I reluctantly watched the President's Oval Office speech tonight. As the president stumbled through the teleprompted script, my thoughts wandered. First, I wondered what in the world is this guy's claim to charisma. Then I wished I was watching Will Ferrell impersonating the President with his famous "Strategery" line. But I quickly snapped back when the President said, "One of the strongest weapons in our arsenal is the power of freedom."
Are you kidding me? We have been at War for the past 4 years, we have passed the "Patriot" Act limiting our right to privacy, we illegally tap phone calls without search warrants, we hold American citizens without charges under the term "enemy combatant", and we have an administration constantly asking Congress to expand the power of the executive branch. Wait check that, most of the time the President just says he has the power to do what he wants...the Constitution and federal law is just a guideline that he can interpret how he sees fit (never mind the job of interpreting the law belongs to the Judiciary).
Hey Mr. President, if freedom is so powerful, why not apply our standard of freedom and justice to the prisoners of war we have held at Guantanamo Bay (let's stop calling them detainees; they are POWs). Why do we need to stack the deck against them by not letting see the evidence against them, have the right to cross examine witnesses - you know the basics of due process? Mr. President, if you are such the freedom expert, why doesn't your administration believe in transparency?
The more I listened to this "non-partisan" speech, the more pissed I got. Here are some more gems from tonight:
"Our nation has endured trials and we face a difficult road ahead. Winning this war will require the determined spirit of a unified country." George, I got two words for you and they aren't happy birthday. In the weeks after the 9/11 attacks, you had an 80% approval rating just 11 months after you were elected president while losing the popular vote. You speak often of leadership and the need for strong leader in the face of the evil of our enemies. Whether I like it or not, you are our leader and you have led us in the five years since 9-11 to where we are today. You took a country unified and divided it. You alone are responsible for the condition of our country today because you decided (you are the "decider" after all) to be the President of your base constituency instead of all Americans. You have a 38% approval rating because you think you know the Constitution better than most American legal scholars despite your lack of command of the English language. It is way too late for you to call for a "unified country" you hypocrite. As for your 2000 campaign comment - "I'm a uniter, not a divider," since all evidence is to the contrary, you have no hope of EVER uniting this country again. You had your chance and you blew it.
"And we must put aside our differences and work together to meet the test that history has given us." History doesn't "give" anything...it is a record of what has happened not a exercise in deciding how to get us out of this mess. You put us in this position, NOT history. Let me clarify. Al Queda attacked us and you attacked Iraq. The nearly 3,000 dead and 15,000 injured U.S. Soldiers are a product of your decision not Al Queda's cowardly attack. One thing is for certain, when history has been recorded, you will be known as the worst president, EVER.
"The terrorists fear freedom as much as they do our firepower. They are thrown into panic at the sight of an old man pulling the election lever, girls enrolling in schools, or families worshiping God in their own traditions."
Really, the Al Queda terrorist with 40 pounds of plastic explosives strapped to his chest and willing to die for his deluded cause is afraid of an old man pulling an election lever...give me a break. Who writes the crap? This is probably the worst presidential speech ever written. If you want to be a leader, start by firing the amateur that wrote your speech tonight.
"I am often asked why we're in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat."
Holy Geez, did the President just admit there is no connection between 9/11 and Iraq? It sure seems like it. George, once again your inconsistencies amaze me. So if Iraq was such a threat, what do we do with Iran and North Korea. Are we going to fight them too? Iran seems like a very likely event given your history and the fact we have the army on both sides right now. What about North Korea? I don't think so given China might have something to say about that. North Korea was always the bigger threat than Iraq, but I don't see you rolling across the 38th parallel into Pyongyang.
"Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone."
Nobody thinks that the terrorists would leave us alone...we are not dumb. But at last you say something I agree with. Mistakes have been made in Iraq. Good to see you are man enough to admit it. Here is another example, though, of your failed logic. Do you really believe that because we are in Iraq fighting in the midst of a civil war that terrorists are going to leave us alone? George, there are a boatload of terrorist cells all over the world that could give two licks about what's going on in Iraq. In fact, they are probably pretty pleased that our resources are going to fight in that war instead of being used to infiltrate and eliminate them. God did not magically scoop up all the terrorists in the world and deposit them in Baghdad to help our cause.
I could go on an on, but I think I pretty much beat this one to a pulp. I will be interested to see what kind of bump, if any, the president gets from this speech. Most of his fans were probably watching Monday Night Football, but we will see. Eight weeks from today folks and the midterms are here. Vote for the Democrats and hold this guy accountable for his idiocy.
This is an excellent post.
Posted by: Ellen | September 16, 2006 at 03:19 PM