Mulligan has a great post about Jeb Bush. I have been trying to keep Courting a politics free zone but I can’t anymore. I just can’t.
Why are we in Iraq? (I know all the arguments about not being able to leave, and they don’t work.) Even if I believed that W believed that there were WMD’s, shouldn’t we have left after we found out that there weren’t any? Simplistic thinking? I don’t think so. Neither do the parents who don’t want Armed Force Recruiters in their kids’ high schools, or the parents of soldiers who have died.
I don’t understand this country anymore. Bill Clinton was an amazing president. Were we in any war during his presidency? Did we have an economy where the only things that seemed to continually grow were the cost of living and real estate prices?
People loved Dwight Eisenhower, yet it was known during his presidency, that he had a long standing affair with his (female) driver during WWTWO; my parents and their friends knew, and they weren’t in any sort of political loop. To be totally honest I’m not sure that they knew who he was having an affair with but they knew he was. They put it down to typical presidential behavior
So it really wasn’t Clinton’s morals people disapproved of. I think many people were scared of Clinton’s ability to relate to the everyman minority. I think that they were scared of his intelligence–and Hillary, god forbid we have a first lady who is the poster person for intelligent strong accomplished women.
Bill Clinton tried making this country a place where every group felt equal. I think that was his real sin; I don’t think many Repub’s can deal with equality. I don’t think that they can deal with have nots having. I don’t think that they could deal with every person having good health insurance—got waylaid early in Clinton’s first term.
I think that Clinton would have done something more substantial about education than the No child left behind act which Mulligan has written extensively about. The more I learn about the more I realize that it’s bull with many built in horrible clauses–military recruiters allowed in high school. It’s okay for high schools to ban books but not not ban recruiters? Either they’re kids who need to be told what books to read, or they’re adults who can make informed decisions about entering the military. You can’t have it both ways.
I’m sick of people who smugly believe that Clinton was morally inferior, didn’t do enough for the military, and was an ineffectual president. Had he been a Republican president, Lucianne Goldberg and Linda Tripp would have been laughed at. That whole stupid mess would never have happened. Issues became confused and clouded. Then there was Florida, which I’m continually told to get over. Bush won, fair and square. Again had it been a Democrat, Republicans would have never let them get away with it, even after 9/11 when we all wanted a strong President.
I wanted war after 9/11. Damn straight I did. But it didn’t happen and fifteen months later I was in a glass shop in San Diego almost physically fighting with a woman who told me that we were going to war in the name of New York. Even then I was sort of into supporting a war. But when I kept on being told it was because of New York and 9/11–well I knew that wasn’t true.
A month or so after that, March 19, 2003 we went to war. We were told it was because of wmd’s. You know, I hoped that there were, so that there would be a point to the war. When did Bin Laden stop being the real enemy. No now it was Hussein (who we did capture) and wmd’s.
But there weren’t any; and didn’t the war supposedly end six weeks later?
I have a lot more to say. I don’t want to; I want to concentrate on literary type stuff–I know I’m just a great whiner, not writer.
But the other night I literally woke up thinking “why aren’t people screaming about no wmd’s? Why are people so complacent and so happy with a shrub who, along with his entire cabinet, believes in total obedience?
I’m sick of being told that I’m not patriotic because I believe in dissent. I’m sick of being told that because I don’t wave a flag long enough I’m not patriotic.
A month or so after that, March 19, 2003 we went to war. We were told it was because of wmd’s. You know, I hoped that there were. But there weren’t any; and didn’t the war supposedly end six weeks later?
I’m not saying anything newsworthy or giving any new news. I’m honestly trying to understand how we became a country that no longer values free speech, dissent, and exchange of ideas. Yet The New Testament is supposed to have the answer to everything–to many Repubs–others are less selective. They’ll point to any piece of information that supports their views and disses ours.
Even more honestly I’m trying to understand the Republican, I’m right, “right or wrong” mentality.
We Liberals have been trying to understand your mentality for too long. I can’t remain politically neutral in my site when my views, and everything that I love and value about this country is under attack.
I tried. I tried understanding people who would tell me that as a moral relativist I’m not entitled to have an opinion. Really, it’s wrong to not be able to cite one source that gives the foundation for your views. I have learned since I began blogging that I’m supposed to believe that this is a Christian country–not one where the majority of people are Christian. I’ve learned since I began blogging that my views count less because I’m strongly pro-choice. I’ve learned that since I come from and live in New York, I’m less an American than somebody else. I learned that I’m a Socialist–which will come as a shock to the brokerage houses I do business with.
I honestly tried understanding all these views and many more. I’m leaving out all the stupid personal attacks on me by many people. I was going to pack the whole blogging thing up, and concentrate on other more personally profitable ventures.
