Bush & the "Tipping Point"
The tipping point, the rains have saturated the grounds upon which they exist, 40 days and 40 nights, musical mediocrity filling every crack of our space.
I'm tired of hearing about a Justice Department that doesn't understand justice. When I'm President of the United States we will have a Civil Rights division that actually investigates crimes.
Take it from 2 women who know, W is alright, so says Laura and Condoleezza. If you believe them then I got some prime real estate to sell you and Haliburton is doing the construction. Condoleezza is in the UN this week trying to remind people she arranged a peace treaty between the Israelis and Palestinians (good luck with that). For all the millions of governmental frequent flyer miles she logged between the US and the Middle East in efforts to stop the fighting, she may well have hung out in Manhattan. The Gaza Strip is still on fire and the Jews just began allowing medical supply boats through.
Lately the 2 Bush women joined forces to defend their husband's legacy. "I think history will judge and we'll see later," said the First Lady (yeah, way way later) on Fox News Sunday. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice asserted on CBS Sunday Morning that charges from critics of W's tenure being one of the worst ever are "ridiculous... I think the generations pretty soon are going to start to thank the President for what he's done. This generation will."
Hey Condi, let me commence the thank you's Thank you President Bush for taking over the Oval Office even though you were out-voted 2 terms in a row, thank you for fanatically placing party over know-how in important offices such as the Department of Justice and FEMA. Thank you so, so much. Thank you (and your then-National Security Advisor... ahhh, errr, what's was her name? Oh yes Condoleeza Rice) for totally ignoring the 8/6/01 Presidential Daily Brief which contained an intelligence warning that Osama bin Laden intended to attack the United States. Thank you being the only one to figure out that bin Laden moved to Iraq (where he evidently must still be residing). Thank you for making sure your rich oil buddies made billions more at our expense. Thank you for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, Blackwater, the Saudi Port deal, and higher unemployment than ever before.
Now Condi, as you know I could go on, but neither time nor space (nor gratitude) will permit me. You think I'm being facetious, actually I agree with Ms. Rice; Bush's legacy is not one of the worst ever... it's THE worst by far.
Laura Bush cited the shoe throwing incident as evidence that the US is spreading democracy successfully: "As bad as the incident is, in my view it is a sign that Iraqis feel a lot freer to express themselves." Yet of the two Rice is the real enigma, when she defends the President, she's not just doing it because it's her job. She really identifies herself with the Bushes. According to a David Samuel's piece in the 6/07 The Atlantic Monthly (now called The Atlantic) Rice' relationship with the Bushes goes a bit beyond the professional and for a black woman (of any profession) a bit beyond normal: "Her influence is strengthened by the fact that she and President Bush are personally close. Rice frequently eats dinner with the Bushes on Sunday nights and sometimes watches movies with the first couple before they go to bed... Rice is also close to Laura Bush, who believes the Secretary shares her protective attitude toward her husband."
Now when I read that a year and a half ago it reminded me of the rumors I heard about W and Condi. I mean yeah I can joke about them being a threesome, but at least they are philosophically. Even giving them the benefit of the doubt, here's a young black female, in DC spending her Sundays possibly even in Crawford, TX with one of the most morally devoid world leaders on the planet. And his wife. No brothas in DC to show off her outfits to? No Nite-life? No Sistas to hang out, eat barbeque and roll blunts with? Hmmm? Now before you start thinking MK-ULTRA, dig this; Sista Rice goes way back with the Bushes, ever since Reagan. She's one of the first neo cons, having departed then-President Carter. She's actually enjoying herself.
Those sand negroes overseas are busy calling Obama a "house negro," whereas for 8 years they had one visiting them frequently. Obviously Condi was and is and will forever be incapable of ending the 3000-year-old Isaac vs. Ishmael war, which brings into question the sanity of her efforts. Where was Condi when we needed her, is that all she's got, dinner at the Bushes on Sunday, and damage control on Monday?
It's safe to assume the damage the outgoing First Lady and Secretary of State are hoping to ward off is the February issue of Vanity Fair which features an article on George's legacy, even going so far as to includes statements by former Bush Administration aids and advisors, among them Matthew Dowd who said that said that Katrina was the "tipping-point" where public opinion of him began taking a nose-dive that never again looked up: "Katrina to me was the tipping point," said Dowd. Former White House counselor Dan Bartlett added "politically it was the final nail on the coffin." The cryptic almost prophetic quote I used above by the Funk/Hip Hop band the Roots ("pointro") with Mumia Abu-Jamal-sounding spoken word is just the tip of the iceberg of national and international damage that will take years to undo and more than Bush's 2 women to cover over.
Chris Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Challenger,
contact him at pointblankdta@yahoo.com