Tuesday, December 20, 2005
The WOPICUSHION Meme
by Tom Bozzo
WOrst President In Combined United States History In Our Nation.
(Hey, sometimes you need to break some eggs to make an acronym.)
Mine, in no particular order:
1. Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S. Bush determined to clear brush in Crawford. It's been all but forbidden to explore the could-have-beens, but what if they'd pounded the need to watch for suspicious behavior down the law enforcement chain of command when the Colleen Rowleys of the world were ferreting some elements of the plot out?
2. The Iraq war. Where to start? Tens of thousands of lives and nearly a half-trillion dollars spent on the neocons' idée fixe have bought us Saddam in court proceedings that only underscore the desirability of trying such criminals before the International Criminal Court, and some good, clean elections. Bush is also given excess credit for the as yet incomplete effort in Afghanistan, the launch of which was so near consensus that only the most ardent pacifists would have opposed removing the Taliban. Meanwhile, Afghanistan has a weak central government, ongoing violence, and is a leading narco-state. By the way, where is that Bin Laden guy?
3. The end of fiscal conservatism. Deeply misleading budget accounting rules can barely conceal the black hole into which the federal budget is headed, not least thanks to degenerate Republican tax discourse that can't acknowledge the possibility of raising revenue to meet spending obligations that nobody is willing to forego. The only solutions profferred by the Bush economic "policy" team? More tax cuts! I'm glad it's Ben Bernanke and not me who has to figure out how to keep the U.S. economic imbalances from blowing up in our faces.
4. The Republican war on science. Kudos to Bush appointee Judge John Jones for seeing "intelligent design" theory for what it is: Creationism in a cheap tuxedo. That's just about the end of the good news. Otherwise, from global warming to drug approvals to biomedical research policy to space exploration, science is valued no more than its ability to advance Bush policies politically, which is not often much.
5. Heckuva job, Brownie. Important jobs in the bureaucracy go to political hacks, who then rise to the challenges of their jobs by writing e-mails to their staff about their fashion divinity while cities drown, etc. And let's not forget that senior administration officials who failed us before 9/11 and were instrumental in misleading us into the Iraq war were rewarded with promotions.
6. Stasi lite. The unprecedented war on freedom: Rendition, torture, indefinite detention of citizens without charge, domestic spying that we know about and probably lots we don't. 'Nuff said.
As suggested by Oscar Madison, and just in time for the Festivus Airing of Grievances, post your six favorite reasons why George W. Bush is the
WOrst President In Combined United States History In Our Nation.
(Hey, sometimes you need to break some eggs to make an acronym.)
Mine, in no particular order:
1. Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S. Bush determined to clear brush in Crawford. It's been all but forbidden to explore the could-have-beens, but what if they'd pounded the need to watch for suspicious behavior down the law enforcement chain of command when the Colleen Rowleys of the world were ferreting some elements of the plot out?
2. The Iraq war. Where to start? Tens of thousands of lives and nearly a half-trillion dollars spent on the neocons' idée fixe have bought us Saddam in court proceedings that only underscore the desirability of trying such criminals before the International Criminal Court, and some good, clean elections. Bush is also given excess credit for the as yet incomplete effort in Afghanistan, the launch of which was so near consensus that only the most ardent pacifists would have opposed removing the Taliban. Meanwhile, Afghanistan has a weak central government, ongoing violence, and is a leading narco-state. By the way, where is that Bin Laden guy?
3. The end of fiscal conservatism. Deeply misleading budget accounting rules can barely conceal the black hole into which the federal budget is headed, not least thanks to degenerate Republican tax discourse that can't acknowledge the possibility of raising revenue to meet spending obligations that nobody is willing to forego. The only solutions profferred by the Bush economic "policy" team? More tax cuts! I'm glad it's Ben Bernanke and not me who has to figure out how to keep the U.S. economic imbalances from blowing up in our faces.
4. The Republican war on science. Kudos to Bush appointee Judge John Jones for seeing "intelligent design" theory for what it is: Creationism in a cheap tuxedo. That's just about the end of the good news. Otherwise, from global warming to drug approvals to biomedical research policy to space exploration, science is valued no more than its ability to advance Bush policies politically, which is not often much.
5. Heckuva job, Brownie. Important jobs in the bureaucracy go to political hacks, who then rise to the challenges of their jobs by writing e-mails to their staff about their fashion divinity while cities drown, etc. And let's not forget that senior administration officials who failed us before 9/11 and were instrumental in misleading us into the Iraq war were rewarded with promotions.
6. Stasi lite. The unprecedented war on freedom: Rendition, torture, indefinite detention of citizens without charge, domestic spying that we know about and probably lots we don't. 'Nuff said.
Comments:
<< Home
What a fantastic meme idea! I love it. THe problem is that my list would look pretty much exactly like this one. I'd be tempted to bitch about his utter inability to speak clearly, since I am an English professor and all, but I'd end up swallowing that complaint in light of all the other fantastic reasons to identify him as WOPICUSHION.
If you haven't been there, you should see some of the variations in Oscar's comments.
I found it easy to come up with the six, but then I quickly thought of about six more that would be pretty good, too. Limit it to four, maybe, and it would be tough.
I found it easy to come up with the six, but then I quickly thought of about six more that would be pretty good, too. Limit it to four, maybe, and it would be tough.
I'm surprised social security reform didn't make the list. I guess it's perhaps because it didn't work. I would add all the smirking, otherwise my list would be basically the same.
Their abject failure put this "reform" effort in the next six. The Medicare prescription drug benefit, for that matter, partly falls under the 'end of fiscal conservatism' item, and partly under some independent pathologies worthy of mentioning.
Post a Comment
<< Home
