It’s NOT Incompetence

[IChing]

Perhaps the biggest irony of the Bush-is-incompetent frame is that these “failures” — Iraq, Katrina and the budget deficit — have been successes in terms of advancing the conservative agenda.

One of the goals of Conservatives is to keep people from relying on the federal government. Under Bush, FEMA was reorganized to no longer be a first responder in major natural disasters, but to provide support for local agencies. This led to the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina. Now citizens, as well as local and state governments, have become distrustful of the federal government’s capacity to help ordinary citizens. Though Bush’s popularity may have suffered, enhancing the perception of federal government as inept turned out to be a conservative victory.

Conservatives also strive to get rid of protective agencies and social programs. The deficit Bush created through irresponsible tax cuts and a costly war in Iraq will require drastic budget cuts to remedy. Those cuts, conservatives know, won’t come from military spending, particularly when they raise the constant specter of war. Instead, the cuts will be from what Conservatives have begun to call “non-military, discretionary spending;” that is, the programs that contribute to the common good like the FDA, EPA, FCC, FEMA, OSHA and the NLRB. Yet another success for the conservative agenda.

Both Iraq and Katrina have enriched the coffers of the conservative corporate elite, thus further advancing the conservative agenda. Halliburton, Lockhead Martin and US oil companies have enjoyed huge profit margins in the last six years. Taking Iraq’s oil production off-line in the face of rising international demand meant prices would rise, making the oil inventories of Exxon and other firms that much more valuable, leading to record profits. The destruction wrought by Katrina and Iraq meant billions in reconstruction contracts. The war in Iraq (and the war in Afghanistan) meant billions in military equipment contracts. Was there any doubt where those contracts would go? Chalk up another success for Bush’s conservative agenda.
Bush also used Katrina as an opportunity to suspend the environmental and labor protection laws that Conservatives despise so much. In the wake of Katrina, environmental standards for oil refineries were temporarily suspended to increase production. Labor laws are being thwarted to drive down the cost of reconstruction efforts. So, amidst these “disasters,” Conservatives win again.

Where most Americans see failure in Iraq – George Miller recently called Iraq a “blunder of historic proportions” – conservative militarists are seeing many successes. Conservatives stress the importance of our military — our national pride and worth is expressed through its power and influence. Permanent bases are being constructed as planned in Iraq, and America has shown the rest of the world that we can and will preemptively strike with little provocation. They succeeded in a mobilization of our military forces based on ideological pretenses to impact foreign policy. The war has struck fear in other nations with a hostile show of American power. The conservatives have succeeded in strengthening what they perceive to be the locus of the national interest —military power.

[ClassWarrior]

1. Yup. It's the failure of the heartless conservative philosophy.

NGU.

[Demeter]

3. Say Rather the Failure of Congress and Courts To Check and Balance

although there's still time.

[ClassWarrior]

8. Check out this article...

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/research/lakoff/incompetent

NGU.

[IChing]

9. I know I got it from another site but took out talking points

It invited free distribution, I got it from a site which would turn people off thanks for finding the other link
I'll mail you my other site.

c)The Rockridge Institute, 2006 (We invite the free distribution of this piece)

[Dhalgren]

2. Bush is inept, but the fascists use this as a screen. The real

point is that Bush and his whole administration and the whole republican power structure are criminals - world-class, murderous criminals. They are achieving they're goals and we are paying the price. They must be brought to justice...

[petgoat]

15. "Incompetence" is going to be his defence at The Hague

Don't fall for it. He's stumbling over the ball all the way to the bank.

[HereSince1628]

4. R's have long sought to "Starve the Beast"

Reagan and * have both used massive military spending to do so.

