I don't care how brilliant his advisers and handlers may be or how much of his persona is manufactured, I can't imagine that anything could ever make me believe that this simpering and drooling "decider", this Commander-in-Chimp, is competent at anything at all or that he is capable of functioning at a level above that of an organ grinder's monkey.

All one has to do is hear monkey-boy speak without a handler (speechwriter) to know that he doesn't possess normal intellect. Do you know anybody else who speaks so stupidly so often? I can answer that for you.

No, whatever may be said about Rove and Cheney, the front man for the operation MUST BE a simpering, incompetent fool. Finding out otherwise would be more disorienting and surreal than The Twilight Zone.

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Sorry, but the message of competance just doesn't fly on this one. Bush is absolutely incompetant, and further, he isn't a conservative, rather a neoconservative with a whole new set of rules.

The author discusses all of the "feats" that Bush has "managed" to accomplish, such as pushing through the pre-emptive war on Iraq, tax cut for the rich during a time of war, domestic wiretapping, and a few other gems. Well...he didn't accomplish anything that anyone else couldn't have with the massive lies he has used to accomplish his "achievements." He betrayed the trust given him by the people of this country, plain and simple. He portrayed himself as a man of "God", boasting of his "faith" in Christianity, and duped the majority of "Christians" in this country. They gave their trust, he violated that same trust. His only accomplishment during his time in office is to have pulled the wool over his most trusted follower's eyes. Wow!!! What a remarkable accomplishment. Just one little thing...because he IS so inept, he has gotten caught on numerous occasions. What a genius.

Corporate profits...yeah, he helped the top 1/2% of the population the most, the top 10% sort of, but the rest of us have gotten screwed. So you might ask, how did he get elected twice? The answer...he didn't, not even once. He, with a little help from his oh so honest friends managed to steal two elections. And it appears he may be in the process of being caught on this also.

Bush, competant? I think not!!!

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But this is partly out of necessity. The historical record has been whitewashed, so you've stuck to that as it's been promulgated by the mainstream media. A closer examination reveals a far more dire state of affairs.

Conservatism is not really individualistic; it's monarchistic. The populace has a duty to the divinely-ordained sovereign, who has no obligations to them. Direct appeals to aristocracy are too anachronistic for any but Dominionists or Christian Reconstructionists. However, the indirect appeals to it play out in the general resurrection of the Führerprinzip in the guise of the "Unitary Executive," the wholesale giveaways of public assets and utilities to those within the financial aristocracy in keeping with "Those who own the country ought to run it," and wealth condensation policies in general. As for divine ordination, witness William G. Boykin's commentary. For the duty to the divinely ordained sovereign, witness patriotism and the President in a time of war.

Portraying such affairs as Katrina as mere malign neglect in turn gives the benefit of the doubt where it's undeserved. For instance, the ethnic cleansing of New Orleans via the Katrina evacuation turned a blue state red and thoroughly appealed to the Republicans' racist, reactionary base. "Starve the beast" is far too passive a stance to describe actual economic policy. For instance, every blue state pays more in federal taxes than it receives in federal spending, and overall blue states paid $193 billion more in federal taxes than they received in federal spending in 2001. Red states, on the other hand, received over $85 billion more in federal spending than they paid in federal taxes for the same time period. The wealth transfer extends far beyond this grim statistic to the orchestration of federal programs so as to prevent funding from finding its ways to "Democratic strongholds." The right-wing economic policy is more properly called economic warfare and destabilization.

Conservatism also entails belligerent militarism both at home and abroad. Political policing in the same vein as COINTELPRO is demonstrably ongoing, and less widely-accepted analyses indicate even more sinister developments (c.f. Wellstone, Carnahan). Iraq is not just a demonstration of power, or a porkbarrel project for military contractors, or a Cold War revivalist effort. It's all those things in addition to another instances of the worst offenses of the right wing. The Iran-Contra crew is back in the government. Death squad leader John Negroponte was made ambassador to Iraq; death squads are now operating in Iraq. Michael Ledeen, Montecarlo Comite member and Propaganda Due associate was involved in the drive for war via the Niger Yellowcake affair. Now the strategy of tension is in use in Iraq; "undercover soldiers" from the SAS were caught with carbombs and witnesses sighted American soldiers planting bombs in mosques.

Torture, despite feigned outrage, is another longstanding right-wing practice. Roberto "Blowtorch Bob" d'Aubisson and effectively all major torturers in Latin America were trained at the School of the Americas by US intelligence officers or soldiers. Far from milquetoast allegations of loud rock music, Koran desecration, or even drilled kneecaps coming out of Iraq or Guantánamo, the Latin American precedents are replete with tales of Green Berets dissecting live 13-year-old girls, real-life chainsaw massacres in Central and South American jungles, and Dan Mitrione's handiwork.

I've left out so much in the interest of brevity and in part out of resignation at ever being able to properly convey the sheer evil of the right-wing project that it does very little justice to the effort. The question, then, is how to convey the depth of this evil in the face of a literal alternate history and alternate reality so vigorously defended by those duped into believing in them.

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It all depends on the definition used for competent!

If competent is avoiding leading the nation into a trumped up war based on creating reasons therefore, he is incompetent.

If competent means a balanced budget and not pushing the national debt to epic proportions, he is incompetent.

If competent means upholding the constitution instead of calling it "just a goddamned piece of paper" and doing his best to destroy it, he is incompetent.

If competent means not providing tax breaks for corporate, big business, and the super rich at the expense of the less fortunate, he is incompetent.

If competent means not destroying the environment by trying to trash environmental programs, he is incompetent.

If competent means running an honest, non-corrupt, and capable administration, he is incompetent.

If competent means not alienating our friendly nations by his arrogance and "go it alone policies," he is incompetent.

If competent means not lying to the American people and trying to cover up his misdeeds, he is incompetent.

If competent means abiding by international law, not torturing prisoners, not sending them to other nations to be tortured, he is incompetent.

And it goes on and on....it all depends on the definition of "competent."

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You're wrong! Why OF COURSE Bush is a ROARING success!!


Let's look at what he and his administration have accomplished (and these figures are the exact figures from the President's own personal estimates):


Offense contractor profits up a zillion percent.

Offense contractor stocks up a zillion points.

GOP contributions (mob tribute) from offense contractors up a zillion percent.

Democratic contributions from offense contractors up a tenth of a zillion percent.

Oil prices and oil profits up a zillion percent.

Islamic Terrorism recruiting (and resulting endless source of patsies for BushCheneyCo terrorism against America and American citizens) up a zillion percent.

American goodwill throughout the world down a zillion percent.

American military casualties up a zillion percent.

Enemy military AND civilian causalties up a zillion times ten percent (but not sure on that; we don't count those, those lives are not important to the American scheme of things.)

Amount of innocent blood spilled to make BushCheneyCo richer; up a zillion percent.

Over a zillion dollars missing from the Pentagon.

Over a zillion dollars in reconstruction funds allocated by Congress missing in Iraq.

Over a zillion human beings worldwide afraid that the United States will attack Iran, and in doing so, start all-out WWIII nuclear war between a combined China and Russia against the US with resulting fallout, nuclear and economic.

Dollar value dropped a zillion percent against world currencies.

National debt increased by a zillion percent.

Bankruptcies and foreclosures and homeless; up a zillion percent.

Child school test scores; down a zillion percent.

Mainstream media journalists' fear at being fired for telling the truth; up a zillion percent.

Fear and mistrust of the US government throughout the globe; up a zillion percent.

