All us liberals and progressives said, back in 2000, that:
a) George W. Bush was at best, an intellectually incurious, lazy ex-drunk. At worst, he was a narcissistic, ignorant, delusional and denial-based idiot. In either case, he clearly owed his resume almost entirely to his father's connections.
b) As such, Bush was fundamentally unsuited for leadership, and the gang behind him was corrupt
c) under the Bush regime, we had a high likelihood of moving backwards economically
d) and we had a near certainty of blundering back into Iraq on some pretext
"But you must be wrong", right-wingers said. "Bush is a good man, and that's all we need to run a country; he can rely on his advisors and everything will work out fine. You're just blinded by your Liberal hatred."
(More below the fold)
Once Bush was elected, by September 10th we knew that:
a) he had no domestic policy to speak of
b) his admin was out of touch with modern reality - Rice was supposed to be so good because she was fluent in Russian, and they wanted an emphasis on fighting Communism (remember that??)
c) they had no skill at foreign affairs (remember when China spanked us, by demanding - and receiving - a written formal apology before handing over to us the remains of our crashed spy plane?)
"But 9/11 changed all that," we were now told. "And there's no way he could be held responsible for 9/11. And anyway we're in a war now. Let's talk about it, maybe, once we're finished with Afghanistan, and we capture and try Osama Bin Laden."
Ahem.
Then, when Bushco started the run-up to Iraq, we libs and progressives knew, and said very loudly that
a) there were no goddamn WMD's
b) there was no Al Qaeda or terrorist connection in Iraq, that could even hold a candle to the known connections with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, OUR ALLIES
c) we would NOT be greeted as liberators
d) we would be in Iraq for years
e) it would NOT lower our oil prices
f) it would isolate us from our allies
g) it would stretch us thin, both militarily and financially
h) Iran and Korea were much more dangerous, and in being ignored, would go much further down the path to actually having WMD's
"Just shut up!" We were told. "Why do you hate the troops? It'll all work out. We'll see. You Liberals and Progressives will be proven wrong, by the amazing success in Iraq, that will remake the whole Middle East into a US-loving capitalist democracy."
I think we all know how that's working out. I could go on for pages.
So, to sum up: we Liberals and progressives clearly saw the Bush admin's incompetence, ignorance, cronyism, denial and corruption, from the beginning.
I would have been quite happy to be proven wrong. That would mean our country, the most powerful nation in the world, was NOT in the hands of dangerous fools. But it seems that we were proven right.
And if the right wing had only dropped their desperate ambition and actually listened in an intellectually honest fashion, our entire nation would have been spared so much pain and damage.
Now, with the tragic lesson of Katrina as the latest painful slap, people who haven't considered themselves Liberals and Progressives are starting to awaken.
We need to continue with the facts - and we need to add to the end of every statement, four of the most emotionally fulfilling words in modern conversation:
WE TOLD YOU SO.