strictly Bush league

In April of 2004, George W. Bush was asked if he had made any mistakes since the attacks

of 9/11.  He was sure he had, though couldn’t name one, somehow blanking on the wars in

Afghanistan and Iraq.

 

In the wake of  Hurricane Katrina and Brownie’s tragic “heckuva job”, Bush was able to

admit that perhaps there had been some blunders in the slow response, but he grimaced

and looked away from the cameras as he said it.

 

My first impression of Dubya, that of a spoiled frat boy, is still solidly in place.  It’s looking

more and more like Willard Mitt Romney is cut from the same cloth.  There’s no reverse on

either of them.  As Obama continues to clean up after the last administration, Romney

strives to win the White House and make a new mess.

 

But here’s the thing.  Bush was just smart enough to shut up and take his marching orders

from Rove and Cheney. Mitt wants to have some say in his campaign, and it’s suffering

because of what he’s saying.

 

It’s one thing to prevail over a bunch of clowns like Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain,

Donald Trump and the Ricks Perry and Santorum.  Now he’s up against a world-class pol.

Romney’s efforts so far have been forgettable to ill-conceived.

 

The GOP convention to launch the newly-minted, never-was-a-progressive-governor Mitt

was bracketed by Hurricane Isaac (who got no credit for being an act of God) and Windbag

Clint Eastwood (who sucked up all the oxygen in Tampa).

 

Romney’s contribution was almost incidental.  Even wife Ann, his best bet to humanize him,

wasn’t that helpful. Her tale of their salad days, told with such props as the fold-down ironing

board/kitchen table, was soon mitigated when a 1994 interview of her resurfaced.

 

Turns out that after their Hawaii honeymoon, when they moved into that famous basement

apartment, neither of them had to work because “Mitt had enough of an investment from

stock that we could sell off a little at a time.”

 

Ann, there’s a difference between starving and fasting.

 

The convention itself was bogus.  One of the themes, “We Built It”, was based on an

intentional misinterpretation of a statement Obama made about societal interde-

pendence.  Even more fraudulent, the event was held in an arena built with public

funds.

 

So after stumbling out of the blocks, Mitt managed to jump the gun this week.  His

thoughtless response to the U.S. embassy attack in Libya would have been even

more kneejerk but for the unofficial practice of no politicizing on September 11th.

 

He blatantly screwed up the timeline of this still-developing crisis, then stuck with his

story with this lamest of platitudes: “It’s never too early for the U.S. government to

condemn attacks on Americans and defend our values.”

 

I believe he’s trying to build on his B.S. attack of Obama for an “apology tour” that he

feels the president made at the start of his term. No apologies, just conciliatory words,

were spoken.

 

Mitt, you’ve made so many missteps already that Joe Scarborough thinks your campaign

is in trouble.

 

Joe Scarborough.

 

 

FUN FACT: Ann Romney’s father was a lifelong atheist who considered organized

religion “hogwash”.  He presumably stayed one until Ann and Mitt baptised him

into the Mormon faith eleven months after his death.