Amount of votes not counted correctly in the 2000, 2002, 2004, and upcoming 2006 elections: a zillion.

Amount of likely anti-Bush legitimate voters turned away from the polls; up a zillion percent each election.

Amount of hatred worldwide for American People not rising up and removing their evil dictator; up a zillion percent.


Now anyway you look at it, that's some kind of success!


So god bless George Bush, absolutely and singlehandedly the most bestest and most successful and most decidingest US President EVER IN HISTORY.

Hell, the top leader in all of humankind, out of ZILLIONS.

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Two stolen presidential elections, Neocon agenda --- basically to turn our government from a democracy to The American Empire with tentacles into everything. Recent information posted on the Internet reveals that Western Union blocked a transfer of $100 from a man to his brother in another country for a cataract operation. The reason ? The US government has him on a watch list solely because his first name is Mohammed. The name Ahmed is on the same list. This government is incompetent? Certainly not. However, Bush is just the cheerleader. Cheney is the architect.

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If Lakoff had deleted the word "Bush" from his piece and substituted the word "Cheney" for it then he would be fabulously correct in his major thesis. Most of the successes and failures of the administration were created by Cheney with Bush merely playing the role of spokesliar but playing it quite successfully. The whole mafia gang headed by Cheney must be removed by impeachment/prison else the probability is that they will continue indefinitely to destroy democracy in America by creating a new spokesliar to replace Bush and a new criminal boss to replace Cheney.

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Honestly I don't care whether Bush is competent or not.
I look at what his administration has achieved : two wars, one legal (?) Afghanistan and quite unsuccessful at that. the other
one totally illegal, and dramatically murderous; the spread of hate the world over, abandonning civil rights in the States: we have just to remember the treament of Katrina aftermath.
Competency???? Creating debts for generations to come.
Competency??? Hum...

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Bush is a bumbling incompetent fool. Picocchio to Kark Rove's Guiseppi, a dog to Rove's Pavlov, need I say more?

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George Lakoff has a point, Bush's bumbling folksiness is part of his persona.

It lets an Ivy League educated, nillionaire, son of a of a fabulously well-connected family pose as an outsider in politics.

The Right has fallen for that, just as they had fallen for Lakish's concept that Bush is acceptable because he is successfully pushing their agenda.

Bush's ability to use the executive power to push the remaining Reagan agenda is the source of what little support he continues to have.

But as the Reagan agenda items are enacted, the remaining items become more extreme and there lies the rub for Bush.

He can continue to push the few remaining unenacted Reagan agenda items which appeal only to the extremist fringe of the GOP, or he can admit that he has run out of ideas and is an irelevant lame-duck.

Competent or not, Bush is out of gas.

Now is the time for the left to come back and start building its electoral base at the state level and use the state governments, the laboratories of democracy to test which programs work and to develop a national agenda for 08.

Robert Chapman
Lansing, New York

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We should be putting the onus where it belongs, on all conservative office holders and candidates who would lead us off the same cliff.

I think Mr. Lakoff is fundamentally wrong. The problem isn't with "office holders and candidates". We have two problems. One problem is that the corporate establishment has bought the Republican Party. The second problem is that the corporate establishment has bought the Democratic Party.

In the long run it doesn't matter much who the office holders and candidates are, nor which party they belong to. The only significance of an election is in the platforms of the parties. I believe that a strong non-partisan grassroots effort before the electiion can dictate the platforms of both parties. We can force one or both parties to adopt the majority side on issues important to the majority of the voters.

This is a radical solution and demands a belief in the radical idea that democracy is based on. That is, that government should be controlled by the people governed. The choice is between a government controlled by people of average intelligence or a government controlled by a mindless corporate establishment.

While this would seem to be a no-brainer decision it runs against a quirk in human nature. That flaw is that the averaage person firmly believes that he or she has far above average intelligence. We have been conditioned to believe that the masses should be governed by an intelligent elite. We average people with far above average intelligence identify with those who have proved their superior intellect by amassing wealth. It takes a leap of faith to put our faith in the ordinary citizen struggking to earn a living but that is the essence of democracy.

I believe that Lincoln's ideal "government of the people, by the people, and for the people" is the better way. If you agree consider joining The Lincoln Initiative. Click on A new idea

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How much intelligence does it take to follow the directions of people like Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove? That's all he does. He doesn't understand the economic theories they have him follow, or international relationships and diplomacy, or much of anything else.

There may as well be a hole in his back with Rove's hand in it.

Ian

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Let's just have a look at the facts.

1. BushCo. has started not one, but two wars: American soldiers killed in Iraq alone: 2500 +. Iraqi civilians killed: 100,000(?) We will be lucky to escape without witnessing another.

2. He has lowered taxes, especially for the rich. Mega-corporations are flourishing while paying shit wages and no benefits.

3. He has helped India on the road to a nuclear confrontation with Pakistan.

4. He has rolled back environmental standards while watching Big Oil gouge Americans over and over.

5. Initiated and perhaps completed the construction of PRISON CAMPS within our borders.

6. BushCo. managed to kill 3,000 Americans - successfully blaming it on radical Islam.

7. This administration has gotten away with any number of forms of eavesdropping on its own populace.

8. Minimum wage is still A FUCKING ABSURD $5.15/hour

9. He has managed to practically bankrupt the US - everyone should be most concerned with the fact that this admin. is actively seeking to break this country financially.

10. HE HAS MANAGED TO AVOID IMPEACHMENT FOR HIGH CRIMES WHEREIN CLINTON WAS IMPEACHED FOR GETTING A BLOW JOB IN THE OVAL OFFICE! NOW TELL ME WHICH PARTY AND ITS SUPPORTERS ARE INEPT AND INCOMPETENT!

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According to The Brad Blog, RFKJr (with others) is going to file a whistleblower suit against two voting machine companies.This is great news. Any strike against voter fraud is great news for the preservation of --no, make that return to -- democracy in this country.

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Arguing Bush's competence, I think, is missing the point. Whether he's the puppet of Cheney/Rumsfeld or actually the 'decider,' Lakoff is right in that the accomplishments that he lists for the Conservative agenda are real - they've already happened.

The point, as far as I'm concerned, is that we need to recognize that the problem Progressives face is not Bush himself, but the Conservative ideology that has led to enhanced power of the executive branch, stacking of the courts with conservatives, cutting taxes, increased military spending, corruption, etc. etc. We must not focus on getting rid of Bush - that's going to happen in 2007 anyway; we must focus on educating the public about what's been shown to be wrong with the Conservative's principles and policies, and get rid of the Conservative ideology.

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for incompetence the possibility that you and your opponent are not playing the same game.

Joe Fahy

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Whether you want to label him a moron or a sneaky little snake-in-the-grass posing as a good-hearted dummy, as far as I´m concerned, what we should be looking at are his results: A nation up to its ears in long-term debt, no public healthcare, where "freedom" and "human rights" have become hollow words in the Administration´s endless campaign to "take democracy to the oppressed countries of the world", which, instead of carrying out its stated aim, has served to provoke more violence and atrocities(not a few committed by our armed forces) and only achieved the disdain of most of the planet, for being a country that cares less and less for its own poor, let alone the poor of the rest of the world.

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Remember what the mother says about martial law in the original "Manchurian Candidate" when she tells her son about the plot to take over America? The plotters will do something that scares the American people into doing whatever they say needs to be done for security (in the movie, they assassinate the presidential candidate and set the dopey dupe VP candidate into office as President) ... and then what they do next will make martial law will look like a picnic.

