Way Off Target

First we had the failed presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush; then the historically failed presidency of George W. Bush. Do we have a Jeb W. Bush presidency in our future? We all better hope not.

Speaking on GOP TV's Fox and Friends on October 8, J. Bush was quoted by swamppolitics.com as claiming, seriously

"I was on the plane yesterday coming up to Washington and I heard someone complain that their child's acne was because of George Bush. Of course last week the Olympics didn't come to Chicago, that was my brother's fault."

The former governor of Florida, apparently failed to name names, recognizing that identifying any of these naysayers would open his silly comments to examination. Here, certainly, are a few individuals he was not referring to:

Rick Moran, in the conservative pajamasmedia.com: "He placed the prestige of his presidency directly on the line and failed. That’s the bottom line. He gambled with the one thing no president should ever gamble with unless the stakes are much higher than his hometown getting the Olympic games."

Michelle Malkin, posting on her blog: "Goodbye, 'yes, we can.' Hell, 'no, you can't.'"

Glenn Beck, on his syndicated radio program: "He just gave a speech yesterday and he said, look, it's important. I am the guy I am here to bring the whole world together. I am here to I can I got the whole world in my hand, I got the whole wide world in my hand, I got the whole wide world in my hand, I got... what? Oh, crap."

Lou Dobbs, on his syndicated radio program: "Lots of folks are going to be going to Rio because they won the 2016 Olympics and Chicago -- Chicago, well, they were smeared, they were wiped out...."

William Kristol, on Fox News Sunday, quoted by Think Progress: Come walk with us. I’m here for America. Can you imagine if some Republican — if Bush had done this and we hadn’t gotten it? Typical Bush heavy-handedness, cowboy unilateralist, hegemonic imperialist action. Obama falls into that trap and they went for it. I must say you couldn’t help be amused by it."

And of course, Rush Limbaugh:

Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man. The worst day of Obama's presidency, folks, the ego has landed. The world has rejected Obama! Chicago, the least number of votes, first elimination in the round of voting for the Olympics in 2016. When you stop to think about it, folks, doesn't it make sense? Our president, "Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm. Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm," had been running around the world for nine months telling everybody how much our country sucks. He's been running around the world apologizing for the United States of America. Why would anybody award the Olympics to such a crappy place as the United States? Oh, man, folks. I wonder how victory looks to Obama now that it has escaped him and passed him by. He doesn't want to win in Afghanistan but he certainly wanted to win in Chicago. I think the world apparently wants the guy to fail. Because Obama has failed, the world rejected Obama first of all the people, the world rejected Michelle (My Belle) Obama, the world rejected The Oprah....

Folks, the worst day of his presidency....

Now, you do have to ask yourself a question. You do have to ask a serious question here. Is this guy, at the end of the day, a blithering moron?

It wasn't only the right-wing. Even the Associated Press got into the act, calculating

President Barack Obama's failed bid to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to Chicago cost more than a bruised ego.

Taxpayers shelled out probably $1 million or more for the president, his wife and others to fly to Copenhagen and back to woo members of the International Olympic Committee.

The criticism of President Obama's foray into Olympic politics began prior to the trip, Media Matters pointing to the negative comments of talk show host Sean Hannity, the Washington Examiner's Byron York, the Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes, the Media Research Center's Brent Bozell, and, as expected, various figures on GOP TV. At least these guys and gals, commenting before the trip, weren't at that point grabbing at the low-hanging fruit, but indicative of the critical analysis of Barack Obama for making the trip.

And on and on and on. Did you see all those references to President George W. Bush in those statements? No, because no one blamed Mr. Bush for the loss of the 2016 Olympics- or if he/she did, it's incumbent on Jeb Bush to call the individual out. But Jeb Bush, displaying as much courage as his brother did skill in running the country, did not and will not.

next up: "El Rushbo" said in his rant something particularly relevant to the news of today. Then, more Jeb.

A Relaxed President

Huffington Post reports (8/14/08) that, after a day of work, President Bush on 8/15/08 would be leaving for his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

That's par for the course for the 43rd President. We all remember the Presidential Daily Briefing of August 6, 2001 with its title "bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US." President Bush's response? As the BBC reported that day, "Washington is turning out the lights for August and Mr Bush is leading the way. For the next month the world's superpower will be run from a farm seven miles down Prairie Chapel Road in Texas."

But it's not only at times of crisis that Bush goes on vacation. As of 8/13/08, the President had been at Crawford or Camp David on 913 days. That's over 130 weeks of vacation. In a little over seven-and-a-half years. Approximately 17 weeks- four months- of vacation a year.

