A Collapsing Presidency - Will it take the country down with it?

[kurth]

March 20, 2006
A Collapsing Presidency
Will it take the country down with it?
by Paul Craig Roberts

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that President Bush's support among the American people has fallen to 33 percent. Even more devastatingly, the survey finds that people's most frequently used one-word description of President Bush is "incompetent." The chief chaplain for the New York City Corrections Department told a Tucson audience that "the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House." Two years ago when New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was suppressing demonstrations at the Republican National Convention, the chief chaplain would have been fired for his remarks, but not today. Abroad among peoples who formerly looked to America for leadership, American atrocities in Iraq have created sympathy and support for the Iraqi resistance.

When the Bush administration gets in trouble, it turns to war, which has worked for it in the past. Thus, this past week there was live coverage of "Operation Swarmer," which occupied a solid day on CNN and Fox "News." The venerable Washington Monthly reports that the hyped "assault on Samarra" was nothing but a Potemkin operation – a set propaganda piece to demonstrate U.S. military prowess and the battle-ready "new Iraqi army," only there were no insurgents in Samarra to battle. The much-hyped "Operation Swarmer" was a photo op for TV cameras as troops fired into empty desert. One can imagine the thoughts in Bush's mind: "Thank goodness I didn't capture bin Laden. Maybe he will strike again and bail me out."

What is going to rescue Bush? Not the Republican Party. A few Republican congressmen, such as Walter Jones, are trying to get a debate going, but Republicans believe that they are stuck to the fate of their man. There is no one within the administration to turn Bush toward diplomacy and away from coercion. Created on the principle that "you are with us or against us," Bush's administration is all of one mind. They are all neocons. There are no real conservatives or traditional Republicans in the Bush administration. This is the first administration in my lifetime in which there is no debate. The absence of debate means there is no check on reckless and ill-advised policies and corrupt schemes.

Neocons don't believe in debate. They specialize in slandering critics and stamping out debate. Dissent is not possible within the Bush administration, because dissent is equated with treason and anti-Americanism. "You are with us or against us." Increasingly, Republicans demonize their critics as "abettors of terrorism." The Republicans' intolerance for debate makes many Americans uneasy about the real purpose of the $385 million detention camp that Halliburton is building in the U.S. for the Bush administration...

http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=8728

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"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." - George W. Bush, June 18, 2002

[kenny blankenship]

1. Bush "Incompetent" But competent to stand trial

and receive sentence.

[acmavm]

2. Sheesh, how much more damage can he do. Other than

starting a nuclear war, which he very well might do, there's not a whole lot left for him to destroy. He bankrupted the Treasury, destroyed the armed forces, sold off pretty much most of the country, shipped all the good jobs out. He's pretty well covered all bases except for that nuclear winter thing.

Be watching for him and the bush** clan to be taking an extended trip out of the country. That will be a bad sign.

[kenny blankenship]

3. He could paint us into a corner with Iran

that leaves us at war with China and most of the Muslim world simultaneously.

[Trevelyan]

4. War is Peace, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, Love is Hate

People are more than nervous about the concentration camps, they are leaving the country. The camps will be need because "some people" are starting to question massive corruption like this:

'The same Dyncorp that was involved with the sex slave trade in the Balkans
and the same Dyncorp that happened to have the same strain of Anthrax that was dispersed in our mail system. Wonderful........'

'It already started.... Watch this video - it's the only place on the internet that has this C-Span video posted. It's a Congressional hearing with Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) questioning Donald Rumsfeld and the GAO concerning DynCorp and child trafficking (among other issues): '
http://tinyurl.com/4hdf6

'DynCorp May Replace Cops in St. Bernard Parish (New Orleans)
First they came for New Orleans......'

[StClone]

5. Dear America how did you come to elect an Incompetent?

You can blame Bush and his liars, propagandists and election manipulators. But most of all you use poor judgment in diet, energy use, personal budgets and either voting stupid or not voting at all. Time to bone-up America.

[kenny blankenship]

6. Bush may not have been fairly elected on either occasion BUT

you are correct: the decay of our national character is underneath both the Republican Bushlerite ideology and the theft of legitimately elected democracy which enthroned Bushler and his party.