Yes, in the movie, the plotters were Communists and they lost, but is there any fundamental difference between extremists who are so sure they are right that they feel above the law - whether the extremist is neocon, weatherperson, anarchist, communist, fascist, capitalist, unionist or any type of religious believer willing to kill to impose the belief?

No matter what their name or zealotry, the results are similar when extremists rig democratic processes, ignore laws that protect life, liberty and the planet, scare people into obedience and kill for their ideals ...while all the time justifying their entitlement to act unfairly, illegally and murderously with a self-righteous conviction that they - and only they - know what the world needs.

I have the same self-righteous conviction that my view of the world will save life on the planet... but so far, whenever I feel most strongly that I am right, others wrong, I've tried to remind myself that fairness, justice, the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions apply to me too.

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In contrast to many of the above comments, I just want to say thank you.

Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you.

I've been arguing the same point in my small circle since Katrina, as many around me cling to the false reassurance provided by the refrain, "he's an idiot, he's an idiot, he's an idiot."

My response is always the same: "He's a sociopathic frat-boy, not an idiot."

I wish more people would pay closer attention to his verbal missteps: he doesn't make them when speaking of unchecked power or cruelty. In contrast, he mispeaks when he's expected to show nuance or empathy, or when he's faced with criticism. Again: sociopath, not idiot.

I am astounded and horrified by the degree of this administration's success in implimenting their "vision" of America. And it horrifies me that so many of us on the left don't get that drastic changes will be needed just to begin to undo it, even after Bush is long gone, and irrespective of his successor.

To put it another way:
Every time an "ordinary" American looks to Katrina and concludes, "You can't count on the government," a neoconservative gets his wings.

So, again, thank you.

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Well, there is certainly merit in much of what this article explains, but it does absolutely nothing for the big knot in my stomach. That knot comes from too much political academics and too little political interaction. This nation was founded, built and strengthened as a result of the dynamics of two very different politcal philosophies with the usual result ending in working compromises. Sure nobody was 100% happy, but neither were there any terminally miserable people, like now.

In those good old days I served as an unpaid environmental activist/lobbyist that stood toe to toe with Congressional staff hammering out good law that in most cases had both strong conservative and liberal elements included, but well blended. Somehow, somewhere we progressives gave up, or went to sleep or got hooked on American Idol, whatever, we need to first regain a portion of the playing field, then fire up our previously well oiled activism and start wielding the hammer.

I will go one further, this nation was annealed by the heat and alchemy of conservatives and progressives hammering out good law. We have let neo-cons, big corporations and elected crooks take all of this away from us. We need to get back our dedication , rejoin the fight and then on some off day we can comtemplate the pros and cons of root political philosophies. Right now, we need tough bargaining and a unity of we-the-people if we are going to save this nation. If we don't rekindle the fire in the donkey's belly then the knot in my stomach and maybe yours will become a knot around our liberty.

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Yeh, he thought that was the door to the outhouse!!! He's competent alright!!!

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Lakeoff is right. The Incumbency has succeeded remarkably at pushing an old-fashioned neo-con agenda abroad, and enhancing a fascist agenda at home. Their greatest "competence" has been the nullification of the Bill of Rights and setting the stage for a police state when it all begins to fall apart.

The greatest lie they tell is that their foreign agenda will work. They're the most ruthless gang on the planet, and can and will prevail. BULLSHIT! Eventually they'll have to pull back, and We the People will pay the price.

Now here is the greatest indication of their incompetence:

They assume that they will be able to "manage" this population when it becomes a kind of Banana Republic. When it's about maintaining the comfort level of the very wealthy they serve, and suppressing our distress at being reduced to the status of feudal serfs. This belief, this mindset is the greatest indication of their pathology -- and their incompetence. This citizenry will awaken eventually, and will not submit. But by the time all of this happens, for reasons Lakeoff indicates, the situation will be very different than it is today. It will be messy, and dire, and tragic, and filled with death and dying and horror.

This doesn't have to happen. We don't have to remain in denial about what's going on. But we do need to create organization now with real potential to respond. We need either a Third Party or a Democratic Party that rejects the war. We need to reject Fake Activism that pretends to be about organizing, but only reinfoces the kind of distractive thinking that Lakeoff is trying to expose.

We need Moveon and Daily Kos to stop supporting candidates who accept the war -- or to move out of the way.

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But where does the responsibility belong for the direction of our government and society?

Of course with the people.

However, Americans have allowed the administration and Congress to do whatever they wish from corrupt elections in 2000, 2002 and 2004 to the War on Terror.

Americans, like pre WWII Germans, are the guilty party.

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Does it matter how we label it or whether Bush or Cheney is the mastermind of this administration's agenda and accomplishments in destroying this nation and Iraq and Afghanistan? Regardless of who you blame, the result has been a massive disaster. If you want, you can cut your fellow progressive's throat for disagreeing with you and saving the neocon's the bother. What is massively moreimportant is that this administration has destroyed virtually everything we held dear. Even worse, I'm pessimistic. The damage is irreversible. The important things are gone. The Constitution and Bill of Rights which are foundation of this nation are irreplacibly destroyed as it's place as the precedent of our laws and way of life has been replaced by the criminal Bush precedents.

Our financial might has been frittered away, embezzled, as Bush is responsible for trillions of dollars that no longer belongs to the American people, but is in the pockets of Bush and his crony crooks and corporate pals. If the amount had been billions, tens of billions, even a hundred billion we could have rebuilt, but we are missing several trillion dollars not only stolen by these crooks but simply wasted and pi$$ed away.

Our nation is fragmented by ideology as never before with deep, deep hatred on both side. Bush has succeeded in turning the red staters against the uppity, elistist, over-educated blue staters who want nothing more than to turn us in to a N---- nation, destroy our faith in God, and give our pure, blessed women to the N----s.

I don't think we can recover. The damage done is irreversible. The best we can do is go on from here, make the best of it, and start over with a new consititution. Will also have to rebuild the economy, but we will never again be the top as I think each nation only gets one chance at the top. It may well be that the United State of America will end up being a pathetic, impoverished, rundown, filthy little pig farming village on the Potomac with the absurdly pompous name.

Never the less, we must go on and do what we can to salvage what is salvageable and rebuild the rest. Unlike the Bush administration, we have an obligation to our children and future generations to try to build a future for them.

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Play Dumber than your Mark.

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He can't even get being form New England right.

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Manufacturing Hate

“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”--nursery rhyme. A new addition to the long list of hate words is accompanying the slaughter of women and children in “the war on terror”. The word is “Hadje”. The word is familiar to Scrabble players and means pilgrim to Mecca. It is supplanting “rag heads” for Arabs, and is a Moslem word with a religious connotations. The American Heritage Dictionary defines hadj -“the fifth pillar of Islam is a pilgrimage to Mecca during the month of Dhu al Quadah; at least once in a lifetime a Muslim is expected to make a religious journey to Mecca and the kaaba. For a Muslim the hadj is the ultimate act of worship. While the usual hate words used in wars by fascist invaders are racial in nature e.g. Kike, nigger, gook, slant, etc. and were products of Red Necks; the expletive hadj seems to have a more sophisticated origin that smacks of the crusades.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales advised the CIA on “permissible” torture techniques including humiliation and the events at Abu Graib as well as the throwing of the Koran in a toilet bowl at Guantanamo Bay indicate that the real reason for these torture techniques was not to gather information but were a deliberate attack on one of the worlds great religions. The double speak “war on terror” seems to have been designed to create as many terrorists as possible. It is important that we should understand the reason for this seeming insanity. The continued drive of this administration for more power to the administration, their drum beat of attacks on the Constitution, spying on Americans, and stealing elections indicates the direction they are moving. Bush’s spoken desire to become dictator was no joke. The “decider” is just another word for dictator. Benito Mussolini said: “capitalism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the marriage of corporation power and state power.”

