Tag Archives: George W. Bush

And…Tony Goes Limp

So, New York Rep. Anthony Weiner has backed off his assertion that he would not resign, and is now resigning over the whole “scandal” of tweeting flirtatious pictures of his man parts.

I’m not surprised. Dismayed, but not surprised.

But let’s clear up some things.

The media continuing to harp on the debacle is not, I believe, an example of right-wing, greedy, GOP-friendly corporate businessmen who own the media outlets purposefully sinking Rep. Weiner.

They don’t need to. Look, liberal and moderate members of the media feel the stings every day of being called “left-wing” and being told that there is a clear “liberal bias” in the news media, and so they don’t need any prodding to bend over backwards to prove that they aren’t liberal but are instead balanced, and they often do so by giving conservatives a pass and piling on the liberals. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s human nature and a dash of cowardice.

Much like the Democrats not making stands against Republican crook, liars, cheats and killers and instead shredding one of their own to make a point that “See, we take morality and ethics seriously.” They keep doing so thinking that the Republicans will return the favor, but it ain’t gonna happen. That also isn’t a conspiracy. It’s mere stupidity.

Now, on to another issue: Hypocrisy.

Yes, I totally feel you, my fellow moderate and/or liberal friends, real-life and virtual, who are venting your spleens on Twitter and in person to lament how war criminals (like former President George W. Bush and former V.P. Dick Cheney) can lie through their teeth and bankrupt the nation to go to war, but face no charges, while a Democratic politician is forced out of office for sexting.

Yes, I agree that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas isn’t just an asshole but also a crook and liar who’s hiding money and has been covering up conflicts of interest that should get him impeached and tossed off the bench. While a legislative sex scandal gets blown out of proportion and no one can work up the interest to investigate or care about the bigger problem on the judicial side.

I agree with all these things.

But it changes nothing about the fact that Weiner is a cowardly little dick and an obvious, transparent liar.

There, I said it.

His lies are smaller than those of Bush, Cheney, Thomas or a host of others. But still, he brought this on himself.

Many thought (and some still do) that Bush and Cheney were being honest when they went to war. Thomas apparently kept his conflicts of interest quiet enough not to draw attention. Because of that, the onus of anyone wanting to take them down is not only to plow through a political jungle but also to prove that those guys broke the law.

Weiner, however, did something stupid and then lied about it. Lied about it even though it was abundantly clear, or certainly SHOULD have been, that he was going to be revealed as having done just what he said he didn’t do. And he should have known it was going to happen very soon.

So, instead of fessing up, he evaded questions, did some fancy wordplay, made up excuses about being hacked, and basically put all the tinder and firewood all around him for his own immolation at the stake.

What’s worst is that it was obvious almost from the start that he was hiding something (and probably lying outright) and possibly even more was happening than we knew. The very day shit was going down, I had serious doubts about his veracity. By the next day or two, it was abundantly clear he was lying, and continuing to lie even though we were all pretty much telling him, through tweets and other means, “Dude, the gig is up.”

So, yes, what Weiner did was really between him and his wife. Yes, what he did had not material effect on how he did his job compared to anything else that any other legislator does, moral or not, on his or her own time. Yes, it is a stupid thing to blow into a “scandal” when we’ve had far sleazier Republicans who got a pass.

But none of that changes that fact that Weiner should have known he couldn’t maintain the lie for more than a handful of days and should have stepped forward from the get-go to admit it was him and offer an apology, explanation or whatever.

Yes, it’s worse to have a life of crime and hide the evidence for years as you ruin lives. But people get viscerally offended when you lie right to their faces while doing things that clearly show you’re lying about something you JUST did.

A man who plots to ruin my life and take my family and home and destroy my career is far worse than a guy who punches me in the face. But the guy who punches me in the face is the one who will get put on his ass right away, without question, as a logical reflex response. The other guy who ruined my life? It may take years for me to find out he did, and to make sure he did it on purpose, and justice against him may take longer…or possibly never happen.

