In my post of 11/12/2010, "Bush/Cheney: Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose", I accused George W. Bush of laziness with a limited capacity for intellectual ability. How much should we detest this man due to his blatant abrogation of due diligence in carrying out his oath of office to the American people? Even though Dick Cheney was the malevolent policy pusher, enabling the spoiled brat Bush to avoid his responsibilities while using Bush’s devil-may-care attitude to enact his own evil objectives, Bush must answer for his lack of responsibility in the following matters:
- Starting a ten-year war in Iraq based on lies. He had received information that there were no weapons of mass destruction in that country. When he got caught in this lie, he changed, and to this day upholds this belief, the premise for beginning the war from destroying the WMD to destroying Saddam Hussein. This was a switcheroo in policy that Bush felt was validated because both objectives played to making America "safer". This action was the result of his own lack of responsibility and bowing to the propaganda of his advisers, i.e. Cheney and Rummy. He thought he was smart enough to rely on these masterminds’ advice but he did not even consider their own agenda, which was quite removed from anything at all that resembled "patriotism". Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.
- The outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. As if committing 150,000 American troops to the war in Iraq wasn’t bad enough, he never punished those advisers who orchestrated the outing of Plame. So make that 150,001 lives put at stake by Bush and Cheney. Scooter Libbey was fined and sentenced, a jail term that Bush pardoned. It is a moot point that even though he did not pardon the fines, he did pardon any jail time. Thus, Plame’s career and life was another casualty of a war based on lies and conducted for political and economic reasons. Where was Bush’s moral backbone? I guess that would have taken time and effort to muster; better off to leave the details to Cheney, who we know had no heart.
- Bush’s insistence that waterboarding was a justifiable tactic. To this day, Bush states that the torture of our enemies was essential to a safer America. Did he not realize or consider that his stance on waterboarding would affect how American prisoners would be treated? Once again, a decision made without taking the time to weigh the consequences for human life.
- An erroneous sentence to execute a Texan . On Bush’s last day as Governor of Texas in 2000, he signed off on the execution of Claude Jones. Please read the gory details here:
http://www.google.com/...
The only piece of forensic evidence to tie Jones to the crime for which he was given the death penalty was a hair. However, DNA analysis showed that the hair came from the victim, not Jones. Bush’s aides had prepared a three or four page summary of the case for the Governor to review before his stroke of the pen would kill Jones. These aides, to whom Bush typically and lazily delegated power, never included in their report this physical finding of evidence. Sound familiar? Kind of similar to the omission that no WMD’s were ever found in Iraq. Hence, Bush took pen to paper and directed Jones to be put to death. And so he was. Prisoner number 152 to be executed by the state of Texas under Bush’s tenure. Laziness and intellectual limitation not withstanding, Bush apparently makes the same mistakes over and over again. To be the arbiter of any human life, whether it is a soldier, a dedicated government employee or a supposed felon on death row, demands discipline and seriousness the likes of which Bush never embraced or developed. Certainly he must be ashamed of his laziness that led up to his disregard for human life.
- The possibility of plagiarism in his new book "Decision Points:"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
After relating the above four sins of Bush, this one, sadly, is no surprise. As if his personal and public actions were not offensive in and of themselves, Bush never re-visits his dastardly deeds. His new book is no different. No admission of "borrowing" material from other sources has been forthcoming. Will he blame his researcher (ghostwriter?) for not doing the thorough job that Bush himself should have done? Or perhaps Bush will say he lifted entire paragraphs from other sources because it was the patriotic thing to do, and it made America "safer".
All in all, this man George W. Bush is digging a deep hole for himself from which, one of these days, he will not be able to crawl out. He started out as a spoiled child of privilege and grew up without ever growing out of that stage. I cannot believe that since Bush left the White House, his wife Laura picks up his dirty socks and towels, which he so cavalierly leaves on the floor. There is just so much a person can rationalize, or lie about, before the truth will do one in. Bush was not an evil man, just a stupid, lazy person. However, at some point, his irresponsibility becomes criminal, especially when it affects human lives. The party mentality of his younger days is still reflected in his devil-may-care, excuse driven banter. We are not just talking about Good Time Charlie anymore, as his actions have had national and international consequences. His personal recklessness and dull sense of intelligence spilled over to affect the world. There is only one thing worse than the lies Bush told: being Bush and living in his shoes, lie after lie, day after day.