George and Dick. The two traitors. Two, thoroughly corrupt frauds, will leave office with their legacies intact. History may not treat them kindly, but it won’t condemn them as the criminals they are either. Not unless they’re impeached. These two assholes will leave behind a nation mired in debt with an economy teetering on the edge of collapse. But that’s not their problem. After all, they’ve looked after themselves quite well while in office. The children’s children of the morons who voted for this pair will be paying for generations to come for all the fun and loot that George and Dick will make off with and enjoy for the rest of their shallow, narrow lives. The poor bastards that have to clean up behind them will be seen as incompetent failures when it’s recognized that some of the damage is lasting - that it can’t all be cleaned up - that the soul of the nation has been stained permanently by a pair of greedy, Benedict Arnolds.

But, hey! What is holding office all about? You didn’t think it was about spreading good will and glad tidings did you? About leaving the nation a better place than it was? Gimme a break. All those red state folk who loved the way George talked -“Why! He’s one of us!” They’d exult. Maybe Santa and the Tooth Fairy fly with pigs too. George and Dick can’t help it if the hics and sod-busters are so naïve and stupid they didn’t know they’d get it broke off in their collective assholes as George and Dick walked away grinning. Can’t you hear them? The jokes on you, pal. We got ours. Vote republican -again. And pathetically, they will.

I’m always amazed when I read somewhere that Bush Jr. is concerned with his legacy - that the end of his last term is fast approaching, and he’s worried about how history will define him. Jim Lobe, of the International Press Service recently wrote that Bush is “still hoping that 2008 may yet deliver his presidency from the fate of being judged as one of the very worst — if not the worst — in history.” George can’t see his legacy in any other context than how much he’s banked. Look George. Don’t ya wanna be remembered as a good guy? A good prez? It’s not hard to imagine George reacting with a blank look. But his Legacy? I’m damn sure gonna walk away from here with some serious cash! This is what determines George’s presidency, just as gravity determines the orbit of a mass around a star. Hotdamn! I’m in the money! This is the only legacy that George Bush can ever have. Anything else is fluff for the history books.

The Bush intellect, the self perception of things Bush, can’t care about the historical record. In Bush world, external reality exists only because he exists. History will fall into place because that’s histories burden. Without Bush’s conscious presence in the world, there would be no world, no history. Bush is a quintessential narcissist. He can never be wrong because that would mean a re-examination of his perceptions - all the lame brained, but always self serving moves he’s made over a lifetime. A classic narcissist, he doesn’t recognize the pain his ruinous presidency has inflicted on the nation, and the world. George can’t see anything wrong with the choices he’s made because the George Bush he knows and loves must be right. How else could the planet spin on its axis and orbit the sun? It’s just that others don’t understand. After all, he’s George Bush, and he’s got the perfect answer for anyone who questions his decisions. George explains, "I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president."

It’s trite and blasé to use the term “brainwashed,” but everywhere on the net there are thoughtful essays and articles that try to account for the millions of Americans who think of themselves as conservative republicans who supported Bush. Many still support him. It’s useful to imagine a man who is slamming his head between two trash can lids. Someone asks, Why are you doing that? He replies, Because it feels so good when I stop. But that begs the question; when will this nightmarish, national infatuation with things regressive and conservative ever end? Just how low do the American people have to sink before they throw themselves a life-ring? Many progressively liberal people can’t understand what motivates otherwise decent people to subscribe to a political philosophy that openly admits, even boasts, of its proud, regressive, and counter intuitive character. Bush, ignorant and unaware of the world around him, only capable of seeing his high office as a leverage for personal gain, is only the logical outcome of that philosophy.

Over 6 million people in 600 cities across the globe protested against the U.S. attack on Iraq. Bush said the protesters are lucky to live in countries where, “People are free to say anything.” Free to say anything? "The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th." Gosh George! A Freudian slip? Today, the clumsy, extravagant lies that Bush used to justify his attack are being applied to Iran. Incredibly, Bush has found an audience willing to listen to his recycled garbage. One of his most reliable audiences has been the Christian Right. The incongruity of balancing God’s Divine Love with murder escapes them, so bombs away. Bush says, "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." How nice that Christians don’t concern themselves with little nuances. Unfortunately, the clownish assortment of dangerous bunglers that comprise the Bush Administration have still got a year left to inflict more pain. Hopefully, enough of the nation’s soul will survive to keep it recognizable as the nation so many knew and loved.

"Don't it always seem to go? That you don't know what you've got till it's gone?” Joni Mitchell

A nation is like an individual human being. It has its own unique character. It sees itself as the cause and circumstances that defined it. It’s learned from it’s mistakes and grown from them. It’s proud of its maturing identity, and doesn’t seek to change its values, its time honored and established institutions, or the way it considers others, whether they be its own citizens, or nations apart. Bush has hastened changes in the nation that have been demonstratively harmful. The terrible crimes committed in Florida during election 2000 blackened the character of the United States. Goon squads were sent to disrupt the vote count, the most vital function of a free people. The nation’s highest court disgraced itself, and afterwards, the leaders it appointed to high office behaved as if they’d won a mandate, and not lost an election by vote of the popular majority. These things portended worse to come and indeed it has. War, born of deceit, civil rights and Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms abridged, the torture of human beings, the rules of war discarded, an enormous shift away from comparative wealth, corporate malfeance on a scale never before seen and much, much more. All of it quite apart from the character of a nation once known the world over. These imposters - these frauds - don’t mean well.

“See the wise and wicked ones who feed upon life’s sacred fire.” Gordon Lightfoot

The legacy that Bush made for himself should be crowned with his impeachment, but of course Nancy Pelosi doesn’t think impeaching Bush or Cheney will serve her interests. She walks softly and carries no stick. Pelosi is just another millionaire Congressional member who looks after her interests first. Her Constitutional obligation as Speaker demands that she initiate impeachment proceedings against the pair of assholes befouling the People’s House, but as she often says, “impeachment is off the table.” Tim King, of The Salem News writes, “There is credible evidence that the Vice President abused the power of his office, and not only brought us into an unnecessary war but violated the civil liberties and privacy of American citizens. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to hold impeachment hearings” Mr. King continues with this sad, and so oft repeated, observation, “House leaders and the leading Democratic presidential candidates don’t support impeachment.”

Dennis Knucinich is lobbing hand grenades Cheney’s way, and Mr. Knucinich’s support is growing. Hopefully, he will help Bush and Cheney find their proper places in the historical record. Mr. King, encapsulating what everyone in Congress already knows writes, “The charges against Vice President Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens.” It’s not possible to disgrace people like Cheney and Bush. They know who they are. But it is possible to keep such people from disgracing others, namely, Americans.

Bush is looking forward to going on the speechifying, or lecture circuit. He’s been crowing about “the ridiculous” amount of money he can make. Says Bush, it‘s time to “replenish the ol’ coffers,” and he adds, "I don’t know what my dad gets. But it’s more than fifty, seventy-five' thousand dollars a speech." Isn’t that nice? The son, nonetheless, is going to be rewarded for the horror he’s visited upon the nation. What must an audience of Bush devotees, willing to pay large sums of money to hear George’s wisdom, be like? Look like? It’s enough to make ya cringe. A million dead in Iraq, including over 4,000 U.S. military personnel won’t get to hear George’s take on things presidential. Turns out being dead has at least one advantage. But George and Dick will happily count their wealth and high five with all their pals who helped them sack the Treasury and otherwise drag a great nation down into darkness.

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