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A Virtuoso Performance
BUZZFLASH
READER COMMENTARY
by Richard Stringer
In spite of my best intentions, morbid curiosity forced me to sit and watch the State of the Reich address. And I must say I was impressed. I don't believe I have ever in my entire life heard so many lies and half truths told with a straight face. Bush's speechwriters outdid themselves.
My
very favorite was "No longer will bureaucrats,
trial lawyers and HMO's determine medical care," followed by a
promise of a prescription drug program that will force any senior who
wants it to give up their traditional medicare and join an HMO. And
I'm sure the poor simpletons who have been deceived thus far by the
Corporate Socialists cheered and cheered at their hero's "compassion." Just
as I'm sure they cheered when he said "We are holding corporate
criminals to account." I'll bet ol' "Kenny Boy" Lay
is quaking in his ski boots at his Aspen villa, yesiree. Not to mention
Dick Cheney. That's telling 'em, by George.
I knew when they summoned Karen Hughes back to Washington that
they were seriously concerned about the public perception of
this speech.
Didn't want any more laughable "axis of evil" gaffes,
and needed to try and juice the poll numbers. Hughes was their
resident
wizard of deception, the one who put the "compassionate" phoniness
into Bush and made it believable to a great many people. His slipping
poll numbers in large part reflect her absence, for although Rove
and crew have great skill at lies and deception, they are more
in tune
with the political game than with Mr. and Mrs. Simpleton America.
It was always Hughes's job to take the nasty medicine they want
to dish
out and convince people that it tasted good because the kindly, "compassionate" doctor
said so. And she was obviously very good at her game, as witnessed
by the fact that today, months after her departure, fifty-eight
percent of our fellow countrymen still think being sodomized feels
good.
The single most disgusting obfuscation, even worse than the HMO lie or the appeal to base greed, selfishness and gross fiscal irresponsibility with the "don't tax it away" crap, was Bush's so-called "ad lib" (i.e. it wasn't printed in the text of the speech handed to reporters -- but I'll bet any amount it was on the teleprompter) about the al-Qaeda who were "no longer a threat (smirk)." This is indeed a "bold" step -- an effort to impress the retarded element of the white male vote with Bush's cowboy swagger while simultaneously causing them to forget all about the "Osama Dead or Alive" b-s that was supposed to define our nonexistent "war on terrorism." Dr. Goebbels would be soooo proud of that one. I'm sure Osama got a great chuckle out of it, too, as he and his pals watched it on CNN in their Pakistani safe house and rubbed their hands in glee at how readily and completely Bush and his Oil buddies have risen to their bait and grabbed it hook, line and sinker as they plan their Crusade.
A
few interesting left-field things came in that I haven't got
the straight skinny on yet. I presume the aids in Africa bit is supposed
to do triple duty as a sop to liberals to distract them, and
to
go along with the faith-based stuff as an appeal to blacks in an effort
to break the black bloc vote, and of course what I presume to
be its
true purpose: a big new welfare program for Big Pharma, to compensate
for those seniors sufficiently desperate to be forced to join
Bush's insurance-company-run HMO and cut into Pharma profits. I guarantee
you that the huge sum he mentioned is heading for drug company
coffers first, and Africans a very distant second.
The hydrogen car? In its own way, that's almost as weird as axis of
evil. No clue what's going on there, but I presume Big Oil is,
as we speak, cornering the market on hydrogen technology. Or, more
likely,
already has. That's all I can figure at the moment. Have to do
further research on that.
On Imperial Policy, of course, the lies and half truths got bigger
and bolder. Bush enumerated a series of evils practiced by the
Iraqi regime which are also practiced by innumerable "allies" of
ours in the Middle East and the Former Soviet "Stans" who
don't merit our wrath because our oil companies already operate
there; and accused Iraq of "harboring al Qaeda," but
neglected to mention Saudi Arabia, which finances al Qaeda with
our oil money
and provides many of its troops, Egypt, and Pakistan, which trains
them and totters on the brink of a fundamentalist Islamic takeover,
nuclear weapons and all.
But, most importantly, Bush carefully set the stage for a great triumph if things go well in the Crusade and a "blame Clinton" strategy if things go wrong. He naturally neglected to mention that Saddam got all his carefully enumerated bugs and gas from Papa Bush in the first place, during the Iran-Iraq war, when VP Bush ran all the illegal and treasonous scams Reagan's handlers sponsored; and that the reason Saddam is still around is that Papa Bush obeyed the orders of the Oil Sheiks not to take him out twelve years ago; and that the reason Saddam is so entrenched is that Papa Bush promised support to the Kurds and the Shiites if they would rebel, and then left them twisting in the wind, being butchered by Saddam, while Papa's promised help never came.
Nope, it's all Clinton's fault for not adequately enforcing Iraq's compliance with the inspection program. Of course, he also neglected to remind us of the Republican howls of protest and accusations of "wag the dog" when Clinton did try to enforce it, interfering with the Republican attempt to overthrow our government by impeachment.
These people are indeed breathtaking in their arrogance, hubris, and lies. What to do about them? I don't know. There's obviously no stopping the war juggernaut. After all, the oil companies and defense contractors have paid big money to put Bush where he is, and they, like all the other corporate interests that own Bush and the Republican Party, will not be denied.
We will definitely invade Poland -- I mean Iraq -- and soon. Along with Tony Blair (British Petroleum), and possibly the Netherlands (Royal Dutch Shell), enough "allies" will be bought (Turkey $14 bil so far, Jordan $1 bil, and probably a few thug Stans and maybe, for historical effect, Hungary and Romania) to silence the opposition, which has painted itself into this "allies" corner instead of asking "Where's Osama" and "Whose Oil" loudly and long.
I suppose the best outcome is that the Iraq war goes swiftly and well and that the Iraqis actually think they're being liberated and dance in the streets, thus compromising the Arab "street" and its terrorists. The resulting hubris will lead Bush to push through all his economic proposals roughshod, which the Democrats should probably protest, but will allow. This will, within a very few years, bankrupt the country and cause another Great Depression, and then, as with 1929, we can perhaps be rid of the Corporate Socialists for a generation.
That's the good outcome, as we stand on street corners selling apples.
The
bad outcome is the Corporate Socialists will
continue following
the Germany 1930's model which has worked so well thus
far, continuing to undermine our democracy in order to stay in
power, and we
will live in a bankrupt Imperial police state with a
permanently entrenched fascist
government, waiting to be liberated by the rest of the
world when "our" hubris
and arrogance finally brings us crashing down. What a choice.
I do at least understand how Jefferson Davis and the
Confederates felt. It's not my country anymore. Can I
secede? Herr Speaker,
the State
of the Reich is strong. Mr Speaker, the State of the
Union is at its worst since the Civil War.
Richard Stringer
BUZZFLASH
READER COMMENTARY
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