Domestic Gibberish--Sydney Blumenthal ----GREAT PIECE!!!

[Gloria]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1409591,00.html


Comment
Domestic gibberish

Bush's incoherence on home affairs reminds us that pre-9/11 he was the most unpopular president

Sidney Blumenthal
Thursday February 10, 2005
The Guardian

Fear made George Bush's presidency, gave him his "mission", and allowed him to remain in office. Before September 11, he had drifted to the lowest approval rating ever for a president after just eight months on the job.

Throughout the 2004 campaign, Republicans hammered "September 11", "terrorism" and "Saddam Hussein" like an anvil chorus. Bush got his victory; it was the smallest win of any second-term president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916, but he acts as if it is the moment of deliverance Republicans have been waiting for since Herbert Hoover lost the White House.

Fear fostered Bush's "political capital", so he sees no reason why it should fail him now. His attempt to transfer fear from the war on terrorism to the war on the New Deal may not be confusing to him, but the truth is that only fear generated in foreign policy has protected him politically from his unpopular positions on domestic issues. Since September 11, without variation, Bush's poll numbers have paralleled the quantity of news stories about terrorism. The more terrorism dominates the media, the higher his ratings; and whenever terrorism declines, he begins to sink. The war on terrorism is his meta-narrative. But what happens when the ground shifts?

SNIP

Bush's gibberish on social security is not the symptom of a man without qualities. Bush can be articulate, a master of his talking points and highly focused. His inability so far to sell his latest case of fear, however, may presage growing political incoherence.

The momentum of events, abroad and at home, has carried him to an unknown place, where complication may ambush him at every turn. The consequences of George Bush are the greatest threat to George Bush.

[GetTheRightVote]

1. I hope he goes down in flames

:kick:

[oasis]

2. Blumenthal is one of the sharpest thinkers in the political world.

[Sydnie]

3. good article

thanks for posting it.

[Warpy]

4. The lapse into gibberish only demonstrate

that this bunch is still only in the dreaming stage about this one, and that anyone who accepts any of their faith based figures risks getting a surprise that is even uglier than the ever growing Medicare prescription drug "benefit" and pharmacy fattening bill.

He's spouting disorganized rubbish because they're trying to ram this thing through during what they see as his honeymoon period, and while Delay is still there to strongarm all the pubbies in Congress into voting for it if they want reelection funds. They really haven't hammered out any details, they don't give a shit how much it costs, they don't give a shit who it hurts, and that's it. They want to ram it through because they're desperate to get rid of a socialist program that WORKS and works without the financial support of the super rich.

Write your Congresspeople. Let them know that no matter what party they are in or what their politics are, if they vote for this they will be defeated at best and they don't want to know what the worst is.

[Gloria]

5. Kick for the late night crowd......

eom

[BrklynLiberal]

6. Great article. Thanks.