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BUSH EXPLOITS DISASTER

by Open-Publishing - Thursday 6 October 2005
13 comments

Governments USA Peter Fredson

BUSH THE GREAT EXPLOITER

By Peter Fredson

October 6, 2005

George W. Bush has learned the art of exploitation well. He knows how to take unfair advantage of a person or group, or some accidental circumstance, for his own benefit or advancement, in an organized, deliberate or systematic way. He does this by linking his name to some occurrence or symbol, then strongly suggests that he has done something heroic or beneficial which should be rewarded with votes, support, cash and accolades.

To Bush’s glory his entire cabinet is dedicated, spinning the truth unashamedly, a full-time occupation. In this way an arrogant, selfish, egomaniacal, impatient, petulant and spoiled rich boy is made to seem like some kind of Julius Caesar, or incarnation of Ronald Reagan combined with Jesus Christ.

It is amazing that this ploy has worked well with gullible masses of Bush True Believers, held in subjection by corporate and church executives. The media have been exceptionally generous by not severely examining his claims to heroic status, including his service record.

At present his credibility has been greatly diminished due to his incompetence, carelessness, or sloth at dealing with Hurricane Katrina, at his friendship with Karl Rove and DeLay, at his awarding of no-bid contacts to the most corrupt corporations, at his shoveling barrels of money to war-profiteering cronies, and at his immense web of lies regarding his invasion of Iraq.

But his entire administration is dedicated full time to rehabilitating him with photo-ops, endless visits to disaster areas, showing him posing in front of staged Hollywood-lighting scenes, and exhibiting positiveness by broad smiles, strutting, shaking hands, patting black children on the head, giving people sandwiches, watching a crane rebuild a levee, looking serious in shirt-sleeves, and otherwise pretending that he cares about the American public. It’s all a scam, a show for the gullible followers, but it works for them.

The strategy now is “avoid playing the blame game.” Bush is not to be blamed, ever, for anything, and others (not his cronies, possibly Bill Clinton) held responsible for his failures.

But, to return to Bush’s ability to exploit circumstances .. 9/11 was the greatest possible good fortune for Bush. His administration was going into the dumper, incompetence at every level of government, economy slumping, lots of speeches about faith but little action.

Bush has parlayed 9/11 into a second term and has distracted the nation from his personal failures as President by becoming a heroic War President. The economy has revived due to manufacturing arms, weapons, helicopters, gunships and endless equipment at exaggerated cost for the benefit of Bush manufacturing cronies and lobbyist supporters.

Any time criticism erupts at Bush for legislative stupidities he drags in 9/11 with the slogan “Any criticism of the War President is Treason.”

How many times has he has used the term 9/11 in his speeches. I have lost count, but I’m sure some sharp observer can tell us the answer.

How, in any way, does mentioning the 9/11 disaster serve a purpose other than to exploit it to bolster Bush’s ambitions? For True Believers when anyone raises the question of Bush exploiting 9/11 they immediately switch to terrorism. Raise the question of invading Iraq by lies, and they switch to terrorism, mentioning 9/11 and heroic leadership action by Bush. They totally disregard the fact that Bush and crew failed utterly to heed any warnings, then turned their attention to more pressing matters like faith-based charity, castigating gays, and tax cuts.

President Bush exploits terrorism threats constantly to assuage his lust for power. Recently he thought that posse comitatus was an unreasonable limit on his imperial authority. He, like Mussolini, Franco and Hitler would like to use the military for domestic purposes, including declaring martial law with severe restrictions on all forms of freedom. He wants to increase his power without regard to annoying constitutional limitations.

He will even exploit fear of people getting avian flu as a ploy to become dictator. The next step would be to declare himself President-for-Life. There is no upper limit to egomania.

GEORGE W. BUSH wasted no time using reports of possible attacks by al-Qaeda to his utmost advantage. He exploited all such reports as a way to remain “War President” with all the access to force that this nation could render. This is one reason he wants to remain in Iraq.

If he declares that the “war” he started is over, then some of his power-seeking will be curtailed. He still wants to invade Iran and Syria, and is actively sending out Condi Rice to seek pretexts for future “provoked’ invasion or EVIL intention.

