Rebutting an Ass

An effort to take my own advice and pull MY head out of George Bush’s ass…by getting this out of my system. Here then, is a slight deconstruction of Bush’s farewell address. The full transcript can be found here.

Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your president.

The first decade of this new century has been a period of consequence – a time set apart.

Tonight, with a thankful heart, I have asked for a final opportunity to share some thoughts on the journey that we have traveled together, and the future of our nation.

Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy.

In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people.

Except in your case George, if you recall, you were selected by your Republican cronies on the Supreme Court. And sent your thugs in to stop the recount….that Al Gore ultimately won.

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As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did.

Except for being spied on by our government, losing our brothers and sisters (both Iraqi and American) in your war of choice in Iraq, being plunged into debt to pay for it, having to bear our nation torturing in our name, being called traitors for opposing it…etc, etc. Yeah, life as it had been, uh-huh.

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Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored al-Qaeda and stoned women in the streets, to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school.

Sputter sputter, huh? The Taliban controls much of the country, the ‘democratic’ government is among the most corrupt in the world, and any claim of women’s rights in today;s Afghanistan is a bad, bad joke. What a delusional statement.

Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America, to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States.

Riii-iiiight, A friend of the United States that is trying as hard as it can to kick our occupying, Abu Ghraib asses out as soon as possible.

There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results.

Ha!

America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil.

I will let Osama Bin Laden have the first word in rebutting this one…

   “All that we have to do is to send two Mujahedin to the farthest point East to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qa’ida in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human economic and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits to their private companies. […]

   So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. […]

   And even more dangerous and bitter for America is that the Mujahedin recently forced Bush to resort to emergency funds to continue the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq which is evidence of the success of the bleed-until-bankruptcy plan with Allah’s permission… And it all shows that the real loser is… you. It’s the American people and their economy.”

YOU did exactly what the terrorists wanted George. EXACTLY. And we are on the verge of financial collapse because of it. They have not attacked on our soil because they didn’t have to.  Your war, and YOUR torture program have radicalized and recruited more terrorists who want to destroy the America you created than any other causal factor. Your policy of invasion, killing and torturing innocents, and creating your OWN terror and in the process making America into a form of Imperial terrorists has made both America and the world FAR less safe.

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And to all our men and women in uniform listening tonight: There has been no higher honor than serving as your Commander-in-Chief.

Even as I sent you to your brave, but unnecessary deaths and turned you into occupiers, killers, and torturers of innocents in a country that did not pose a threat to America.

The battles waged by our troops are part of a broader struggle between two dramatically different systems.

Under one, a small band of fanatics demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience, and marks unbelievers for murder.

Sounds suspiciously like the agenda of your allies, the Right Wing Fundamentalists to me, George.

The other system is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God, and that liberty and justice light the path to peace.

No George, Freedom is a Human Right that has nothing to do with ANYBODY’S God.

This is the belief that gave birth to our nation.

No. What gave birth to our nation was a rebellion against the tyrannical rule of kings above the Rule of Law…as well as against the rule of religious monarchy that the Enlightenment, and our Founders, opposed. The Separation of Church and State was included for a reason. In fact it was included FOR ….Reason. Something you have done your best to subvert or destroy.

And in the long run, advancing this belief is the only practical way to protect our citizens. When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror.

They did in 2004

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Across our country, students are rising to meet higher standards in public schools. A new Medicare prescription drug benefit is bringing peace of mind to seniors and the disabled. Every taxpayer pays lower income taxes. The addicted and suffering are finding new hope through faith-based programmes. Vulnerable human life is better protected. Funding for our veterans has nearly doubled. America’s air and water and lands are measurably cleaner. And the federal bench includes wise new members like Justice Sam Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.

Wow. Link?

Facing the prospect of a financial collapse, we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy.

By handing hundreds of billions of taxpayers dollars to your cronies, the very folks who took it to that verge….with no public accountability or transparency to those taxpayers.

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All Americans are in this together.

Except of course for my friends in the Ruling Class, who are doing fine, even as the rest of America suffers as a result of their unfettered…and unregulated… greed.

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You may not agree with some of the tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions.

No George, you made the easiest choice possible. You chose to fight terror with terror. An eye for an eye. You made the easy choice of revenge, death, torture and destruction. Fuck you.

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As we address these challenges – and others we cannot foresee tonight – America must maintain our moral clarity. I’ve often spoken to you about good and evil, and this has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two of them there can be no compromise.

Moral clarity? You call an official policy of killing and torturing innocent people ….moral clarity? You DID compromise the good that America represented… by engaging in the very forms of evil that you condemn. Evil is present in this world. But in a few days, it will no longer be present in the White House.

Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere.

Except when I do it, to advance my ideology, as I have done for the last eight years

Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right.

Great, when do we start?

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President Thomas Jefferson once wrote: “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

If I were you, I wouldn’t like history either. Get the fuck out of here you despicable man.