He won his first bid for president as a fiscal conservative and was re-elected with the country running a huge deficit, involved in two wars, and spending heavily on Homeland Security. The one thing you can never accuse George Bush of is hiding what he is and what he stands for.
But how many of the voices being raised in protest in the mainstream press right now said a word against him in the past three years? Where were all these "I told you so" voices when he was running for re-election? You knew what the results would be if you voted for or endorsed the guy, yet now you're blaming him for doing what he promised.
In Ontario, where I live, we had a provincial government who said they were going to cut spending across the board. Save on taxes, less red tape and so on. They won two majority governments by doing exactly what they said they would do.
One of the things this included was eliminating provincial monitoring of municipal water supplies and testing results. Untrained individuals took over jobs that had formally been done by trained technicians. Everyone was shocked and horrified when a town's water supply ended up contaminated and people died of e-coli and thousands more were sick.
People who had voted for this man and his policies were shocked and outraged. "How could this happen?" They felt betrayed and cheated. Why? Nobody had lied to them; there had been no hidden agenda of secretly closing down offices. The government had simply done what they had promised to do in their election campaign.
As with George Bush the people of Ontario knew what they were getting when they voted this party into power twice, yet they went ahead and did it anyway. It wasn't until things didn't go like they wanted that they blamed the government they had elected.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Eric Olsen
very well done g-man - when people vote for their pocketbooks they take the chance that the structure will be inadequate for what arises, and it has arisen with a vengeance
2 - marc
"The only thing that anyone seems to have stopped short of doing is blaming anyone specifically for causing the hurricane."
Guess you missed Robert Kennedy Jr. blaming Bush for "causing" Karina because Kyoto wasn't signed. All the while forgetting it was Congress that turned down the treaty and the "science" behind the treaty and global warming is shaky, at best.
3 - RedTard
People are way too stupid to do anything for themselves. We need a very large government that controls every aspect of our lives. What we eat, how high the grass in our yard can be, and most importantly they must take our money away from us lest we choose to spend it on the wrong thing.
If we move to a socialist system and defer all our rights to government bureaucrats I feel certain we wouldn't have any more tragedy and death.
4 - RedTard
Continue to fear and the government, both right and left, will continue to take away your rights in your "best interest".
5 - Matthew T. Sussman
From Jonah Goldberg's column on "blaming Bush on the hurricane:"
Other than that, I'm pretty much on the same level in terms of "this is my governmnent so I won't cry when it turns to liquid shit." People in California who are not happy with Gov. Kindergarten Cop should really keep this in mind.
6 - steve
good post matt. I bet the governator is kicking back with a stogey-in-mouth with his shades on, cruising around on a HD fatboy motorcycle. HAH
7 - Sigismundo Celine
Some are speculating that the storm, though not created, could possibly have been "supercharged" through weather control techniques developed by China, the Former Soviet Union and the USA, too....such as HAARP....it's a long studied science dating back to the work of Nikola Tesla.
8 - steve
so let me get this straight. the democrats have run out of republicans to blame, so they are now blaming bush for creating this disaster through the kyoto protocol? excellent.
9 - Sigismundo Celine
For you conspiricy theorists, here's a story for that weather control notion...
www.rense.com/general67/waskatrinaamanmade.htm
notice it's "katrinaamanmade" with an a after katrina, as in "was Katrina a man made storm?"
10 - Silas Kain
Imagine if conspiracy theorists took their misguided energies and investigated facts and figures? It's not as if Katrina went to the drive up window at Beijing Laboratories and said, "super size me."
11 - Matthew T. Sussman
Katrina went to China and ordered the McCategory No. 4.
She was then asked if her order was "for here or to blow!" BWAHAhAHAHA lolol!!!1!1!1!oneone!!
This is why people think I'm so funny.
12 - Silas Kain
Matthew, THAT was awesome.
13 - Matthew T. Sussman
If you ever want to make someone laugh their bladder off:
1. Take commonplace phrase
2. Replace one of the words with a word that:
--Rhymes with the original
--Is topical
3. Profit
14 - Bob A. Booey
Puns suck :)
Take this humor test and let me know what you get, bitches:
here
That is all.
15 - Bob A. Booey
I did that wrong.
Try this link or just copy-and-paste above:
3-Variable Humor Test
That is all.
