First, Dick Cheney is human garbage. He just told Jim Lehrer that he doesn’t believe that the public disapproves of his actions and performance as vice president. When reminded of his historically low approval ratings, he said something to the effect that that’s not what he’s hearing from people. No kidding! Imagine that: Dick Cheney–the man who disappears from the public eye for long stretches; gives few interviews, especially to legitimate news organizations; spends a considerable amount of time in a bunker–doesn’t realize that an enormous majority of Americans think he bears considerable personal responsibility for much of the United States’ present difficulties. Cheney, lest we forget, has been wrong about almost every single thing that has happened in the past eight years. He would probably still tell you that there are weapons of mass destruction, and that Iraq really was in the last throes of the insurgency in 2005.
Second, what is wrong with this Timothy Geithner guy? If you’re just some regular dude, I can understand being confused about what has and hasn’t been withheld from your paycheck. But this guy is supposed to be running the Treasury Department? I think an awareness of your personal tax liability should be among the minimum qualifications to hold that job. Meanwhile, it seems the common denominator amongst all rich and powerful wankers is undocumented household employees. Two tips:
- If you’re rich enough to hire household help, you’re rich enough to hire a U.S. citizen. Don’t be so cheap.
- President-elect Obama should drop this guy. There’re better people out there.
Filed under: Politics, Rantings on January 14th, 2009 | No Comments »
With less than a week to go before his tenure as president concludes, George W. Bush is busy giving interviews. These naturally involve questions about his administration’s actions and policies. The answers he is giving to these questions–questions often pertaining to mistakes made during his presidency–are frustrating to hear. He claimed in a press conference that he doesn’t believe that America’s image abroad has been damaged by his policies. Really!? I guess I can understand that attitude if I consider how carefully he’s been insulated from protest. It isn’t like people angry with his administration are given opportunities to introduce themselves to him and complain in person. He’s probably seen many middle fingers raised in his direction while passing by spectators in a limousine, and had a shoe hurled his way now and then. But he is kidding himself if he thinks America is as respected abroad as it was before he chose to invade Iraq, and authorize torture of human beings and hold them without due process. His insistence that his administration “doesn’t torture” is now known to be a lie.
I guess it doesn’t matter any more what President Bush thinks or does. Since the beginning of 2008 it seems that the public has written him off, and has been eagerly awaiting the day when he leaves the White House and our lives. The next president will have a lot of work to do, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense, I suppose, to exert a great deal of energy holding the bad actors of the Bush Administration accountable. How criminal Bush has been himself is unclear. Contrary to his frequent pronouncements that his “job is to protect the American people”, the president swears an oath only to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”. In that light, many of Bush’s activities can be seen to be a violation of that oath. It would feel good to see John Yoo, David Addington, Paul Wolfowitz and others in prison, but the damage is already done.
It’s one thing to make poor decisions or promote flawed policies. Imagine, for example, that Bush had had his way in 2005, and his Social Security privatization program had been authorized. Millions of Americans would be worse off today. That would have been bad policy, but at least it would have gone through the proper channels and had a fair hearing. It is another thing entirely, in my opinion, to have behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing with mid-level Justice Department lawyers to authorize warrant-less wiretapping, or instruct the CIA to kidnap civilians off the streets and fly them blindfolded to secret prisons in foreign countries to be tortured. That all once seemed very John Clancy, but we now know it to have happened while Bush was president. His shoulder-shrugging notwithstanding, a lot of people have been harmed by his policies. With less than a week to go, it all just seems so sad.
Filed under: Politics, Rantings on January 14th, 2009 | No Comments »