Reply #67: Wow, Don, I thought you were with me in the "never fooled by Bush" [View All]

[tom_paine]

category.

Thanks for being honest, though.

As for me, I have followed one very simple rule since Bush stole the office:

I don't think of him as leader of a Free Nation, but as a Third World dictator. I think of Ferd Marcos, something like WWMD (and, YES, multiple puns intended), which is of course:

What would Marcos do?

By asking that question always about Bush, I have successfully predicted his actions and lies 80-90% of the time.

Which is scary in and of itself. If this was a truly strong, healthy Republic, the wild cacophony of liberty governing itself would, as always, be surprising and unfathomable.

Anyway, at the time of March 2003 my EXACT reasoning was "Well I am absolutely 100% sure that Blix is right and Bush lying. It is possible that Saddam has the TINIEST FRACTION of what the Busheviks said he had, but even that is 50-50."

And he didn't even have that.

The worst part is the cold deadness of knowing what they are going to do and what is eventually turning up that they did at the time (God help us when it stops coming out even 6 months after the facts).

It is reminiscent of how I used to look at the Soviet Union as a child. You know, "Oh, those bastards. They're lying. And their lies are so clumsy. F*cking Commies."

This is a nightmare, where now I have to think that way about my own government. I used to laugh at the Soviets, feel contempt for the Good Germans.

Now I empathize through my (admittedly tiniest) taste of what they knew. I keep saying, let this be the "best case scenario" where the spiral is slow and gentle and we are deceived into thinking things are much worse than they are.

My fereverent hope...Kerry in '04!