My Long-Term Disgust With George W. Bush

Regular readers will know that I have had a dislike for George W. Bush for a long time. For most of the past year I have self-censored myself on this blog because I was working for the Wesley Clark and John Kerry campaigns. That work is now over and I'm free to speak my mind again.

I've been railing against Bush from the start and the events of 9/11 did not change my mind about him, no matter how much patriotism and implied guilt people tried to shove down my throat for not supporting the reasons for going to war in Iraq. Out of curiosity, I dug up all my old thoughts against Bush from before 9/11/01:

January 31, 2000: And then there's Bush, the silver spoon. For his entire life, he's been given everything he's ever wanted. Having a famous father (and former President) with the same name seems to be working for him. Is our country stupid enough to vote this guy into office based on name recognition? The guy is an idiot. It's time for our country to wake up and vote in somebody with integrity, somebody with good faith, and somebody who we can stand behind as the President of our country. I hope and pray that person doesn't end up being G. W. Bush.

August 4, 2000: I don't get it. Almost everyone I know, both online and off, acknowledges that Dubya is a complete, blithering idiot and will probably not vote for him this Fall. Yet, all the polls keep showing that Dubya commands a lead. What's going on? Is the media portraying Dubya for the incapable leader he is? Do people really hate the Democratic party enough to vote this moron into office? I know who I'm voting for this Fall: anyone but Bush. And knowing how the political system in this country works, that's likely to be Al Gore.

November 1, 2000: I'll ask it again: Do we really want this ignorant moron as our President for the next four years? Amazing. Please understand that my use of the words "ignorant moron" is in a very literal way. Go ahead, look them up in the dictionary.

December 3, 2000: I guess what bothers me the most about this whole U.S. election nonsense, is that neither candidate has said anything about what they'll do if the economy takes a large nosedive next year, as many experts are predicting. The government has tools in its arsenal that can combat a sinking economy and soften the blow for those who will be hit the hardest, but I worry a lot about how Bush and his Republican cronies will or will not react to such an economic downturn. Bush is the candidate supported by the rich, most of who will still be rich if the economy dives. Gore is the candidate for the masses, many of who will lose jobs, go bankrupt, and see hard times if the economy dives. So, if the U.S. economy does bottom out over the next four years, which Presidential candidate is the best equipped to handle it?

April 24, 2001: From Interesting-People comes this article about courts allowing the police to arrest people for minor traffic offenses like not wearing your seatbelt. Here comes the police state! Great, now all we need is forced religion in our school systems and Bush can truly say that he changed America during his presidency.

June 9, 2001: Running a country is a serious matter. So, it doesn't surprise me to learn that Bush is playing the puppet role exactly as the GOP intended him to when they got him elected. You can't continue to run a country this way, Mr. Bush.

June 21, 2001: NY Times: "And, by widening margins, people say they are less trusting that Mr. Bush will keep his word." Call me cynical, but maybe that's exactly what the Bush White House wants. If Bush has such a low approval rating, it's easier for his administration to continue to rape and pillage this country in the name of Corporate America and lower taxes for the rich. What we need is a good scandal that will start impeachment proceedings for both Bush and Cheney.

July 21, 2001: Well, so much for the separation of Church and State. Hey Bush (er, GOP puppet), are you gonna wipe your ass with the Constitution next?

I had no idea I'd been trashing Bush for so long. I've always not liked the guy and felt that he and his cronies somehow stole the election in 2000, but going back and reading my little rants about him over the years only reinforces what my intuition told me about him way back in January of 2000 - that he would be an incredibly bad president and completely untrustworthy.

My experiences at the Clark campaign taught me a lot about how politics in this country works, but more importantly how the politicians manipulate the mass media for their own gain. For instance the right-wingers could easily read my blog, grab some anti-Bush quotes and present them out of context to make me look bad -- simply because I happened to be working as a contractor for the Kerry campaign. For them, it's not about the legitimacy of what I said, it's about how they want to portray me in the media. They then pitch it to the lazy journalists in their well-worn Rolodexes who lap it up and publish it. In politics, this is called a smear campaign or character assassination. This type of news is not journalism in any sense of the word.

Obligatory Disclaimer: The opinions represented in this blog are my own and do not represent my current or former employers. Failure to see the difference is entirely your own fault. The fact that I even need this disclaimer speaks volumes.

P.S. To be fair, I will admit that some of my views on the issues have changed over the past 5 years. For instance, I no longer dislike Republicans. In fact, I think a lot of Republicans are very fine people. It's the Bush Republicans and his adminstration that I am disgusted with. I'm slightly embarassed at some of my immature rants about Bush over the years, but I realize that in my mind and my heart I know that I am right. Bush is bad for this country and my intuition was right.