16 - Matthew T. Sussman
Per Bob's link, conveniently edited from second person to third:
Given my experience, I've found it's hard to argue with Internet tests. You have to like, not care what it says, which is hard because it came from the Internet.17 - Mark Schannon
I took the test and answered most of the questions honestly. Thanks, Bob. It just reaffirms what I've always known about how extraordinary I am after a number of shots of Irish Whiskey.
"Your humor has an intellectual, even conceptual slant to it. You're not pretentious, but you're not into what some would call 'low humor' either. You'll laugh at a good dirty joke, but you definitely prefer something clever to something moist.
You probably like well-thought-out pranks and/or spoofs and it's highly likely you've tried one of these things yourself. In a lot of ways, yours is the most entertaining type of humor because it's smart without being mean-spirited."
I like that last part. Particularly when I'm dealing with such pitiful, pond scum, low life, Cro-Magnon, troglodytes that frequent this incredibly over-rated wite. Woof. Woof. Woof.
(By the way, what does "mean spirited" mean?)
In Jamesons Veritas.
18 - Bob A. Booey
I took it twice and got two different results -- I took it the second time a few weeks later after the first:
the Wit (61% dark, 38% spontaneous, 15% vulgar)
your humor style: CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK
You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.
I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer.
Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.
You probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais
You scored higher than 73% on darkness
You scored higher than 29% on spontaneity
You scored higher than 3% on vulgarity
The cutting edge
your humor style: CLEAN | SPONTANEOUS | DARK
Your humor's mostly innocent and off-the-cuff, but somehow there's something slightly menacing about you. Part of your humor is making people a little uncomfortable, even if the things you say aren't themselves confrontational. You probably have a very dry delivery, or are seriously over-the-top.
Your type is the most likely to appreciate a good insult and/or broken bone and/or very very fat person dancing.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU: David Letterman - John Belushi
The cutting edge
You scored higher than 44% on dark
You scored higher than 72% on spontaneous
You scored higher than 0% on vulgar
What do you think, darlings? Does the glass slipper fit this Cinderella?
That is all
19 - Silas Kain
Yes, B.A.B. your glass slipper fits.
Now, MOI:
(42% dark, 69% spontaneous, 47% vulgar)
your humor style:
VULGAR | SPONTANEOUS | LIGHT
Silas Kain likes things silly, immediate, and, above all, outrageous. Ixne on the subtle word play, more testicles on fire, please. People like Silas Kain are the most likely to RECEIVE internet forwards--and also the most likely to save them in a special folder entitled 'HOLY SHIT'.
Because it's so easily appreciated, and often wacky and physical, Silas Kain's sense of humor never ceases to amuse his friends. Most realize that there's a sly intelligence and a knowing wink to Silas Kain's tastes. Silas Kain's sense of humor could be called 'anti-pretentious'--but paradoxically enough, that indicates Silas Kain is smarter than most.
PEOPLE LIKE Silas Kain: Johnny Knoxville - Jimmy Kimmel
I definitely like the Johnny Knoxville comparison. But Jimmy Kimmel?
20 - Bob A. Booey
I think Jimmy Kimmel is friggin hi-larious and very amiable. That's a compliment.
That is all.
21 - Bob A. Booey
Somehow I got much darker and less spontaneous in a couple of weeks, apparently. I went from Dave Letterman to Woody Allen -- I'm feeling awfully neurotic about this test result!
That is all.
22 - Matthew T. Sussman
I think it makes you a flip flopper.
23 - Bob A. Booey
Don't you Swiftboat Vet me Sussman!
I'll Willie Horton your ass :)
That is all.
24 - Bob A. Booey
Oh, great now I've turned into Al Franken.
Pretty soon I'll be playing the piano and singing stupid political parody songs like Mark Russell.
Oy, vey. I'm so conflicted! I lost 50% of my spontaneity and got 30% darker. No wonder my girlfriend's asking me why I'm wearing the Grim Reaper's shawl from Bergman's Seventh Seal in bed instead of foreplay. We weren't having sex, we were playing a game of existential chess to see if we'd get to have sex all of a sudden.
That was a parody of a Woody Allen joke which was not meant to be funny, so shame on you if any of you laughed.
That is all.
25 - Matthew T. Sussman
This has been a successful threadjack.
New one: Johnny Knoxville? EW!