The Countdown Gets Closer to #50

The list of things that have given me heartburn and heartache over the past eight years continues here as we celebrate the last days of the George W. Bush presidency.

#60. Free Basing on Faith Based: W. made it clear from the get-go that darnit, if he got sober from going to AA held in the back room of some church, than that was good enough for you. Bush’s immediate efforts to lock church and state up tight included millions given to churches for drug treatment, where addicts could learn that their disease was actually just a sin and that belief and repeated sayings would work better than detox, science, and education. Thankfully Administration sinners like David Kuo got religion and left that house of unholy and told the truth.

#59. Karen Hughes

#58. The Coalition of the Useless: Bush will never be able to provide any decent explanation for why, if Sadaam was really such a threat, many more nations did not rise to the occasion of a simple shock and awe-shucks campaign to make the world safer. Yes, Tony Blair brought out the big guns, including a couple princes, and so did, um, uh, er, Australia? Actually that’s why the former PM is getting to stay in the Blair House forcing the Obamas to get a hotel room.

#57. Stupid Comments on the 7’s: One of my “Did-he-really-just-say-that? moments came during the summer of the 2004 campaign at his Crawford ranch. But it wasn’t about the campaign, it was about the Olympics. After a week of the Athens games, W was asked what, so far, he liked about the Olympics. Mind you this was after a week of the breathtaking debut of Michael Phelps, the USA Women’s softball dynasty, the Dream Team, the USA Swimming Team domination and so on and so on:
Q: You're not going to Athens this week, are you?
BUSH: Athens, Texas?
Q: Ol — the Olympics, in Greece.
BUSH: Oh, the Olympics? No, I'm not.
Q: Have you been watching them?
BUSH: Oh, yeah, yeah, it's been exciting.
Q: Any particular moment stand out?
BUSH: Umm — particular moment? I like the — let's see — uhhhm — Iraqi soccer. I liked — I liked seein' the Afghan woman carryin' the flag comin' in. I loved, uhh — you know, our gymnasts. I've been watching the swimming. I like th' — I've seen a lot, yeah. Listen, thank you all.
Crawford, Texas, Aug. 23, 2004
Post script: Yeah, the Iraqi Soccer team ended up publicly blasting the President for his politicizing of their triumph. That, and the bombs which had killed several innocent members of the players’ families.

#56. The Kyoto Protocol is the first international agreement to fight global warming. It was signed by 141 nations, including all European and all other developed industrial nations except the US and Australia. Frickin’ Blair House again!

#55. Campaign Terrorism: Bush must take some of the blame for the Republican/Right Wing embrace of his puppet-master, Karl Rove. First, Bush campaigns against John McCain in 2000 using robo-calls which suggest McCain’s adopted daughter is somehow not his (oh, and that the Bangladeshan was “black”). Then in 2002, Karl Went Down To Georgia looking for a soul to steal. It was R-Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss ran against a legitimate, bonafide, limbs-shot-off Vietnam War vet hero. His Rove-ian Chicken Hawk tactic? TV ads depicting Cleland as Osama BinLaden and Sadaam Hussein…months after one of those villains attacked the US; and we attacked the other.

#54. That Darn P.D.B.: Seriously. They told you what these things were right? And that your job was to read them AND do something about them.

#53. Bush Loves Celebrity: Yes, but unfortunately he chose to make celebrities out of two Americans who did not deserve his special brand of starmaking. Jessica Lynch was a farm girl with poster-ready cuteness who became a POW after her squad made a wrong turn and were ambushed. Her fabled fight and rescue became Bush’s best argument for the war which would then produce heroes like hottie Jennifer. One of those heroes was former NFL player Pat Tillman, killed during the 2004 Presidential campaign. Bush seized the opportunity to align himself with the rugged hero who signed up after being lied to by Bush about the connection between the war and 9/11. The Tillman family and Pat’s colleagues were not amused. Turns out, Tillman was killed by three bullets to the head…by friendly fire. Lynch and the Tillman family all became vocal critics of the war.

#52. Condoleeza Rice.

#51. A Fake Turkey and A Real One. That the U.S. Government went to the lengths it did to haul a plastic turkey all the way to Iraq so George could pretend that all things were normal for the troops with a surprise visit to the Extremely Green Zone is just overwhelming to me.