Tuesday, July 17, 2007

None of The Above

Everyone keeps talking about a Bush legacy. Even George Bush was reportedly hunting for something he could potentially claim as a future legacy or at least some good news that he may one day be credited with a legacy, any legacy, besides that of a war-mongering, war-profiteer who sacrificed the lives of thousands, literally thousands of Americans and destroyed the lives of millions, yes, millions of Iraqis, that he set fire to the Middle East, that he ruined the image of the United States in the eyes of Muslims for decades to come for personal, ill-conceived plans which were executed in such a baffling display of utter incapability that even hard core Neoconservatives are chomping at the bit to oust him. One would be forgiven for thinking that that was it. I mean, what more can one attribute to this man, this abject failure of a President?

Let us take a step back for one second; one of the reasons that the word ‘legacy’ is being bandied around is the fact that even with eighteen months to go, the Bush catastrophe is virtually over. His complete irrelevance in the affairs of this country, coupled with the fact that the American public just wish him to go home means that people are thinking of ‘The Post Bush Era.’ They are fleeing mentally to a future without the Decider in Chief, the man who single-handedly took the United States from a super power to a laughing stock. The man who with his team of devious and defective aides and advisors, his cabinet of dishonest, disingenuous and duplicitous political renegades has managed to demonstrate to the world how to defeat the world’s most powerful army. No one really knows how the ‘Post Bush Era’ will look, but the tired and weary Americans know that it cannot possible be worse. So there is a glimmer of hope. In this context, people are wondering just what will we remember about George W. Bush?

Well one thing that will be omnipresent is the utter destruction of the Republican Party. That will be George’s other lasting legacy. Only a few months ago, the right was gloating about the utter collapse of the Democratic Party, only to see it rise and take back the House of Representatives and the Senate and with that victory, the Democrats have a chance of taking back their country and handing it back to its true owners; not the power hungry cabal of maniacs running it now, but the American people.

So it comes as no surprise, with the dismantling of the Neocon dream that Bush’s successors are floundering. How much is evident in the most recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll which shows that between the four leading GOP candidates for 2008, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain or Mitt Romney, the public chooses “none of the above,” as
reported on CNN.

None of the top candidates has a clear lead among Christian evangelicals, a critical part of the GOP base that has had considerable sway in past Republican primaries. Giuliani, a thrice-married backer of abortion rights and gay rights, had 20 percent support -- roughly even with Thompson and McCain who have one divorce each in their pasts. Romney, a Mormon who has been married for three decades, was in the single digits.


A full 25% however stated that none of the candidates running would be their choice in 2008. Isn’t that sad? That, my friends, will be the legacy of the man in the White House. He will have destroyed the GOP and their chances of leading the country for the next eight years. The image of Republicans is a party gone mad, throwing good money after bad for deluded and obtuse concepts which even the most dense red state voter questions. More of the same? No thanks! As the Giulianis and McCains walk the tightrope of backing the war whilst keeping a distance to Bush, all the while applauding his efforts enough, to make sure they garner support amongst the remaining 26% who still believe in him. We are aware only of the two-faced nature of their arguments, hip-hopping and flip-flopping to avoid being ensnared in the traps of same-sex marriage and immigration, of war in Iraq and abortion. They come across as the most disingenuous pack of inauthentic politicians one has ever set eyes on.

Entirely gone is the idea that the Republicans represent honesty and family values. From the thieving, corrupt likes of Cunningham to the page boy affairs of Rep. Foley, from Washington DC bordello stories of Senator Vitter to the Abramoff tainted White House, the Republicans have become the party of hypocrisy and scandal.

"I'm looking for a strong honest person. Do you know of any?" asks Barbara Skogman a 72 year-old retiree from Cedar Rapids Iowa, who can’t decide amongst the Republican candidates.

My answer would be “no, I don’t.”

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