[Vision2020] Just Wait Out Bushies' Implosion (Molly Ivins)

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (May 20, 2006) Spokesman Review -

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Just wait out Bushies' implosion
Molly Ivins 
Creators Syndicate
May 20, 2006

Looking at the wreckage of the Bush administration leaves one with the
depressed query, "Now what?" The only help that can come to the country from
this ugly and spectacular crack-up is, in theory, things can't get worse.
This administration is so discredited it cannot talk the country into an
unnecessary war with Iran as it did with Iraq. In theory, spending is so out
of control it cannot cut taxes for the rich again; the fiscal
irresponsibility of the Bushies is already among its lasting legacies. 
 
As we all know, things can always get worse, and often do. I rather think
it's going to be up to the Democrats to hold the metaphoric hands of this
crippled administration until it limps off stage. The Republican National
Committee has a new scare tactic for the faithful: You must give to the
party, or else the Democrats will spend the next two years investigating the
administration (horror of horrors). Those who recall the insanely trivial
investigations of the Clinton years may indeed regard this as the ultimate
waste of time and money (as even Ken Starr concluded, there never was
anything to Whitewater), but in fact it could be a therapeutic use of the
next biennium. In fact, the offenses are not comparable. 

Suppose we really did stop to investigate why and how and who is responsible
for the lies, the deformed policies and the inability to govern of this
administration. There is a wealth of lessons to be learned about the dangers
of ideological delusion and of contempt for governance. 

Trouble is, the world is not apt to hold still for two years. It seems to me
pointless to impeach Bush. In the first place, the Republicans so
trivialized impeachment into partisan piffle, it would look like little more
than payback. In the second place, I believe Dick Cheney is seriously off
the rails, apparently deeply paranoid - let's not put him in charge. The
minimum we should expect of Bush in return for dropping impeachment (or not)
is that he cease breaking the law. Despite the opinions of Dick Cheney,
Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, etc., the president of the United States
does not have the authority to set aside the law. 

It would be easier to contemplate a two-year holding period if Bush hadn't
already wasted so much time. Of particular note in this department is "the
inconvenient truth" - global warming. Wasting eight years in the face of
what we already knew when Bush came in is not only insane, but also
unforgivable. A recent poll showed the majority of Americans feel the war in
Iraq will be the overriding issue of Bush's presidency. I suspect future
historians will fixate on his global warming record - not only doing nothing
to stop it, but letting the hole get dug deeper, as well. 

Barring emergency, I suspect the wisest thing Democrats can do in the next
two years is to begin steadily undoing what Bush hath wrought - on tax and
spending, on global warming, and on surveillance and other illegal lunges
for power. George W. Bush ran in 2000 as a moderate. He did not bother to
inform us at the time that he felt the government of this country needed a
much stronger executive above the law. Congress has sat by passively while
this administration accrued more and more power. If members of Congress
think the legislative branch should be equal, it's time for them to stir
their stumps. 

Am I jumping to conclusions? Can Karl Rove yet steer his party away from
electoral disaster in the fall? I learned long ago never to call elections
closer than six weeks out, and normally I stick to that rule. But I do not
think George W. can be put together again, so Rove's only option is go
negative against the Democrats - no surprise there. At this point, they
could attack Democrats on almost anything, but that would leave the large
question, "Compared to what?" And, we must watch out for those voting
machines. 

It would be interesting to see an election in which Bush is not a factor and
the whole fight is over what Tom DeLay and the K Street Project have made of
the Congress. If ever a gang of corrupt jerks deserved to be held
accountable, this one does.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

t hansen-moore
Moscow, Idaho


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And why shouldn't the rich pay taxes?

"The people that write laws are greedy.  They need money to buy votes.  What
better way to get it than to extract it, by force of law, from the
relatively few who can afford the nicer things in life.  If you can buy
something nice then you can pay more taxes so that politicians can give
something to the 'poor' and take a cut for themselves."
 
- Varnel W. (March 20, 2006)

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