A Rainy Night in Georgia: a friend in need finds a paper tiger in Bush

George W. Bush appears (and is) powerless in his attempt to dissuade Russia from mugging the newly-democratic country of Georgia.  While Mr. Putin (still calling the shots in Russia, it seems) might be encouraged in his adventures by the fact that the US military is fully submerged in the quicksand of Iraq, the real catalyst for Russian misbehavior is the squandering by Bush of America’s most precious strategic asset: the moral authority that - in past crises- has enabled us to marshal other nations to join us in supporting a just cause.  Tyrants are free to act with impunity in this environment, and Mr. Bush will long be remembered - and vilified - as the president who gave away the treasure that took Americans over 200 years to build.

Taking a page from the infantile GOP attack-dog playbook

John McCain wears $500 Ferragamo shoes from ITALY:  HE HATES AMERICA!

John McCain doesn’t do e-mail/can’t use a computer: HE HATES AMERICA!

I could go on and on, but you get the point. When will the Republican campaign graduate from elementary schoolyard antics and at least pretend to focus on serious issues?  And might I suggest at least superficial research on facts such as fuel efficiency strategies (including correct tire pressure) that can have an immediate impact on the cost of driving a car, before mocking Obama’s quite legitimate suggestion on this topic.  Alas, reality-based decision making is not a strong suit of conservative Republicans.

Offshore Drilling: GOP Dishonesty rampant

I don’t think there has ever been more dishonest Congressional pandering to the electorate than the current (and overwhelmingly Republican) bamboozle to expand offshore drilling as a near-term panacea for high gasoline prices. There is not a shred of evidence that this would have an impact in the next ten years; even the US Energy Department’s report on the subject sees no likely impact before 2030 - and a minuscule impact even then.  The White House, and Congressional Republicans rightfully paranoid about their election prospects in November, are simply making up “facts” to placate angry voters.  Perhaps, on advice from former Senator Phil Gramm, Republicans hope that the “positive psychology” of expanded offshore drilling will mitigate the “mental recession” we are now in.  This is truly pathetic, and says more about the sorry state of Republican politics than their position on almost any other issue.  

I predict that history will assign the biggest black mark to the Bush Administration not for his Iraq debacle, Katrina chaos, Abu Ghraib / Guantanamo torture, illegal wiretapping or Justice Department failures, but for his failure to marshal a willing American public, on Sept. 12, 2001, to join in a massive technology and conservation undertaking to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.  Had he seized that opportunity, now lost, there is no doubt in my mind that we could have achieved that goal within the 8 years of George Bush’s presidency, and he would have assured his position in the pantheon of visionary leaders who rose to the challenge.  Alas, we we were instead told to go shopping.  The bogus posturing on expanded offshore drilling must be the last nail in the coffin of a failed national energy policy, with both Republicans and Democrats destined for the Hall of Shame.

McCain succumbs to the Rovian darkside: even Moses can’t fix this broken campaign

McCain’s new ad series - featuring Moses, no less! -  is simply more of the gratuitous, baseless character assassination that has become the hallmark of Republican politics. It has Karl Rove’s fingerprints all over it; an infantile attempt to belittle a worthy opponent when the attacker has nothing else to offer to voters. It is a real mystery to me why John McCain has allowed his character to be hijacked by the low-lifes that are now setting the tone of his campaign. This country desperately needs a smart, clear-headed, inspirational leader to steer us in a new direction after 8 years of unmitigated disaster under George Bush. John McCain has squandered his chance to be that leader. If he had the courage to clearly and unequivocally repudiate Bush - on foreign policy, on economic policy, on energy policy, etc., etc., he, too, would have huge crowds eating out of his hand in Central Park - or in Berlin.  I might even have been one of them. Not now that he has succumbed to the Rovian dark side of the Republican Party, and reduced himself to the minuscule stature of our current president; visionless, uninspiring, dishonest and petty. What a great shame!!

Bush body-snatches McCain: incompetence redux

The recent boneheaded anti-Obama advertisements from the McCain campaign have - more than any other  statement or action by the candidate - cemented his status as “Bush redux”, and reinforced the widespread image of the GOP as an organization of thuggish, vision-less Neanderthals.  I really thought McCain was smarter than that.  Alas, it seems he is content to channel the willful ignorance and stunning incompetence of George W. Bush.  McCain’s crude TV pitches may appeal to a shrinking base of red-state ignorati who would vote for a dead Republican over a live Democrat, but it will not endear him to swing voters/independents.  Heist by his own petard, methinks.

The Legacy of 43: Add another sorry chapter to the book

“Fear and anxiety were exploited by zealots and fools”.  This pithy quote from Philip Zelikow, a former senior Bush administration official, is cited by Jane Mayer in her blockbuster new book, “The Dark Side” in regards to the Bush administration’s sanctioning of torture.  I think the phrase pretty much sums up the entirety of George W. Bush’s two terms as President - a miserable failure on virtually every front.  We, the people, are ultimately responsible for letting this happen, through our own failure to demand - at the polls and via our elected representatives - a competent government accountable to the citizens of this country.  Never again. Never again.

Bush kisses “Pygmy’s” tush (Kim Jong-Il): Appeasement GOP-Style?

If George W. Bush can let Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il off the hook (the most virulent, unstable, anti-American card-carrying Axis of Evil dude on the planet), what must our fearless leader have in store for Iran?  Ahmedinejad thumbs his nose at W’s sabre-rattling, knowing that with our military hobbled in Iraq we are reduced to a pathetic paper tiger.  Diplomacy practiced from a position of strength is always a winning strategy.  Bush has foolishly sapped our strength, and thus can not pursue diplomacy - only appeasement.  Add this to the legacy of 43.

John McCain is a bona fide military hero: but so what?

I have huge respect for Sen. McCain’s service to his country, his true grit in surviving many years as a POW, and his courage in even strapping himself into a fighter jet and zooming over enemy territory.  But as to how this experience uniquely qualifies him to be Commander in Chief, my good friend Don Davidge points out that we would all be better served by electing a pilot who flew 30, 40, 50 SUCCESSFUL missions over Vietnam.  Where is that candidate?  

After seven and a half years of unmitigated disaster spawned by our shoot-from-the hip cowboy president, we cannot afford another go at macho mayhem.  McCain is a man of honor, but he is not presidential timber.

“A Carnival of Fraud”

Thomas Frank ripped conservatives a well-deserved new orifice today with his editorial (”Conservatives and their Carnival of Fraud”) in the Wall Street Journal (yes, in the sycophantically right-wing WSJ!).  The gist of the editorial is that in their reckless pursuit of “small government” conservatives have outsourced to the private sector core functions of government (e.g., war, military intelligence, to name just a few) and drained our national treasure into the pockets of the likes of KBR, Blackwater and other predatory contractors.  Frank calls for a new “Grace Commission” to examine the “sordid history of privatization in all its details”.  Indeed, a worthy first-week initiative for President Obama.  If only conservatives had thought to outsource their Commander in Chief to a competent, even if corrupt, operative, we might not be in the historic mess this administration has created.

A song of things to come: A Black Man in the White House

Here’s a tune I wrote on the day Barack Obama won the Democratic Party’s nomination for President:

#mce_temp_url#

 

Have a listen (at www.myspace.com/rantcaster), and if you like what you hear, pass it on.  There will be a YouTube video on this (with a real singer!) coming soon.