediately successful at cleaning up their messes, even though that's what they wanted to happen.

Once that is done, they'll try to take back the reins of government to rob us further of whatever gains we have made in the meantime.

Is anyone taking bets on how much of that clean-up work will be accomplished before wackos like Gingrich try to take over again to run the nation into the ground for the umpteenth time?

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All that talking...
Posted by: LaurelAnn on Apr 22, 2009 8:40 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Because, last November we were freed from them. We graduated. They haven't. They likely never will. Because, after all, who's going to want to talk or listen to any of them again any time soon. Or ever?

As for talking, Dick Cheney is doing a marvelous job of self-incrimination, and, yes, we're all listening. I guess since his "in crowd" tore the Constitution to shreds, he forgot about pleading the Fifth. Thanks, Dick, for doing all the work for the soon-to-be-appointed Special Prosecutor! And it's all on video, courtesy of Sean Hannity and Fox News!

Nice article, Steve. A fun read!

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Hezbollah is not a nation
Posted by: leighsure on Apr 22, 2009 5:12 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
and this was not a particularly well-written article. Anyway, Shrub did make it all the way to FratBoy and cheerleader. Gotta give him his due - in jail!

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Unfair to 90210 Kids
Posted by: hotdog on Apr 22, 2009 5:28 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Brandon, Brenda, etal did not discriminate against less "cool" kids. Initially the twins were less cool themselves, as were David and Andrea. And there were many poignant episodes with themes of inclusiveness.

The author would do well to seek a more appropriate analogy.

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