Georgi Dimitroff called fascism “the open terrorist dictatorship of the most chauvinistic, reactionary, and imperialist sectors of finance capital”. If we take these two definitions at their face value we must recognize that by El Duce’s definition we are living in a fascist country now, (the corporations are certainly in charge,) and that it is moving in the direction of “open terrorist dictatorship”. The problem is that in order to implement dictatorship a would be Hitler has to have a prime target like the Jews. It seems almost obvious that the nature of the attack on the Moslem populations could fulfill this purpose. The “hadj” has become “the kike”. This also suit’s the Mossad and AIPAC who have their own reasons for selecting this particular group.

Another Reichstag fire like 9/11 is in the offing. War with Iran is a possibility but if it took place before the November elections it could prove disastrous for the ambitions fascists. The real danger is that it could come before the next general election in 2008 and might be the detonation of an atomic bomb in an American city. Sticks and stones can break your bones but some words can make you put your heads between your legs as you kiss your ass goodbye.

=========================

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Thank you, George, very much. As a Southern progressive/ex-fundie conservative, I have been saying everything you've said in this article for a long time--and louder, since Katrina hit. Conservatives simply do not have a vested interest in making sure government works. Thus, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion for me that in time of a disaster, with so-called "conservatives" in power, it *wouldn't* work. At the end of the day, we could also have a very good discussion about whether this President and his cronies are actually "real" conservatives--IMO, they are only "conservative" enough to keep the Christian Right following dutifully along behind them.

The jarring realities that have come to be since Bush took office (I won't say "elected in 2000," since he wasn't) in early 2001 beg a VERY interesting and important question. If the federal government in Washington plans to do nothing in support of the people, why the heck do "we the people" keep sending federal tax monies to them ??? In one sense, conservatives may be correct--I can think of a lot better things I could do with that money than paying to maintain the current cadre of soulless, amoral jerks sitting in our halls of power !!

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WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

CONDEMNATION IS SUPPORT

There really was a WMD (as in "Waives Matters to Dick") under all those Oval Office sofa cushions when "W" made that funny video for the 2003 White House Correspondents' Dinner. And it sure beat looking at all those silly pediatric amputee videos that the al-Jazeera correspondents brought -- especially on an empty stomach.

And there George also found George Lakoff so Lakoff could tell us -- sooner or later -- that George Bush is the "new" Inspector Cluseau -- not Steve Martin.

Because no matter how out of it or incompetent -- dare I say paranoid -- Dubya can be things always work out well in the end. No matter how bad George screws up.

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The good professor is over-focused. Mr. Bush's list of
"accomplishments" requires an ancillary list of "how to"
persons, places, and parties that made Bush possible.
Heres a partial one:
1. A sycophant media that has simply laid down in the face
of the single most sustained attack on the US Constitution in history.
2. A weak, ineffectual and incompetent Democratic party that has proven itself bankrupt, morally and spirtually.
3. A White House "spin" doctrine that has made greed the national purpose, and lying the national method.
4. A CIA chief, G. Tenant, who simply took Bush's policies and made them his own: gutting the Agency in the process. He was then forced out in good Benedict Arnold fashion.
5. A Vice President enforcer -who has simply bullied those in his way; insulted the American electorate; and who stands to profit in the millions from Halliburton contracts.
6. Tony Blair- the UK's "American poodle," who has provided cover for the failed Bush policys in Europe.
The list could be much longer but it helps prove that Bush is not Bush-instead he is a failed politico who has been helped at every turn by corruption, greed, spin and the Rich.

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How can you Americans allow yourselves to be taken in so easily? I read where your country was recently deemed most patriotic. Perhaps this is a partial explanation, as one of the dangers of being too patriotic is unquestioning faith and trust in leadership, which the immoral and self-interested can use to their advantage - just as you're experiencing now.

Most of those who post here and on other progressive sites seem to have a mind of their own - excepting the obvious neocon plants of course. If any of you actually believe(d) that the urgent current and building problems in your country are down to the incompetence of one pathetic puppet, you need to give yourselves a serious slap. You've been conned, and you had better learn from it . . . right now. November and 2008 are coming on strong.

Your misguided Bush is but a front man, and though likely no intellectual, he's obviously not stupid because he plays his role extremely well. No? Well he's sure fooled everyone who disregarded him as incompetent and, therefore, benign. The abbreviated list of the conservative advances the writer presents are more than proof enough.

It's not even a particularly complicated plan, so you can't take solace from that. They simply planted a calculated fool as a distraction to divert attention from what's really going on. And it worked, and is still working, like a charm - a vile, malignant, utterly destructive charm.

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Progressives would do well to follow the Lakoff lead and start viewing the successes of the Puppet Masters and not the failures of the puppet. The next puppet is already being groomed to continue the war on terror. They are creating a no lose situation in Iraq and if all you can see is a failed war, you are being rope a doped. Just you wait Henry Higgins; they will prove by 2008 that only they can fight the war on terror. If the democratic government survives in Iraq they win. If it takes a military dictator to control the violence they can spin the win.

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The tv persona of President Bush is a character created for the public. See the old video on the Net (I saw it on DU) from the early 90s where bush had no texas accent and used a ivy league vocabulary. You are looking at a character in a play. THe things you see on tv are not always real.

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He sounds like such a moron, I was actually fooled for a while.

But, for all of his apparent bumbling, halting idiocy, I have come to believe that George W. Bush knows exactly what he's doing. After all, there has always been heavy evidence that the attacks on Iraq were planned a long time before he even came into office. To achieve this goal, since he and his clan have no morality whatsoever, he stole both elections. He is now moving towards a war in Iran, for which he's progressively hinting at troops withdrawal from Iraq - whether they be "ready" or not. Iran was always the primary target anyway, for reasons strategical, political and ideological. The number of casualties, American and collateral, don't matter to him since as far as he's concerned, "the end justifies the means" - especially since he's not the one paying a personal price for the means. There is definitely a focused will at play here, as expressed by the kind of people he has surrounded himself with. Yale is not a place for idiots, even sociopathic demagogues who only sound like idiots. I no longer think he got there on connections alone.

American presidents can only do two terms. For the next time around, we must be wary of another one from the dynasty (his evil twin Jeb), or another one from the inner circle of war (Condi Rice).

Ann Landers used to say you can only be taken advantage of through your own permission. This applies to politics as well, since even with rigged voting machines an election can only be stolen if the American people are so passive and indifferent that they refuse to pay attention.

In Quebec, in the sixties there was a poet who once scrawled a graffiti that generated a lot of passion. It said "Aren't you fed up with dying, you bunch of morons?" What he meant is that most people are so much on automatic pilot 24/7 that they are no better than the living dead, and that they should wake up if they want to qualify as humans. This, too, applies here, as people have the democracies they deserve.

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Get real, America, and grow up. We the people are to blame for our national problems, not George W. We put him in the White House, not Karl Rove.

There were warning signs the size of Goodyear blimps about the dishonest kind of politician Shrub was, best described as a bullshit artist, but we stuck our heads in the sand and ignored them. Maybe not in 2000, but we damn sure did in 2004.

You didn’t have to be Einstein to figure out the Silver Star, Bronze Star with “V” and three Purple Hearts trumped a National Guard record full of holes, especially when one candidate refused to talk about his military service.

