I see no hope. They will stop at nothing and are so well coordinated and in perfect lockstep with one another (including the Republican media) that they can get away with just about anything. They are the new Macchiavelians, and Little Boy Bush is Il Principe. I’ve never been so depressed about US politics before, and I’m afraid we have little choice but to resign ourselves to more of the same, and worse, for years and years to come.
I am watching the hatchet job performed now on Dean and Clark, and it is simply beyond all belief. It reminds me of Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men, where a populist governor and his cronies ride roughshod over the law and basically do and say as they please, unchecked and unquestioned. The more passionate Dean and Clark become, the more they’re ridiculed as “angry” and “incoherent” and “contradictory.” And the Republicans, in a dazzling display of unity and choreography, loom godlike over the political landscape, as bright and shiny as Mussolini’s well-polished black boots.
I plan to go home within ten weeks. Will I be returning to the America I left in 2000? Will I really want to live there again. Rhetorical questions, for now. I’ll go back with as open a mind as possible, but looking at where Bush-Cheney are leading us today, it’s hard to be sanguine.
1
By Joseph Bosco
Excellent post, Richard. And indeed frightening
January 17, 2004 @ 12:55 pm | Comment
2
By JetCity
Depressing. I almost agree but am not totally without hope.
It will be interesting to see how Bush handles the scheming-to-invade before 9/11 issue. The thinking ‘republican’ may see the deceptiveness of Bush’s policy for what is was and become a swing vote for the Dems.
However, I too continue to lose hope … it’s as if America is a divided country and the bible-thumping, sound-bite loving, flag-draped republican masses outnumber us.
PS – Have you seen or heard about that anti-Dean commercial wherein a farmer says he thinks that:
“Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading …” before the farmer’s wife then finishes the sentence: “… Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs.”
see http://www.bushout.tv/antidean/
Uh, that’s me they are talking about.
January 17, 2004 @ 2:50 pm | Comment
3
By richard
Jet, I didn’t hear of that commercial but it doesn’t surprise me. (I like latte, too, so I guess I am a freak and an enemy of the people). Dean’s record is that of a pure centrist. On the grounds that he opposed the war and that he dare express himself on it, he is labelled as both angry and leftist. The cynicism of the men who are actively engineering this misconception knows no bounds. I don’t want to sound hopeless, I don’t want to throw in the towel. But Dean and Clark have thus far appeared wholly incapable of gaining the upper hand here, and they seem dwarved by the oppostion’s disinformartion campaign. The Bush people are slick. That word used to be owned by Bill Clinton, but Bush and Rove and Cheney are far more deserving of it.
Joseph,, thanks for the praise and for the link! This is one post of mine I am desperately hoping proves to be untrue. But right now, in my heart, I really believe it.
January 17, 2004 @ 3:08 pm | Comment
4
By vaara
There is, however, at least one reason for optimism: George Soros has said he will spend as much as necessary to unseat Bush. It’s about time we non-Republicans had some plutocrats on OUR side!
January 17, 2004 @ 5:22 pm | Comment
5
By richard
And have you seen the hatchet job the Republicans are doing on him? They’re portraying him as a kook and an eccentric. Nevertheless, you have a goood point — no matter what they say about Soros, money is money, and it’s clear he’s willing to invest whatever it takes to get Dick Cheney out of the White House. (Oh yeah, and George and Laura, too.)
January 17, 2004 @ 7:59 pm | Comment
6
By Zhang Li En
My, how things change … Soros, the hero of the Bush haters … talk about getting in bed with the devil! I really wonder what Dr Mahatir in Malaysia is thinking about it all, not to mention a few others.
Anti-Bush media has spent so much time convincing itself and its readership that Bush is stupid that they’ve actually come to believe it. As I so often do, I would suggest that everyone go back and take a history lesson … not to look at his grade average at school, or his drink driving conviction, or his stupid slips of the tongue … but rather at his governorship of Texas, where he became (if I heard this correctly) the only governor of that state ever to win reelection.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Bush is going to win the coming election … because of the Hispanic and Jewish votes. I’m basing this more on gut feeling than any particular knowledge, so I’m ready to be corrected … but my guess is that that he’s going to pick up a hell of a lot more votes in both those sectors than he did in the last election.
January 19, 2004 @ 11:05 am | Comment
7
By richard
Li En, you and I agree on many things, but I don’t think we’ll ever agree on Bush. I don’t care whether he is stupid or not, and the shrillness of the bona fide Bush haters drives me crazy — it is exactly the wrong strategy and you are right, it will cost the Democrats votes. But I don’t like the way Bush has handled things on many levels, from his tax cuts to his new love (Mars and the moon) to his lack of transparency to his courting of the religious right — and the list goes on. And I agree with you, he will win the upcoming election. I see it as a tragedy, but I can accept that some very smart people like you will disagree with me.
January 19, 2004 @ 11:50 am | Comment
8
By vaara
Don’t be too hasty. A CBS News poll conducted over the weekend found that 45% would vote for the Democratic nominee, versus 43% for Bush.
January 19, 2004 @ 11:50 pm | Comment
9
By David Mercer
Cheer up, Edwards just placed second in Iowa, and unlike Dean, I actually think he’s electable vs. Bush in Nov.!
January 20, 2004 @ 4:02 pm | Comment
10
By richard
David, this is amazing! Edwards was seen as a joke a few months ago, even though I thought he was the most charismatic and intelligent of the lot. This is quite incredible.
January 20, 2004 @ 6:02 pm | Comment