It has been building since Reagan. Everything that you see erupting now in cancerous disease dysfunction and rot was seeded during the Reagan era. The bellicose foreign policy, the need to create unknown but terrifying enemies and put the country on a constant war footing. The insane industrial policy which mandates welfare for the manufacturers of tanks, bombers, and cannon but tells every other industry to go hang itself. The insane energy and development policies. The larger destruction of the social contract between salaried and wage earning workers and capital. The illegal secret wars and not so secret wars carried out with contempt for law, the Constitution and the people's elected representatives. The criminal steal from the future and give to the rich tax and finances policy. The defund and subvert government agencies policy. The war against science, scientific institutions and the suppression of reason. They all begin in earnest with the Reagan Revolution, which marked the triumph of "I don't care" and "Just do it" and "Don't wake me up and make me think".

Reagan's rotting brain was America. For a quarter century this country has turned over in its bed snoring in its own filth and dreamed the jellybean dreams it preferred over reality.

[jackster]

9. AMEN KENNY!

Ronnie Raygun started all this BS with his maschimo-testosterone-based view of reality and the lust for wealth, material things, and power. I hope he's rotting in his grave - I hate that sob!

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Sadly, we were doomed from the moment that person set foot in the White

House.

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Agreed!

[Harald Ragnarsson]

8. That's the plan, IMHO n/t

[helderheid]

10. The mods locked my thread from antiwar.com with a roberts article -

is there something about antiwar.com I should know about? I asked the mods but never got a reply.

[leveymg]

17. Same thing has happened to me.

This is a carry-over from a time a few years ago that Justin Raimondo was branded as "anti-Semitic" because he was an early (and effective) investigative critic of PNAC, AIPAC, Likud, and the neocon cabal in general. He even had the brass balls to suggest that there might be Mossad influence over certain aspects of US foreign policy. Imagine that.

I don't know what to do about this problem other than to talk openly about it. My suggestion is, continue to pester Admin. Request clarification and an explanation. Let us know, if you hear anything back.

[54anickel]

20. Funny you should mention that...

I posted this same article within another thread and it was deleted, the explanation had to do with antiwar.com. I tried to repost with the link to a different site and poof - deleted. I'm still waiting for a reply as well.

[understandinglife]

11. "the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House." - Amen,

... Chaplain, Amen.


Be The Bu$h Opposition - 24/7

[IsItJustMe]

12. Even if he does self destruct, what about the polocies he's already put

into motion. Remember we have two new extreme right judges to contend with for the next 20 to 40 years.

[C_U_L8R]

13. We are stronger than that

Bush is going down (fast)
and we will all be the better for it

[EVDebs]

15. Is there a 'remedial presidency' class Bush can take ?

Obviously he's all hat and no cattle.

[TheBaldyMan]

16. I think not, there were doomsayers after 9/11 predicting the

downfall of western civilisation. America survived a civil war, poorer and scarred but still vigorous. How can dumping the chimperor harm the US, it can only do good. Getting rid of a criminal and incompetent bunch of carpet-baggers will be the best thing that has happened in years. As long as the ballot box stuffers are kept in check and the troops are withdrawn from Iraq the economic outlook will be a lot better.

[upi402]

18. Unless they have a majority after 2006, no Iran war. No way.

Of course these baby eating satanists (sorry satan fans no offense) have surprised me before.

[bridgit]

19. they used to refer to it as 'starving the beast', i think now they aim...

to 'slit the bitches throat & leave her for dead' = either way :thumbsdown:

[Disturbed]

21. Three more years with these Neo Fascists?

The American people may be real slow on grasping reality but will they still be complacent in even one more year?

If the RW Corp. Media decides that the destruction of America is not such a good idea they may start broadcasting reality to the masses and give the rage a push.

[mmonk]

22. I'm not sure I agree

with the premise. First, I think this administration has more power than we are giving credit. Secondly, I think the neocon movement has support in both parties, if not by membership, by its dangerous ideas about full spectrum dominance. A spintered opposition is somewhat ineffective in presenting the truth to the people as well as defending many of our laws and rights. Maybe I'm too pessimistic but it seems to me there are still way too many people asleep in America.

[maddezmom]

23. locking

Democratic Underground does not permit linking to antiwar.com because it considered an unreliable/bigoted site.