That brings me to the bogus Bush biography I found in February 2004, the main reason for this blog comment.

I made the discovery while surfing the Internet for dirt on Dub-ya’s ANG record. Brazenly the fabricated federal document claimed he had flown F102 interceptors almost six years when the actual time was just 27 months.

Even more incredible to me, the text had been published by the State Department on one of its websites, obviously by accident.

Amazingly, to my stunned surprise, there the phony bio was—bullshit posted in plain sight for the whole world to see. Everyone except the brain-dead media, that is. So to help spread the word, I called the Boston Globe. Impressed, it reported my finding the next morning, February 28, 2004, under the headline, “Bush Bio on Web Inflates Guard Service,” and credited me as the source.

But the story didn’t end there. On September 29, 2005, I scooped the lazy press again by finding a duplicate phony document on a website maintained by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

My first thoughts were, The White House had 19 months to sanitize the State Department websites and didn’t do it. No wonder Iraq and FEMA are screwed up!

This time, because the Scooter Libby perjury indictment in the CIA leak case buttressed my suspicion of White House skullduggery (an aborted scheme to hide Shrub's AWOL record), I notified the FBI.

Every freedom-loving American should know about the bogus Bush bio caper. For its message is painfully clear, as the deaths and wounding of more than 21,000 U.S. troops in Iraq shows. A president who lies about his military service to get elected will lie about anything -- "immediate" threats, so-called weapons of mass destruction, ties to Al Qaeda and a 9/11 connection.

Here’s the plain truth about Devious Dub-ya. Had we Americans known about his AWOL Guard history in 2000, he wouldn’t be our 43rd president. The election outcome that year was too close to call. Disclosing the real facts of his military record most certainly would have caused some of the 25 million veterans to switch their support to Al Gore, who served in Vietnam and won the Bronze Star.

Even so, despite Dub-ya’s ability to hide past transgressions, he still lost the popular election by 538,000 votes and only became commander-in-chief after winning Florida with a razor-thin margin of 537 ballots. A mere 300-vote swing would have made former Army Sergeant Gore the winner.

How many Republican enlisted personnel in Florida do you suppose would have supported Big Al instead of Shrub after learning he had gone AWOL during the Vietnam War. Three hundred? I’m guessing at least 10 times that amount.

To read the Globe article, learn other revelations about King George and his court of treasonous neocons plus enjoy some funny Bushwhacking illustrations, visit my website: www.FreedomCentralUSA.com.

Hugh E. Scott, author, investigative journalist, Vietnam veteran, ex-USAF pilot, lifelong registered Republican and Goldwater conservative with a family history of honorable military service going back to 1776.

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This piece is inherently flawed when it states that Boosh is pushing the conservative agenda. Perhaps the best example is the line, "...government's job is to defend the country's borders and police its interiors."

Boosh and his minions, (or vice versa, depending upon your perspective) have ended America as she stood for 200 years. Boosh IS INCOMPETENT. Boosh IS A MORON. Boosh has destroyed our country, destroyed the illusion of democracy, an illusion that we have lived under since the Reagan years.

Booshco has no intentions of controlling the borders, simply more illusion. If xx number of Mexicans can cross the border easily each day, don't you think that an occasional member of al-Qaeda could do the same? Boosh certainly hopes so, his poll numbers desparately need an attack. But, never fear, we'll send 6,000 National Guard troops down to "support" the border patrol agents. More illusion. Problem is, we can't find 6,000 healthy enough to go, most are off destroying either Iraq or Afghanistan or preparing to invade Iran and/or North Korea, the rest are missing a limb or two.

The traditional conservative agenda does not include running astronomical budget deficits and bankrupting us in the process.

Has the conservative agenda changed? Certainly it has. It has because the ignorant masses of brain dead Americans who have failed to pay attention to what is going on in this country and world, have purchased have swallowed the package of a few. Assuredly eliminating the middle class in the process, I might add. This includes conservatives and progressives, liberals; the whole lot of them. There's not a dimes worth of difference in the groups. Does that mean that Boosh is not incompetent? No, it simply means that the average American is much less competent than he is. And that, my friends, is sad.

We are well past the point of no return, so babble away about what we must do before the '06 election and the '08 election. It matters not who leads us into the future, because there is no future. We are bankrupt fiscally, morally, and every other way possible as we attempt to brand our form of "democracy" on the rest of the world. What a laugh. Democracy? Boosh couldn't spell it, in much the same way that he cannot pronounce "nuclear." Doesn't know there is a difference, nor care.

Calling Boosh competent is the equivalent of believing that the "Mission was accomplished" so many years ago."

Bullshit. Illusion. Whatever you want to call it. We are a fascist police state, becoming moreso each and every hour, and what once was America is not coming back.

Sucks, doesn't it?

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are focussing on everything we're SUPPOSED to.

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There is no way that the current right wing has a thing to do with conservative ideology. For example witness the expansion of the powers of eminent domain. Eminent domain is left wing far to the left of communism. Think about it. The government can snatch private property under the so called notion that it is better for the people if the property is put to other uses. Well guess what! It is not just your land and your home that constitute private property, Your money could also be swept up under the same logic. And when you get down low with this issue how far are we from allowing the law to be used from taking bodily organs under the banner of eminent domain? After all your kidney or your heart are also nothing more than private property.

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Can he lead his band of followers to destroy everything?

He has to look and act like them.

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Finally, someone else has noticed what I believed I saw a number of years ago.

Bush's bumbling is his essential con. The instant he has you thinking you are smarter than he is, he has won! Even his own mother describes him as, "Stupid like a fox."

And, yes, most of what is decscribed in the mainstream media as "incompetence" is clearly the desired result. Like Enron, where both the previously-illegal ability to manipulate futures prices in a no-longer "free" market and the mafia-style bust-out were clearly intended results.

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eom

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... about the Dubya's "competency", simpy watch this video clip.

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Dr. Who
"Full Circle"

Enormous poisonous spiders are eating the Alzarian food supply and a mythical time of terror is approaching. The Deciders implement a policy of ignorance on their people.

In the end:

"They asked me to stay on, you know -- be a Decider."

"You, a Decider?"

"Yes. I decided not to."

-- The Doctor and Romana

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Civil war in Iraq is the intended result. Spreading the war to all the neighboring countries is the intended result. Perpetual war for profit is the intended result. Bankrupting the country is the intended result. Using the "war on terror" as a universal excuse to strip away your rights is the intended result. Billions of dollars in profit for Halliburton.... oh that was just a happy coincidence. People make billions of dollars by coincidence all the time. NOT! It's the AEI and the PNAC. Visit the newamericancentury.org website if you have not already. It will explain everything you need to know about the "incompetence" of the Cheney, ur umm I mean Bush, administration. It is all intentional.

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I certainly see your point Mr. Lakoff and agree with your suggestions. I plan to avoid the incompentence argument and will try to shift such conversation away if possible, thanks for the several tips.

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I am going to go troll the neoconservative right that dominates my religion, much to my dismay, with this article. They despise me. Oh well.
I have never seen the neoconservative agenda so neatly outlined. Wonderful writing. And I have never seen the progressive cause so clearly stated. Thank you. Now I am quite sure what I am: a progressive. The radical right loves to label me a radical leftist. Well, I can throw it right back in their face now with this flame of an article. It will fit in my flame thrower quite well. Yay!

