Saturday, September 10, 2005
Recall Bush
I like Bill Maher's idea to do a "California-style" recall election of Bush. After all, recent polls show his approval rating at below 40% (38% in the latest Newsweek poll), which means that a majority of Americans might be more-than-willing to sign a recall petition. The rationale is easy: 3 strikes and you're out. And Bush has some pretty big strikes against him:
Strike 1: 9/11
To review, in the days leading up to 9/11, Bush was clearing brush on his ranch while ignoring urgent memos that said plainly and clearly, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike within the US." Not only that, but moments after the first tower was struck, Bush continued to read the book "My Pet Goat" to schoolchildren before finally springing into action as commander in chief and flying all over the US before returning to Washington. In fact, it took him 3 days before he showed up at ground zero.
Strike 2: Iraq
It's a quagmire. It's costing thousands of innocent lives and billions of taxpayer dollars. And it was all based on the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was a threat to the US. Evidence from the British Intelligence Agency indicates that Bush was discussing war plans as early as 2002 and saw 9/11 as his opportunity to strike. The gullible, Fox-news watching portion of American society bought this link between Iraq and 9/11, even though there is absolutely no evidence of such a connection. Now, thanks to our presence in Iraq, terrorism is on the increase.
Strike 3: Hurricane Katrina
Thanks to Bush installing unqualified cronies at FEMA, the response to this disaster was a miserable failure. While people were dying, Bush was again on vacation (notice a recurrent theme here?) and was off making political appearances. Days later, he finally showed up to tour the region, complete with movie set "food shelters" set up just for the cameras, along with firefighters he removed from their rescue work so that they could appear in photo ops with him (reminiscent of his "Mission Accomplished" PR stunt on the aircraft carrier). While we still don't know the number of dead, estimates range from 10,000-40,000.
Three strikes. He's out.
Strike 1: 9/11
To review, in the days leading up to 9/11, Bush was clearing brush on his ranch while ignoring urgent memos that said plainly and clearly, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike within the US." Not only that, but moments after the first tower was struck, Bush continued to read the book "My Pet Goat" to schoolchildren before finally springing into action as commander in chief and flying all over the US before returning to Washington. In fact, it took him 3 days before he showed up at ground zero.
Strike 2: Iraq
It's a quagmire. It's costing thousands of innocent lives and billions of taxpayer dollars. And it was all based on the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was a threat to the US. Evidence from the British Intelligence Agency indicates that Bush was discussing war plans as early as 2002 and saw 9/11 as his opportunity to strike. The gullible, Fox-news watching portion of American society bought this link between Iraq and 9/11, even though there is absolutely no evidence of such a connection. Now, thanks to our presence in Iraq, terrorism is on the increase.
Strike 3: Hurricane Katrina
Thanks to Bush installing unqualified cronies at FEMA, the response to this disaster was a miserable failure. While people were dying, Bush was again on vacation (notice a recurrent theme here?) and was off making political appearances. Days later, he finally showed up to tour the region, complete with movie set "food shelters" set up just for the cameras, along with firefighters he removed from their rescue work so that they could appear in photo ops with him (reminiscent of his "Mission Accomplished" PR stunt on the aircraft carrier). While we still don't know the number of dead, estimates range from 10,000-40,000.
Three strikes. He's out.
