We Now Know Bush’s Plan

According to this morning’s New York Times, “the White House seems eager to lock in as many of the president’s policies as possible before he leaves office in 11 months.” The Prez never sounds surer of himself than when the subject is Sept. 11, the NYT said, even though “he has squandered the country’s moral authority, violated American and international law, and led the United States into the foolhardy distraction of Iraq.” The NYT reported that in all cases —the military tribunals, the wiretapping legislation, the president’s war in Iraq—“the White House seems to have concluded that each is politically sustainable and even favorable for a Republican candidate and Mr. Bush’s own legacy.” Although Bush’s war in Iraq sent his popularity tumbling a year ago and Repubs as well as Dems were naming him the worst president in the entire history of the United States, George W. Bush now has justified keeping more than 130,000 American soldiers in Iraq and he’s saying it’s “part of a broader fight against terrorism”. Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates endorsed a ‘pause’ in further troop withdrawals once those troops sent in last year as part of a temporary buildup go home. So what’s going on? In the face of the worst presidency and the most unpopular president in the history of the United States, how come the Republicans want to elect another George W. Bush? The Republican Party has decided, against all analysis and against all assessment by reasonable men, that it ran the country so well under Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney, and neoconservative political strategist William Kristol and Kristol's ilk, that the Repubs are well advised to continue their policies not only for the next year, but also through the election and into the coronation of John McCain. The Republican Party is so sure that Americans love the war, love the lying Justice Department, love the lying Pentagon, love the killing of US soldiers for no good reason, love welfare for the rich, love being hated around the world, love being spied on, and most of all, love the last 7 years of White House fascism so much that we all will be pleased to have more of the same in the foreseeable future. And only the election of a Democrat President this coming November will make these madmen understand that they were wrong.