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I think the author of this article is dead-on in some ways. It may not be that Bush is such a dolt but that the policies behind some aspects of conservatism need redevelopment in the light of a better political philosophy. There can be no such redevelopment of liberalism and the Democratic Pary. What can you say about a party that favors fudge packing and is consequently, indirectly responsible for the deaths of millions via AIDS? I think I'll go marry my dog in protest.

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He IS a moron. No president of the U.S. would ever be caught making such a facial expression. What he is doing is subconsciously displaying what's going on in his mind. It's not a pretty picture because this (insert multiple adjectives of your choice) is an incompetent human being.

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George Lakoff's otherwise good article is wrong in its main point, I think. Bush has a banal, narrow and arrogant mind. The policy successes which are listed are the instigation and design of Cheney with the help of Goebbel's bastard child (Rove) and the financially benefiting corporate media. Even at that none of this would have been possible without 911 and the ensuing fear mongering.
The man cannot form a coherent sentence in his mind let alone speak one without the aid of a speechwriter, teleprompter, and a lot of practice. Can anyone realistically make the case that when Bush talks off-the-cuff that his insights surpass that of the average 6th grader?
No, we should not give him credit where it is not due.
I do think that he is not so mentally deficient as to escape criminal prosecution.
Impeachment, removal from office and trail for treason.

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I refrain normally from making ad hominem remarks, particularly when engaging with individuals who are clearly not playing by any set of rules that includes a spirit of true sportspersonship. The gloves are off, however; you are a moron and no I am not a "dyke" or a "lesbian" and yes, I am a heterosexual and know that the NSA is not unlikely to be monitoring this board, or my own personal, er "formerly personal" cyber correspondence. Before you take another shot please also note that I weigh 110 pounds, am 5'1 3/4" of an inch tall and I can drop an unwilling 240+ pound man and also a willing nineteen year old male contender (kickboxing). I cheated and was wearing brand new pointy-toed black cowboy boots MADE IN TEXAS, a state wherein only one city allows a free-thinking individual to not go immediately insane. I bought the boots with student loans that I am currently paying back via automatic withdrawals from my exceedingly meager savings account, which is fed by a salary earned in a state university that has been absolutely GUTTED by Conservative morons. I'm the kind of "doctor" who is not chasing dollars and I have friends who ARE medical doctors AND (shhhhhh.....) socialist sympathizers! Imagine that - or can't you? Oh, and the heavy dude I kicked underneath the patella and dropped to the floor - the one wearing the shiny blue acetate "Buffallo Bills" jacket after the Super Bowl in Atlanta, back in the times of our Commander in Chimp's Daddy (Who Bought Him the Election and all of his degrees and a Get out of Vietnam Free Joke Card that was honored anyway) at a bar I won't name because he made an unprovoked ad hominem attack (twice); he called me the favorite Conservative "C" word for liberal women who subscribe to the theory that all people on this alarmingly too warm for our current collective and future good of planet Earth, including those who, as the fossil record indicates, preceded us and also Adam and Eve (pre and post-lapsarian) and also Adam and Steve - the lost testament) are entitled to all of the rights and dignities the Founding Fathers of this nation saw fit to identify in our ORIGINAL un-Conservativized Constitution.

Happy Fourth of July!!! I am going to scream "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore," a hellavu sweet liberal DECLARATION (Network, (1976), at the top of my lungs at the stroke of twelve and I hope that my senator, Russ Feingold, for whom I voted in the last Big Election (see theft of election, above), and for whom I would absolutely vote again if he were to run for President (and would be willing to be adamant about restoring sane policies for everyone who lives in this nation, not just the idle rich and yes, he can and should consult with me on a regular basis). I'm not leaving. I am going to fight for true social justice the way I was raised to fight - fairly. However, sometimes a moron is just a moron, and sometimes "gasp" those who have the resources and power to advance an agenda that serves only an elite few, rather than as a true democracy, are operating by a set of moronic, self-serving principles that they've hoodwinked the masses (largely via nefarious propagandistic reinforcement using the Holy Patriotic Trinity as symbols of said moronic agenda, because neither Lincoln (who was a true Republican and not a neo-con gag-store wind-up knock-off trust fund model), nor Jesus, who was a radical Jewish hippie, would, as George Carlin, has noted with respect to J.C., whose Daddy is not officially partisan, "would never stop throwing up."

I am now ready for the guillotine.
Come and get me! (I am also British, French, Scots-Irish, English and German-American, but that information exceeded the length parameters for the title.)

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"Had Bush actually been incompetent, he would have never been able to lead us to war in Iraq. Had Bush been incompetent, he would not have been able to ram through hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts. Had Bush been incompetent, he would have been blocked from stacking the courts with right-wing judges."
Do you really assume that only competent people can lead us into war? Or that only competent people want war? Or that he was so clever to get the war approved by competent people?
(Please tell me who those competent people are.)
From your statement above it seems that , if you are able to snow other people, you are competent.

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It's not Bush the man who has been so harmful, it's the capitalist agenda. The very same agenda that all capitalist parties implement when in office. The capitalist Democrat's philosophy also believes government's positive role in people's lives outside of the military and police should be minimized; the President is the moral authority; and free markets are enough to foster freedom and opportunity. Or was I asleep when the Democrats become socialist? When I brought up this argument on Daily Kos I was banned. Not only did they ban me but other Daily Kos bloggers were blacked from putting comments on my dairy entries.


http://www.dailykos.com/user/carlwebb

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...because I don't think he has a goal. It doesn't mean I don't oppose or take him seriously, but yes, he is incompetent. I don't think he has a particular vision...sure, enabling his oil buddies and perhaps chaos in the Middle East, but even then, I don't think he foresaw the Civil War breaking out in Iraq....and certainly not the breaking of the levees. That to me is incompetence.

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For most of the last 6 years I have been trying to tell my friends that George W Bush is not the lightweight fool they think he is. His inadequate command of the English language and strong tendency to smirk at inappropriate moments lead many to believe him stupid. I believe it is not stupidity that he suffers from but rather hubris and woeful (and wilful) ignorance. The same comment goes for his team and major supporters. I have sadly watched Bush and friends lead the USA not merely towards the Right but towards the Reich and away from the "freedom and democracy" so beloved of the speech-writers. Where I am it is already evening on 4th July. I sincerely hope that "the people"of the USA will reclaim their great Constitution before it is too late.

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It is not due to a moral philosophy that the administration fails to recognize the validity of global warming, or dismantles regulatory bodies that protect the environment. It is a simple exercise in "takings", as the "conservatives" out here like to call it.
The current regime is engaged in a sophisticated set of wealth transfers, which we will be paid for over decades if they are successful. Call it a liquidation of assets if you will. The problem is that the assets they are liquidating rightfully belong to the people and the planet.
Cut n' run is an appropriate battle cry for the "conservatives" It is exactly what they propose to do to the nation and planet.

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If this is this revered mainstream Democrat oracle's idea of deep wisdom. . . wow!

Everybody knows the Bush _team_ is more-or-less competent, and everybody also can see that Bush himself is a moron. D-u-h-h-h!

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Re absolutely nothing discussed here, but how many of you know that Foxxy, el Presidente of Mexico is Jebbo's brother-in-law and if you do how many times have you seen it? I saw it once early on before his selection and in spite of a close news watch that was the only time. Remember Georgie Porgie spent all those taxpayer dollars to fly to Mexico after his selection to gloat and have a photo op stroking the horses nose? And did you see the arrow showing Buskie which end to pat? He is so closely identified with the other end Rove was taking no chances

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HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYBODY!!
GOD BLESS AMERICA: LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BRAVE!!

