I don’t know about you but I am sick to damn death of this shit. How stupid does this administration think we are? Judging by recent actions (or really ALL their actions), pretty fucking stupid I’d say.
To wit: (Taken from The Rude Pundit)
President Bush met today with Rockey Vaccarella, a Katrina survivor who lost everything in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, and who drove a mock FEMA trailer to DC in order to talk with Bush about Katrina relief. Unlike, say, Cindy Sheehan, Bush invited Vaccarella into the White House and had coffee with him. And then, as if to prove that the hurricane had made him batshit insane, Vaccarella offered this while standing next to the President: “I just wish the president could have another term in Washington… You know, I wish you had another four years, man. If we had this president for another four years, I think we’d be great.”
In Louisiana and Mississippi, a giant vomiting sound was heard as the thought was contemplated. Oh, and, what the hell, when informed of the idea, Jesus wept. Some more.
Update: The Rude Pundit already knew that Rockey Vaccarella was a publicity whore fronting for a documentary of his journey (see the second link above). But now we find out he’s a Republican activist, too. Which means that he was inclined towards insanity even before the storm. Katrina just pushed him over the edge.
So basically, if you’re a hand picked Republican shill (rather than one that just wandered in off the street) and make for a wonderful photo op with Der Kommissar, then by all means he will make time for your ass. Because playing to that stupid base is soooo important, isn’t it? Yet, when a woman who lost her son – not her home, not her clothes but her SON requested to meet with his royal highness, well, he just couldn’t be bothered, could he? Nope. Couldn’t. be. bothered.
I am so angry about this (and about 100 other things they are doing each and every day).
Who are you, those of you who don’t see immediately that this was high bullshit? I’m calling you out. I want to know what about this particular incident seemed even remotely sincere. Don’t you get that you’re being played?? You are. We are. And it’s tearing down this country.
I was reading a diary today at Daily Kos and came across this paragraph that spoke to this very thing:
PR PR PR. That’s what Bush does. The Bush administration is not a governing body. They are an advertising agency that sits around and tries to fool people into believing in the shit they are selling. If they spent one one hundreth of the time actually helping New Orleans that they do lying to America, the Gulf Coast would be hoppin and boppin by now.
I am not so naive to think that all politicians who came before this administration were 100% altruistic. Not by a long shot. Everyone, Democrat and Republican alike, has an agenda. This is not new behavior, these PR stunts. However, what IS new are the heights this administration has taken it to and the complete and utter damage it is doing to this country. Just when you think they have reached the pinnacle of outrageous behavior, they take it even one step further.
So, if you are in that 30-some per cent who still supports Mr. Bush, I am calling you out. Tell me why you do. And if it’s based on his so-called Christian nature, all I have to say is “bitch, please”. The squirrel in my backyard is more in touch with the God in all of us than Bush. Because if Mr. Bush were, he could not and would not commit these atrocities in the name of our country. By the time he leaves that office, I fear we won’t even recognize this country any longer.
Leanne, I am HORRIFIED that your husband and other servicemen/women are spit on for their service. That is wrong, wrong, wrong. You know that I do not agree with why we are in Iraq but I am 100% behind our men and women in uniform. I am part of Soldier’s Angels and actively send care packages and cards not only to the soldier I adopted but to others who might need some love in general. So, to villify our men and women because of their service is unforgivable in my books. My husband is retired Navy so I do understand the committment and dedication it takes to be in the military.
Given that, I don’t really understand how what CS and Gold Star families for peace are doing – trying to hold this admin accountable for its decisions – as spitting on their duty. If anything, she is trying to prevent this happening again. If you visit Dailykos.com, you will see how the progressive liberals treat our men and women in uniform. We take care of them (monetarily and I’ve been one of those who went to that forum asking for help for a wounded vet and got it and so much more) but not only monetarily, we LISTEN to what they are saying. We try to learn lessons from their experience.
We’re NOT against those who serve. HELL, we are trying to get them the benefits they need and deserve.
So, I really don’t get how she is harming them and this country. I’m glad to hear other points of view because I know that I can be a bit myopic in my fervor.
FTR, I am not too out of touch with how our troops are effected by her actions. I am not the only one, or the only family – and my husband is not the only soldier who is spit on for his service, and he’s not even 6-feet under. Those who disagree with the administration need to keep in mind that our troops know and the vast majority do not agree with how she is handling her sons death. Have a look at military.com forums, and get the flip side. Politics aside, there are thousands of people who defend our country and will continue to do so beyond this administrations term. No one seems to keep in mind that they are impacted by this type of non-peaceful protesting in a very personal way. Ways that will most likely impact their decision to protect and serve the very people who disrespect their fallen brothers.
Just another opinion, for what it’s worth.
Say it sister! You got it right: this administration is all about image and tough talk. What it is deficient at is making sound decisions.
