Joe Conason, Salon: Bush and his administration are unfit to wield power

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

The bitter lessons of four years
Standing among the wreckage of two national disasters, it is no longer possible to deny the plain truth: Bush and his administration are unfit to wield power.

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By Joe Conason



http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/09/11/911_anniv/index.html

Sept. 11, 2005 | It would have been almost impossible to imagine, during the days and weeks that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that we might someday look back on that depressing time with a tinge of nostalgia. For Americans, and especially for those of us who live in New York City, those autumn memories are filled with rage and horror, fire and smoke, loss and death; but they are also filled with a spirit of courage, community and real patriotism. United we stood, even behind a government of dubious legitimacy, because we knew that there was no other way to defend what we valued.

In a strange way, Sept. 11 -- despite all the instantaneous proclamations that things would never be the same -- represented a final moment of innocence.

Now catastrophe has befallen another American city, with horrors and losses that may surpass the toppling of the twin towers. And while many people in New Orleans have shown themselves to be brave, generous and decent, this season's disaster has instilled more dread than pride, more anger than unity. Why is the mood so different now? At every level, the vacuum of leadership was appalling, but especially among the national leaders to whom all Americans look at a time of catastrophic peril. As rising waters sank the city, summer vacations in Texas and Wyoming, and shoe-shopping on Madison Avenue, appeared to take priority over the suffering on the Gulf Coast.

Four years after 9/11, we know much more than we knew then about the arrogance, dishonesty, recklessness and incompetence of a national government that was never worthy of its power. We saw how the White House squandered, all too quickly, the uplifting national response to 9/11. Within a few months, Karl Rove was heard telling the Republican National Committee exactly how he planned to betray the Democrats who had unanimously lined up behind President Bush in the aftermath of the attack by using the "war on terror" as a domestic political weapon.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Ill second that

BushCo is failed.

And unfit.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. all so true

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URGENT yet easy! Hold the government accountable for Katrina's aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4736062

[blm]

3. Jan30,2001: George Bush is handed the HartRudman Report on Global Terror

He refused to read it and outright rejected its' urgent proposals and measures for homeland security.

[Inland]

4. And what power he has been given!

Not only in the formal sense, of the iraq war powers resolution, the patriot act, and other statutes and court rulings,

but informally, as the republican congress writes him blank checks for money and refuses to practice oversight,

and by the press, which simply repeats him without question and, in the right wing media, slanders anyone who questions him,

and by too many of the people, who feel that giving Bush power is the quid pro quo for being safe, now find themselves powerless and unsafe.

Bush has had his way on just about everything since 9/11. And what has he done with all that power?

Tax cuts, secrecy, and more power.

[bluedeminredstate]

5. I adore Joe Conason

He's fair, intelligent, holds to the true values of responsible journalism and he can cut through the bullshit to call out these scheming, incompetent, clueless bastards. And God help the partisan hack who tries to debate him on the cable talk shows - he speaks facts and truth without getting riled up which is what they want. That's probably why he isn't on very often!
What's not to love?

:loveya:

[blm]

6. I concur with your every word of praise for Conason.

I have never seen him be unfair or inaccurate...and if he ever was, he'd correct himself immediately.