STOP IT!! I CAN HEAR YOUR LAUGHTER FROM HERE.

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I'm not yet caffeinated.

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It was noted Ronald Reagan suffered from senile dementia during the '84 election campaign, but only a gerontogist knew enough to warn the world on the BBC that summer. The message did not get through to Americans, and Reagan was handily reelected!
George W. Bush is making the same errors of syntax and style in his speeches that Reagan made, and no one notices the similarities. Fifty or sixty is not too young for an Alzheimers diagnoses. But why switch horses? Dick Cheney is past his sell-by date, and thanks to the evil minions of medical science is still wasting space on this side of the veil of tears . I consider that as ample proof that God also is not up to the job, or not on the job altogether!

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The lesson I took from the good doctor's article is that it is an error on the part of progressives to talk about incompetence as the driving reason to get rid of the neoconservatives.

Why? Because it steals the thunder from a much more potent argument for ridding our government of their ilk: that their world view - a narrow-minded, fear-mongering, short-sighted, profit-driven, religio-fascist mindset that takes its cue from the Divine Right of Kings - has set America way off its original course.

A couple of instances:

Our democracy is being undermined and our citizens lied to, because the people running our country have no real respect for regular Americans. Our job, in their eyes, is to accept the word of our Great Leader as gospel truth. This is the father-knows-best mindset that is a foundation of their faith. Or what they like to call "top-down democracy" because they never cared that democracy is always from the bottom up. But they sure liked the throwing the word around.

The social bonds that hold us together as a nation are under constant attack - programs wisely put in place nearly 100 years ago to assure that every citizen gets a fair chance at a decent life. Trying to privatize Social Security, ramming through pro-business laws on healthcare and the environment, and selling off our shared national resources make perfect sense from their point of view - that anything not involved with military investment or profit-driven endeavors is out of the pervue of the federal government and should be left to charitable organizations. That means you dipping into your already depleted savings.

From their view on taxes (a "burden" to the business and investor class, best left to be borne by the workers) to their view on labor (that a job is a gift given by the employer, so stop complaining about poor conditions and low wages), this is perfectly aligned with the way they think about governing.

Arguing that GWB is a bumbling incompetent with only a fair grasp of the language that has screwed up at every opportunity may make us feel better in our shared misery, but it does nothing to help others understand the deeper, flawed approach to life that drives their policy - a policy that Dr. Lakoff rightly points out has been rather successful.

The message we should be articulating is that they don't care a whit about democracy if it gets in the way of their goals; that in a choice between corporate profits and the rights of average citizens, profits win every time; that, in their view, our job is to serve at the pleasure of our political and corporate masters; that they have stolen every symbol, both political and religious, and sullied their good names in what has so far been a successful attempt to manipulate the political discourse in this nation; that these people are, in fact, fascists in everything but name. The name they have stolen these days is "Republican". Lincoln must be turning in his grave.

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He was born in Maine, and educated at Yale, an institution that doesn't have a remedial reading program. He might not be an A-student, but he's an intelligent and arrogant enough butt-hole for his handlers to prop up as the commander-in-thief over a nation who thinks Larry the Cable Guy is really a bumbling idiot employee of some communications company.

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is to be a human Pinata. He swings from a string while getting bashed as the court fool for Cheney, and the rest of the lovable PNAC crowd.

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It is almost pointless to argue whether Bush is compentant or not. Are the democrats any better than the republicans? This two party system has led to the degradation of politics in what is supposed to be the most open and free society on the planet. Sure we have the power to vote, but any vote to keep any of these politictians in office are misguided. These circuses that our electoral process has become is just another distraction keeping our minds focused everywhere but the true issues. Our foreign policy is a joke. It is just an arrogant, self-righteous slap in the face to the rest of the world condemning all those who don't agree with our "values" which conservatives might call freedom, democracy, or any other well packaged word used for propganda these days. Both parties are backed by corporate interests, who also control the media, who know hold our democracy hostage. Everyone always pits one side against the other. Republicans against Democrats, conservatives against liberals. Whatever happened to freethought? Since when were we supposed to bow down to a government that systematically disregards the will of the people to further its own agenda to grow in both size and influence, and put the peoples' freedoms in peril? The lesser of two evils is not a choice. The Miss America pagaent is decided between 50 candidates, yet the highest office in our government, the protector of the constitution is supposed to be decided between only two candidates? The fact of the matter is that people may have stopped thinking for themselves sometime ago. This society has become too entrenched in entertaining themselves than to discover the truth. Just watch the evening news if you doubt any of this. Human interest stories, new epidemics with a 97% mortality rate like SARS, or some other equally assinine waste of time diverts our attention from who we have elected, and how they are wasting our hard-earned money which we fork over to the year after year. The government is supposed to be the servant of the people. Our tax dollars should be trying to fight off hunger and poverty in our own country. A minimum wage job is not going to support a family, but thats all we can get because all of the higher paying manufacturing jobs are being sent overseas. War on terror? Please, I might just defecate a brick if I hear those words again. The true terrorists reside in elected office, lining their own pockets while serving corporate America's greed. Oil companies are making record profits while we get raped at the pump. The government funded technolgy for alternative fuel vehicles 40 years ago, yet they insisted on pushing their earth-raping SUV's by the truckload on the American public. And now the US auto manufacturors are pushing ethanol onto people which is equally expensive as traditional gasoline. The freedom of speech enables me to say these things, but Big brother probably has nothing better to do than to read these posts. Heres an message to the government as well as the NSA or whoever is in charge of reading through this to find potential threats.
(to be continued )

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(continued)

Get the hell off the internet and try to do something productive for a change. I work for a living and go to school, yet you get paid to surf the web. give me a break. we pay your salaries, we fund your intelligence, stop bothering us and go out there and try to figure out a way to get our troops out of that futile situation in Iraq. Every news article about murdered civilians, torture, secret prisons, and profiling against all people from the middle east, is just fueling the rage of jihadists everywhere. Iraq is now a successful breeding/training ground for young insurgents to practice. The globalization that you thought could make your puppet masters more money can also be used against you. Jihadists ideologies can spread because you give them more reasons every single moment you occupy a sovereign nation that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. No matter how you skew your words, no matter how much propoganda you spread, it will come to bite you in the ass once the people
realize how you lie to them. Even in your own country this threat does not escape you. All you are doing is trying to contain a movement of freethought, of people beginning to find their voice and speak out against the oppressive regime that runs our country. We know that you fear what you can't control. True revolution is not always waged with guns as your narrow-minded worldviews might lead you to believe. What is happening is enlightenment, people realizing that they are not sheep. Shame on you for thinking that because you have the power to tax/the power to destroy, that you can ever control what we believe. Some of us can see past your lies and will never believe another word you say unless it's we made a mistake, or we overstepped our bounds."

But they most likely already know all of this. They just completely disregard all logic because they profit from war, off of our fear. I think Jon Stewart said it best, "If con is the opposite of pro, then isn't congress the opposite of progress?"

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I've been reading about the history of conservative thought, from Edmund Burke on, and I wouldn't call any of the above policies "conservative." They don't "conserve" anything; they do not express the traditional fears and desires of the Old Right. The term "neoconservative" works better, in part because it's an oxymoron, in part because it distinguishes contemporary policies from classic conservatism, which wanted to retain fixed social hierarchies, prevent "leveling," and honor hereditary privileges, etc. Calling the Bush administration "conservative" is both inaccurate and a kind of flattery, in that it confers a respectable mantle upon a bunch of harebrained, reckless, short-sighted policies. Professor Lakoff has proposed that we fight more of a verbal war with the Bushies; I'd start by renaming their agenda as extremist, right-wing, etc.