Repeated terror alerts have made most Americans cynical. They remember the administration recommendation to use duct tape and plastic to seal off their homes from the huge stores of poison gas that Saddam Hussein was going to use over all of America. They remember the pretty color coding alerts which signaled Americans how afraid they should become but to do nothing differently, to go shopping and support George Bush.

Most Americans remember that when Bush’s approval ratings lagged or that news of our dead soldiers was leaked, or the lack of armor for troops, or the enormous cost of the war, the administration issued terrorist warnings of imminent attacks, colorful lights lit up, TV commentators warned the public to be on the alert, the Bush cabinet truth-twisters would spring into action, but after a dozen such warnings the effect became attenuated, even boring.

Attorney General John Ashcroft once warned all America that al-Qaeda "wanted to hit America hard." But the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Homeland Security said Ashcroft’s warnings of an imminent attack on American soil "had been known for some time" and "was not new or specific enough to merit an announcement or other action."

Condi Rice reported an unusual amount of “chattering” amongst terrorist groups. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge announced that terrorists planned to blow up the Citicorp building in Manhattan’s financial district, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. and the Prudential Building in Newark, N.J. The attacks were imminent.

The only thing missing was for Bush to tell Americans to get under their kitchen tables and cover themselves with blankets against the booger-man.

Most Americans remember that Bush using fear of attacks gave the military establishment uncounted (literally) billions to play with and the corruption of his corporations that got no-contract sweet deals to shovel the money into their private bank accounts. They remember that several billion dollars went missing and has never been found and no one has been arrested or even castigated.

Most Americans know that after Katrina and Rita some of the same corrupt corporations in Iraq received highly profitable flood contracts, with the firm expectations that any oversight will be rudimentary and whistle blowers will get fired, to follow the usual Bush strategy of dealing with corruption and incompetence. Crony capitalism is the name of the game.

War and Flood are magnificent highly-profitable ways for billionaires and fundamentalist Americans to help Bush create his semi-fascist empire. Fishing in roiled water can bring huge catches.

Killing Muslims is a fine sport for Dominionists and Reconstructionists. And the way Bush uses terror has worked on the gullible American public.

Americans know that Bush has used the 9/11 disaster as a way to attack environmental restrictions on polluters and profiteers, with consequent degrading of all environmental progress on clean air, water, mercury pollution, etc.
Yet, despite all of the stepping on civil rights, all of the enormous budget, all of the hoopla about Home Security, this nation is unprepared for emergencies. Katrina showed this absolutely, and Rita demonstrated that even with adequate warning the highways were clogged with stalled cars.

The often vaunted boast of Bush that he is protecting Americans is without any serious foundation, except for his domestic police apprehensions, his disregard of civil rights, and indefinite detentions of innumerable suspects. Bushel baskets full of nail-clippers, manicure scissors, and pocket knives have bee

n safely confiscated from airport visitors. Library files are searched to see what books people are reading, phone calls are tapped, and conversations listened to with sound amplifying devices in this “free” nation.

The ruthless pursuit of political advantage by Bush and his NeoCon associates has not only created hatred of their incompetence, but has made most Americans apprehensive that their President is a habitual liar, cynical beyond comprehension, uncaring for anyone except wealthy white Christian Supremacists, and someone who cannot distinguish fantasy from reality.
The fact that he insists on staying a course that has failed, over and over, shows that his obstinacy approaches stupidity. His previous boast that he was a “uniter, not a divider” has been shown to be worthless. His slogan of being a “compassionate conservative” has a murderous edge.

Bush has said on numerous occasions that America is safer since the overthrow of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein. But recently Bush told reporters "America is in danger." Last Friday, while campaigning in Missouri Bush said "America has turned a corner." He says that the Iraq terrorists are nearly vanquished but his generals say it may take another 10 years or so. No one believes Rumsfeld any more.

President Bush obviously has adept speech writers, but how can we be comforted by slogans? His rhetoric can be categorized as “fighting words” and please his blood-thirsty supporters, but only they feel safer or better. Bush phrases sound like they come from bumper-stickers or Karl Rove. Bin Laden makes good speeches too, but Bush doesn’t like to have them translated as he sees only one side of any story. For him everything is black or white, no shades of grey.

