One Just For Me

The World Series is shaping up into a great series. Anthony Reyes was spectacular in Game One. Jeff Weaver was good in Game Two; Kenny Rogers was just better. Game Three will probably dictate the direction for the rest of the series.
Now, with that out of the way...
We are now a couple of weeks from Election Day. We will hold a referendum on the governance of George W. Bush and his Congress. I will gladly own my bias. I find George W. Bush to be the most reprehensible national figure of my lifetime. Understand the obvious: that includes Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, George Wallace, Robert McNamara, James Watt, Edwin Meese, John Ashcroft and the Dick Cheney. OK, just barely more reprehensible than Ashcroft and Cheney.
In all likelihood, George W. Bush has never been elected President of the United States. If not for Kathryn Harris and the Brother-in-Chief in Florida in 2000, and Kenneth Blackwell in Ohio in 2004, we might have been spared this travesty that refuses to end. And yet, as deluded as O. J. Simpson, Mr. Bush has claimed for himself a mandate that has never existed by any known definition of the word.
Bill Clinton left office on January 21, 2001. I would not want to leave my wife or my daughters alone with Mr. Clinton. He certainly has his personal failings. But as he completed the Presidency to which he was indisputably elected, the United States of America was at our strongest point since the end of World War II. We had a record surplus, an economy that had seen its longest period of sustained growth in our history, crime rates that had dropped for each year of Mr. Clinton's administration, abortion rates that were lower than at any time since Rowe v. Wade was decided, and a renewed position of prestige and respect in most parts of the world. Compare that to where we are now.
Mr. Bush has been a disaster of unprecedented proportions for our nation and the world. We are more deeply in debt than ever before, and still Mr. Bush is the first President in our history to cut taxes while adding war spending to the budget. Like the Bush tax cuts, the economy has been spectacular for his Pioneers; tough for many of the rest of us; brutal for those at the bottom. In spite of his having been in office for eight months by the time September 11, 2001 arrived, he has consistently blamed the horrible events of that day on the Clinton Administration. This, in spite of his band of incompetents, led by then-National Security Advisor Dr. Rice, who acknowledged to the 9-11 Commission having received a CIA briefing entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States" which she never discussed with the President.
After September 11, Mr. Bush attacked Afghanistan with as close to universal support as any President will ever have on any issue. But he was already looking for a pretext to invade Iraq. He arrived in office with a determination to attack and remove Saddam Hussein. Bin Laden's attacks became the cover he had so desperately been seeking. And in claiming the fantasy linkage between Bin Laden and Hussein, and continuing to promulgate that idea after it had been shown to be a complete and total fabrication, Mr. Bush played more into Bin Laden's hands than if our War President had offered to fund the next Al Qaeda operation. The ongoing debacle in Iraq has accomplished nothing except to kill more Americans than died on September 11, 2001, and enough Iraqis-most of them who hated Saddam Hussein and had suffered under his rule-to ensure that my grandchildren and their grandchildren will have to worry about terrorist attacks throughout their lives.
The great Christians at the helm of our country knew how to deal with their enemies within, as well. Mr. Bush's underlings exposed a CIA operative who happened to be married to an honest man. When Joe Wilson refused to march in lock-step on the created out of whole cloth effort of Saddam to buy nuclear materials in Africa, they tried to get his wife, Valerie Plame, killed. They have called anyone who disagrees with them unpatriotic. They have told the world, "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists." Dennis Hastert actually blamed Bill Clinton for his problems that arose from protecting the would-be pedophile, Mark Foley. Mr. Speaker, can't you come up with anything more original? This kind of revenge seeking, name calling and hyperbolic tough-guy language is very familiar. It comes directly from the cowboy stories and movies that most American men grew up on. It has no place in grown up life. It is childish. It is foolhardy. It is what is meant by the old Texas phrase, "All hat and no cattle." And it demonstrates no knowledge of, or commitment to, Jesus Christ.
When we allow the occupation of the Oval Office by a person who claims that God chose him to be President at this crucial time to deal with these great issues, we get what we deserve. This administration has made gay marriage an issue, while they have prevented the photographing of the flag-draped coffins of our dead children coming home from the only war that we have ever started. They have wrecked our nation at every point available to them, and they believe that they have done it in the name of God. They are, indeed, the American equivalent of the Taliban.
Now, they warn the public that if the Democrats come to control the Congress, Bin Laden will be invited to parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. They cannot run on their record, and they know it. So they trot out the only option available to them: they try to scare us all over again. The terrorism alert level will certainly be raised before Election Day. Another attack will miraculously be prevented at the last second. The fears of Americans will continue to be manipulated, strictly for political gain. As will the gas prices, which will continue to fall until we have voted.
Mr. Bush was once asked at a Press Conference if he had made any mistakes as President. He could not think of a single one. Sir, you just haven't been paying attention. His entire presidency has been a mistake. And if we choose to continue to supply him with the lapdog Congress that he has enjoyed for six years, then, again, we get what we deserve!