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Three BuzzFlash Reader Commentaries On The Rosie Ruiz Of Politics: George W. Bush
THREE BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARIES
Dear Buzz:
Did you see the article on the A.P. that President Bunnypants rode a grand total of 39 miles to land on the Abraham Lincoln? If he "flew" the plane as suggested, he must have touched the joystick (or whatever) for seconds. He's the Rosie Ruiz* of politics.
*In the 84th Boston Marathon on April 21, 1980, amateur runner Rosie Ruiz came from out of nowhere to win the women's race. 24 hours later suspicions were raised when it was found Ruiz didn't appear in race videotapes until near the end of the race. The accepted theory came to be that Ruiz had hopped a subway for much of the race, ran the final mile or half-mile, and proudly accepted the winner's medal.
G.Powers
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Letter to the Editor of the New York Daily News,
We are rather revolted by your continuing attempts to portray George W. Bush was a war hero. After all when Mr. Bush had the opportunity to put his body on the line during the Vietnam war he used his family connections to get a coveted slot in the Texas National Guard (the "champagne unit" yet) and evade both the draft and serving in Vietnam itself. While other less fortunate sons were coming home in body bags Mr. Bush couldn't even be bothered to serve his full term and apparently simply blew off more than a year of guard duty. This is the man you call "Top Gun"?!? (Oddly so-called conservatives had no trouble calling President Clinton a traitor for his draft record, yet have seem to have no interest in Mr. Bush's apparent desertion during wartime.
The Daily News I note has followed the right's brave lead in ignoring this story while puffing up Mr. Bush.) It's hard not to believe that anyone without such a powerful Daddy would have been court martialed or worse, yet Bush got off scot free to go onto running various oil companies funded by his Daddy's rich cronies into the ground.
One might have hoped with his history that Mr. Bush might be less lavish in wrapping himself in the flag or at least not lie our nation into war. But the simple truth is Mr. Bush lied about the threat Iraq posed to the United States. We were told Iraq was an imminent threat with huge quantities of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Now this is being quietly revised to finding any forbidden chemicals as being the "smoking gun" when clearly this differs substantially from what Mr. Bush was saying as he lead us into war. We wonder if the Daily News will have the integrity to point this out if and when some small quantity of forbidden chemicals are discovered.
It is hard not to escape the conclusion that this war was done for political reasons. After all Mr. Bush has run the economy into the ground and is digging us into record deficits. The noise of the war also camouflages the Bush administration's ongoing efforts to derail any inquiry into the 9/11 disaster. What, we wonder, is Mr. Bush so afraid of the American people finding out? And why isn't the Daily News as a New York paper more interested in this question? You aren't the Post yet for goodness sakes are you?
So please don't insult real soldiers by covering a silver spooned deserter in glory with your recent mindless jingoist coverage, it's not patriotic, quite the opposite in fact.
Thank You,
The Max Cleland Brigade
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Buzz:
Bush's glamorous landing on the Abraham Lincoln ( another bit of weird irony) is a laughable and pathetic replay of Leni Riefensthal's Nazi propaganda film classic, "Triumph des Willes" or "Triumph of the Will", in which the Fuehrer flies in for the infamous Nuremberg Nazi Rally. You can bet that the US propaganda apparatus will be congratulating itself for the image it creates of Bush as Fearless Leader, when it, like the 911 version of the Reichstag fire (when Hitler used the burning of the Reichstag to embark on his destruction of German democracy and push towards war), uses recycled Nazi ploys to mobilize public opinion.
A more realistic portrayal of Bush's leadership, though, is the TV clip of Andrew Card whispering in his ear about the second plane having flown into the WTC. Bush makes a slight grimace and looks down for a moment, then in a show of "historic decisiveness" continues reading about a pet goat to his elementary school class. What was he thinking as our country was being attacked? Why the hell didn't Andrew Card demand a response, and why did he not show that take charge attitude when we really needed it, when our jets could have foiled the Pentagon attack?
But don't expect an answer anytime soon. You don't need one. You can figure it out for yourself.
In the meantime, Bush can keep his cheap propaganda tricks.
Eric Arnow
THREE BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARIES
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