Thursday, June 21, 2007

Dissecting The Bush Agenda -- Two Points Of View

Peter Mehlman delivers a curious concoction of perceptive insight and historical ignorance with his item at HuffPo:

At Least They Didn't Mean Well

Some of his shots hit close to the target:
So now we're six and a half years into Bush and everyone from Helen Thomas on down is declaring him the worst president ever. What no one is saying is the one overarching reason he's the worst: the Bush administration is the first that doesn't even mean well.
Others are just a bit outside:
You could argue that even the world's worst fascist dictators at least meant well. They honestly thought were doing good things for their countries by suppressing blacks/eliminating Jews/eradicating free enterprise/repressing individual thought/killing off rivals/invading neighbors, etc.
I suppose you could argue, but what would be the point? You'd lose.

Even though I don't agree with everything Mehlman says, I do find the piece worth reading, and maybe even worth thinking about.

But -- as often happens -- Chris Floyd has nailed this particular hide to the wall, and he did it a long time ago.

Worm Turning: The True Base of the Bush Dynasty

Here's a sample:
The decidedly un-butch Bushes are not really bloodthirsty. They don't sit in dark corners and cackle over the idea of children being chewed to pieces by American bombs. Nor do their nostrils flare with righteous rage at the thought of homosexuality or abortion or nipples on national television. It's just that war profiteering, corporate rapine and cynical pandering to the public's worst instincts are the easiest way to get the unearned riches they crave -- and the perks and power they feel are their birthright as an ancient branch of the American aristocracy.

Perhaps if they could obtain these same privileges as easily by other, less horrific means, they would. As it is, they take the world as they find it, and go about their business without fretting over the consequences -- the dead, the ruined, the spreading hate, the poisoned planet. Why should they care? As the maggot cannot see beyond the meat, so too these men of greed-stunted understanding can see nothing of worth outside their own bottomless appetites.
But as always with Chris, you really should read the whole thing.