Quick thoughts on Bush Junior’s Marthon Speeches

Bush Junior gave his address to the nation last night from the Oval Office. The reason why is simple: his poll numbers are in the toilet, and he knows that if those numbers don’t change, the Republicans will lose control of the Congress in the November 06 elections. Darth Rove can’t fire up the great campaign contribution money machine if his apprentice is politically more toxic than Chernobyl.

So here are a few random thoughts on the matter… And as I’m typing this blog, Junior is BACK in front of the cameras, so I’m going to throw in some comments on that as well.

• Junior finally acknowledged that intelligence was flawed! There were no WMD’s… well, except for that unexploded shell with mustard gas in it that people don’t want to mention. There, he finally said it! Are you liberals happy? Oh, that’s right… you can’t be happy… because he’s still in the White House.

• I suppose it would be asking WAAAAAAAAAAY too frigging much to have Bush Junior give a speech WITHOUT invoking 9/11, wouldn’t it? No, he’s invoking it. He probably can’t go to the head without invoking 9/11. He can’t sit down for dinner without invoking 9/11. "Pass the Grey 9/11 Poupon please."

• "I have heard your disagreement, and I know how deeply it is felt." When was that, bubble-boy? Your sith-master Darth Rove has done everything possible to keep any kind of disagreement as FAR away from you as possible. If you REALLY heard what those who disagree with you are saying, you wouldn’t be talking in absolute zero-sum terminology like "victory or defeat".

• Let’s summarize the Iraqi argument… "Whether you agree with my decision or not, you’re either with us or against us." That pretty much sums up his feelings on us.

• He actually made some valid arguments. He is right in that we can’t afford to back out now while the job isn’t completely finished. We can’t leave the job half-assed like Clinton did in 1998. The minute the bombs started falling, we had an obligation to follow through with getting rid of Saddam and his evil spawn and the Baath Party and then fixing the damage. We need to make sure that the job is done before we talk about pulling out. I also agree that we shouldn’t base that decision on timetables, but rather on set conditions that need to be met. Even the Iraqis figured that out. THAT’S why they showed up at the polls last week in record numbers. They know that the sooner the Iraqis get their act together, the sooner the Americans leave.

• "Thank you and good night." This is the first time that I know of that Bush Junior didn’t finish things with is usual mantra of "and may God bless the United States of America." Either the speechwriters forgot to include it or Junior was still EXTREMELY pissed off.

• The good news is that he didn’t issue an executive order to require the PATRIOT Act remain in place after January 1^st. Maybe he’s still hoping that the Senate will break the filibuster. I really hope that doesn’t happen.

• Monday’s chat can be summed up with one word: ANGRY! Bush Junior is ANGRY! He practically SCREAMED at the press corps and at the cameras! He’s not getting his way! He’s not happy that he’s not getting his way.

• While Junior is busy DEMANDING that the Senators who filibustered the renewal of the PATRIOT Act explain themselves, why doesn’t Junior explain how the investigation on the Anthrax attacks PRIOR to the original 2001 vote has become more or less a cold case? How about he starts explaining how he URGED the Congress to BLINDLY pass the PATRIOT Act in 2001 before anyone could even READ what that law does? Explain THAT, Mister President!

• News flash, Junior: The PATRIOT Act would STILL be in play after January 1^st! Most of it anyway. Only TEN PERCENT of the law would expire. And stop lying to the American people how "those tools" are already in place for other crimes. If they were already in place, then you wouldn’t need the PATRIOT Act! How many times has the federal government invoked the RICO Act for activities that had NOTHING AT ALL to do with organized crime? If you’re so hell-bent on needing these extra powers, why don’t you explain IN DETAIL and with real examples how certain SPECIFIC terrorists were captured and could only be done through the PATRIOT Act? Oh, that’s right, you can’t. That would give too much information to the terrorists, wouldn’t it? Boy, that sucks!

• Strange that Junior would invoke Article II of the US Constitution to justify spying on Americans. This from a man who supposedly called the Constitution, quote, "a goddamned piece of paper". Guess what boys and girls, I HAVE a copy of that "goddamned piece of paper" at my desk! The folks at the Cato Institute are always eager to send me a copy of it. And I READ Article II, and NOWHERE does it give the President the complete and unquestionable BLANKET authority to do anything and everything for the preservation of the United States as he claims it gives him. In fact, I had to read and re-read Article II to make sure about this. The ONLY obligation he has that even comes close to what he WANTS Article II to be pertains to the oath which he took this past January, which states "I will TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." "To the best of my ability" does NOT mean violating the Fourth Amendment! It DOES NOT give him omniscient authority! He should have stuck with invoking 9/11.

Then again, it should be to nobody’s surprise that the White House would sort of jumble up the powers of the Executive Branch. These are the same people who have a hard time understanding what the words "Congress shall make NO LAW" means, or understanding that the prohibition against passing laws "respecting the establishment of religion" DOES MEAN separating church and state. It DOES NOT say that "Congress shall make no law REGARDING the establishment of religion" or "Congress shall make no law PERTAINING to the establishment of religion" or even "Congress shall make no law ESTABLISHING religion." When you act IN RESPECT of establishing religion, you act as if it’s already a done deal! You pass laws that lead one to believe that a religion has ALREADY been established. They don’t understand the First Amendment. They refuse to recognize the Fourth Amendment (9/11). They bastardize the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendments. They believe that the role of the courts are to simply rubber-stamp their laws into place, which means that they not understand Article III, but they also fail to fully comprehend Article VI.

The lesson here is simple… if you want to invoke the US Constitution, then you had better understand what that "goddamned piece of paper" (to quote the president) says and doesn’t say.