Bush faces a large obstacle. It’s difficult to explain exactly what the president stands for beyond tax cuts and "taking the war to the terrorists." It’s easy to say the attacks on Sept. 11 overtook his presidency, but even before Al Qaeda entered the mix, Bush’s agenda was cloudy. His major initiatives have not been successful.

Bush’s education plan is derided by school administrators and state legislatures. His prescription drug plan is viewed skeptically by seniors and doesn’t address the problem of people without coverage. His attack on social security lost all credibility. His attacks on the environment have been successful for the polluters, lobbyists and profiteers, but not for the environment. His tax cuts are seen largely as bribes for billionaire corporate support.

A Bush inspiration was to inspire fear in Americans. The Bush administration itself became a sort of terrorist organization, using fear of Al Qaeda to solidify neocon and fundamentalist political power. The Bush administration seemed like a group of profiteering thugs using terrorism to push their plans for world conquest.

They exploited 9/ll, death and terror for political advantage. Republican propagandists used pictures of flag-draped coffins at ground zero in television ads and news footage of the World Trade Center crumbling for political speeches, sold 9/ll photos, and spent a fortune on Bush swaggering atop an aircraft carrier, boasting “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.”

Political grasping knew no shame.

A critic called it “trying to beat us over the head with the emotional sledgehammer of twisted wreckage and shattered lives.” What kind of leadership uses photos of twisted burning wreckage to enhance its political image of the greatest intelligence failure in American history caused by lackadaisical attention to intelligence reports.

How in the world could incompetence, carelessness, inattention to details, have been so distorted, so twisted, make the people responsible seem somehow heroic? This is stupendously mind-boggling. All reports have the Bush machine taking intelligence reports lackadaisically.

Talk about a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat...the Bush propaganda machine, surely with Karl Rove in the forefront, twisted a disaster into a political coup, and millions of True Believers bought it, hook, line and sinker.
How could a man cutting brush on vacation without a care in the world, then go to a school to read a book to children, then be swiftly put aboard a plane and rushed to safety, be in any way reputed to be heroic???

Using a bull-horn amidst Twin Tower rubble, showing up in shirt sleeves as though he were actually going to pull people out of the wreckage, patting firefighters on the back may show sympathy but is hardly heroic. Making speeches carefully crafted by Karl Rove and crew for maximum emotional effect is not heroic. But perception is everything, and it is not necessary to actually DO anything to have people believe that you WOULD do it if given the chance. People took the word for the deed.

Fantasy did overcome reality.

Bush supporters prefer to believe that he took strong measures to avoid 9/11, then did something very brave to order thousands to troops to attack several training camps of Osama bin Laden followers. They also believe that Saddam was EVIL.

Practically the entire Bush cabinet was on the media circus day and night for several months to declare that Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction and would kill us all unless we attacked Iraq immediately. Forget all of Bush’s lies. He loves Jesus and Laura smiles nicely.

So half of the country adores their heroic savior President, and the other half hates him with a fury not seen since the Republicans attacked Franklin D. Roosevelt or Bill Clinton for getting a blowjob.

Forum posts

  • In psychology this is called projection:
    It takes a ridiciously disastrous person to predict disasters in such a consistent ridicously manner.
    cheers, jt

    • September 4, 2005

      Bush is the Real Disaster!

      In the modern age of the Presidency, from Theodore Roosevelt to today, we have had many Presidents: the good, bad and ugly. We have had abject failures like Harding and Hoover, mediocrities like Taft, Coolidge, Carter, Ford and Bush I, and unpopular ones, that history may or may not re-evaluate, like Truman, Nixon and Johnson. All in all, in this tumultuous past century, our leadership may have made mistakes from bad judgment, lack of intellect, greed, or downright incompetence. But today we have unquestionably the worst President of the whole lot. He has squandered our goodwill and sympathy from most of the world that came our way after 9/11. He has dissipated the surpluses left to him by a previous administration with adventurism and tax giveaways to the rich and to the powerful military industrial- complex, and he has pandered to the flat-earth society with his support for “creation science.” He is the worst President, by any measuring standard, on the environment since Teddy Roosevelt established the National Park system. Instead of quashing terrorism, he has allowed it to grow and blossom all over the world. He has fought a war with under-armed and undermanned forces. He has ignored the plight of the mourning families and has underserved the wounded, while letting many of our veterans become impoverished by their service to our country. We have fought this war on the “cheap” with huge deficits placed on our progeny, while our ordinary civilian National Guard and Reserves take the brunt of the pain, and our oil prices soar out of control. Now we see the results of FEMA cutbacks regarding the disaster in New Orleans, and other Gulf coastline areas. Under this President little has been done about our deteriorating national infrastructure including the strengthening of the levees protecting New Orleans. This shortsighted thinking has led to a $100 billion disaster. This is not a question of the right or the left. This is not a question of liberal or conservative. This is the reality of malevolent incompetence. Now with the rise of nuclear terrorism emerging from N. Korea and Iran, we have a President who cannot even pronounce the word “nuclear.” With all this in mind, we need a change in Washington starting in 2006.

