Worst. State of the Union. Ever.

President Bush’s State of the Union address was almost as dignified as the Capitol Police’s false arrest of Cindy Sheehan. 

I made some notes as the Shrub meandered through the dignified halls of American public policy, occasionally dropping stale crumbs, but more often leaving tasty treats for his friends in the guise of nourishing offerings to the American people. Tragically, by the end of the evening, while Cindy managed to ultimately free herself from the gendarmes, Bush was unable to find his way back to either reality nor the heart of America.

Death of Coretta Scott King:  Not content to mock Muhammad Ali by presenting the noble champion with the Medal of Freedom last year, Bush paid homage to the widow of the slain civil rights leader.  Throughout the 1960’s, as a shiftless. hard drinking, draft-dodging bum, Bush had nothing but contempt for the Civil Rights movement and Dr. King.  To this day he has done nothing meaningful to further Dr. King’s Dream.

Oppressive Dictators and Oppressed nations: From Iran to North Korea, Bush took them on, failing to mention China or any of the nations where his buddies maintain sweatshop factories that siphoned off American jobs.

False Comfort of Isolationism:  The new dichotomy is Internationalism. Bush attacks his progressive opponents who don’t like his wars.  Last year the McCarthyite wing of his Administration, which is everyone but Laura Bush, tried to paint peace advocates as Communists and terrorist sympathizers.  That failed, so the new tactic is to marginalize critics by redefining them as Isolationists.

Isolationists we are not.  We are Internationalists with a long history of advocating the use of diplomacy, trading policy, and friendship as a means of fostering democratic movements world wide. Most of us do support the appropriate use of force such as the First Gulf War and the invasion of Afghanistan. But we are not flaming Imperialists.  Imperialism was an appropriate but overused term since the Vietnam era. Bush has given it new life and appropriate meaning.

Reasonable criticism is not second guessing: Highlight of the night on my scorecard of Big Lies. You see, to George, second guessers are those who after the fact, using new information, reevaluate and with the benefit of hindsight.  Wise up buster.

There was no second guessing. There were millions of us, from bus drivers to generals who knew you were wrong, that you lied, and that you bullied us into this war before the first shot was fired.  We have every right to say “I told you so” and we have no obligation to follow you down the road to destruction.

Terrorists’ surveillance:  Another Big Lie.  Wiretapping requires probable cause and reasonableness.  Of course, then there is the Crawford versions of the Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

4.6 million new jobs:   Third Big Lie of the night.   Of course there is no accounting for how many jobs were lost, no accounting for the quality of the quality of the manufacturing jobs lost and the low quality of the new jobs created.  No accounting for some peoples’ deception.

Left $880 billion for taxpayers in the last four years: Yup, your tax cuts left the money mostly in the pockets of the three percent of wealthiest Americans while we failed to pay for the levees that could have saved New Orleans.

Reduced non-discretionary spending:   Yup, the kind of investment those wealthy suburban communities can make in schools, nice parks, and properly outfitted police and fire departments.  Then again, the rest of us could have that money for local expenditures if we could get part of that $880 billion federal tax break.

Cut the federal deficit in half by 2009:   Fourth Big Lie of the night.  You created it with your $880 billion tax cut for the rich and your $880 billion war, and now you want the rest of us to do without.  Shame.

Cut…special interest projects: Yeah, like the levees they needed in New Orleans, the bridges most of the country needs, and the dollars needed for a bird flu vaccine.  Too bad you can’t tell the difference between those priorities and the Tom DeLay graft, theft, and kickbacks in the federal budget.  No excuses Bushster, you asked for the job; we didn’t want you in there.

Bipartisan solution for Social Security and Medicare:  I like the idea of the Commission. See, I am fair and balanced.

We have spent $10 billion: The energy imitative to find alternative fuels.  Nice.  When are you and your buddies going to admit this is just another form of corporate socialism?  I don’t mind your spending the money, just admit what it is.,

Research, math science, education: My sides hurt from laughing.  Big Lie 5.  Forbes reported today that two thirds of this big initiative to improve math and science in the schools is going to corporations.  The damn corporations should be shelling out the $10 billion and more.

"Conflict we did nothing to invite": Oh my, when we thought you couldn’t go over the top…

Good night and good luck. We'll all need it.

Comments

[Rob Stoll]

"...Bush had nothing but contempt for the Civil Rights movement and Dr. King. To this day he has done nothing meaningful to further Dr. King’s Dream."

Um, did Bush not only appoint the first, but second African-American to the post of Secretary of State?

[Craig]

I agree with Rob, but the media seems to believe if an African-American isn't a liberal, then they aren't really black. There's now a litmus test on political view to determine race...

[rick]

The Bush administration's record with regard to the advancement of minorities is rather like the "Bush Economic Recovery". A select few do very, very well and the vast majority get the short end of the stick. Condi Rice, Justice Thomas and the other prominent minority members who are part of this group, seem to believe that their success is entirely of their own making and that concerns about civil rights and equal opportunity are misplaced.

To say that liberals don't consider these individuals to be really African-American is like saying that we don't consider Bush or Cheney to be really human... okay, maybe that's a bad example. But perhaps you can still see my point.

[Paul]

Rick nailed it. Bush is not a racist in the sense that he will not be around blacks. But like Rice and Thomas, he has the seriously flawed belief that the Horatio Alger model is the way to advancement. While there are plenty of anecdotal examples of people who made it from rags to riches on their own, they are the exceptions.

The vast majority of us made it through our families and a society that provided us with everything from a sound public education to sound values and support. Civil rights and affirmative action (goals, not quotas) was part of that.
Failure to recognize that is racist, regardless of color.