“Snow has also been a chief spokesman for the Bush administration’s domestic agenda, forced to argue continually that the typical American is doing just fine, and bravely pushing the unpopular elements of Bush’s vaunted ‘ownership society’…And yet Snow’s own life in many ways symbolizes the downside of the ownership society — and suggests how much a government role in health and retirement benefits is necessary.” Slate‘s Daniel Gross explains how the unfortunate plight of Tony Snow exemplifies the problems with Dubyanomics.
Category: The Dubya Era
And, Whoa, My Nights are so long.
In the big news this past week, the wheels continue to come off over at Team Dubya. First Karl Rove jumped ship. Then Tony Snow told us he’ll be off soon to make some money. And now, at long last, Alberto Gonzales has announced his resignation as Attorney General. “[W]ithin the past week, Justice aides and other officials said, Gonzales concluded that his credibility with Congress, his employees and the public was so shattered that he could not promise to remain through the end of Bush’s term, as the White House chief of staff had demanded of Cabinet officers.” Well, that, and there’s the matter of continuing investigations into Gonzales, which the Dems say will continue (and should, since there’s solid evidence he’s perjured himself.) At any rate, good riddance, Gonzales. Like too many Dubya appointments, you’ve embarrassed the nation, with your justifications for torture and illegal wiretapping as much as with your tortured evasions and denials. Frankly, this should’ve happened months ago.
Two Years After Katrina.
“A lot of people down here probably wondered whether or not those of us in the federal government not from Louisiana would pay attention to Louisiana or Mississippi…And I hope people understand we do. We’re still paying attention. We understand.” Dubya marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by mouthing platitudes in New Orleans, claiming “this town is better today than it was yesterday. And it’s going to be better tomorrow than it was today” (He might have more credibility on this if he hadn’t said the same thing about Iraq for four years and running.) Says TIME’s Michael Grunwald of Dubya’s claim: “Many of the same coastal scientists and engineers who sounded alarms about the vulnerability of New Orleans long before Katrina are warning that the Army Corps is poised to repeat its mistakes — and extend them along the entire Louisiana coast. If you liked Katrina, they say, you’ll love what’s coming next.” And see also Looka’s evaluation of how far we — haven’t — come in the two years since this man-made disaster. It’s shameful.
The Vietnam-9/11 connection?
“There was another price to our withdrawal from Vietnam, and we can hear it in the words of the enemy we face in today’s struggle — those who came to our soil and killed thousands of citizens on September the 11th, 2001.” Every time he thinks he’s going to wake up back in the jungle…In a fit of self-serving revisionism, Dubya attempts to reinvent the lessons of Vietnam before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, arguing that our problems really began because we withdrew from Southeast Asia too early. (Also, apparently we lost the war because of Graham Greene’s The Quiet American.
So, on the bright side, it looks like Dubya is progressing along his high-school reading list.) As you might expect, this line of argument is not sitting well with many historians, among them the venerable Robert Dallek: “What is Bush suggesting? That we didn’t fight hard enough, stay long enough? That’s nonsense. It’s a distortion,’ he continued. ‘We’ve been in Iraq longer than we fought in World War II. It’s a disaster, and this is a political attempt to lay the blame for the disaster on his opponents. But the disaster is the consequence of going in, not getting out.‘”
Out of Sight, Out of Mind.
“Any anti-Bush demonstrators who manage to get in anyway should be shouted down by ‘rally squads’ stationed in strategic locations. And if that does not work, they should be thrown out…the manual outlines a specific system for those who disagree with the president to voice their views. It directs the White House advance staff to ask local police ‘to designate a protest area where demonstrators can be placed, preferably not in the view of the event site or motorcade route.’” Thanks to the efforts of the ACLU, the Dubya administration’s “Presidential Advance Manual” comes to public light, and it explains in detail how to deal with those pesky protestors. Namely, make sure Dubya never sees ’em…After all, we wouldn’t want “the Decider” subjected to differing points of view.
Cronyism > Competition.
Where does the GOP’s commitment to free market fundamentalism reach its limit? Where there’s money to be made, of course. The Post looks into the rise of no-bid contracts under Dubya. “A recent congressional report estimated that federal spending on contracts awarded without ‘full and open’ competition has tripled, to $207 billion, since 2000, with a $60 billion increase last year alone.”
The Terrorists of Tehran.
Ratcheting up the sabre-rattling, the Dubya administration adds Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to its official list of terrorist organizations. “The Revolutionary Guard would be the first national military branch included on the list, U.S. officials said — a highly unusual move because it is part of a government, rather than a typical non-state terrorist organization.” Hmm. This ought to go over like gangbusters. “‘It would greatly complicate our efforts to solve the nuclear issue,’ said Joseph Cirincione, a nuclear proliferation expert at the Center for American Progress…All of us want to back Iran into a corner, but we want to give them a way out, too. [The designation] will convince many in Iran’s elite that there’s no point in talking with us and that the only thing that will satisfy us is regime change.”
In the Hands of Alberto.
Would you want this man making a life-and-death decision for you? For some reason, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales — who hasn’t been coming across as a model of competence lately — is apparently about to receive expanded powers to fast-track state death penalty cases. “Kathryn Kase, a Houston lawyer who serves on the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ death penalty committee, said the Justice Department’s proposed regulations are ‘severely lacking’ because they do not provide enough oversight to ensure that defendants are receiving adequate legal counsel. ‘In our judgment they allow states to…claim they have a capital representation case that is functional, when in fact it might not be functional at all,’ Kase said. ‘It may not prevent people from being wrongfully sentenced to death.‘” The older I get, the worse the death penalty seems as public policy. Even the cruel and unusual aspect notwithstanding, it’s arbitrary, it doesn’t work as a deterrent, it’s often racist. Add Gonzales’ presumed oversight to the list of negatives.
We’ll Go No More A-Roving?
“I’m leaving on my own terms and I’m leaving with a clear-eyed realism that this isn’t going to mean fewer investigations or subpoenas or weird comments by members of the Democratic caucus.” Well, Karl, we’ll always have hip-hop. One of this administration’s biggest rats leaps off the sinking ship as Karl Rove announces his resignation at the end of the month. But, not to worry. Dubya’s infamous consigliere will no doubt be back in the public eye when the investigations clear and the indictments come down. So, see ya soon, Turd Blossom, and sorry your grand visions of a Republican realignment turned to ashes. I’m sure we’ll still fit you in the history books…somewhere.
Here comes that awful feeling again.
“Are these accusations true? Was Bush’s much-praised chief speechwriter, a seemingly self-effacing and bookish evangelical Christian, truly the Eve Harrington of the West Wing? The anecdotes have a haunting specificity.” Is Michael Gerson (whom I’ve praised here before) an inveterate blowhard, or did the strong man kick sand into Matthew Scully’s cereal? Slate‘s Tim Noah referees a dispute between two veteran GOP speechwriters over the true authorship of Dubya’s better moments.