FLAIT

Originally Posted: Sept. 2003

THE 9/11 AFTERMATH - Bush dragged his feet on a formal investigation into the intelligence failure and also to create a Dept. of Homeland Security. Whose side is he on?

Here we are two years away, and potential terrorist targets such as power, nuclear and chemical plants have not been secured. Nor have our ports.

If that's not enough, our cities and states have not been given the resources, or the funding for equipment, training or personnel to handle a nuclear, biological or chemical attack. That's a disgrace (nor have they been reimbursed for the police overtime incurred by providing extra security at our bridges, tunnels etc.).

These are things a REAL President should have taken care of right away. So Bush has failed to live up to his Oath of Office because he's not "protecting" the United States!

But wait, there's more.

Bush CUT funding to the INS, the agency that was responsible for allowing the hijackers into the country, and who sent Mohammad Atta his visa 6 months after 9/11.

Grade: F

Al-QAEDA - 1) Their leadership remains at large 2) They have been committing attacks around the world 3)while Kabul is "secured", the rest of Afghanistan is in chaos 4) the Karzai government is a sham 5) Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are reorganizing and reforming in Afghanistan and 6) they are STILL very much a threat to us, which Bush himself admitted when he issued a warning to the airlines that more suicide hijackings are possible.

We can all agree on Bush's grade here when you consider what the GOP would be saying - no, SCREAMING! - if this passive approach to Al-Qaeda was going on during a Clinton or Gore Administration.

Also imagine if Clinton or Gore's General who was in charge of the military operations in Afghanistan, said that bin Laden wasn't the "focus" of their attacks, as Gen. Franks had said repeatedly. That's insulting!

Bin Laden is responsible for killing 3,000 Americans and he's not the "focus" of our military operations? The GOP would have started impeachment proceedings if this was Clinton or Gore!

Grade: D

THE WAR IN IRAQ - As far as the intelligence is concerned, it looks like it was gathered and interpreted by the Keystone Kops.

So why hasn't Bush demanded George Tenent's resignation? Why hasn't he called for a complete investigation to find out why he received such bogus information (assuming he didn't know it was exaggerated)?

This fiasco makes Bush look like a fool. It has also destroyed his credibility as well as the country's. So why isn't he mad as hell about it?

But it was a senseless war to begin with (see a A Senseless War*).

And Saudi Arabia had more to do with 9/11 than Iraq did. So if this was about 9/11, Bush invaded the wrong country!

It didn't take a genuis to figure out that we'd have to remain in Iraq for years after the war. And yet, unbelievably as it sounds, Bush didn't even plan for that. He didn't even plan for the first 6 months of occupation because we can't even replace the troops that have been there this long!

What incompetence!

For the next 5 - 10 years Iraq will be a political football with enormous cost. Thanks a lot Mr. President.

And don't forget, the war in Iraq took attention and resources away from going after Al-Qaeda, the group who attacked us, remember them?

Grade for going through with this war: F
Grade for the war itself: A-
Grade for postwar and planning: F

PAYING FOR THE WARS - Here we are fighting two wars, we have brave men and women putting their lives on the line every day, and we're over here celebrating tax cuts? What's wrong with this picture?

Besides, America has always had the current generation pay for its major wars. But our children and grandchildren will be paying for both of these (and I thought the GOP was the "party of responsibility"). Thanks again, Mr. President.

Grade: F

FUZZY MATH - Let's see...9/11, the war against Al-Qaeda, the war in Iraq, rebuilding Iraq, missile defense, social security, medicare, a prescription drug plan, and tax cuts (I'd also throw in Homeland defense and securing Afghanistan, but Bush apparently doesn't seem to think they're all that important because he's failed to fund them accordingly).

Where is Bush getting the money for all this?

Since the stone age, man has been trying to find the proverbial "free lunch." What makes Bush so special that he thinks he can provide it?

Grade: F

ENERGY - You'd think 9/11 would have been a wake up call regarding our dependence on foreign oil.

Granted, asking Bush and Chaney to come up with an energy policy is like asking a bird to start walking. But they've barely paid lip service to our long range energy concerns, besides drilling (see "Creativity" below).

Obviously, we need a real, long term energy plan. But it starts with leadership(see "Leadership" below) that would call for conservation, strict efficiency standards and alternative fuels.

Grade: F

CREATIVITY - During WWII, our parents and grandparents rationed everything from food to fuel.

Here we had 9/11, the two wars, the sluggish economy and the only sacrifice Bush asks of us is to "go shopping" and accept his tax cuts. Gee, I hope he didn't suffer a headache coming up with that.

Any slob can call for tax cuts. Give me a politician who has the guts to oppose them, or responsible enough to increase them during times like this.

These feckless tax cuts will just result in more debt (at all levels of government), higher college tuition, higher property taxes, longer lines at the DMV (which is what the GOP wants because it reinforces their rhetoric that government doesn't work), and an INS with the same problems it had on 9/10.

So for all of you who think you're coming out ahead with these tax cuts, you're being just as mindless and gullible as the GOP wants you to be.

Bush couldn't come up with an idea if he walked into a think tank!

Grade: F

ENLIGHTENMENT - Laser-guided bombs and the 82nd Airborne can only do so much to eradicate the threats against us.

The rest is done with a sagacious President who is geopolitically enlightened, and willing to engage the Arab world in a serious and honest dialog.

A (perceived) bully can only do so much.

Grade: F

LEADERSHIP - Ha! See all the above! The guy couldn't lead a pack of Girl Scouts out of the mall!

Grade: F

FINAL GRADE: F

SUMMARY: Bush shouldn't be elected hall monitor at his grade school, let alone President of the United States!


Of course this post will be answered by typical sycophant Republicans who will just ridicule me and call me names. They'll call me a "liberal" because they don't even have the creativity to change their insults (conservatives have turned "liberal" into an insult)!

But that's fine. Because by insulting me and this post, and not trying to defend Bush with facts - since they can't - it'll just prove that I'm right and that Bush IS a boob (since this post is loaded with facts, I'm allowed to ridicule a little bit).