the war on dissent

[theknife]

drowning in a flood of bad polls, the Prez is in the midst of a pr offensive (who said this adminstration doesn't watch the polls?). a new poll by the American Research Group has Bush's approval rating at just 36% - actually lower than Nixon's (39%) at the depth of the Watergate scandal. apparently demonizing the majority of the American public is part of the White House strategy:

Meeting briefly with reporters Monday aboard Air Force One, Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman subbing for Scott McClellan, said that President Bush believes that those who want the U.S. to begin to change course in Iraq do not want America to win the overall "war on terror."

this is obviously nonsense, but it is the kind of nonsense one might expect from the last throes of a failed presidency. depending which poll you look at, the majority of the public think the war was a mistake that has made the country less safer and only 38% approve of the way Bush is handling the war in Iraq. so the inference from the bunker-mentality tone of the administration's spin is clear: if you're not with Bush, you're against America. it's the old Joe McCarthy cheapshot - obviously, they're desperate, but will insulting the patriotism of the majority of the American public score any points?

at any rate, if the public is dissatisfied with the war, wait till they see the bill:

if the American military presence in the region lasts another five years, the total outlay for the war could stretch to more than $1.3 trillion, or $11,300 for every household in the United States.

what a deal - over a trillion dollars, thousands of American casualties, tens of thousands of iraqi casualties - all will be spent to install an Islamic government in Iraq. so that's what they all got killed for.

[albed]

I wouldn't even call it a war on dissent. Where are the dissenting ideas?


All you hear is bitching and wailing about whatever the administration is doing, never any viable alternatives.


Maybe a 'war on baseless knee-jerk opposition to the US' is a more appropriate term.

[Mazer]

"the total outlay for the war could stretch to more than $1.3 trillion, or $11,300 for every household in the United States."

Luckily, 95% of that bill will be paid by the richest 5% of Americans. So much for tax cuts for the rich, eh?

[theknife]

Originally Posted by Mazer

"the total outlay for the war could stretch to more than $1.3 trillion, or $11,300 for every household in the United States."

Luckily, 95% of that bill will be paid by the richest 5% of Americans. So much for tax cuts for the rich, eh?

i wish - how do you figure?

[Mazer]

'Cause when everyone gets the same tax cut it's the rich that always get the biggest cut, right? At least that's what I keep hearing. I don't know what the actual numbers are, but I bet I'm close. Anyway, over seven years, $11,300 comes to $1,614.29 annually, cheaper than the price of a plasma TV. Some families actually pay less than half that, while others pay more than twice that number. It's really not that big a deal in my opinion. We're one of the richest nations on Earth, I think we'll be able to bear the monetary costs of this war.

[theknife]

Originally Posted by Mazer

'Cause when everyone gets the same tax cut it's the rich that always get the biggest cut, right? At least that's what I keep hearing. I don't know what the actual numbers are, but I bet I'm close. Anyway, over seven years, $11,300 comes to $1,614.29 annually, cheaper than the price of a plasma TV. Some families actually pay less than half that, while others pay more than twice that number. It's really not that big a deal in my opinion. We're one of the richest nations on Earth, I think we'll be able to bear the monetary costs of this war.

uh, ok. can't quite follow your logic, but i don't doubt the rich will pay more towards this war than me, because they pay more tax than me. that the annual cost of this war might be cheaper than a plasma tv to the average household is a consolation that escapes me completely

but free association and the linkage of unrelated events seems to be your Dear Leader's modus operandi these days as well. in a week of pr events designed to prop up his slumping support, the Prez is trying to push every emotional hot button his speech writers can think of, regardless of relevance.

in a speech in to a vet's convention in Salt Lake, Bush mentioned 9/11 no less than 6 times in a 30 minute speech, well aware that there is absolutely zero connection between 9/11 and iraq. the inference that war support is slipping because we've all forgotten 9/11 is insulting to say the least - i know of no one who has fogotten 9/11, do you?

in another speech this week, Bush claimed the terrorrists "had converged on Iraq" and that pulling U.S. troops out would only embolden them. he neglects to point out the violence in Iraq is largely the result of the Sunni insurgency, directed at US troops, and in fact, very few of the people in US custody in Iraq had ever been involved in anything political prior to the US occupation.

the "converging terrorist" spin correlates the "fight them in Iraq so we do't have to fight them in the streets of the US" theory, which presumes that the average iraqi insurgent would have been on his way to New York a long time ago, had we not invaded Iraq.

but while the war on terror is as subjective as ever, the war on dissent is sharpening. the Prez picked up a strong ally in the bid to stifle and demonize war critics:

The American Legion, which has 2.7 million members, has declared war on antiwar protestors, and the media could be next. Speaking at its national convention in Honolulu, the group's national commander called for an end to all "public protests" and "media events" against the war, constitutional protections be damned

.
hmm...why don't we just cut to the chase and suspend the consitutional rights to free assembly, free speech, and freedom of the press?

edit: Rocky Anderson, Mayor of Salt Lake City, has got some cajones and he's not afraid to make a stand in the strongest Bush state in the country. at a demonstration outside the same vets convention where the Prez was speaking, he laid it down right:

"Patriotism," the mayor said, "demands that people speak out when we see our government officials acting in such anti-democratic and deceitful ways to the people of our country."
He also said: "I don't understand people simply blindly going along with the sort of deceit and utter cruelty of this administration. It's not just we have the right to speak out, but we have the obligation to speak out when we see misconduct on the part of the government. The most patriotic thing we can do is stand up against the misuse of governmental power."

exactly....questioning your leaders and speaking out is democracy in action. the people who want to stifle dissent are more concerned with protecting Bush than protecting America.