Comments on Required Political Reading

No shit Dubya is a neocon puppet! Look at who he's been surrounded by since day one! He's an obvious moron, Cheney's been a stubborn prick about everything since day one... I mean, it was clear.

I almost feel bad laying EVERYTHING concerning Iraq at Dubya's feet, because it's clear that he's serving a purpose more than actively deciding to do all this himself.

ITMFA, both of them, Cheney first.

I feel sorry for him to the degree that I felt sorry for Tony Soprano. The injustice is that people who depise government have been running it for their own purposes for the last two terms. I find it hard to believe that anyone in this administration actually believes in public service or democracy. Bush will spend the remainder of his doing Rove's bidding - doling out polictical favors. I'd be surprised that any American President has ever believed or understood less about the office he is holding. It's a national disgrace.

I've seen the light about how singularly evil Bush/Cheney are, but I wouldn't say that Bush's low polls numbers indicate that the American people have seen the same light. What we're seeing is a rejection of Washington as a whole. Congress also is polling remarkably poorly, and yet as corrupt and venal as Congress is these days, its sins are hardly on a par with the Bush administration's sins.

Seems to me the only policy of Bush's that Americans are unequivocally rejecting is the decision to invade Iraq. Put a fresh face on Bush's other policies -- whether that face be a Romney or a Thompson -- and the voters may be gullible enough to fall for the same crap all over again. Or to put a little different perspective here, voters agree America's got problems, but they don't agree about the solutions. If a Gore or an Obama puts out some tough, sensible solutions that involve the least bit of pain, the voters may be just as apt to reject them and jump to the pol who provides the most comforting mix of platitudes and scapegoats.

Yeah, the American people are a bit like someone who keeps complaining about being out of shape but can't imagine actually working out.

cressona @ 4,

You are so right!

Unfortunately Eli, most of the WaPo's information about Cheney is old news. It has been extensively reported in such places as the New Yorker. What the Washington Post has done is consolidate all of those years of information in one place.

I read the articles last week and the one today in the Post. (The Post is edging out NY Times as my paper of choice lately) and they need to be read by everyone.

@ Cressona, I wish that the American people would be more outraged than what they are. We seem to be saying we don't like what is happening in Washington but seem to care little about really changing it. I am also terrified that the left has become so confident that any Democrat will win next year that someone like Thomopson will make the election close enough to steal.

We are losing the republic rapidly and we simply want our Paris Hilton updates and iPhones too much to even pay attention.

"And yet Bush does not come across like a man lamenting his plight. In public and in private, according to intimates, he exhibits an inexorable upbeat energy that defies the political storms. Even when he convenes philosophical discussions with scholars, he avoids second-guessing his actions. He still acts as if he were master of the universe, even if the rest of Washington no longer sees him that way."

I guess the fact that he'll never be held accountable for his actions helps, along with the fact that he's completely insane.