[IChing]

5. The accomplishments of this administration

The idea that Bush is incompetent is a curious one. Consider the following (incomplete) list of major initiatives the Bush administration, with a loyal conservative Congress, has accomplished:

* Centralizing power within the executive branch to an unprecedented degree
* Starting two major wars, one started with questionable intelligence and in a manner with which the military disagreed
* Placing on the Supreme Court two far-right justices, and stacking the lower federal courts with many more
* Cutting taxes during wartime, an unprecedented event
* Passing a number of controversial bills such as the PATRIOT Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Medicare Drug bill, the Bankruptcy bill and a number of massive tax cuts
* Rolling back and refusing to enforce a host of basic regulatory protections
* Appointing industry officials to oversee regulatory agencies
* Establishing a greater role for religion through faith-based initiatives
* Passing Orwellian-titled legislation assaulting the environment — “The Healthy Forests Act” and the “Clear Skies Initiative” — to deforest public lands, and put more pollution in our skies
* Winning re-election and solidifying his party’s grip on Congress

These aren’t signs of incompetence. As should be painfully clear, the Bush administration has been overwhelmingly competent in advancing its conservative vision. It has been all too effective in achieving its goals by determinedly pursuing a conservative philosophy.

[lutefisk]

17. Bush is a willing accomplice (he's incompetent, but not retarded)

The things being done in his name are all presented to him in ways that appeal to his ignorant and mean traits, but I doubt he has come up with any of the destructive Bush administration initiatives on his own. He might think he's the decider, but his handlers give him choices of which they know what he will "decide."

There is nothing in his background to make one believe he could assemble any type of policy, much less discuss it with others. He just agrees to things that hurt people because he likes that. Then, he flies around reading commercials for his "decision" on camera for hand-picked audiences. And he can barely do the reading part without screwing it up.

[Ron Green]

6. K&R - excellent post. They can always use the corporate-controlled media

to reinforce the mantra: "You can't trust big government, so just let the Free Market work."

[lapislzi]

7. Brilliant post. Never forget, these guys are TOTAL PROS

Crazy like a fox, my mother would say.

[Gregorian]

10. Good enough to steal elections to accomplish.

You effectively summed it up. And thank you for expressing the same sense as I feel when I hear the use of the term failure.

I see this administration as a Kamikazee administration. The culmination of decades of criminal actions, including the "assasination" of Clinton. And since no one goes to jail, they all walk away when it's over.

[TahitiNut]

11. Their goal has NEVER been public service - it's about wealth and power.

And they've accomplished far more in the destruction of our democracy and economic equity than any US regime in history!

[Beelzebud]

12. It's Neo-Conservatism

They've infiltrated BOTH parties. Joe Lieberman and his ilk are Neo-Conservatives just like Dick Cheney and his ilk.

This is the thing Americans need to wrap their minds around: There IS a 3rd party in American Politics, but they have no party of their own. They have successfully hijacked positions in BOTH parties.

The problem we face now is the problem of the Neo-Conservative.

[IChing]

19. Lieberman proved this in the funneling of millions from Karl

Bush’s disasters — Katrina, the Iraq War, the budget deficit — are not so much a testament to his incompetence or a failure of execution. Rather, they are the natural, even inevitable result of his conservative governing philosophy. It is conservatism itself, carried out according to plan, that is at fault. Bush will not be running again, but other conservatives will. His governing philosophy is theirs as well. We should be putting the onus where it belongs, on all conservative office holders and candidates who would lead us off the same cliff.

[ComerPerro]

13. I've always thought that failure on part of FEMA and Medicare

were by design, so that BushCo could point and say, "See, big government programs don't work. We tried it"

[petgoat]

16. A lot of people are willing to talk about 9/11 these days who

have never been willing before.

Essential evidence in the collapses of the towers and WTC7 is the FEMA
report of Junbe 2002. Wheneven I bring it up, the kneejerk response
is a snort. "FEMA! Well, they're incompetent!" This freeper talking
point is expressed even by progressive people.

[Nikki Stone 1]

20. I agree--good post

....

[liberaldemocrat7]

14. strategy

[Festivito]

18. Yup, not incompetence, rather it is skillful stealing. /nt