Do People Buy the White House Crappola?

The BushMen have banked their political lives on the premise that Americans are stupid. H.L. Mencken said, “No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” Which means that the people who voted for George W. Bush may actually believe the White House moonshine. But the rest of the world isn’t buying it. December 31, 2004-The Star,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, “Speaking publicly for the first time since Sunday’s tsunami...Bush said the initial US pledge of US $35mil in direct financial aid was “only the beginning of our help”...Bush’s remarks followed several days of criticism that the United States had not been as swift or as generous as other countries in its response...Bush was criticised for not taking a break from his vacation until Wednesday to address the issue in person and for offering only US$15mil in assistance initially...The administration was also pressed to explain the timing and amount of its relief pledge...The current US aid is also significantly lower than in other recent natural disasters...After Hurricane Mitch in 1998, when about 9,000 people were killed and three million left homeless in Central America, the United States provided US$988mil in relief assistance.”  January 1, 2005-Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia “Bush increases tsunami aid tenfold...President Bush, under pressure over the pace and scale of American aid to Asian tsunami victims, abruptly raised the US contribution to $US350 million on Friday, 10 times the amount pledged just two days ago...The increased assistance was only the latest step of the Bush administration and Congress to bolster America's contribution to relief efforts amid criticism that its initial response had been slow and miserly...But the larger number did not insulate the Bush administration from critics...Critics quickly compared the dollar sum to $US13.6 billion in aid for hurricane-battered US states that Congress passed speedily in the run-up to last month's US elections.” Daily Kos put the $350 million figure in perspective on December 31st when Kos wrote, “While $350 million sounds like a lot of money (and it is), in fact, it's the cost of 38 hours of operation in Iraq.” It’s anybody’s guess why Colin Powell is allowing himself to be treated like the White House errand boy. He offered to stay on as Secretary of State and was told, No thanks, we prefer someone totally unprepared and incompetent for the job, we prefer Condi Rice. Why Powell is once again running from TV show to TV show to defend White House errors in judgment is a mystery. Why the Secretary of State of the United States meekly allowed himself to be ordered to drop the Times Square ball New Years Eve is an even bigger mystery. But the biggest puzzlement is: Why is Colin Powell sitting still for pissant Florida Governor Jeb Bush to accompany him to Indonesia and Sri Lanka? Jeb Bush lived through a few hurricanes in Florida. He has no more tsunami expertise than the editor of the Tinytown News has the expertise to run The Washington Post. The Amen Corner of the GOP may think it’s fine for the WH to heap scorn on some of their best men like Colin Powell, Paul O’Neill, and John McCain. And the gullible right-wing may believe the silly White House press releases. But the rest of the world, including 50% of the American public, doesn’t believe a word the BushMen say.