The Hypocritical State of the Union
January 31st, 2006The president talks about hope and liberty and freedom and how great the U.S. without a hint of irony that the very things that he champions abroad isn’t a what he’s championing in the U.S.
He just mentioned a “free and democratic Iran”. Then, a few paragraphs later, wants Congress to extend the Patriot Act… which erodes the civil liberties he touts us building overseas.
Terror. 9/11. Liberty. Freedom. Al Qaeda. I think he just winked at Rove. Anybody remember special prosecutor Fitzgerald?
“…we need the support of our allies…” Except when invading other countries.
“Act responsibly and make the tax cuts permanent.” Yay! Tax cut and spend! That’s responsibility I think we can all agree is awesome! Massive deficits RULE!
“Human life is sacred…” Except if you’re a prisoner in Iraq. Or any religion but that of the President.
“Americans are addicted to oil.” Secret psychic message: Thank Jesus for that! And my buddies in Texas couldn’t be happier. Or have better profit margins.
Best moment: When he said that Congress “failed” to pass his Social Security Reform and all the Dems cheered and stood and the Republicans sat, glum and stone faced. Great moment. o
Tags: politics
I agree with all of the above, djB.
Here are some links to inject a little mirth. Maybe everyone’s seen these already and I’m slow on the draw, but they sure are brilliant little pieces of satire. As with all humour, the efficacy comes from the subject being quite dark and painful.
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002648.html
http://tinyurl.com/bq5ls
We just elected a Conservative PM up here in Canada (who stated he would have sent our troops into Iraq if he’d been in power) but I’m hoping the minority government will mean that they are kept well in check from slipping too far right by the Liberals and NDP.
Well, that’s Bush for ya. I’m from Canada and we recently had an election, and Stephen Harper won. We fondly call him the Canadian George Bush. I think we, as a nation, jinxed ourselves whenever we laughed at the stupid things Bush said on television. Now we have our very own monster.
I sat through that entire farce with a stomach ache. All his talk about the parties setting aside their differences was a joke. You could see in his eyes that he has no intention of doing that. With him, it’s his way or no way.
This country is going down the tubes fast, and if those in power don’t learn the art of compromise, we’ll not only be the laughing stock of the world, we’ll have no power what so ever.
Politics is always something that divides. It always will be, too. However, I feel the past 6 or so years have been a progressive step towards an awakening for many people.
The United States is not a good nation. We are a bullying, selfish, ignorant people, and it has begun to show. We’re the annoying rich kid who rubs it in the faces of their classmates. With a PR nightmare as bad as Bush, it is getting too hard for all the lies, misleadings and negative propoganda to get covered up.
I watched a total of maybe 45 seconds of the state of the union. Then I turned it off. I’m tired of being blatantly lied to. It’s not worth my time to sit and listen to a man for whom I have no respect. Kudos to you for enduring the gauntlet.
I really think that George Bush could stand up there, strangle a puppy and eat it in front of everyone, talk about how great it is to eat puppies- that it’s a basic right from our creator, and the Republicans would still clap and cheer him on. Probably throw him more puppies.
roving_prole:
and I’d have to add that if you questioned the wisdom of eating puppies… well then obviously you are not a true American.
Simply put:
State of the Union = FUCKED
One of my coworkers decided to see how many shots she would have to take if she took one for each time he said “terror,” “terrorism,” “9/11,” and “America.” It’s a good thing she wasn’t actually TAKING those shots, as her count was somewhere around 96.
One of the beautiful things about living abroad is that I get to miss Georgie’s little speeches to the nation. Like Vegas Vixen, I would have sat there with my stomach doing flips. However, I would have loved to have seen the Democrats standing-o re: Social Security reform.
Please tell us that George D. Bush is now your whore to end all whores. “A culture of anger in Washington”???? Gee, could his wholesale disregard fro the rule of law, the Constitution, and your entire political structure possibly have something to do with that? The man’s got some cojones on him, I’ll give him that.
I’ve lost count of how many times he said “enemy” or “enemies.” Apparently America has a lot of them.
My favorite part was when he was defending his domestic spying, proclaiming that if “…people in America are talking to Al-Quaeda, then we want to know about it!”
The Republicans stood and cheered, the Democrats sat, and then they showed Hillary Clinton, sitting of course, shaking her head and laughing.
What a farce. It’s apalling.
What was with his comments on the decline of teen pregnancy, abortion and violent crime??!
” These gains are evidence of a quiet transformation — a revolution of conscience, in which a rising generation is finding that a life of personal responsibility is a life of fulfillment. ”
Uh…he said “personal responsibility”…huh huh, huh huh…
Blurb, I agree with all your comments . . .
