Bushfucked

The Indignant Citizen did not watch George W. Bush’s speech to the nation from Fort Bragg, N.C. on Tuesday night, preferring instead to water the yard, keep tabs on the White Sox-Tigers score and read a transcript of the speech later. Bush is a man whose speeches are better digested in print than in person because he is, quite simply, one of the worst public speakers ever to be elected. The tortured syntax and smug smile get in the way of the message.

To the surprise of no one, Bush asked the American public to stand behind the soldiers as they carry out their mission to make Iraq free, thereby securing America’s shores. What he was really asking for, but could not say, was for people to stand behind him. Could he seriously believe Americans don’t support the troops? They just go where they’re told. He sends them. It’s nothing but a bilious misrepresentation by the Right to suggest that anyone who criticizes the war or the way it has been waged is undermining the military. It’s ludicrous, in fact, but careful research has shown that saying it often enough works on a certain segment of the slack-jawed, ass-scratching public.

There were so many things about this Important Speech that the Indignant Citizen found distasteful upon reading it … tops among them were the SEVEN references to Sept. 11. This administration has continued to flog that same tired ox every time it needs to do a little heavy lifting in the public opinion fields. It is way beyond exploitation at this point, bordering now on a sick obsession.

What the Indignant Citizen hates most about the continued use of that tragedy for political purposes is that the emphasis is always it could happen again and only Republicans can stop it. Sept. 11 laid low for a while after the election, and the Bush campaign’s insistence on using the image of the flag-draped coffin coming out of Ground Zero in one of its ads. Then Cheney, Bush’s mangy attack dog, said another Sept. 11 could happen if Democrats won the White House. As unbelievable as it was that he said it in the first place was the fact he got away with saying it, and won the fucking election.

Anyway, now 9/11 is back, conveniently on schedule when the President’s approval numbers are dropping and support for a war that was launched under false pretenses is faltering among a public that seems to be waking up, slowly, to the fact that the cost of just about everything is going up while their salaries are not.

After 9/11, the Indignant Citizen and his Smart & Beautiful Wife put a little paper flag in the window of their Brooklyn apartment. They sang patriotic songs on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade as the stinking hole burned across the river. When we went to war, we took the flag down out of disgust. Sept. 11 presented this country with an opportunity to come together, to foster community, to consider its place in the world. Instead this goofy child president took us to war and told us to keep shopping. There is no better illustration of the shallowness of Bush’s intellect and his policies than our national reaction to Sept. 11.

Ah, but the Indignant Citizen has ranged off the topic at hand, which is the President’s speech. Bush opened by telling a lie. "My greatest responsibility as president is to protect the American people." Maybe it’s not a lie, but he certainly has not fully lived up to that responsibility. To say it in the context of this speech implies that the only threat from which we need to be protected is terrorism. Not true. There are economic and environmental threats that this president has ignored while he has pursued his war and sought to inject religious doctrine into public policy.

He told another lie midway through the speech when he said “Today, Iraq has more than 160,000 security forces trained and equipped for a variety of missions.” Later in the speech he admitted only “some” of those forces are capable of carrying out missions against insurgents and terrorists. “Some” in this case is probably around 2,500, according to educated guesses. But the rhetorical effect is brilliant. Bush says 160,000 can handle a “variety of missions,” and the implication is that 160,000 are trained. He never mentioned a lower number and his clarification that only “some” could carry out serious missions occurred 12 paragraphs later.

This a pattern in this administration. State something demonstrably false as fact and then either never acknowledge its falseness, or clarify it much later with no specifics, thus leaving the imprint of the original falsehood burned into the public consciousness. It is a shrewd tactic not invented by this administration, but certainly perfected by it.

In attempting to show Bush is doing all he can for the troops, but that sending more troops sends the wrong signal, Bush said “If our commanders on the ground say we need more troops, I will send them. But our commanders tell me they have the number of troops they need to do their job.” Really? Which commanders is he listening to? Certainly not the ones leading the expeditions in western Iraq back in May. A report in the Los Angeles Times on May 10 quoted one military official saying that since no Iraqi forces joined the Marines on their mission to root out terrorists coming into the country from Syria, the four battalions sent out there were severely outmanned. “We require more manpower to cover this area the way we need to,” the “military official” said.

Now, we can debate all day and into the night about this particular official’s motives. But this wasn’t the first published report to indicate that commanders on the ground in Iraq are wanting for men. Or supplies for that matter. If Bush is willing to send men, how about some fucking armor for the Humvees that keep getting blown up? That seems like kind of a basic necessity the President might want to look into providing while he’s busy supporting the troops.

But of course, the Indignant Citizen is not in the military, has never been in the military, a fact that according to Bush means the Indignant Citizen has missed out on the highest calling possible. In a blatant plea for bodies—and good money says this was a first step before reinstituting the draft in some form—Bush said, “And to those of you watching tonight who are considering a military career, there is no higher calling than service in our armed forces.”

And of course the president would know all about that, having gotten a free pass into the National Guard during Vietnam, where his attendance record remains in question and during which time he did political work. But he did land that plane on the aircraft carrier for the big “Mission Accomplished” speech. Except he didn’t land it and the carrier was close enough to the coast for him to have flown in on a helicopter. The plane was an unnecessary prop. In fact they had to turn the ship so the cameras wouldn’t catch a glimpse of the looming Southern California mountains in the background.

But let’s forget about all that, just as we’ll forget about the fact that the “mission” Bush urged the American public to support the troops in completing was supposedly completed two years ago.

One other outrage from the speech Tuesday night. Once again Bush implied that Libya abandoned its nuclear program because the U.S. invaded Afghanistan (Whoops! Remember Afghanistan? Shit, there’s a war going on there, too!) and Iraq. It is false to imply that was the only reason. The Clinton administration previously had been talking with Ghadaffi about giving up his nuke ambitions. The dialogue was already open. It’s not as if the good colonel saw the smoke rising to the east, soiled himself in Fear and surrendered. He also saw economic benefits in better relations with the West.

The Indignant Citizen supports the troops. He opposes the president. However the president has been elected—albeit by the slimmest of Gump Whisker margins—and therefore there is only one lawful recourse. Impeachment. The Indignant Citizen hereby proposes a new slogan for the Left, suitable for bumper stickers (or bumper magnets):

“Support the Troops: IMPEACH BUSH.”