Friday, May 16, 2008

"This is bulls**t!"

Two weeks ago I posted a blog about the preposterous "gas tax holiday," and how the issue had made me truly angry with politicians for the first time in a long time. Well, just two weeks later it has happened again.

Yesterday, President Bush spoke to the Knesset (Israel's parliament), and here is the quote (and it was not off-the-cuff): "Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along...We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

I don't believe that I have ever heard President Bush say anything so ignorant or dangerous. He claims to be a student of history, but he obviously is not -- of the world, this country, or his own presidency. But that's alright, because everyone wants to have a beer with him.

President Bush believes that the art of diplomacy is equal to weakness. He believes that entering into diplomacy with an enemy is equal to allowing the Nazis to run rampant over Poland. He believes that keeping your friends close and your enemies closer is a strategy for lesser mortals, and non-divine countries. He is wrong.

The truth is that aside from being free (which should be a big plus for a conservative), words save lives. I seem to remember words keeping two superpowers from annihilating each other ten times over during the course of more than 40 years. Words are what kept the Cold War just that -- cold. Even Secretary of State Rice and Secretary of Defense Gates have acknowledged that the United States needs to engage in a dialogue with countries such as Iran. After all, they are not going anywhere, and we all inhabit the same planet. But, oh no, says the "decider."

I personally believe that it is President Bush, and not his target, Senator Obama, who is weak. It is he who prefers taking the easy way -- the low road -- as he has done his entire life. It is so easy to drop a bomb. It is so easy to resort to violence. The opposite is the more difficult, more disciplined pursuit. But the president simply does not possess the depth of character to follow such a course. He never has, and he never will.

And the kicker is this: it is President Bush's administration, and not the Democratic leaders, that is actively engaging in the policy of appeasement. Merriam-Webster defines 'appeasement' as: "to buy off (an aggressor) by concessions usually at the sacrifice of principles." And as it turns out, this is exactly what the Bush Administration is doing in Iraq -- they're bribing certain groups in the country to no longer target American soldiers and infrastructure. They're buying allies and support.

President Bush has clearly lost all touch with reality and is, quite simply, pathetic.

Senator Joe Biden said it best: "This is bulls**t!"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If the shoe fits

Anonymous said...

Steve - excellent post! It IS BS.