Just In Case You've Forgotten...

[Steely_Dan]

I suppose that I could fill this page with the mistakes made by Bush and his administration. But frankly, it would take more time than I am willing to spend. But by way of brief review:

9/11 happened on his watch, Katrina, sending troops in without proper gear and equipment, misleading the American people on WMD, outing of a CIA agent, not listening to his advisors, taunting the enemy when American troops are in harms way (“bring ‘em on”), not securing ammo dumps in Iraq (now reborn as roadside bombs killing 70% of our troops), disbanding the Iraqi army, attacking a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, not capturing OBL when he had him cornered, not insuring that some kind of memorial was put into place at the WTC site, sitting for 7+ minutes in a classroom after being told that America was “under attack,” almost giving a Middle Eastern country control over our Eastern shipping ports, intruding in the Terry Shivo case (a personal matter), swift-boating two American war heroes for political gain (when he never served in combat himself), Abu Grab, allowing for warrant-less wiretapping, approving the opening our mail, the essential habeas corpus trashed, etc. etc. etc.

However there was one incident involving Mr. Bush that I feel trumps everything else. Some may debate my list, placing some of the blame on the Clinton Administration or others in the Bush Administration. Nevertheless, the incident I speak of falls clearly in Bush’s lap. It was all I needed to know about this man…

It was during the 2004 Television and Radio Correspondence dinner. Typically, it is a time when the President is either “roasted” by some comedian or he roasts himself in some way.

President Bush was speaking to about 500 TV and radio personalities that night. He decided to show a slide show of funny pictures of himself on the job. With the audience watching and listening to his every word, he begins the slide show. As he is flipping through the slides, he is making predictably funny comments about himself and of course, the crowd laughs right on cue.

He comes to a slide of himself looking under his desk in the Oval Office. He captions this slide with the following comment: “Where are those weapons of mass destruction?”

A couple of more slides pass. Then he comes to one that shows him looking out the Oval Office window. He states: “No, not out there.”

A couple of more slides go by. He comes to one of him still looking for something in his office. Bush says with a smirk, “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere.”

Now mind you, we had lost about 640 of our finest and bravest on the night of this dinner and comedy show. Because WMD was the primary reason for invading Iraq, I found this kind of humor not only cruel, but astonishingly stupid. I tried to imagine how I would feel if I had lost my son or daughter in Iraq while looking for weapons of mass destruction.

This is all I needed to know about this man, the decider, the king with no clothes.

There was a time when I just wanted him to go home, to go back to his fake cattle ranch in Crawford. Just go. We’ll clean up the mess. But now I feel very differently. I want him, his Vice President and much of his administration investigated and those that have broken the law, prosecuted and brought to trial. Without some action to stop this madness, we will be sending the wrong message to the rest of the world.

Indeed, I will not live long enough to see our country return to its former place in the world. Thank you Mr. Bush.

And for those that think that I am unpatriotic or that I hate America…think again. It is the very fact that I love this country beyond measure that I offer dissent to my government. Contrary to popular belief the Constitution was not written for the majority. It was written for that lone voice of dissent that is the essence of America.

Link to the video of Bush making fun of the fact that he can’t find the WMD. Go to about 5:00 minutes in…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yJF13BS-hE

-Paige