Saturday, May 06, 2006

What interests me is that Sullivan actually tries to deflect this nutball’s now widely-reported views with the “blowback” suggestion that “this administration has turned many previously sane, moderate people into those who want to scream at the dishonesty and incompetence of their own government.”

Or, to put it more bluntly: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT.

What doesn’t occur to Sullivan (what never, in fact, occurs to Sullivan, who is too busy projecting to gather his bearings), is that his proposition begs the question. Because believe it or not, some of us dispute the “fact” that there has been widespread dishonesty and incompetence in this administration, which would mean that those who now “want to scream” at their government may not have been so “previously sane” to begin with.

In fact, it could be that they were simply excitable folk with their own specific agendas looking for an excuse to find dishonesty and incompetence where there exists only the natural vicissitudes of politics and war.

Three years ago on May Day, President Bush put on his now-infamous "Mission Accomplished" show about Iraq. This week on May 1, he confidently declared another turning point on our way to victory in Iraq. Facts:

Then, 139 U.S. troops had died in the "pre-emptive" Iraq war. Now, the number is 2,411.

Then, Bush got $79 billion from Congress for the war. Now, the total cost approved by Congress is more than $250 billion.

Then, the president's overall approval rating was 71%. Now, in the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll it is 34%.

How low can Bush's approval rating go? My hunch is it's at or near the bottom. That 34% represents mostly unshakeable far-right wingers. Like Bush, Vice President Cheney and company, they are in denial. As were the 24% in the polls who still approved of President Richard Nixon before he resigned in disgrace.

What happened to the 37% who have switched from pro-Bush to anti-Bush? They finally realized they were suckered by Bush and his buddies back then about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction, his tie to terrorists and his threat to the USA.

President Abraham Lincoln was right when he said: "You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."