Woeful State
The state of the union seems to be dependent on the state of the 51st State, to the exclusion of all others. The fixation with Iraq is all that the hapless commander-in-chief has to hang his rather small sized hat on. Yet, for some peculiar reason, it continues to carry the day.
Freedom. Freedom. Freedom for the Iraqi people. Not a word about WMD, tons of bio-chemical weapons; "re-constituted" nuclear programs; mushroom clouds, etc. All of the fear-mongering blather of the winter of 2002-2003 is now lost, two long years later, in the bluster of the post -election promise of "freedom and Democracy". Not a word about bin Laden.
Two years ago we were hustled with "fear". Now we are being hustled with "the Iraqi people".
The lies and fabrications put forth with absolute conviction by Bush/Cheney/Rice/Wolfowitz have all but been forgotten. Critics are ridiculed, scorned and marginalized. The pundits gush. Bush is now King of the World from Fox to MSNBC, to CNN; the AM radio dial is nothing but an echo chamber for the RNC.
The exploitation of the fallen Sgt. Norwood by the draft-dodging coward at the podium was absolutely sickening. That his parents could stand there and applaud the craven liar who sent their son to a meaningless death was surreal. "Now it's my turn to protect you", Norwood wrote to his mother. From what? Who cares. It was, as Pat Buchanan said, "the show-stopping moment" of this year's state-of-the-union address. That's entertainment.
Bush stood there, earnestly smirking through the hugs and the tears, knowing full well that he had pulled off the coup of the millenium, forever frozen as a "media moment". That we are only five years into the current millenium makes the feat all that more impressive.
Freedom. Freedom. Freedom for the Iraqi people. Not a word about WMD, tons of bio-chemical weapons; "re-constituted" nuclear programs; mushroom clouds, etc. All of the fear-mongering blather of the winter of 2002-2003 is now lost, two long years later, in the bluster of the post -election promise of "freedom and Democracy". Not a word about bin Laden.
Two years ago we were hustled with "fear". Now we are being hustled with "the Iraqi people".
The lies and fabrications put forth with absolute conviction by Bush/Cheney/Rice/Wolfowitz have all but been forgotten. Critics are ridiculed, scorned and marginalized. The pundits gush. Bush is now King of the World from Fox to MSNBC, to CNN; the AM radio dial is nothing but an echo chamber for the RNC.
The exploitation of the fallen Sgt. Norwood by the draft-dodging coward at the podium was absolutely sickening. That his parents could stand there and applaud the craven liar who sent their son to a meaningless death was surreal. "Now it's my turn to protect you", Norwood wrote to his mother. From what? Who cares. It was, as Pat Buchanan said, "the show-stopping moment" of this year's state-of-the-union address. That's entertainment.
Bush stood there, earnestly smirking through the hugs and the tears, knowing full well that he had pulled off the coup of the millenium, forever frozen as a "media moment". That we are only five years into the current millenium makes the feat all that more impressive.
posted by jvmuss at 8:43 PM
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