If I embezzle money from a company, it might take a long time to figure out I’m doing it, and then a long time to get me convicted for it, assuming you can. But if I steal some treats from the convenience store and there’s video evidence, I will to to jail right away. The latter crime is less serious, but it will carry immediate penalties because of my carelessness and stupidity.

So, in the end, the media didn’t do Weiner in and neither did the Democrats. He made the wrong moves from the beginning and made sure that he had no stable ground on which to stand in the end.

Lesson: If you’re going to do questionable shit, be a lot fucking more discreet about it.

This President Works Harder Than the Last One Did

To all the people, most especially the GOP folks who criticize President Barack Obama even when he does things they traditionally support:

George W. Bush was the slacker.

I’m a little tired of the “Japan is in ruins and Libya is awash in blood and the president is giving parties, golfing, playing basketball and doing his March Madness picks?!”

Really?

Where were your complaints when Bush, in the midst of two Middle Eastern wars and a battle against terrorism (and against our civil rights), spent more time vacationing than any other president ever?

Got news for you…as much work as being U.S. President is, you can’t spend every minute of every day doing nothing but the job, or you will quite literally die. (Of course, that’s what most Republicans probably want…as long as Biden dies at the same time)

Parties are something presidents must do for a variety of reasons, many of them diplomatic. As for the golfing and basketball, exercise is good. And March Madness picks don’t take that long.

So, in a nutshell: Shut the fuck up.

Two-fer Tuesday: Failure by Deacon Blue

george_w_bushFailure is often in the eye of the beholder. As George W. Bush and his friends and associates run out the clock on this lamest-of-lame-duck presidencies of modern memory, they are trying to figure out how to cast the legacy of Dubya. Apparently, how to put a good spin on an abyssmal eight years. I suppose they’ll manage something, because after all, even a pile of shit can be spun positively as potential fertilizer.

At the blog Margaret and Helen, where I like to visit but usually don’t leave comments, I was kind of verbose (three or four comments) in one of their recent posts. And at one point, someone asked if anyone really thought Bush did a good job and if so, how?

I couldn’t resist, and made a list of five “successes” of Dubya’s adminstration. I’ve added five more so that we can get a nice top ten list, though it’s in no particular order.

President George W. Bush’s Great Successes in Office

  1. He ran the country just as well as he handled most of his personal life (college education and recreational beverage use most notably) and as well as he ran most of the businesses ventures in which he was involved previously.
  2. He didn’t get involved in any sex scandals (no doubt he feared having a high-heeled shoe impale his skull courtesy of Laura…that might explain his skill at dodging shoes thrown by irate Iraqi journalists).
  3. He helped his staff, advisors and several world leaders get some exercise and fresh air at the “Texas White House” he spent so much time hiding…er, I mean working at.
  4. He helped keep the Al Quaeda Mobile Dialysis Services Company in business by NOT catching their best client.
  5. He helped get the Supreme Court more involved in politics…it was about time those apathetic bastards decided an election!
  6. He put the “tan” back in Guantanamo Bay by locking up dozens upon dozens of people with Arabic names/backgrounds even if they hadn’t done anything demonstrably wrong.
  7. He brought torture back in style, which put the “Gua!” “O!” and “Ay!” back in Guantanamo Bay as well as adding “Please…no more…mercy” and “Gyahhhhh!”
  8. He streamlined the workload for the office staff that handles Social Security by getting rid of that pesky surplus money and using it to wage a war for God, America and Big Oil.
  9. Through the “No School Left Behind Act,” he boosted the sales of number 2 pencils and Scan-Tron machines by making ill-advised standardized tests the barometer of success for our nation’s beleaguered schools.
  10. He helped sour the American public so much on the idea of electing “the person you’d most like to have a beer with” that we ended up not only with an intelligent man elected again, but also our first black president.