But as these photos from thinkprogress.org indicate, Mr. Bush does know how to have a good time and on the second of the four, appears possibly to have had some liquid refreshment to aid him.

The Associated Press on August 11 described the scene:
At the Olympic baseball stadium, Bush was in the mood to talk sports, not policy. He had just spent time mingling with the Chinese and U.S. baseball teams, and now they were lacing line drives across one of Beijing's pristine Olympic venues....Before the big U.S.-China basketball game, Bush met the players, huddled up, and led them in a one-two-three-USA cheer. He laughed in describing the moment, how high he had to look up to see their faces.

If only Mr. Bush enjoyed leading as much as he does cheerleading, perhaps he would do a little of it sometime.

Myopia In Beijing

George W. Bush to sportscaster Bob Costas in Beijing on 8/11/08:

First of all I think the Chinese are being great hosts, the venues are fantastic, and our team's fired up and so am I.

Three news items:

On August 11, 2008 five individuals, all members of Students for a Free Tibet, were arrested by police 10 minutes after beginning a protest consisting of one individual "narrating a theatrical street protest in Tianamen Square "as the other four wrapped themselves in Tibetan flags and staged a 'die in.' " This protest was one of three pro-Tibet demonstrations that have produced arrests since the games began.
***********************************************************************************

Olympic speedskater and leader of a group of Olympic athletes named Team Darfur, Joey Cheeks, has had his visa revoked by the government on the mainland. Cheeks "had planned to attend a United Nations Olympic celebration and some charity events but wasn’t planning any big Team Darfur demonstrations.... One of Cheek’s key initiatives was urging the international community to persuade Sudan to observe the ancient tradition of the Olympic truce during the Beijing Games" to halt the violence which thus far has resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000, and displacement of 2.5 million, Sudanese.

***********************************************************************************
The Chinese government, the major importer of Sudanese oil, now apparently is training Sudanese fighter pilots and "supplying arms to Sudan for use in Darfur, in breach of a UN arms embargo."
***********************************************************************************

President George W. Bush to Bob Costas on 8/11/08:

And my administration has been engaged with both sides in this, trying to get a cease-fire.... It was just interesting to me that here we are, you know trying to promote peace and harmony, and we're witnessing a conflict take place.

Unfortunately, Bush was talking about only Russia v. Georgia (in which the aggressor now has agreed to a cease-fire, its military objectives met). GWB's attitude toward the regime in Beijing? "We were honored yesterday, when the President, Hu Jintao, invited my dad, and me, and Laura, and my sister, and my daughter, my brother, for dinner or lunch. It was a great gesture of kindness...."

Appeasement, Bush-style.

Divorced From Reality

Down: stock market; job creation; home values; home sales; retail sales; real income.
Up: mortgage foreclosures; energy costs; inflation; corporate bankruptcies; outsourcing of American jobs; trade deficit; budget deficit

President Bush to Bob Costas on August 11, 2008 at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China: "First of all, I don't see America having problems...."

George W. Bush is no more concerned about the economic well-being of the American people than he is about terrorism.

Corporate America and Red China: Perfect Together

Sean Hannity is fond of referring to Michelle Obama as someone who "hates America." I wonder what he would say about two "American " companies and their approach to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Dave Zirin, a regular contributor to The Nation magazine and author of the forthcoming book "A People's History of Sports in the United States," explained on 8/8/08 to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!:

Pepsi has adopted a new red can with the slogan “Go Red, Go Pepsi.” I mean, it’s a slogan that would have gotten you a visit from COINTELPRO a generation ago, and now it’s being used to sell Pepsi products over there in China. I mean, absolutely outrageous.
Nike—this is another brilliant so-called US-based corporation—is airing commercials in China where Chinese track superstar, Liu Xiang, is beating Western athletes in the race, and it says, “Go Beijing! Go Liu Xiang!"

Will Sean find his voice and criticize these anti-American mega-companies? Will any GOP politician who has been critical of the comments made by Mrs. Obama? Or is criticism of corporations off-limits in the Republican world, where the rich and powerful are sacrosanct?

A Nod To His Friends

Tough, macho, swaggering George W. Bush, in Thailand today on the first of three stops on his Asian tour. He said, with little courage,

Change in China will arrive on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and traditions. Yet change will arrive.

Change will eventually come- on the regime's "own terms and in keeping with its own history and traditions." Sometime, and in ways inoffensive to the world's largest dictatorship, a proud Communist tyranny.

In its 7/9/08 newstand edition, the editors of The New Republic note that President Bill Clinton also thought change would come to Mainland China. They quote the then-President predicting "when over 100 million people in China can get on the Net, it will be impossible to maintain a closed political and economic society."

