Bush Comes to Muskegon (Sorta)


President George W. Bush was in Muskegon Monday. Well, sorta...

President Bush appeared in an airplane hangar at Muskegon County Airport under tight security before 2,000 of his closest (invited & Republican) friends for a 'healthcare forum'. In contrast, when Al Gore made his campaign stop here in 2000, he appeared downtown, in public, before about 30,000 of his friends.

What concerns me about the President's message is this: he's running for reelection on his promises for the future. Isn't he an incumbent?

Obviously (to me anyway) he's running on promises because he doesn't have anything positive to show for the last four years. The President and the Republicans have controlled of the House, the Senate, the Executive and the Judiciary. What have they done with this unprecedented opportunity of governance? Most of their time was used trying to consolidate their power even further. Endless proposed amendments to the Constitution to further their moral agenda (to maintain support of Evangelical Christians) while the economy stagnated and the lives of over a thousand young, loyal soldiers were wasted fighting the wrong 'bad guy'.

The tragedy of 9/11 gave us the nearly unanimous support and sympathy of the entire world. Rather than seizing this chance for unity of purpose, the President instead pointed to Iraq, wrongly associating Saddam Hussein with the perpetrators of the attacks on the twin towers. Further allegations followed: Saddam has weapons of mass destruction. Saddam tried to obtain Uranium from Niger. Saddam has ICBM capability to strike the U.S. All these and many more proved to be lies.

It seems that all these lies were just one big lie: justification for taking out Saddam Hussein, for finishing what George Herbert Walker Bush did not. It was Hitler afterall, who said in Mein Kampf that if you're going to tell a lie for propaganda purposes, tell a really big one. No one will believe you could be that brazen. It seems it still works.

Perpetrating these lies ruined our already spotty reputation with the rest of the world. The carnage inflicted on innocent civilians in Iraq has made terrorist recruitment all too easy. The Bush administration has done nothing but line its' pockets and the pockets of its' closest friends (campaign donors). The world is less safe, less stable and more polluted since 2000.

And yet, 2,000 Muskegon area Republicans came out to support this man. It seems these people have forgotten that actions speak louder than words.

The words spewed by the Neo-conservatives, which alienate even many conservative Republicans, are as loud now as they have ever been. With no record to run on, they've taken to smearing John Kerry's military service in Vietnam. This is doubly ironic, since nearly all of these Neo-cons did whatever was necessary to avoid service in Vietnam, including President Bush.

How can anyone be proud of our President and what he represents? Not what he says he represents, but what he truly represents: a recovering alcoholic and former drug abuser, a draft dodger, a self interested tool of the most reactionary elements of the Republican Party, a liar.

My respect for the office of the President is unwavering. My support for the troops is steadfast. My belief in my country is profound and unshakeable. The leadership however, is corrupt, and it must change.

Posted: Mon - September 13, 2004 at 10:54 PM          

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