The MOST frustrating aspect of all we've seen since the coup in 2000 -

[NRaleighLiberal]

I suspect many, if not most, of us here were members of the 10% club - those who, even after 911, did not consider * to be our president, or a remotely effective president - and were appalled at the very sight and sound of him. And it wasn't just him, it was the blatant hypocrisy of those on the right - the lies, the hatred, the use of religion as a tool of that hatred. It was the entire misadministration, as crooked a bunch as one could imagine. We here, who have great respect for intellect, cringed at any public instance of the idiot son trying to sputter his clumsy syntax into anything remotely with meaning.

So, many of us could have written the book. No, we couldn't have foreseen cat 4 storms hitting NO, but we could have predicted that any repug response to disaster was liable to be a disaster itself - that the media would be complicit in its shielding of the public from the truth, and the real stories. We could have predicted that our decision to go into Iraq when we did would only inflame those who already hate us. And, we knew that the possibility of slipping into another Vietnam-like quagmire was real.

So, we've watched as the worm turns, the media sniffs the polls and decides that it needs to do some actual reporting to bolster its sagging ratings and vanishing credibility (is it temporary or a real trend?). We've watched a significant portion of our population do a flip flop and come around to what we always knew.

For me, the most frustrating part is seeing things happen just as many of us thought they would - and so many in the print and TV media acting surprised at the ineptitude of the misadministration, the feast of crimes in front of our very eyes - scandal after scandal, going unpunished.

Yes, I know I am preaching to the choir, I know that we have to do something, get active, talk it up, protest, fight. But isn't it surprisingly unfulfilling to know that you have been right all along, and isn't it difficult to trust the judgement and intelligence of the many, many people who either refuse to see the truth, or even those who have finally come around. What is it that kept them from seeing it all along? Lack of healthy cynicism? Blind trust in the president to do the right thing? Laziness? Ignorance? Hypnosis from religion?

Man, it is so frustrating. And we've not won anything - polls drop, scandals break - and still, the right hates, spews, cheats - and why? Because they've discovered that they CAN. There is nothing to pay, apparently, from ineptitude, lying, polarizing - and because of this, it is hard seeing it coming to an end...

well, thanks for listening! Off to bed...

[AX10]

1. KICK

I too am part of the 10%!

[Vanje]

2. I'm in the 10%

i've never , not once, even for a second, ever, believed ANYTHING this "president" or any of his managers and toadies have said.

[MuseRider]

3. All of those things

and for many just a lack of education. No critical thinking skills and no knowledge of how this country is supposed to work.

The anger remains, the work is constant but I have gone way past the head banging and ranting, although those do still occur, to just shaking my head and feeling real shame.

Nice post, you are correct. Good night, sleep soundly.

[Sadie5]

5. I remember how pissed I was

when shithead was installed. And I never got over it.

[MuseRider]

7. Yup and it never goes away

does it? My brothers suffered through him as their governor so I was already pissed when he was nominated but it made me laugh because I thought there was no way in hell anyone would vote for the dumbass. Well, here we are.

[proud patriot]

4. I thought we were 8 percenters

if I recall he had a 92% approval rating at some point
right after 9-11-01 ...

which ever it was I was one :D

[Erika]

6. I told a young friend in 2000 what our country would be like if W

was selected. I told him there would have to be a war to pay back W's s big defense donors, that W would have to figure out a way to pay back his insurance/hospital backers, and that redistribution of the wealth from the working class to the rich would take place via energy costs. I told my friend the middle class would disappear and the poor would also be badly hurt. He just looked at me.

I don't read crystal balls. I just saw W's resume. I am frustrated beyond belief that this info was out there and he's still their president.

[ms liberty]

8. Yea, there's no joy in having been right all along here...

When the debates were going on in 2000, the day after one of them I clearly remember asking a coworker how anyone could vote for him, that * was talking about us needing star wars missile defense, and the experts were saying our biggest threat was from terrorism...the media was talking about it because the Hart-Rudman Commission was about to release it's findings. My stomach turns when I think about that, talking to a fundie trying to get her to wake up. And it - terrorism - happened a year later. I'll bet she's conveniently forgotten our conversation.
Then there was my conversation with another coworker, the day we began the official invasion of Iraq; of course, we all know that the "softening up" bombings began much earlier. She was listening to the radio and said something to me like "it's started, they're going in" or something like that. I said I didn't think we should be invading Iraq, the facts contradicted everything * was saying, and listed the reasons. No yellowcake, the doc a fake, etc, etc. She started screaming at me, how could I not support our troops, how unpatriotic, etc. I told her it wasn't unamerican to expect our pRes to tell us the truth, we should be concentrating on OsamaWho, etc, etc. She jumped up and almost ran from me, and yelled at me "I don't care about any facts, our soldiers are in a war and we have to support them!"
The next day my (new) car was keyed, right down the drivers side. Then I was ostracized, and treated to nasty, cliquish behavior I haven't seen since junior high school. I didn't mind that they didn't want to talk to me - they were all rather boring women anyway, but it was so juvenile - and all because THEY can't handle the truth...
I take NO joy at all in the knowledge that I'm correct now, and I've been correct all along. I would far rather be wrong and have a healthy democracy. But I'd probably take some pleasure in reminding those two that I was right!

[U4ikLefty]

9. Watching the American public is like watching an abused spouse

going back to their abuser over-and-over. It is so frustrating, yet there is only so much one can do. Probably not the best analogy, but you folks get my point...I hope!!!