They explain

How convenient for a president to argue that he needn't look out for American principles abroad because technology would do the job for him. History, of course, has made a mockery of this sentiment: Today, there are more than 220 million Chinese online, and the country is little closer to political freedom.

The Chinese government did not embark on a period of reform upon the prediction of the 42nd president, and it won't do so upon the hope of the current president. Especially when the Butchers of Beijing will be honored with the presence of the President of the United States and leader of the Free World.

Quote Of The Week

"And here there's a really big contrast between, say, America's fairly unilateral role in Iraq and what's happening with the Chinese Olympics. We're seeing European leaders like Sarkozy and Gordon Brown talking maybe not about boycotting the opening ceremonies but about not being there. So this is not America on its own."

-Chrystia Freeland of the Financial Times on MSNBC's Hardball on 4/9/08

Bush Promotes The Chinese Regime

Reuters reports on March 31, 2008 that Senate Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi has asked President Bush to consider boycotting the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing, China. In an interview to be telecast on ABC's Good Morning America on 4/1/08, the longtime critic of the Communist regime is quoted as saying "I think boycotting the opening ceremony, which really gives respect to the Chinese government, is something that should be kept on the table." She stated "I think the president might want to rethink this later, depending on what other heads of state do."

At least one head of state already has decided what to do. Chancellor Angela Merkel has decided against attending the opening ceremony, reminding us of the remarkable turnaround in German government and society since the end of World War II.

There is a strong argument, though little support, for going much further. In her article entitled "Boycott Beijing" posted on slate.com on 3/24/08, Anne Applebaum counters the standard arguments against boycotting the upcoming Olympics. Boycotts may accomplish a great deal, she notes, as in that of South African athletes from international competitions which helped end apartheid. Additionally, the Olympics can be not only a force for good but also for evil, as in the propaganda coup scored by Adolph Hitler when Nazi Germany hosted the 1936 Olympics. And the Games are perhaps the best place for demonstrations, inasmuch as "the modern Olympics were set up with a political purpose: to promote international peace by encouraging helalth competition (among) nations."

But the least the leader of the Free World can do is to skip the opening ceremony. Instead, White House spokesman Emily Lawrimore said the President "has also made it very clear that the Olympics will shine a bright light on China regarding a variety of issues. These games will provide China with an opportunity to put it's (sic) best face forward."

In a rare if unintended display of honesty, the Administration is not even bothering to pretend that the Games will focus attention on the brutal regime in Beijing, its military buildup, its arguably incomparable air pollution, aid to the Sudanese government in support of genocidal militants, or any other characteristic of this near-fascist state. Rather, they are delighted the Red Chinese will enjoy the fruits of valuable propaganda: "an opportunity to put its best face forward." It's a fascinating position for a President who, when speaking of the Persian Gulf, feigns a fondness for democratic states.

The Olympic Games

As some eagerly, and some of us less eagerly, await the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, we recall the hope of the naive and the hype of the economically self-serving that the "Olympic Games will have definitely a positive, lasting affect on the Chinese society."

So saith International Olymic Committee President Jacques Regge, as related by Joshua Kurlantzick in "Swifter, Higher, Crueler (subscription required)," which appeared in the 2/27/08 issue of The New Republic. Kurlantzick notes that the reality has been far crueler than predicted. Brad Adams, head of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, warns "we are seeing the gagging of dissidents, a crackdown on activists, and attempts to block independent media coverage," a conclusion consistent with that of Amnesty International. According to Kurlantzick, Financial Times has revealed that the Chinese government has assumed "greater swathes of government bureaucracy" while a new law restricts "foreign news agencies working in China and also tightened control of the domestic press by launching a crackdown on 'false' news and shutttering some 18,000 blogs and websites since April," 2007. Anxious to avoid negative publicity once the media arrives for the Games, "Chinese authorities have arrested, abducted, and simply beaten activists, writers, and lawyers."

And what about the reaction of George W. Bush, head of the party which once masqueraded as singularly anti-Communist? Mr. Bush has promised to attend the Olympics, calling to mind attendance at the Berlin games by nations which thereby signaled acceptance of the legitimacy of the Nazi regime. Human Rights Watch's Asia Advocacy director, Sophie Richardson, told the New York Times "Mr. Bush is providing "an enormous propaganda opportunity to an abusive government."

A president who toppled Saddam Hussein at the cost of nearly 4,000 American lives, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, and an effective fight against terrorism could lead in defying the brutal dictatorship in Beijing. Of course that wold involve offending Mr. Bush's corporate benefactors, but there is always a first time.