Stop Beating on Bush!

Whoa! You did not expect this title from a liberal blogger, did ya?

Everyone is beating on Bush. Everyone is targeting the anger at Bush. I understand the emotion - I feel the same. But, I think this is misplaced - even counter-productive as it takes our gaze off the ball. Why?

Bush is a lame duck. Not just in the normal sense of the term "lame duck President" - someone who can do whatever he wants because he does not face re-election. No, Bush is a lame duck WITHIN the Republican Party. And it is the Republican Party that DOES face re-election.

Yes, Bush is a heartless, brainless sociopath. But that is besides the point. He is, most importantly, a TOOL, in every dictionary sense of the word. He was picked by the ruling GOP mafia specifically because he is stupid. He is easy to manipulate. He is a mannequin, a string-puppet. He does not matter in the grand vision of the neocon criminal leadership.

The GOP mafia will milk Bush, as a symbol and an image, as long as there are enough people on the ground idolizing Bush-the-person. Sooner or later, Bush's PERSONAL approval ratings will hit rock-bottom and the creeps will get rid of him - put the tool back in the tool-shed.

The process has started last week when Rove and Cheney deliberately let Bush look like an idiot. They want Bush to go down, but the party to remain unscathed.

Rove will save his own (and Cheney's) skin at the Plame hearings by implicating Bush and ONLY Bush. Bush will step down or get impeached.

Cheney will step up and take the Presidency with a new atmosphere. He'll be sold as a no-nonsense, experienced, take-charge kind of person (already dubbed so yesterday by drooling Chris Matthews on Hardball).

Come 2008 Cheney runs as an incumbent, with no opposition from the moderates, and even without any GOP primaries that may deepen and expose the faultlines within the party. The victory for the money-grabbing elites will be complete. Martial law. Destruction of the Democratic party, Constitution, freedom of the press, and everything else.

Instead of screaming at Bush, we need to point out what Katrina really means - the exposure of the complete debacle and bancrupcy of the conservative ideology. We need to draw a big straight bold line (so everyone can understand) between the dangerous Nordquistian small-government-drowned-in-a-tub ideology and what happened in New Orleans last week.

We need to expose the fact that conservative ideology is based on greed - moving the money from security (and everything else that may be useful) into the pockets of the Republican buddies.

We need to expose the fact that conservative ideology is based on racism, sexism, femiphobia, homophobia, xenophobia and militant nationalism - fomenting fear and excusing despicable actions by invoking fear.

We need to expose the fact that conservative ideology is based on denial of reality - listening to experts and paying attention to empirical data could have saved thousands of inhabitants of NOLA and surrounding areas (and Iraqis, too).

We need to expose that the fact conservative ideology is based on disdain for everyone who is not on the Republican bandwagon, especially liberals, poor, blacks, gays, women and foreigners.

Instead of the shrill, and counterproductive slogan "Impeach Bush" (that's what they want, after all), we need to cut to the heart of it. Deep inside one very long post by Steve Gilliard, I saw this gem the other day, a succint summary of what is going on. I responded to it emotionally. Do you think it can be effective with others?

Tax Cuts Kill!