BEST SPEECHES MONEY CAN BUY
By Peter Fredson
November 24, 2005
By now everyone knows that all of the Bush speechwriters use Newspeak liberally. This is the fine art of making white appear to be black, war to be peace, incompetence appear to be clever leadership, torture to be simple college pranks, corruption appear to be bookkeeping mistakes, with death and destruction appearing to be joyous preparation for a wonderful eternal world of the future.
Everyone knows that a loyal sycophant of Bush, helped to make him President by the clever use of innuendo, slander, misdirection, deceit and outright lies.
And everyone knows, but no Republican will admit, that this practice continues on a daily basis with the Bush people. Swiftboating, outing, leaks, denials, misinformation, fake journalists, hack media, self-promotion advertising, carefully staged photo-ops, swift and harsh punishment to critics, demotions and discharges for whistle-blowers, praise and medals for concealers of wrong-doing, appointing incompetent people to high positions, continually selling fear, and interminable speeches are the ingredients of the Bush administration to sucker gullible Americans into believing that he will make everything better, safer, easier and healthier.
Everyone knows, but few Republicans admit, that the choice of Bush appointees reflects his egomaniacal views. Who but Bush would have given Ashcroft control of civil rights? Who but Bush would have even thought of Mr. Bolton as a "diplomat" and appoint him to an institution that he had publicly stated should disappear.
Who but Bush would have given sanguinary Donald Rumsfeld complete control over the lives (and deaths) of millions of Iraqis? Who but Bush would have put a rogue-like personality like Wolfowitz in charge of vast sums of money?
Who but Bush would let a fast-talking scam-artist like Karl Rove figure out his world strategy? And, who but Bush, when Rove was under scrutiny for outing a CIA agent and should have been fired, would have given him charge of the reconstruction of New Orleans? Talk about putting a fox in charge of the hen-house!!
Or, who but Bush would have entrusted the lives of millions of Americans to the incompetent mismanagement of a crony who knew only how to manage show horses?
And, who but Bush would have allowed Millennium Corporation to escape unscathed and unpunished from corruption in Iraq but gave them more contracts, without bidding, for "reconstruction" in the Gulf Coast?
Who but Bush would nominate his secretary for the highest court of our land, in order to resolve sticky constitutional issues. His secretary never did any trial work or constitutional reflection, but whose prime qualifications were that she was a good Christian?
Why not pardon Karl Rove and immediately appoint him to the Supreme Court the next time Congress is out on vacation? Americans are so accustomed to his outrageous nominations and his Republican Senators are so willing to go along with anything he proposes that he probably could get away with it.
Does he want to see how far Bush's outrageous choices can go before someone starts civil rebellion? When he imposes his religious beliefs on the nation is he trying to start a civil war? When he creates the largest deficit in history saying it is great financial strategy, does he think all Americans are stupid?
When Bush is spending billions of American tax dollars weekly in a foreign country to "reconstruct it", especially after he had previously declared that such reconstruction was foolish, is he being stupid or egomaniacal?
When he flouts the law by holding citizens incommunicado indefinitely, at whim, will no lawman arrest him? When he kidnaps people and sends them to secret jails, without any records, to be tortured, will no one step forward and lock him up? When he creates secret jail in foreign countries for the purpose of torturing people, will no one in his party, except McCain, denounce him in harsh tones?
Today he shows his contradictory nature. He will "pardon" a turkey, showing his great compassion, while holding the record for the most prison executions of any governor. He showed his great compassion for Terri Schiavo and his great respect for life while at the same time sending over 2,000 of our soldiers to die to uphold his lies about reasons for being in Iraq.
He showed his competence and care by strumming a guitar while enjoying an extended vacation and getting on with his life while people were drowning from broken levees that he neglected to look at.
His antipathy for poor people has been noticed frequently, and his high regard for the welfare of rich people has also been noticed, but yet there are people who regard this as trivial and continue to give him their approval.
His friendship with corrupt corporate executives, letting Ken Lay walk about for years without a word of disapproval, was trumped by his zeal to jail the dangerous felon Martha Stewart and show the world that he was "tough on crime."
Speaking of Bush speeches, how many people have noticed that they are beginning to be carbon copies. Whole sentences and phrases are repeated, evidently because Karl Rove thinks they are effective or because Bush has run out of ideas.
When a politician gets so desperate to win approval that he begins to copy himself it is time to call for a new politician. Or perhaps some gullible people want hear the same refrain repeated in every speech as it reassures them that White Supremacist Fundamentalism and Crony Capitalism are doing very well.
They want Bush to reassure them that the deaths of 2,100 of our "brave boys" were "worth it" as he continually asserts. Bush would think losing 3,000 or 6,000 or 60,000 of our "brave boys" was worth for getting the oil of Iraq for Millennium, for building permanent huge military bases, and for constructing a huge embassy from which spies, agents and "diplomats" will insult oil-rich countries until they stimulate a good pretext for some neocon to invade.
They want Bush to tell them, daily, that the war in Iraq is going along smoothly and that he has some sort of plan. They disregard the fact that he has never announced any entrance plan, given any "moral" reasons to declare war, or had no exit strategy.
Bush followers still believe there were weapons of mass destruction with an imminent threat to the U.S. They refuse to believe that a President can lie to the entire nation. They buy his reason for invading Iraq, which is that God told him to do it, and that Saddam was EVIL. But as long as he is killing Muslims that seems to be okay with Bush fundamentalist supporters.
How long does it take even gullible people to realize that staying on a failed course is not logical determination but pig-headed egomania? How many more people must die before some Senator or Judge takes Bush by the scruff of his neck and throws him out of power?
Many innocent Muslims have died. They were devout, attended Mosques and prayers as prescribed by their faith, read their sacred book, listened to sermons and spent the rest of their lives working to support their families. They did absolutely nothing to deserve murder. 3,000 Americans died but the Iraqis had nothing to do with it. Yet ten times the amount of dead Iraqis does not seem to compensate Bush for 9/11, the luckiest disaster that ever befell an egomaniacal president.
He wants more dead to boost his "legacy" as a mighty warrior, as a courageous hero, as a great flag-waving cross-holding patriot above all others.
There is no praise sufficient to fully satisfy Bush, unless he can get some usually addressed to his God. All Hail, the Messiah and Emperor.