Posted by
flagwaver on Sunday, August 05, 2007 4:07:11 PM
I heard a
funny Bush joke at my family reunion this weekend, and I’ll share it with you
now. It goes like this: The Bush Cabinet is having a meeting when news comes in
that 10 Brazilian troops were injured in a military mishap. President Bush
immediately wants to let the Brazilian government know that the US is there to
help in any way possible. He asks Sec. Rice what the Brazilians need us to do, since
this is obviously a serious situation; Sec. Rice and VP Cheney try to assure
the President that it’s alright. After all, there were only 10 Brazilian troops
injured in the mishap! The President continues to insist that we offer all
available help to Brazil in this time of great need; after repeated attempts to
calm the President down he finally turns to VP Cheney and says, “This is just
tragic---and how many million are in a
Brazilian?”
I thought it
was pretty funny, and the thing about it was these were not people that are
rabid Bush haters telling and laughing at the joke. They were my brothers, and
me, all of whom had voted for Bush in his electoral victories. I suppose that
it is the same feeling that many conservatives have with Bush---a feeling of ambivalence.
George W.
Bush is a real head scratcher for me. I supported him in two elections, and
have found much to be happy with him about. But at he same time, he has done
some things that have had me scream for his head on a plate.
I
enthusiastically supported his efforts to get tax cuts passed, as they were
long overdue. He realized that the way to stimulate the economy was to put
money into the hands of the people, not pick their pockets for every dime that
you can get your hands on. But then, he pushes for a Medicare prescription drug
entitlement that even the AARP didn’t want. And you know that you are doing
something wrong when the AARP isn’t supporting your plans to rob the young to
give to the aged!
I supported
then, and support now, the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from the scene in
Iraq. There was ample evidence that Hussein was trying to reconstitute his WMD
programs, and that he was actively seeking nuclear material (uranium) from
Africa. And if that was not reason enough, he had been firing on allied airmen
the skies of Iraq almost from the moment the cease fire for Desert Storm went
into effect. He had thumbed his nose at us, the UN, and the cease fire that he
signed, giving us ample reason to get rid of him. But the same George W. Bush
that launched that attack, and was so resolute in avenging 9/11 is utterly
blind to the fact that 9/11 happened because of lax border security and
immigration enforcement; so he actively champions the biggest amnesty for
illegal aliens in the history of mankind.
I understood
and supported his commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence on the trumped
up process crime created by Patrick Fitzgerald. And I understood the reasoning
behind not granting a pardon, on the grounds that the appeals process may still
clear Libby of the charges. But this same President has seen fit to let two
Border Patrol agents languish in jail for shooting a drug running illegal alien
who refused to stop when they ordered him to. These agents put their lives on
the line every day to defend the borders of this nation against incursions, yet
they are allowed to be railroaded into prison for a non-cover up, on the word
of a drug smuggler while the President studiously avoids intervention.
It is these
types of dichotomies that have worn down support for President Bush among even
his most loyal backers. It is hard to give support to someone that seems to be
pursuing two agendas at once: on the one hand a stickler for national security,
on the other an open borders advocate of the highest magnitude.
I suppose the
only way to characterize the President is schizophrenic, and you can color me
confused!