- There was time when Bush jokes and cartoons
were funny. I still maintain a large collection of them myself. But it's
difficult to look at them now or those in the papers. It would be like
a decent German citizen looking at Hitler cartoons in the Berlin newspapers
in 1945, if such were allowed, as Germany was turned into rubble day by
day. Bush humor-if there ever was any -- is long gone. It represents a
dilemma of sorts for political cartoonists. What more can they do? George
Bush is a totally failed president - without doubt the worst president
in American history, and he is doing his best-albeit probably unconsciously
- to bring the country slowly, but inexorably, to ruin. The Republican
Congress is totally spineless, trying nothing more to cling to some concept
they call "power," although they too realize at bottom that "Bush
is the worst." How does one poke fun at all this dreadfulness? Humor,
which always clings precariously to truth, has lost its edge, overpowered
by gruesome reality.
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- I, along with countless other writers
have catalogued the Bush failures, his ineptness, his total inability to
govern. But to what end? Yes, his poll numbers are in now in the mid 30's,
unprecedented for a second term president just reelected. And his vice
President, the loathsome Dick Cheney, is somewhere in the vicinity of 18%.
As one writer pointed out, this is less than believes in space aliens and
ghosts - which is about a third of the population. How can one govern when
being totally out of sync with America's values ands standards? Is democracy
now on the decline in the U.S.? Have greed, self interest and spin won
the day? Has the American public been made fools of by the clever machinations
of Karl Rove, the Dr. Frankenstein of American politics, the man who took
this half-brained creature, this pseudo-moron, George Bush, and transformed
him into president of the U.S.?
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- I have a writer friend who argues that
Bush has reached the end, that he is now road kill. No longer is congress
rejecting him, but he believes that the "military elite" will
stop Bush before his madness leads to another military debacle. I find
little comfort in this view.
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- What military elite?
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- Consider the military "men"
who have served Bush over the course of his presidency. Colin Powell, Army
general, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and Vietnam combat veteran,
may well go down in history as America's Neville Chamberlain, a man with
the backbone of jello, who as secretary of state couldn't bring himself
to stand up for his own convictions to a pathetic weakling, George Bush,
but chose, rather, to "obey orders" like a toy soldier. I hope
Powell lives long enough to see his disgrace recorded in the history books.
Children of the next generation will grow up seeing Powell in the same
light as our generation saw Neville Chamberlain upon his return from Munich
in 1938 with paper in hand, signed by Herr Hitler, that "peace was
at hand." These children will learn of the disgrace of Colin Powell,
one of America's greatest failures, as he went before the United Nations
in February, 2003, waving his own papers-those from George Tenet -- to
present George Bush's drummed-up, bogus case for war with Iraq. It will
take some time, but truth and justice will prevail. To paraphrase Martin
Luther King Jr.'s famous line, "The arc of history is long but it
bends toward [truth and justice]. Colin Powell will die with his cowardice
- not his medals -- clutched to his chest.
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- Look at another Vietnam combat veteran,
John McCain, and you see much the same thing, a physical hero who endured
years of captivity and torture in a North Vietnamese prison camp, but in
the end, just another moral coward, unable to lead, a man who stands for
nothing -- nothing, that is, except the insatiable desire to be president.
There is not an ass in Washington McCain won't kiss to be president. I
saw McCain on Jay Leno a few months ago trying to act like a cool dude.
He was truly pathetic. You would really have to be sick to vote for John
McCain for president.
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- And look again at another Vietnam fighter
pilot, "top gun" Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Congressman
from California, just convicted of fraud and tax evasion and sentenced
to eight years in federal prison. As a young man he was "full of piss
and vinegar," but as a real adult, faced with real responsibilities,
he was a total failure. Like George W. Bush, he never grew up. He never
learned what real life was all about.
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- All three "heroes" have at
the end of the day disgraced themselves and disgraced their country. What
are we to make of this? For one, they are all Republicans. And in one way
or another closely associated with George Bush. Is that a coincidence?
Perhaps.
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- Only two members of Congress have ever
worn the Congressional Medal of Honor, Sen. Daniel Inyoue of Hawaii and
former Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, both Democrats.
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- But it's not hopeless for the GOP in
the courage/cowardice category. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska
is a Vietnam combat veteran, wounded in action. And Hagel opposes most
of George W.'s Iraq war policies. And then there is Rep. John Murtha of
Pennsylvania, a 37-year Marine Corps veteran of two wars, who like Hagel
has little use for the cowardly George Bush.
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- And on the subject of cowardice, consider
this. In a recent hunting escapade, Dick Cheney accidentally shot one of
his hunting comrades. There may have been negligence involved, but that
is up to the local district attorney to decide. But more importantly, I
think, is the nature of the hunt. These were not wild birds. The birds
were bred in captivity. They had spent their lives in pens, and then on
hunting day, were released for the sole purpose of being killed by Dick
Cheney and cohorts for pure sport as they flew into the open sky for their
only moments of brief freedom. Whether you are an animal lover or not,
there is something disgusting and degrading about this kind of hunt and
something less than human about those who participate in it.
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- All this brings to mind words from Kurt
Vonnegut from his book of essays, "Palm Sunday," when he addressed
the graduating class of his alma mater, Cornell, in May 1980.
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- "I pity you people of today for
not having truly great leaders to write about---Roosevelt and Churchill
and Chiang Kai-Shek.Oh, sure, we [may] have another war coming, and another
great depression, but where are the leaders this time? All you have is
a lot of ordinary people standing around with their thumbs up their ass."
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- So, America, these are the leaders you
elected. You chose them. Now, what are you going to do about it?
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- Gerald S. Rellick, Ph.D., worked in aerospace
industry for 22 years. He now teaches in the California Community College
system. He can be reached at grellick@hotmail.com
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