Cliff LyonBush, Love Him or ….
As Bush’s ship continues to sink, we find ourselves right about in the middle of the final phase as predicted in George Lakoff’s book, “Don’t Think of a Pink Elephant.”
Back when Lakoff wrote his “how-to†for democrats to compete with the Bush-republican homerun hitting technique for framing the debate and controlling message, everyone was still choking back the “L†word.
The question of the L-word keeps coming up. Did the president and his chief advisors lie? I think this is the wrong question to be asking. The real issue is betrayal of trust.
Lakoff predicted that it would not be the inevitable use of the word “lie†that would bring down the president, but the realization of betrayal.
if it [the real rationale for the Iraq War] was not self-defense and not selfless liberation, then President Bush betrayed the trust of our soldiers, the Congress, and the American people. Mere lying is a minor matter when betrayal is the issue.
And that process is, I think, is in mid stroke. Today, hearing someone say “I was a republican,†or “I did support Bush, but not anymore,†is a daily experience, up from a monthly one a year ago. Its one thing to lie, its quite another to betray.
As the pool of Bush supporters on the right narrows, the hanger-oners become more and more easily definable.
The spitting mad Bush haters in un-Jesus like moments call them bad names.
But to people who are either stupid or malevolent, hatred of those they would label as “liberals” trumps love of country every time and blinds them to the harm being done to our security, our heritage and our well-being.
But some of the one’s that still condemn Bush haters are not stupid but just “loyal to a faultâ€; not such a bad thing, but have been proven to be a dangerously useful ingredient in a power grab. The problem for them is they are in increasingly bad company, not to mention subject to less generous labels with each passing day. And with each passing day, the size of the ego hit when they finally come around, grows fatter.
And THEY will be the ones left holding the bag when the truly malevolent ones’s bail overnight in a pitiful display of shock and surprise and self-pity for having trusted the president of the United States. “Who can blame a man for that?
Witness Hannity and O’Reilly who have well begun to lay the groundwork for a quick about face, and a sudden possionate conversion to vigilant on a mission to avenge the “betrayal or America” and exploitation of their deeply trusting vulnerable souls by a satanic, manipulative group of men who almost destroyed their careers. I can hear it now.
February 13th, 2006 at 8:17 am
As the bush ship continues to sink, it would be well to remember that we are all on it, there is no way to change the fates of those on board, mutineers or not. In fact, for the most part, we aren’t very threatening as mutineers, and like Ahab on the Pequod the crew generally cowers in fear as their madman captain forces them to crazier and crazier heights.
The idea that most democratically minded folks, that have been raised with some sense of shame, and commitment to truth, are missing, is that there appears no one at the home port that will ensure that bush and his band of pirates get what’s coming. There is seemingly no more backstop. The democratic portions of Congress seemed to mezmerized by our fearless leaders zealous pursuit of some evil. The format is reminicent of the tale of the Great White Whale, Moby Dick. His manner of consistantly escaping despite relentless pursuit, the killing of the Pequods crew along the way, and the ultimate demise of the ill fated endeavor at the hands of the nut Ahab, when the Whale turns on it’s tormentor and sinks the ship leaving only one survivor to tell the tale, Ishmael.
No, I’m not sorry that I ruined the ending for some of you, this is an American literary giant that should be read before one leaves high school. I’m sure with the time devoted to diversity training such lessons in literature can be easily shelved in favor of trying to get to all “just get along”. Don’t mess with the Whale is the lesson.
Recent revelations by Colin Powells Chief of staff Wilkerson, proclaiming that he and the rest of the “gang” perpetrated a hoax on the American people, in lying America into war, should be the ultimate wake up call that our rudder is missing and the edge of the earth looms ever closer. When you reach the edge of the Earth abandoning ship won’t help you, and even if you did mutiny and regain control of our Ship of State, you are going to need some kind of carpenter to fix the rudder, and I don’t know anyone in congress that can swing a hammer. The only notable that has, is Jimmy Carter, and look what he is saying.
As for carpenters, bush and his freak show christian following should consider heeding and DOING what another ancient carpenter told them to do, instead of their hearts content. then maybe we can fix this wayward ships’ rudder and get back to port. cheers glenn
February 16th, 2006 at 10:51 am
Amen and all hands on deck. All of the signs are terribly ominous - politically, economically, environmentally. A broken political system dependent on piles of special interest cash; gerrymandered districts making any real change in Congress virtually impossible; the national debt at dizzying levels; peak oil around the corner, if not already past us; all indicators of climate change showing alarming levels, with a dramatic tipping point in climate potentially looming . . . . and enough of the American public either ignorant, plain stupid, scared helpless, or apparently counting on the end times taking them to a better place. Are there any lifeboats left on board, or did they fall victim to the latest round of federal budget cuts?
February 18th, 2006 at 10:35 pm
My only solace is that the Whale takes Ahab to the bottom as well, he, wrapped in the lines of ineffectual harpoons driven in vain into the beast by his zealous rage. Bon Voyage. cheers glenn
Support sovereignty in your State, it is your best lifeboat.