Much sound and fury — signifying nothing.

The HST quote reminded me of another quote he did about Nixon that could very well apply to Bush…

“Richard Nixon has never been one of my favorite people anyway. For years I’ve regarded his existence as a monument to all the rancid genes and broken chromosones that corrupt the possibilities of the American Dream; he was a foul caricature of himself, a man with no soul, no inner convictions, with the integrity of a hyena and the style of a poison toad. The Nixon I remembered was absolutely humorless; I couldn’t imagine him laughing at anything except maybe a paraplegic who wanted to vote Democratic but couldn’t quite reach the lever on the voting machine.”

Actually we need more John Cusacks speaking out. I don’t really think you can call that inaction. What really counts are votes. You cannot change a vote until you change a mind. Changing a mind requires information. Something to think about. To base opinions on. I say the more, the merrier. That’s how I came out of the Republican Conservative closet and into the light of independent thinking. It took a lot of reading and discussing to get me to see the truth.

oops. it was supposed to say “greetings from idiot america”. guess i can add myself to that list…

blurb, I’m sure you just gave those sites a cursory glance. Again, you won’t find outright attacks, except in Andrew Sullivan’s case against the administration’s stance on torture and gay rights or Bill Buckley’s stance on the Plame affair, but you must remember, they are on essentially the same team/coalition as the president. Even if you don’t like your captain, you still want your team to win. The Dems act in the same manner. I may not like a big spending president, but I sure as hell would rather have a big spending president than a big spending, tax raising president. It’s all about the pocket book. No other issue affects me as directly as the hit to the wallet.

I’m not going to do your research for you. I suggest you include those links as favorites and visit them regularly. You’ll find the dissatisfaction that I mentioned on many issues (torture, fiscal policy, religion, individual rights, etc).See the below paragraph as for the motivation to do so.

Also, I’m not sure understanding is necessary. I visit Kos and the like, not to understand and empathize, but to understand how I can use that knowledge to help my side win (as well as for shits and giggles). The fundamental beliefs between the right (old school right, not religious right right) and left are too wide to bridge.

Has anyone seen the Google thing? Go to google, search the word “failure”, see what comes up. Those the peeps at Google.

Marcus — a lot of things I have read here in the blog and comments and in various other blogs and comments have caused me to change my mind about a log of things. If anything, they have allowed me to read more about things I might have never known, click on links that in turn link to other links and on and on. The more information I have the better I can form my opinion of what matters to me and what I feel strongly about.

I like reading the back and forth arguments because it gives me the chance to really reflect on “who do I think is right?”, “what opinion do I agree with?”, “if I agree with this side or that side, what does that now mean for how I am going to now act or eventually vote?”

I would hope that smart and passionate people expressing or debating dissenting opinions about government in our democratic society is considered as more then just “a bunch of kids whining”.

This is so exhausting. It doesn’t matter who is in power, the other side screams at the top of their lungs about how the ‘end of days’ are near and the country is going to hell. Torture by the United States did not start with this administration and sadly, it won’t end with this one. The problem is there are only two parties and the number one concern is self-preservation. Nothing else. The left doesn’t give a shit about any of us … neither does the right. They don’t have to. Until a third party truly emerges that can dismiss the shrill extremes, that are only battling for power and control, and get the country and its leaders to focus on real problems will things get better.

Until then, we’re no worse off for having one over the other. If you don’t agree with that, then you’re too partisan to think pragmatically.

LL, not sure if you saw blurb’s notice, but this is a no talking point zone.

Not whining, just talking.

I think the numbers speak differently to different people. Right now, this administration’s numbers are in the toilet, and trust is low. My point in this blurb is to point out a historical comparison.

I’m not going to touch Hannity. You might want to look at this link:
http://​clinton5​.nara​.gov/​W​H​/​A​c​c​o​m​p​l​i​s​h​m​e​n​t​s​/​e​i​g​h​t​y​e​a​r​s​-​0​3.html

I don’t think this administration can post those kind of numbers. The tax cut and spend conservatives have destroyed the financial gains made under Clinton. They could have been responsible, but chose not to be. People are upset about the FACT that the U.S. is BORROWING MONEY from other countries to fund its debt. I’m not comfortable with this, are you, Marcus?

Bush ran in 2000 promising to “restore dignity” to the White House. I’d hardly call the investigations and their larger implications dignifying. When you have experts leaving the government because their expertise doesn’t fit what Bush thinks Jesus wants, that’s a horrible thing.

BTW, thanks for that Esquire link. Fantastic piece.

Eddie, I don’t think I’d feel a need to scream so loudly if Bush weren’t doing so many things wrongly. He needs to lose the triumvirate of evil (Rove, Cheney and Rumsfeld).

We’ll see if the media semi-scrutiny keeps up for the next few months. If it does, new blood will be needed to move forward. Otherwise it will be a messy three years. I don’t think Bush has the fortitude to fire these guys and it may be his undoing.

Still going for non-salient.

Correct me if I’m wrong but hasn’t this country (and other countries) always borrowed money from each other?

If so many people are…unhappy…with The President and his administration then why hasn’t an armed uprising (i.e. a revolution) started?

One more thing, most politicians (regardless of their political/party affiliation) don’t have the balls to do much of anything but talk.

“What say you?“
– Bill O’Reilly

p.s.,
Jon, despite a few differences of opinion, I do like your blog and Heather’s. Hell, I wish I could write as well. Well, sometimes.…

I come back to my original statement which was something along the lines of “is there such a thing as a good administration?” My answer is no. I believe it is not possible for an administration to do everything right for everyone.

Scott: I mentioned “people like me” having to suck it up during Clintons years. I am flattered that you label me as “the republicans” — I would hope that a literary person would be able to distinguish such a difference in writing.

Jon — I know you are passionate about your writing and your “little corner of the internet” and that you can quote wikipedia better than anyone else… But what are you doing to change things?

Are you still standing by your statement the Bush’s adminstration is “Stalinistic”? Did you do any reading on the subject other than your wikipedia? You might try the history section of the library…

I guess that we can all sit here and type and type… my question comes down to one point — have any of you done anthing to change things? I know that you probably voted and read what other folks have to say… But have YOU done anthing?

I am guessing not.

Hence — sit down, shut up, vote your conscience and pay your taxes — just like everyone else. When you can tell me that you have done someting that makes a difference — then I will listen. Otherwise you are just pissing and moaning and pathetic.