      Richard J. Garfunkel
      2801 Watch Hill Drive
      Tarrytown, NY 10591

    • Unfortunately, you appear to have bought into Bush propaganda. According to the UN weapons inspectors, Iran is no more of a nuclear threat than Iraq was. In fact, Iran is bending over backwards to show that they are developing nuclear power for energy purposes, and nothing more. In that, they are more forward-looking than the American government, because they are preparing for a time when the oil has run out. They are financing their research while they still have the money for it. On the other hand, Bush and the neocons are doing their best to ensure that Americans become ever more poor, stupid and uneducated, thus ensuring that America will not be in any fit state for developing alternative sources of power; they will then probably try to steal that from other countries, they way they are trying to steal the oil in the Middle East.

  • All his speeches are from outer space. Who likes him anyway. Who voted for him?

  • What else is new ? " They " have always been the " Great Satan " . Just because the worst of humanity points to this " fact " (WWII Europe/Asia/Axis WWI Cold War etc etc) does not mean its " not true " .
    The only reason " The Solution " has not worked yet is because " They " keep " We The Non-Gullible " " down " .

  • Quote : " he drags in 9/11 with the slogan “Any criticism of the War President is Treason.”

    He does ? I can’t find any reference to support this claim . Oh wait , i remember , its "OK" to lie to " support " " our dogma " .

    • It’s called sarcasm and satire
      get the net
      TBone

    • For a non-American but an English speaker what does "get the net TBone" mean ?
      cheers, jt.

    • I’m a 41 year old American, and I have no idea at all what "get the net TBone" means.

    • Thanks for you effort, perhaps its a secret code of 63/37 have to keep an eye out for his number and any future posts.
      cheers, jt

  • You’re blaming the dummy when you should be pointing your fingers at the ventriloquist. In 2000 it was the Supreme court that put him in power. In 2004 it was Diebold. (Did’nt you see the exit polls). Have you ever heard this man(sic) speak without a speech? He’s an idiot! Did you hear his debates with Kerry? His Katrina speeches were classic examples of how he thinks for himself.(Build Trent Lott a new house... while people were still sitting on roof tops!!) This is obviously a puppet for a much more sinister group. Bushco is a danger to the planet.

    • It may just be coincidence, but I wrote that Bush uses terror alerts whenever he gets in trouble. Then came the terror alert with full alarm bells and lights and colors and police chiefs and television commentary about the NEw York Subway. Great hoopla, great fear expressed, everybody will get their baby buggies searched, back packs examined, lots of fervor, noise, like the robot saying "DANGER DANGER" Two days of terror by the Bush people, not by the terrorists, turned out it was all a very small deal, NOT a big deal, maybe even a ruse by someone in Baghdad cowering under the Bush guns. The terrorist is more Bush than bin Laden.
      Bush is still in trouble, still in panic, but the terror alert helped distract his loyal followers from their preoccupation with sex, nipples, ten commandments, pledges and Creative Intelligence in schools. Gullibility never ceases.
      Peter Fredson

  • If you went to Iraq you would realize what is going on. You really don’t have a clue. I’ve been there and it is very necessary. Terrorists involved with the 9/11 attacks ARE in Iraq, believe it or not. You are lacking crucial info and truth to make the claims you do, but you probably won’t listen to me anyway. Thanks.