- Books keep pouring off the presses on the subject of
why George W. Bush should not be re-elected. I got four in my mailbox recently.
Bush might be the biggest boon to book publishing since Harry Potter.
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- The most serious of the four books is "The Bubble
of American Supremacy," by George Soros. The most superficial is "Bush
Must Go," by TV personality Bill Press. The most left-wing is "The
Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America," by Eric Alterman
and Mark Green. It is also the most tedious. My God, but progressive writers
do need a sense of humor.
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- The best of the bunch by far is "The Bush Betrayal,"
by one of my favorite writers, James Bovard. Bovard is a scrupulously accurate
researcher of facts. His philosophical framework is the same as that of
Thomas Jefferson. Press, Alterman and Green are mad at Bush for being too
far to the right for their socialist tastes. Bovard points out Bush's betrayal
of conservative and libertarian principles. Though far more leftist than
Bovard, Soros also points out Bush's betrayal of the principles of an open
society.
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- Bovard, however, in addition to being a fine writer,
has not allowed the mess in Washington to plunge him into pessimism. He
can still see the humor in much of the mayhem, goofiness and outright stupidity
that characterizes so much of government bureaucracy.
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- His tactic is to quote Bush or Bush's step-and-fetchers
and then simply point out the great gap between what Bush and his people
say and what the facts are. These gaps are so many and so deep that one
can fairly conclude that nothing Bush ever says should be taken at face
value.
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- Like Bovard, I deeply resent a phony conservative - a
politician who talks one way and acts exactly the opposite. Bush and Vice
President Dick Cheney might fairly be called reactionaries, but they are
not conservatives in the traditional sense of that word. Being a big spender,
a despoiler of the environment, a fearmonger, an ally-alienator, a reckless
warmonger and an imperialist does not qualify for the title "conservative."
Practicing secrecy and deception and displaying an open contempt for the
Constitution and international law are likewise not the characteristics
of a conservative.
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- As Bovard says: "Dying for Bush's lies should not
be considered a lofty cause. ... Bush is still expecting to be cheered
and revered for his courage in 'making a tough decision.' It is as if the
more Americans who die for Bush's folly, the more undeniable his greatness
becomes."
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- Bovard's suggestion, in case we are misfortunate enough
to have Bush for four more years, is to greet his grandiose delusions with
catcalls and laughter. Bush, he says, is as qualified to talk about freedom
as Bill Clinton is to talk about chastity.
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- An enormous factual database exists documenting the folly
of the Bush administration not only in these books but in others that have
been published. Clearly the job of president is over Bush's head. He has
proven himself to be dangerously incompetent. He has surrounded himself
with ideologues totally disconnected from reality. The Pentagon's Paul
Wolfowitz, considered the architect of the Iraq War, showed in recent testimony
before Congress that he had no idea how many American lives had been lost.
So much for this administration's concern for the troops.
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- Bush's re-election depends entirely on willful ignorance.
He might well ride the sea of ignorance right back into the White House.
It would not be the first time Americans have chosen the demagogue over
the competent.
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- But if you intend to vote for Bush, you should at least
read the record and not depend on the Republican propaganda machine. The
current Republican Party's almost total reliance on character assassination,
guilt by association and outright distortions of the truth remind one of
what was going on in the 1930s in Europe.
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- © 2004 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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- http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20040806/index.php
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