With Hurricane Katrina, I feel like the whole lid blew off the top of what problems were already there and present with this administration and in this country – these problems became so huge and so obvious that they could no longer be ignored. The fact that FEMA really couldn’t respond and resigned FEMA director Mike Brown warned President Bush that this was the case (and the Bush administration suppressed that knowledge and made Brown the scapegoat for what happened in New Orleans), the fact that the problem with the levees had been anticipated and known even before Katrina happened… on and on.
I also think that Katrina made it very clear that we have a huge problem that involves race and class in this country and how they are inextricably linked. I think people like to ignore this problem, feel it doesn’t exist, or believe in the hope that all Americans can pull themselves up by their very own bootstraps, no matter how old or insufficient those bootstraps are, but I think that Katrina makes this problem difficult or impossible to ignore. And this isn’t just me grinding my own personal ax. Newsweek magazine did a cover story on this issue alone – how Katrina made race, class, and poverty so obvious.
I wonder… If a disaster like this had happened in Potomac or Bethesda or Arlington or Georgetown or Beverly Hills, would it have taken this administration so long to respond? I just wonder.
In terms of the war in Iraq, what bothers me regardless of whether people personally support the war or not is the fact that many of the people who are soldiers are recruited from people in lower socio-economic brackets – families who are uneducated or don’t have money. The military actively targets and recruits from these groups.
The people who fight Bush’s wars are not from the same class and educational background as he is – his children, the children of his friends and colleagues, his children’s friends from private school and college… they will probably never face the problems that the people and families who fight his wars do and will.
The other thing that drives me crazy is that some of the people I say, “Well, it’s tragic, but, you know what? Bush is creating his own bad karma.”
That may be true, but do we ignore the suffering around us that exists NOW and TODAY and just wait for divine intervention and the laws of karma to rectify or even justify our lack of involvement, interest, and participation? Because karma is loftier than what is happening around us on mundane planet Earth now?
-A
WOW! I appreciate all the comments, and not just those who agree with my POV. So, thanks Leanne, for saying what you feel.
I disagree, as you can imagine, about Cindy Sheehan. I believe her actions HONOR her son’s memory. She is not spitting on what he CHOSE to do. She is honoring his memory and his life by holding our leaders accountable for their decisions and actions. She has withstood vicious criticism to ask the questions WE ALL need to be asking. “For what noble cause did my son and so many others die?” I don’t think that is an unreasonable question to ask of Mr. Bush. I really don’t. And I have to tell you that if I were her child, I’d want my mom to do exactly what she is doing. If my sweetest godchild Lauren were in that situation, you can bet your ass I would be at his front door too.
So, I stood with Cindy a year ago and I stand with her now. We need more like her, not less. If those who are charged with holding this goverment accountable were doing their job, there would be no need for her to speak out.
Girl, you are soooo right on the money. Here’s a good read for the nightstand, and oldie but goodie by Chris Matthews titled “Hardball”. NOT the MSNBC show he currently hosts but a book he had wrote in 1988 concerning political science and his experiences with the “game” and PR bullshit. I’m 3 chapters in and am blown away by these revelations. These politicians aren’t real – they are playing a game and we’re the freekin’ pawns!
I try to stay away from Hubbie’s office as much as possible (to his dismay) but I did have to leave Katiebug there Tuesday so I could go to the Doctors. There on his desk was this huge “Crystal Washington Memorial” trophy of sorts that read, “Republican Businessman of the Year.” I was speechless and floored!!
If I can find a little stuffed figure of Dubya I’m going to rig that phallic trophy and have it stuffed up Dub’s ass!
1) You are so right that it scares me shitless.
2) Leanne is so sadly out of touch. I really don’t think anyone whose loved one came home can judge the depth of the grief and passion of one suffering the loss Sheehan has. I hope Cindy keeps the Shrub’s feet to the fire until we are completely out of there. Sadly, where his heart is supposed to be, there is a small stone.
3) Breathe, baby girl. I worry for your blood pressure!!!
Love you! Mean it!
Wow. That is downright sickening. I agree that politics tend to be corrupt at that level regardless of affiliation, but at least in the past there was some semblance of a democracy being presented to the country. Election-wise, 2004 pretty much sapped all the faith I had in the American public right out the window, but this new shift in opinion gives me a glimmer of hope. I just have my fingers crossed that the midterms reflect a growing awareness of what the hell went wrong the past six years. And again, I have to tell you IM SO GLAD I FOUND YOUR BLOG(s)!!!
Not speaking to your entire rant – but just as a military wife, I have to say that Sheehan gets far more publicity than she deserves. (Normal) Moms and Wives mourn the loss of what their loved ones chose to do – not blame someone for their deaths and use government money to further an agenda. I feel so sorry for her son, that she spits on what he chose to do, and the cause he chose to give his life to. She stands on his grave and spits on what he chose to do with his life.
She wouldn’t get this much air time if her son died of other causes that there’s no cure or proper agenda for that people rally up together to fight against – like Aids or Cancer. (Speaking to either side of the fence)
That woman is disgracing her sons memory, and on behalf of my husband who came back alive, I mourn for her son and what he went through. She will never understand, because she chooses not to.