The Lamest Duck

[sailingdog]

A friend of mine sent me an editorial written by Joe Klein of Time magazine. It was titled, "The Lamest Duck" and discussed our current fearful leader in chief, W.

One of my favorite grafs is:

So I've been searching for valedictory encomiums. His position on immigration was admirable and courageous; he was right about the Dubai Ports deal and about free trade in general. He spoke well, in the abstract, about the importance of freedom. He is an impeccable classicist when it comes to baseball. And that just about does it for me. I'd add the bracing moment of Bush with the bullhorn in the ruins of the World Trade Center, but that was neutered in my memory by his ridiculous, preening appearance in a flight suit on the deck of the aircraft carrier beneath the "Mission Accomplished" sign. The flight-suit image is one of the two defining moments of the Bush failure. The other is the photo of Bush staring out the window of Air Force One, helplessly viewing the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. This is a presidency that has wobbled between those two poles — overweening arrogance and paralytic incompetence.(President Bush in the Middle East.)

During this recent time of economic crisis, strong leadership would have been very helpful... However, the Bush administration has chosen to duck and hide its head in a big hole in the ground...

The article’s conclusion is very pointed and says:

In the end, though, it will not be the creative paralysis that defines Bush. It will be his intellectual laziness, at home and abroad. Bush never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and regulation that was necessary to make markets work. He never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and equity that was necessary to maintain the strong middle class required for both prosperity and democracy. He never considered the complexities of the cultures he was invading. He never understood that faith, unaccompanied by rigorous skepticism, is a recipe for myopia and foolishness. He is less than President now, and that is appropriate. He was never very much of one.

Personally, I think that W is an idiot. Much of what he and his administration have done in the name of national security has been more for the security of his party's political goals, than the security of the people.

DHS is a disaster waiting to happen. The response to Katrina and other natural disasters was abysmal at best. If the government has trouble responding to a natural disaster that was both expected and a fairly common occurence, how do you think they'll do in the case of a successful bioweapon or "dirty" bomb attack.

The TWIC cards are just one example of the misguided attempts to improve security. The TSA is a disgrace, and they're lucky if they could find their asses with both hands at night, even if you stuck a lit flare up their backside. BTW, a friend of mine tried to use his TWIC card as ID to board a flight... it was rejected as not being a valid form of ID by the TSA, yet it is the required form of ID by DHS to access secure port facilities—does anyone else see a problem with this? TSA is a division of DHS, but won't accept IDs issued by DHS???

Internationally, he has turned the US into a laughing stock, and become a recruiting poster boy for Al Qaeda.

[Giulietta]

Why don't you tell us what you really think about GW...hey SD??

By the way..your days here are over...wait till Sway reads this about his heroe, he will set the Scotish Republican on you..and to help the other looney Cam, will also bring his baseball bats...you just wait...boy.

was nice knowing you

[WouldaShoulda]

If I recall correctly, GWB opposed DHS but it was a recommendation of the 9/11 commision so he went along with it.

I never felt that the answer to bureaucratic failure was more bureaucracy, but that's just what we got.

The carrier "Mission Accomplished" deal is a fiction. As out of context and false as the claim that Al Gore said he invented the internet.

Unfortunate for both men. There are failures enough without having to make stuff up!!

Time for the new guy now.

I'm not going to whine and hope he fails for the next 4-8 years the way others pilloried Bush.

I'm going sailing.

[Sailormon6]

Is that the same Joe Klein who, in 1996, anonymously published the novel Primary Colors, obviously based on the 1992 Presidential primary election, and who, when identified as the author, publicly condemned the person who identified him, and dishonestly claimed that another person wrote it? Is that the same Joe Klein who publicly "staked his journalistic credibility" on his denial, and who eventually admitted that he was the author? If that's the same Joe Klein, it's a wonder that anyone would give him any credibility at all.

But, hey, if all you're looking for is a few fiery quotes that reinforce your own biased opinions, he certainly can turn a phrase.

[sailingdog]

Guu-

Teddy Roosevelt said something that applies to W quite nicely:

He has been called a mediocre man; but this is unwarranted flattery. He was a politician of monumental littleness.

[SteveRobison]

GWB, I guess calling him a lame duck is a nice way of saying what a A-hole. Thank god he will be gone, not to sure about the new guy, but glad to see num-nuts leave.

[sailaway21]

When you start casting aspersions on another person based upon a third party's testimony you leave yourself open to much the same type of attacks, in this case, the assumption of mental density.

On 10 September 2001, George W. Bush was primarily confronted with a nation at peace with some serious government entitlement problems in social security and health care. There were, and are, other lesser issues at the time and new ones have arisen since as well. What cannot be argued is that the world fundamentally changed the following morning and that world has not returned to any sense of what we'd have described as normal on the tenth of September in '01. It's questionable as to whether it ever will. George Bush's presidency turned overnight from one of domestic focus to one of overseas and defense focus.

On the afternoon of 11 September 2001 you sat in front of your TV set and you had little or no idea where the next attack was going to come from and where it was going to hit. You had no idea as to whom to blame for either the attacks nor the US unpreparedness for them. All that you really craved in life at that time was the reasonable assurance that you and your loved ones would be safe from such terror and not have to die that way. You'd have spent or done anything to achieve that goal. Well, pilgrim, it's been over seven years and while the world remains very dangerous and the terror continues unabated, you've not been attacked in America. You got what you asked for out of your president. You got the very thing you wanted most above all other things. That you regard it now as a mere trifle, a bauble left over from last Christmas, does not change the facts as to how you felt on the afternoon of 11 September 2001 and what you said then.

That you wish to quibble around the edges of how your safety was earned, while you lie safe asleep in your bed, with no responsibility for making any of those tough decisions ...decisions that required the sacrifice of the solving of other domestic issues... and you ignore the fact that you've enjoyed over seven years of safety and freedom from fear says more about you than it does the current president of the US.

You got the title of the thread wrong. It should have been, "My lamest thought".

[knothead]

The only thing worse that a sore loser is a graceless winner.

[xort]

joe klein... proven to be a lieing pos. what does that make those who fawn over his blather?

[Giulietta]

Originally Posted by sailaway21

When you start casting aspersions on another person based upon a third party's testimony you leave yourself open to much the same type of attacks, in this case, the assumption of mental density.

This is rather ironic...you of all people here saying something like this!!

Really