Do Americans realize the Bushists are wasting our $ on an occupation?

[BurtWorm]

If Americans were asked individually if they thought starting a war to occupy Iraq indefinitely was a good idea, would they go along with it? Do they realize that there's a regime in charge that is just having its way with all the reins of power, doing just as they please, remaking US foreign and domestic policy in its own image, whether or not the people approve?

PS: This question is based on a review of two books on Bushist foreign policy, one by two Brookings Institution scholars and one by Noam Chomsky, in the NY Times today. The former book makes the case that the Bushists have altered FP something like the way Wilson did, which I took to mean in a way that will be very difficult to undo by future administrations. Although if the Bushists could do it in three years, why couldn't it be undone in that time with an equally forceful, and hopefully more rational tack in an opposite direction?

The review got me to thinking that the Bushists never asked permission to take FP in the direction they took it. PNAC makes clear it was their intention to take it that way; the Strausian bent of PNACers suggests strongly to me that they never intended to ask permission. So I am wondering what Americans would think if they knew what the Bushists were up to. I am suspecting they wouldn't be too thrilled.

[bigwoody]

1. Wait until chimpdick gives his plan for dumping a couple trillion on his

new space plans. Fuck the people in the streets, line the pockets of the defense industry.

[SoCalDem]

2. The "average" person couldn't give a shit..

As long as they have "falling prices" at Walmart, American Idol, Nascar, WWF,The National Enquirer, FoxNews, NFL,SUVs,The Bachelor,COPS, Survivor, Oprah, Dr Phil,Rush, Hannity,Dr Laura,Ollie North,Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham,Savage Weiner,and they are able to make their minimum credit card payments , rent/house payments & car payments every month, they are perfectly happy with the way things are..

We are a "kick-butt" nation and the bloodlust is everywhere.. We are easliy fooled, and the fact that the "debt" will be deferred, is not a worry to the "I-got-mine-so-screw-you crowd".. They are convinced that THEY will end up rich and therefore "their" family will be fine..

"They" will never be old and poor, so who gives a crap?? Not them..By the time the reality sets in, Bush will be long gone, and they will be blaming it on the most recent Democrat in office..

They don't even mind that their "gang" is not that worried about their air quality, water safety, or their surrounding environment, so why would they even bother with a care about some "brown people who talk funny" a half a world away..

Remember.. they will be getting "free gas" for the Hummer.. Their boy Bush as much as told them that ..

[VOX]

3. Good analysis, SCD. Sad, but so very true...

The "me-firsts" actually have allowed themselves to believe that capturing Saddamn makes us "the winners."

As for their tax dollars, what gets them ticked off is the idea that they might go to pay for "social programs," as in "why don't those bums just get jobs," and other gems of compassionate conservatism.

[BurtWorm]

7. Freepers are not Americans.

By which I mean they are not identical to Americans. It seems to me you make the same mistake they make in that respect. If what you are saying is true, then Bush would still be off-the-charts popular. But the Iraq war is actually nagging at them. Americans are being killed. There is no exit strategy. The $87.5 billion figure that pissed people off in September is just a chip off the iceberg.

[SoCalDem]

8. I am sad to say this, but I actually have friends who fit the description

they ARE liberal locally, but they know NOTHING about politics, and they don;t care.. I do fill them in on as much as I can, but they are still more concerned with what's on tv or what's on sale.. It's gonna take a brutal wake up call..

People (as a whole) do not get the connection between their lives and government.. They see government as "the place where their taxes go", and that's about it.. Every 4 years they may (or may not) go vote, but they only start paying attention during the few weeks before the election..

WE are the oddity.. and that's why it's so damned frustrating :(

[BurtWorm]

9. Yeah, I agree. We're odd.

;) Still. I don't believe most Americans are blood-thirsty, the way freepers are. I believe most Americans can't be bothered, which is an issue in its own right. And another reason to be frustrated.

[dpibel]

4. Repeat after me:

"We are wisely investing a small amount of money in a bold and welcomed liberation."

Say it.

Say you love Big Brother.

Don't make me get out the rats.

[caledesi]

5. So what is new? Red-ink Republicans....look at their sorry record.

[BurtWorm]

6. kick

[Scott Lee]

10. Americans are an amazingly indifferent people

Some years ago, a Civil rights advocacy group (can't recall their name right now) did an experiment on American awareness of their constitutional rights. They typed up the Bill of Rights on standard white offie stationery, on an old typewriter so as to make it less recognizable from the usual swirly pen on parchment. It was presented to shoppers at a local mall, where they were asked to sign it if they agreed with it.

The results were astounding. More than half of them didn't recognize the document they were looking at. Almost two thirds refused to sign it, as it "sounded too communist".

So as to your question regarding how Americans view the truth about the Iraq war....need you any more information? We have truly got to be one of the most civilly and culturally ignorant groups on the planet. And the real shame of it is, we have no excuse.

[DinahMoeHum]

11. Syndicated columnist Charley Reese certainly isn't too thrilled. . .

Link:
http://www.antiwar.com/reese/reese11.html

(snip)
In 1945, the United States was the strongest and richest country on Earth. In 2003, we are one of, if not the, most indebted countries on Earth. Foreign holders of that debt could wreck our economy simply by deciding to dump their holdings on the market. Domestically we are a divided people with a decadent culture, if you can even call it a culture.

Far from entering a period of dominance, we are entering a period of great danger. Most empires have lasted about 250 years, and we are approaching that number. What we need are not empty heads controlled by pseudo-intellectual ideologues but the smartest, wisest leaders we can find. Our future depends on it.
(snip)

:evilfrown: