B's reply

One of my theories is that the extremist Republicans (lead by Newt Gingrich) did such an amazing job of tarnishing the Clinton presidency, that the way was paved for Bush ... meaning that most people who were taken by the Gingrichs/Limbaughs/Falwells/etc. didn't even have to know who the hell Bush was to simply not vote Democrat in 2000 (and man did Clinton leave them a lot of money to play with!). It was the perfect coup. They made it seem to the common worker folk, ex-urbanites, and the Jesus clowns that ever since GHW Bush was in office, the country had taken a moral turn for the worst (worse?) --- therefore, the Bush name combined with the Republicans' heavily funded smear campaign basically handed him the white house. All the groundwork was laid between '96 and 2000 -- as per usual in his life story, Bush didn't have to lift a finger (and other than that, why would they nominate such a blatant idiot for president? Because Karl Rove and Andrew Card have SO much damning shit on Bush that's locked away -- he wouldn't dare do anything other than what they say -- all his records from his Texas Governership, all his father's records, and anything he's done since 2001, locked up in the name of national security ..... AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!).

To expound on my little theory (or thought thread), I was in a buddy's garage last Friday (Bob "Never-Ever" Fales, my Best Man) with a few of his neighbors. One guy (about 40 years old maybe), a construction worker, married, told a story of how he went to Germany to visit his nephew who was stationed there after a tour in Iraq. They went to London and he was going on about how the dollar was worth $.50 to the pound, so they couldn't do much (they went to Planet Hollywood!) ... BUT, then he kind of sighs and says, "Man, our economy is in rough shape ... blah blah blah ... China, Russia ... blah blah blah ... everybody I know is starting to feel the hurt ... (and here's the clincher) ... I tell ya, if Bush doesn't get his act together and people get sick of being lied to there's going to be a fucking Democrat in the white house in 2008." I just kind of stood there silent with my mouth open and couldn't even respond. That is the depth of the Republicans' smear campaign witnessed out there in the wild ... Bush could rape his wife and kids and he'd still be loyal to the Republican party. I don't get it. I can only hope for a modest trend of common sense (and a fair voting process) to sweep over enough people to win an election in 2008. It's insane either way.

So, there's my rant for the day. The local paper wasn't in yet at the store, so I'll take a look on my way to work.

Cheers (as they say),

B