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| Is it time to make noise, kick and scream, or quietly discuss the destruction before us? |
| Kick and scream! |
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40% |
[ 2 ] |
| Nah, things'll change with some gentlemanly chat. |
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40% |
[ 2 ] |
| Like it matters... |
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20% |
[ 1 ] |
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| Total Votes : 5 |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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 Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 7:41 am Post subject: AN APOLOGY FROM A BUSH VOTER |
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For those who think saying Bush is an idiot, the worst president ever is rabid, crazy talk:
http://www.kabc.com/mcintyre/listingsEntry.asp?ID=432586&PT=McIntyre+in+the+Morning
| Quote: |
AN APOLOGY FROM A BUSH VOTER
By Doug McIntyre
Host, McIntyre in the Morning
Talk Radio 790 KABC
There�s nothing harder in public life than admitting you�re wrong. By the way, admitting you�re wrong can be even tougher in private life. If you don�t believe me, just ask Bill Clinton or Charlie Sheen. But when you go out on the limb in public, it�s out there where everyone can see it, or in my case, hear it.
So, I�m saying today, I was wrong to have voted for George W. Bush. In historic terms, I believe George W. Bush is the worst two-term President in the history of the country. Worse than Grant. I also believe a case can be made that he�s the worst President, period.
In 2000, I was a McCain guy.
///
Then September 11th happened. September 11th changed everything for me, like it did for so many of you. After September 11th, all the intramural idiocy of American politics stopped being funny. We had been attacked by a vicious and determined enemy and it was time for all of us to row in the same direction.
And we did for the blink of an eye. I believed the President when he said we were going to hunt down Bin Laden and all those responsible for the 9-11 murders. I believed President Bush when he said we would go after the terrorists and the nations that harbored them.
I supported the President when he sent our troops into Afghanistan, after all, that�s where the Taliban was, that�s where al-Qaida trained the killers, that�s where Bin Laden was.
And I cheered when...
Then, the talk turned to Iraq and I winced again... ...I was worried though, because I had read the Wolfowitz paper, �The Project for the New American Century.� It�s been around since �92, and it raised alarm bells because it was based on a theory, �Democratizing the Middle East� and I prefer pragmatism over theory. I was worried because Iraq was being justified on a radical new basis, �pre-emptive war.� Any time we do something without historical precedent I get nervous.
But the President shifted the argument to WMDs and the urgent threat of Iraq getting atomic weapons... ...I grew up in New York and watched them build the World Trade Center. I worked with a guy, Frank O�Brien, who put the elevators in both towers. I lost a very close friend on September 11th. 103 floor, tower one, Cantor Fitzgerald. Tim Coughlin was his name. If we had to take out Iraq to make sure something like that, or worse, never happened again, so be it. I knew the consequences. We have a soldier in our house. None of this was theoretical in my house.
But in the months and years since shock and awe I have been shocked repeatedly by a consistent litany of excuses, alibis, double-talk, inaccuracies, bogus predictions, and flat out lies. I have watched as the President and his administration changed the goals, redefined the reasons for going into Iraq, and fumbled the good will of the world and the focus necessary to catch the real killers of September 11th.
...and any commander who did not go along with the administration was sacked, and in some cases, maligned.
It was the wrong course. All of it was wrong...
The liberal media didn�t create this reality, bad policy did.
//
After five years of carefully watching George W. Bush I�ve reached the conclusion he�s either grossly incompetent, or a hand puppet for a gaggle of detached theorists with their own private view of how the world works. Or both.
Presidential failures. James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, Jimmy Carter, Warren Harding-� the competition is fierce for the worst of the worst. Still, the damage this President has done is enormous. It will take decades to undo, and that�s assuming we do everything right from now on. His mistakes have global implications, while the other failed Presidents mostly authored domestic embarrassments.
