(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
Control
[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
WARBLOGGER WATCH
Friday, July 26, 2002
Well here’s our favorite Neo-Eugenicist Godless Capitalist on the value of the Bush regime. I love that line where he applauds the numbers going down. One other thing to keep in mind, thanks to the great Tapped blog, is that his reelect rate—despite high poll numbers—is only 42 percent, which is down from the 48 percent that actually failed to vote him into office the first time. This not only means that he’s not unbeatable, but that he may not even survive a primary challenge—which, frankly, would probably be better for the Republican Party anyway—not that I care. Likewise, I think Bush’s best bet is for an overwhelming victory for the Dems (60+ seats in the Senate and a good 20 seat House majority because a one seat majority isn’t really a majority for the Tony Coelho-inspired Dems..) because they would be much better at the work of governance and do the kinds of things that an insanely inarticulate blue blood Republican would never ever do. And with their help, Bush would probably be in a stronger position in 2004—but he’s such a thoroughly mediocre guy that he’ll probably still lose…Anyway, here’s Godless (By the way, it’s clear that me and Doc Menlo and Godless all think that Religion is a very very bad meme. In fact, we could probably have drinks about it and quote our favorite issues of Free Inquiry and our most cherished Bertrand Russell/Eric Hoffer texts. Then Godless would give us the IQ tests, then frown disapprovingly and then me and Doc Menlo would be dragged off to the “camps”…but we’d share some good times first, good times...):
Here's a challenge for W fans: Can any of you tell me why you support Bush? Can anyone list Bush's policy successes and honestly claim they outweigh his manifold failures? Not only has he sold out on issues important to the right (e.g. affirmative action, bilingual ed, tariffs, foreign policy, federalizing things right & left, expanding bureacracy, etc.), he's also pissed off people on the left (e.g. unilateralism, anti-environmentalism, pushing religious school vouchers, etc.).
This recent Wall Street debacle is a case in point. Bush - or rather Rove - thought he could score easy political points with centrists and lefties by talking a big game about "corporate evil doers" while winking at his business pals. But no one believed that Bush - a lifelong beneficiary of nepotism & corporate welfare - was serious about reforming anything. No one, that is, except the market, who (rightly) feared an onslaught of ill-advised regulation in the same vein as the new "Homeland Security" superagency.
It's not often that one can make a strong case for pinning economic woes on the actions of the president. But the Dow's precipitous drop began on the day Bush visited Wall Street, and it seems clear that Bush's speech caused it.
I'm counting the days till Bush gets booted in 2004. Approval ratings are 60 and dropping...