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to his class. I think it is important to understand that class identity is very important to the ruling class. As the now beatified Warren Buffet stated after the last Presidential election..."the class war is over...and my class won.." Almost entirely, working and middle class people reject the notion of class identity and therefore its goals and aspirations. It doesn't seem very sexy to identify as working class and most of those in this range reject this appellation and consider themselves 'middle' or even 'upper-middle'. Americans have been conditioned to extol their aspirations over their reality to the point where there is a near total disconnect. Without economic equality, there is NO equality.

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This is absolutly a startling description of the changes that emerged in the US since 9/11 which proved to vindicate what the writer is enumerating with lugubre consequences for the middle america and as well as creating a vast underclass of more poors, illegal immigrants. Meanwhile all recycling jobless stunted white americans whipped out by the dramatic marche of global markets that have seen the largest lost of jobs and replaced by wallmart or other low cost jobs. All of this with job advantages that can fit in a single page in contrast to old contracts hammered by strong unions of the past. By the way, my conclusion about the democrats is that if they want to foresee a chance to recover the power after all these years of Bushism, it will have to change and adapt to fight the bush policies and respond to the change in the society with their own sets of radical views and not counting on a middle class revolte or surfing on a imaginary liberal big wave afterward. No, they absolutly have to recapture the middle class necessary for a win in 08 by doing exactly what the republicans are producing so well by empowering individualism so well. New conservative policies that actually surrender more decision power to all the citizens but not everyone can manage actively a health care plan or a IRA with hope of bearing fruits to ripe at the end. Most of the people doesn't have the minimum education to fructify a portfolio like many university educated americans that now vote Bush. So get the dems reinventing themselves with a new social American dream for the 21st century as they did so well with the newdeal in the 1920s rather then practicing extensive self-derision because help is needed in the bottom of the american dream.

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I've been saying for the past 20 years that the only way Democrats will EVER get my respect is if they are to stand up for the convictions set forth by the liberal wing of the party. You cater to the center and you get very little if next to nothing. The Democratic party will not prove itself in anyway if it does not assume a liberal position on all of the issues of the day and even if the party were to go down to defeat at LEAST those on the right and even center would respect the Democrats for sticking to a position and not waffling. The only way to defeat conservatism is with liberalism. The liberals of the Democratic party must lead the party and reframe the debate. Taxation of the rich and wealthy is good and progressive. Decriminalizing marijuana is positive and generates revenue for Uncle Sam. Insisting upon environmental safeguards as the ONLY method for countering the effects of Global warming. Enacting new federal environmental legislation penalizing industries that continue to pollute without fear of punishment. Enacting new federal mandates raising the average mile per gallon for vehicles to a MINIMUM of 40mpg (IN THE CITY, no less!!)
Enacting SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE legislation for the entire country!! Enact federal legislation regulating the country's energy industries. How Enron could be allowed to rape California and other states is unconscionable. There's more to be done but for starters, what I've just laid out, is a solid, progressive and liberal platform that the Democrats MUST support if they are EVER to have my vote. Government IS the solution for a country that's on the decline. Otherwise, the Democrats prove themselves to be worthless and merely a pathetic voice allowing the Republican party to destroy this country's social and economic fabric with its destructive political thinking.

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He managed to violate the Constitution without reprecussions, even Clinton couldn't do that. The administration violated the 1st Amendment by caging peaceful protestors, and pressuring Amazon to drop the book "America Deceived" by E.A. Blayre III. They violated the 4th Amendment by illegally spying on every phone call. They violate the entire Constitution by starting 2 illegal wars and conducting a false-flag operation known as 9/11.
Support indy media, like AN.
Last link (before Google Books breaks to administration pressure):
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/
book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0

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It takes quite a bit of genius to pull something like this off!

MUST READ.

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I DON'T CARE WHAT ELSE IS TRUE, BUSH IS A MORON.
Posted by: ssegallmd on Jul 3, 2006 12:51 AM

Bush IS Incompetant!
Posted by: aussidawg on Jul 3, 2006 12:52 AM

Bush is incompetent
Posted by: robchapman on Jul 3, 2006 5:13 AM

I disagree - he's an idiot
Posted by: Ian MacLeod on Jul 3, 2006 6:02 AM

Superficially evilly competent but deeply incompetent
Posted by: daw13 on Jul 3, 2006 7:02 AM


And yet the Democrats are totally out of power while Bush is totally in power. I love the logic. Love it!

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George W. Bush is a competent crook. Democrats are the new conservatives. Republicans are now the revolutionary party. Their revolution leads to Calvin Coolidge without the fiscal responsibility...........

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A lot of sound and fury in the comments here. The author got just what he he aimed for, immediate reader response and that is good. Now, I wonder how many of us will remember our points and counter-points when we are at the polls this Fall and again in 2008? This is where we put our passions to work for all of us.

VOTE, and make sure everyone around you who is eligible gets registered and votes. If in voting things at the polling place look out of order or suspicious, holler your head off. Yes, that takes courage, just like those who started this great nation. Don't let them down by wimping out.

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What the Bush team has done is enhance the power/wealth of their own power base: corporations, religious fundamentalists, rightwing talk radio, etc. It's at the expense of the electorate but, hey, most people do not vote anyway.

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The Republicans are now a party of the Radical Right.

The Democrats are the true conservative party.

It is a measure of the general cluelessness of the American Left that it still insists on a hopelessly outdated political schematic:

Democrats = Liberal
Republicans = Conservative

failing to take into account the considerable and persistant shift to the right by both parties since Reagan.

The New Deal is long over, folks! There is no liberal party anymore.

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okay, there does at least seem to be agreement that when it comes to things like completing a real sentence, thinking on his feet, and in general carrying himself the way adults are expected to, the person referred to in the title of this thread *IS* incompetent.

...this IS an obvious deficiency, and i claim it IS as good a place as any to begin picking apart the force which is causing so much atrocity and destruction. i have found that it really *IS* obvious to most people that you SHOULD reject the ideas and promises of know-nothing liars, AND the groups or "coalitions" that they represent.

people do get caught up in their own lives. so it IS (unfortunately) necessary to remind, and re-remind, and re-re-remind people that when some IDIOT talks about "putting food on your family", when some ASSHOLE goes in public and tells people to "fuck off", ... you DO NOT take these people seriously, you DO NOT support or help their causes, you DO NOT keep them around longer than you have to.

in short, i think most people do realize that leaders who display inarticulateness and face-value lack of focus are bad news. so the "incompetence" isn't just a smoke-screen, it's a legitimate point of attack.

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My way of saying this is "there is no Bush," since I stopped apologizing for G.W. Bush being from my home state, after the first election blew my "how could anybody possibly vote for such an obvious failure" miscalculation out of the water.

The Burning Bush leading the current conflagration is not a man but an abstraction, an agenda constantly being co-created by a group of power/wealth developers able to accrete power by being in service to this Idea which demands that it be called "conservatism" while making huge changes which abolish most traditional views and values (other than the accumulation of power, which is one of the most basic), departs dramatically from a style of presentation that is either traditional or restrained, and casts moderation and caution into to the dust.

Venting spleen on a particular man, presented as a fool and therefore basically harmless or forgiveable, diverts attention from the center of power acutally moving the agenda forward with amazing effeciency. Allowing frustration to be released it thereby reinforces the screen that prevents clarity from exposing the ravenous consumption of life and resources in progress.

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