//
And speaking of domestic embarrassments, let�s talk for a minute about President Bush�s domestic record. Yes, he cut taxes. But tax cuts combined with reckless spending and borrowing is criminal mismanagement of the public�s money. We�re drunk at the mall with our great grandchildren�s credit cards. Whatever happened to the party of fiscal responsibility?
Bush created a giant new entitlement, the prescription drug plan. He lied to his own party to get it passed. He lied to the country about its true cost. It was written by and for the pharmaceutical industry. It helps nobody except the multinationals that lobbied for it. So much for smaller government. In fact, virtually every tentacle of government has grown exponentially under Bush. Unless, of course, it was an agency to look after the public interest, or environmental protection, and/or worker�s rights.
...a cavalier attitude toward fundamental freedoms-- this President has run the most arrogant and out-of-touch administration in my lifetime, perhaps, in any American�s lifetime.
None of this, by the way, should be interpreted as an endorsement of the opposition party. The Democrats are equally bankrupt.
//
We�re being governed by paper-mache patriots; brightly painted red, white and blue, but hollow to the core. Both parties have mastered the cynical arts of media manipulation and fund raising. They�ve learned the lessons of Watergate and burn the tapes. They have learned to divide the nation for their own gain. They have demonstrated the willingness to exploit any tragedy for personal advantage. The contempt they have for the American people is without parallel...
...This is painful to say, and I�m sure for many of you, painful to read. But it�s impossible to heal the country until we�re willing to acknowledge the truth no matter how painful. We have to wean ourselves off sugar coated partisan lies.
With a belated tip of the cap to Ralph Nader, the system is broken, so broken, it�s almost inevitable it pukes up the Al Gores and George W. Bushes... ...but is basic competence and simple honesty too much to ask?
So, accept my apology for allowing partisanship to blind me to an obvious truth; our President is incapable of the tasks he is charged with...
Does this make me a waffler? A flip-flopper? Maybe, although I prefer to call it realism. And, for those of you who never supported Bush, its also fair to accuse me of kicking Bush while he�s down. After all, you were kicking him while he was up.
You were right, I was wrong. |
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Nowhere Man
Joined: 08 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 8:17 am Post subject: ... |
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For the record, this comes after a whole string of "progressives" who quit "the democrats" because:
1) We wouldn't shut up and "support the troops" in 2003.
2) We were skeptical about "Iraqi democracy" when they had their first election a year-and-a-half ago.
There were numerous articles written by "defectors".
The thing is, I can't imagine changing my politics because of who is on the same side of the partisan divide.
George Bush may be a crappy president, but he's still a conservative.
If Bill Clinton had been responsible for all of this jackassery, I wouldn't have suddenly decided to be a Republican.
Swing voters are dangerous, but that doesn't make them sane.
Anybody who was "on the fence" in 2004 was full-on whacked.
I have way more respect for people who said, "Sign me up for 4 more years of this" than people who were undecided as to whether the last 4 years had been swell or a total train wreck.
I know I'm not supposed to be black/white, but it was an absolute no-brainer.
And before the critiism comes in: that the democrats didn't have a clear message. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But apparently the Republicans did have a clear message: lower taxes while waging war.
Bad idea.
But there was a clear mandate for this idea. No one had to vote for it.
But, hey, that's "democracy".
What would work wonders is a viable 3rd option.
That won't happen until the electoral college is fixed. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 9:14 am Post subject: |
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Great op-ed.
| Quote: |
The thing is, I can't imagine changing my politics because of who is on the same side of the partisan divide.
George Bush may be a crappy president, but he's still a conservative.
If Bill Clinton had been responsible for all of this jackassery, I wouldn't have suddenly decided to be a Republican.
Swing voters are dangerous, but that doesn't make them sane. |
I have to say I disagree with this. Nowhere Man, perhaps I'm wrong but it seems to me that here you are confusing ideology with political parties.
IMO, rigidity in adherence to political parties is a problem, not a solution. |
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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