Yesterday I was listening to a radio show and they were talking about what Bush would address in the SotU speech and the guest speaker (don’t know his name) said, “Asking George Bush to tackle dependence on fossil fuels is like asking Jack Abramoff to tackle corruption.”
Real-time blogging? Love it.
And thanks for the eating-puppies comments. It’s funny because it’s true.
I’m starting to learn how to interpret Bush-Speak:
Wordism: The act of adding “ism” to the end of any noun by which to create one’s own word and try to improve your appearance of being “smart.”
Weapons of Mass Murder: The fear factor formerly known as Weapons of Mass Destruction. When used in large doses, this can induce vomiting among the intelligent.
“Another terrorist attack”: another fear tactic used to allow for your vices like illegal spying (aka: anti-terror network) and the reduction of normal civil liberties.
“funding for further research in alternative energy”: Using only Bush family oil as opposed to that one country.
“blah, blah, blah, something bad, something bad… support our military (long pause)”: Ending any sentence with something about supporting troops in order to draw applause from both parties because everyone supports the troops and honors their commitment, but not everyone supports denying civil rights.
To throw in yet one more example of Bush’s hypocrisy, I’d like to comment on his quick, but noticeable mention of the line-item veto. Hmm…he just nominated two people to the Supreme Court, with lots of talk about upholding its honor and prestige. Why, then, would he propose to Congress to allow him to do something that the Supreme Court has clearly stated is unconstitutional? Maybe it’s because he used that litmus test to pick his nominees. Yes, the same litmus test he criticized in the 2004 election. The Supreme Court is only effective if the executive and legislative branches honor its decisions. Bush just wants the power and authority to pick and choose what goes in bills, and God help us if that happens. I didn’t like the idea with Clinton, and I don’t like it now.
Sidenote: I could swear we didn’t have any poor people in America from his speech. Funny that I thought differently.
I agree, the “failed” Social Security Reform moment was the best. Not only did the Democrats get a good laugh in, he got all huffy and started going off script.
The weirdest moment was when he winked at someone while they were honoring the most recent family to loose a son in combat. It might have been out of context, but it was still creepy.
I’m glad you pointed out the “Americans are addicted to oil” comment. It’s almost as if he’s blaming US for that! Like we have much choice?? And how much money has our government spent on finding cost-efficient alternatives? Right. Like he and his oil cronies would.
A speech full of rhetoric, at best. And yet Cindy Sheehan is arrested for wearing a t-shirt displaying the truth.
My husband and I were more annoyed that we couldn’t jog down connecticut avenue yesterday more than anything he might have said. Common a Neil Labutte play festival or the state of the union, what would you rather go see?
I just couldn’t force myself to watch Bush’s It’s-all-about-me-and-my-cronies speech. I’m still waiting for him to goose step across the stage with a Hitler moustache.
I can not stand that lying bastard or his minions, and I refuse to watch him spout his weaselly rhetoric on national tv.
Thank God for reruns of The Actor’s Studio with Angelina Jolie– much more interesting and informative.
As for the Dems once again losing their cojones and letting Sam Alito become a justice on the Supreme Court, I’m thinking about reinforcing the home compound.
Wait, so let me get this straight. The Democrats gave a standing ovation when Bush mentioned the failed SS reform?? That’s fucking hilarious! (I didn’t watch the Address myself because I was sick with a stomach virus and feared that Bush would make me even more pukey than I already was.)
Mark Morford, a columnist for the SF Chronical wrote his own State of the Union, that brought me back out of my anger/depression over the BushCo one. It’s brilliant, hilarious and acutally pretty uplifting. You can find it here: http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/
By the way, Jon, nice interview with Leahpeah. I didn’t realize you and Heather got so much nasty comments in the past from people. The internet can definitely bring complete strangers together in wonderful and horrible ways. To counter some of that nastiness, I just want you both to know that one of the reasons I and several of my friends love to read your posts is not just because you guys are smart, funny and thoughtful, but because you both care so much about being good people and bringing good energy into the world. And that’s the best that we can do for each other on this little greanblue planet.
I wasn’t expecting anything new in the SOTU and I wasn’t disappointed. Thankfully I was at work and unable to watch, so I just read the transcript. Personally, as much of a trainwreck the Bushies have been for this country, I’m a bit more concerned about the 19 Democrats that voted against the Alito filibuster. With friends like them, who needs enemies?
Blurb – This is my first post. I’ve been an avid reader of dooce for months. Leta’s a year younger than my Sophia and seeing the pics makes me so nostalgic. Enjoy every moment.