But there’s something really wrong with a United States of America where any speech against the President and/or his cabinet is considered wrong. There’s something really wrong when not supporting a war you don’t understand is considered a personal attack against members of the military, former members of the military, the President, his cabinet, and every person who disagrees with you.
I tried; I really tried.
You just verbalized the mystery of today’s American political scene very well. I don’t understand either, and I don’t think I ever will.
I agree wholeheartedly. While Clinton may have erred in personal issues, he was a decent president. Then we get Bush…a man who leads us to war a year and a half after 9/11, a man who sees phantom wmds, a man who a year after the war was declared over still keeps sending our military over to die, a man who single-handedly wiped out a surplus and sent us trillions into debt, a man who has the audacity to try to make his relgious views national law, a man who dared to declare gays as second-class citizens even though they still have to pay taxes and obey laws. I’m so sick of Bush and his double-standard double-talk. grrr… LOL
Yes, we were in a war during President Clinton’s time in office. The Bosnian War, handled quickly and efficiently- less than 10 casualties.
As for Iraq, we are in there now. How do we get out???
You should have tried harder.
I think you made some really good points I thought the weapon’s of mass destruction were the reason we invaded iraq. And osama bin laden I think is the true enemy.
I lack a lot of knowledge in what our politicians were thinking with the war in iraq cause the only way to not go insane is to ignore the situation. Don’t get me wrong I appreciate our troops for fighting for my freedom dieing for me but dieing for what???
there’s something really wrong with a United States of America where any speech against the President and/or his cabinet is considered wrong
Looking over from the other side of the Atlantic, this is what scares me the most; partly because where the US goes, the UK seems to follow.
In any democracy, the government is elected by the people to represent them. They aren’t their rulers, they are their representatives. Listening to what people say and engaging in dialogue with them is part of that.
Thanks Steve, Bosnia totally slipped my mind. wonder why?
Thanks everyone else for agreeing with me! except Hans and you know, you’re right. We didn’t try hard enough in the last election.
I agree with a lot of what you say but disagree with some of it. I agree that Clinton was a better President and that America is going in the wrong direction. I am not a Democrat I am a Libertarian I supported Michael Badnarik in the last election because I did not like the other candidates.
I thought the reason the Iraq war started was after 10 years of the United National being unable to inspect the country for WNDs and Saddam always having the upper hand, the US forced his hand. The whole world agreed there was a potential risk and he needed to comply. He chose to remain noncompliant and ended-up in a rats hole.
Saddam Hussein let the inspectors back in after he was threatened with force in late 2002. We were the ones who kicked the inspectors out in early 2003 because we were going to start bombing the country. If the inspectors were there than no weapons of mass destruction were going to be used while they were there. We took a risk by removing the inspectors and bombing, if Hussein was going to attack us it would be then.
what the hell is happening to us? :::tears well up::: and what comes next? thanks for the comment you are beautiful
I love how everyone who bitches about this and that conveniently leaves out the mass genocide Hussein inflicted on his own people. Hello! That’s called being a MASS MURDERER, aka CRIMINAL. If we didn’t take him out, who would? By not supporting our efforts to rid the world of this tyrant, you’re pretty much saying that its OK.
But, you’re absolutely right, there were no WMD’s, and yes, thats a little suspect, but, Hussein should not be running a freeking country. He needed to be taken out, and I’m damn glad we did.
Now what the World media conveniently does not show you are the many MANY Iraqi’s hugging our troops, thanking them for being there. I have quite a few friends in the military, and they all say “Don’t believe the BS you see on the news.” The news only reports the bad…why? Because of ratings, plain and simple.
I know that giving a country that was going down the shitter–and fast–a chance at a working government with proper authority is SUCH a bad thing. Women being raped by IRAQI troops, being abused, etc is definitely something a bunch of innocent people deserved right? Since you’re “strongly pro-choice” (sadly) I figured you’d be all about women’s rights…But maybe they don’t count…because, you know, out of sight out of mind..type of thing.
I bet you’re not aware of all the schools we’re building over there either, huh? It’s so much easier to whine than to actually investigate what’s going on over there other than what celebrities and MSNBC tells you.
Hi, I know it is tough, but do try not to pollute your blog with such things, or close the comments section. If you do not that, there are a lot of things that will happen on your blog, like bunch of idiots commenting nastily on all posts just because they did not agree on this one …but that’s just an advice from a small parisian bear !
Bill,
No one said Saddam was not an evil man. What a lot of people don’t know is that we helped fund Saddam Hussein in the 1980’s in his war with Iran. A few years after he used the weapons we bought for him and killed innocent people in Kuwait. George Washington gave advice that we should have economic ties with all but no entangling aliances. His advice was not followed. Our government allows Saudi Arabia, China, and Sudan to commit numerous human rights violations. How about the schools, and starving people in America and the problems here(the Patriot Act, Real Id, Sensenbrenner) I find it very odd we can give another country freedom and deny it here.