Bush Tells America To Kiss Off

Bush continues his Napoleonic Presidency by choosing to “stick it to” Democrats with 3 outrageous recess appointments.  He couldn’t be more brazen if he had sent each and every one of us a gold-plated middle finger.  Susan Dudley, Andrew Biggs and Sam Fox represent the absolute worst of the Republican Party – from privatization to deregulation to hideous character assassinations that substitute for intelligent debate.  This President gives no regard to lessons he should have learned from Katrina, Rumsfeld, Miers, Schiavo – he just continues on with his pattern of choosing loyalty and ideology over competence and dedication.

Well I say to you Mr. President – You Are In Contempt!  It is contemptuous to appoint a self-avowed privatization proponent to the President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security.   Or Susan Dudley, who OMB Watch says “has falsely proclaimed ground-level ozone to be beneficial, opposed ergonomic standards to protect workers from repetitive stress disorders, and even suggested that airbags should never have been mandated in automobiles.”  Most perverse, is the appointment of Sam Fox who is responsible for one of the ugliest scenes in American politics in history, the ravaging of a serviceman’s war record.  

Contempt is defined as “open disrespect for the rules or orders of a court”.  Congress and the voters may not be an official court, but we are the court of law that guides this country.  Bush and the Republicans can talk about their “upperdown” votes day and night, they cannot refute the clear “DOWN” vote We The People gave them on Nov 7.    

Sadly, there are many more examples of the Bush Administration’s contempt for the American people.  We still have Attorney General Gonzales’ testimony on April 12 and April 17, for which they are intensely preparing; as well as lining up a cadre of GOP politicos, no doubt to hit the talk circuit and spin, spin, spin.   No lawmaker should be allowed to get away with this.  Standing shoulder to shoulder with him in DC and then ducking for cover when they go to their home districts is a tightrope they should not be allowed to walk. 

I agree with Senator Kerry that this White House has “abuse(d) the power of the presidency to reward a donor over the objections of the Senate.”  It might be true that we won’t be able to get rid of them until Jan 2009 and would rather look to the next election for hope.  Unfortunately, they can still do a lot of damage in the next 2 years and these appointments show they will continue to flaunt the will of the people.  We’re going to have to stay vigilant, join our friends at places like afterdowningstreet,org, democracycellproject.org, setadeadline.com, and others, and fight to preserve what’s left of our democracy.