To be hopeful in bad times by Howard Zinn

 

Paul Krugman

Notes the sacrifices of the Bushies:

On this Fourth of July, President Bush compared the Iraq war to the Revolutionary War, and called for “more patience, more courage and more sacrifice.” Unfortunately, it seems that nobody asked the obvious question: “What sacrifices have you and your friends made, Mr. President?”

On second thought, there would be no point in asking that question. In Mr. Bush’s world, only the little people make sacrifices.

[snip]

This time around, Mr. Bush celebrated Mission Accomplished by cutting tax rates on dividends and capital gains, while handing out huge no-bid contracts to politically connected corporations. And in the four years since, as the insurgency Mr. Bush initially taunted with the cry of “Bring them on” has claimed the lives of thousands of Americans and left thousands more grievously wounded, the children of the elite — especially the Republican elite — have been conspicuously absent from the battlefield.

The Bushies, it seems, like starting fights, but they don’t believe in paying any of the cost of those fights or bearing any of the risks. Above all, they don’t believe that they or their friends should face any personal or professional penalties for trivial sins like distorting intelligence to get America into an unnecessary war, or totally botching that war’s execution.

Krugman goes on to discuss the panicked behavior of the Bushies over the possibility of Scooter Libby actually having to go to jail. He finishes:

Mr. Bush says that Mr. Libby’s punishment remains “harsh” because his reputation is “forever damaged.” Meanwhile, Mr. Bush employs, as a deputy national security adviser, none other than Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty to unlawfully withholding information from Congress in the Iran-contra affair. Mr. Abrams was one of six Iran-contra defendants pardoned by Mr. Bush’s father, who was himself a subject of the special prosecutor’s investigation of the scandal.

In other words, obstruction of justice when it gets too close to home is a family tradition. And being a loyal Bushie means never having to say you’re sorry.

Georgie has been physically unable to acknowledge mistakes. I don't think his mouth will ever be able to form the short sentence: I made a mistake. Or: I was wrong. Or even: I'm sorry.



This is a man who assumed he'd never have to accept responsibility for any of his actions.





And his enablers believed it too.



Guess what. This is Bush's and Cheney's war. They started it. They can't finish it. They can't fix it. The mess is all theirs.

They are responsible.

Bush looks into the future

and sees Americans sacrificin' and fightin' and warrin' all fer the freedums and democracy and stuff.
(Ignore the Somalian oil connection! Ignore our warships mooning the Iranian coastline so you won't question the amazingly convenient ship explosion that will allow us to bomb Iran.)

This here war is good fer the country to keeps the terrists over there!



(because obviously they are so few in number and so stupid, they can't do more than one thing at a time.... )

Quagmire of the Vanities

Krugman:
" Mr. Bush is expected to announce his plan for escalation in the next few days. According to the BBC, the theme of his speech will be “sacrifice.” But sacrifice for what? Not for the national interest, which would be best served by withdrawing before the strain of the war breaks our ground forces. No, Iraq has become a quagmire of the vanities — a place where America is spending blood and treasure to protect the egos of men who won’t admit that they were wrong."

I don't think Bush will be able to use the word

'sacrifice' now without people falling all over themselves to run away.....

Via Steve Bates, Keith Olbermann at Crooks and Liars takes the word apart, verbally beats it with a stick and then gives the scattered pieces to Bush:
"This is palpable nonsense, Mr. Bush.

If this is your intention — if the centerpiece of your announcement next week will be "sacrifice" — sacrifice your intention, not more American lives!"

Bush will never get his 'blood, sweat, and tears' moment. He cannot rally a country and demand sacrifices from those who finally have realized what he is. A liar and a coward who has never sacrificed anything. He does not know the meaning of the word.

After all, after 9/11 he had a chance to rally the country and the world to his side, to work together in solving the horror of Osama's actions, the threat of stateless terrorism. We were ready to sacrifice, to strive, to win....

He asked us all to go shopping.