Open Thread December 21 2024
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Yesterday, Steve Schmidt had this to say about Elon Musk. It’s short, and
it’s painfully humorous, as only dumb-criminal-level stupidity can be. So
I’m thr...
3 hours ago
Bush is 'working hard' on his legacy. According to Maureen Dowd,
ReplyDeleteOne Bush did it by staying out of Baghdad, raising taxes and driving down the deficit.
The other Bush did it by going into Baghdad, cutting taxes and driving up the deficit.
But, perhaps inevitably, the father and son ended up in an Oedipal tango at the same spot: 31 percent.
After trying not to emulate his father's presidency in any way, W. emulated it in the worst possible way. He came out of a conflict with Saddam as a towering figure with soaring approval ratings and ended up as a shrunken figure with scalding approval ratings....
...The Bush presidency has devolved into an assertion of empty will.
... Before the Iraq invasion, it was about fixing the intelligence around the policy. Now it's about appointing yes men and enforcing loyalty.
My intension is not to piss anybody off but merely remind you that these figures are getting close to those of Europe's. I can already start seeing a possibility that some day I can come out of the closet to be openly pro American.
ReplyDeletePekka, one of the problems is that Bush's low (and early) poll numbers in Europe were for the best of reasons. His recent plummeting in American polls, at least in part, are for the worse of reasons: the price of gas.
ReplyDeleteBush can play this, leading up to the November elections, by the way he titrates the release of the reserves.
But, I have to concede there is room for hope that erosion of his support is spreading as the realization of his corruption sinks in.
Messenger, I have to respond to your comment and agree with it. Of course, the numbers are reflecting the price on gas. I should have seen it, but I didn't, and I owe you thanks.
ReplyDeleteOh, come on Pekka!! Can't you give us Americans some credit for approving Cheney under 20%? That can't be all about the price of Exxon. Come on, encourage us by cutting us some bleeping slack....
ReplyDeleteVigilante, I was sold to this idea that the polls reflect pretty much how the motoring public precieves the price at the pump. There is something about you Americans and your lust for a horseless carriage.
ReplyDeleteI am aware that some well informed individuals, such as yourself, are alarmed about a multitude of issues but at the same time, unfortunately, we can't ignore that quite possibly a lot of your country men are tame and dosile as long as the good times with a big bad Hummer can go on uninterrupted. I can see there an opening for Bush to do some repair work on those low poll numbers. That should showel some ice into your pants. :)
I have heard lately suggestions, and not necessarily Republican ones, that gas subsidies should be introduced. Not only is it insane in the short term, but it is down right suicidical in the long term. One of the biggest security improvements for you is to lessen your dependecy on Arab oil. Increased drilling in the home land isn't the answer either, because you only have about 3% of the known global reserves. That 3% is like a drop in an ocean, doing nothing to the price at the pump. But this is such a broad item that I can't go in it any deeper here, but I am sure you already know it.
Instead of drilling the hell out of your pristine wildlife sanctuaries in Alaska, you should start a serious concervation programs and bring back your farming sector by converting huge tracks of fields in the Mid West, for instance, to produce bio fuels. This would cut those undesireable shackles to foreign oil producers and promote not only your own farmers and farming communities but would also launch new industries and technologies.
However, all eyes are zoomed on gas price and I don't see any long term solutions discussed in Washington and even less among the regular Joes (blogs). Maybe that magical $100/barrel oil will do the trick?
My apologies being so long winded!
Apologies Accepted.
ReplyDelete(What else can I do? Put a meter on him?)
Pekka sets me off saying:
ReplyDelete...sold to this idea that the polls reflect pretty much how the motoring public perceives the price at the pump. There is something about you Americans and your lust for a horseless carriage....all eyes are zoomed on gas price and I don't see any long term solutions discussed in Washington and even less among the regular Joes...
I have just come away from watching Democrat Senators on Cspan debating the incompetents bush has recently nominated to the federal bench. (Call them the three dumb mice.) Hearing Kennedy and Leah, I tell you, I felt fucking proud of them.
Furthermore let me communicate how fucking fed-up I am about people I hear on teevee or in person say that the 'Democrats just don't stand for anything', as if they're to blame. They're not - not most of them. Only a fucking idiot could have paused when given a choice between Bush and Gore in '00 or Bush and Kerry in '04.
Pekka puts the blame where, I'm convinced, most of the world does. It's the imbecilic, self-absorbed, celebrity-crazed, channel-flipping, inattentive American voter who's to be blamed for this fucking catastrophe. Which we have been living under for what seems to be a decade.
I mean, WTF? It's not until someone jacks up their price for gas that they feel someone has them by the balls?
I say to all of you, no people was more ripe for fascism than this generation of Americans.
Now, there's an F-word for you.