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Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 07:21:41 PM EST
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Last Night in Little Rock sent me this earlier today. It was written by someone named Harry Humphries in July, 2002 2004. Bottom line: It's always someone else's fault:

It's the liberals. It's the ACLU. It's Clinton. It's Monica. It's the "climate of permissiveness". It's France. It's the liberal media. It's Clinton's p*nis. It's Hillary. It's Gov. Dean. We never could have known they'd fly planes into buildings. "No actionable intelligence". They didn't tell us to do anything. O'Neill's lying. Clarke's lying. General Shinseki's lying. The Union of Concerned Scientists is lying. Our own weapons inspector David Kay's lying. Wilson's lying. John Dean's lying. Everyone's lying but us. We had to lie. We never lied.

It's Janet Jackson's boobs. It's the Statue of Justice's boobs. No one told us about the abuse. It's a few rogue soldiers. Reading the news might cloud my judgement. It's the "decade our government...blinded itself to our enemies". It's the homosexuals wanting to marry. "Restore honor and dignity to the White House". A decision to go to war wasn't a decision to go to war. "No actionable intelligence". It's the pledge of allegiance. They're taking God out of America. Osama didn't tell us when and how he'd attack. The 9/11 panel is biased against us. Saddam = Al Qaida. Saddam = Al Qaida.

Chalabi's an honorable man and I believe everything he says about WMDs. Chalaibi's a crook and he passed secrets to Iran. Chalabi's the liberals' fault because they didn't shoot us when we started using his "intelligence".

It's all these former staffers hawking their books. Money never corrupted anyone. "I'm a uniter, not a divider!" It's the stem cells. It's the feminazis, the intellectual elitists, and the ecoterrorists."

It's Cthulhu. It's the martians.

It's anybody but Bush.

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    Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned | 15 comments (15 topical)
    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:04 PM EST
    It's FEMA. It's Michael Brown. It's poor people on welfare. It's the Army Corps of Engineers. It's the mayor. The Governor. The Senator. It's God's fault.

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#2)
    by Darryl Pearce on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:04 PM EST
    ...check the message. It was actually posted in July, 2004. ...and yes, I agree with it all.

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:04 PM EST
    I think this happened in 2004, not 2002. It references "abuse" which would have been Abu Ghraib in 2004. It also references Janet Jackson's boobs, which would have been 2004 also.

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#4)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:04 PM EST
    I refer to it as people who are Above or Below the Line. You can also think about it in terms of Winners and Losers. I’m going to describe for you the 3 characteristics of people who are above or below the line. As we go through this, rate yourself on where you would describe yourself. People who are above the line have 3 consistent characteristics. Firstly, they take Ownership of things that they do, or take part in. That means they’re committed to the Results. When they play a game, they try their absolute best. And if they have a project at work , they take it seriously. Now, linked to that is Accountability. Because they take Ownership, they’re Accountable for their actions. They know and accept that good or bad, it comes down to them, and they’ll do what it takes to fix things. The third Characteristic after Ownership and Accountability is Responsibility. It would follow that someone who was above the line in all their dealings would understand that they were also responsible for their actions. In fact, you’d never hear someone who was above the line say “ Hey, its not my fault, why should I have to fix it?” Actually, a statement like that would come from someone who was Below the line. If we refer to people who are above the line as “winners”, these people often get referred to as “losers”. You can use three key words to outline the description of people who are Below the Line. These people place Blame, Make Excuses, and are in Denial. Who’s picture just flashed through your mind?.... People who are Below the line place Blame on things that happen. That is, they don’t take any ownership of problems or challenges. They also make Excuses. These excuses are generally to tell others how they couldn’t possibly get something done….like show up to work on time. And when someone is below the line, they’re in Denial. You see nothing is their fault, they’re perfect. Here’s a not-so-imaginary conversation with someone who’s below the line. Lets say they’re late for work all the time. You’ve asked them about it, and here’s your answer. “Well, It not my fault…traffic is so bad. They’ve been working on the highway for a month now, and it makes me late every day… When you’re below the line, you’re so firmly in Denial that it doesn’t even occur to you that you might have to do something different to keep your commitments. Now that you understand theses types of people, I’d hope you were honest enough with yourself to know if you are truly above or below the line. If you’re a business owner or manager, you set the tone in your business. Stay above the line…it’s a lot more fun up here!

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#5)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:05 PM EST
    Stay above the line…it’s a lot more fun up here!
    it also requires a lot more work, which takes away from your vacation time. "you can't always go with the bush you want, you just have to go with the bush you have", or something like that.

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#6)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:05 PM EST
    Edger, I think you have absolutely nailed it. That is so, so true.

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#7)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:05 PM EST
    Its the antiwar critics. Noone knew the levees would break. And don't forget Poland.

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#8)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:05 PM EST
    edger - Written like a true consultant.
    "Jingles, jangles and bright shiny words.. Oh how they shine so. Listen to everything I claim to know... Jingles, jangles amd bright shiny words.."
    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#10)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:05 PM EST
    Jim:
    "Jingles, jangles and bright shiny words.. Oh how they shine so. Listen to everything I claim to know... Jingles, jangles amd bright shiny words.."
    Hey, Jim... I knowed there was poetry hidden in your soul! Have a good day, man!

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:05 PM EST
    Charley asked: have you ever accepted the blame for the destruction of black families caused by our welfare programs? First, you'd have to show that welfare programs destroy black families. I've never seen this done successfully, though I have seen a number of racist arguments that purport to do so. how about the AIDS crisis created by sexual promiscuity? Actually, the AIDS crisis was created by Reagan's administration failing to treat a disease that appeared to be killing only haemophilics, gay men, IV drug addicts, and Haitians, as all that important. Classically, Reagan's administration decided that a disease that was only killing off unimportant people could be disregarded. And unfortunately, we all have to live with the consequences of that decision. have you ever thought about how wrong you were in criticizing Reagan as a warmonger for standing up to the Soviet Union Have you ever thought about how come you ever bought into this myth about Reagan? Reagan was fortunate enough to be President of the US at the same time as Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Soviet Union. If any single person can take credit for the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it's Gorbachev: to attempt to credit Reagan's funding of terrorism and aggressive attacks on other countries with the end of the Soviet Union is American revisionism at its weirdest.

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:06 PM EST
    Charley: all of the wrongthinking leftist talking points, both domestic and foreign, in one post. You know, it would have saved me at least ten minutes of valuable blogging time if I'd just responded to your comment at September 20, 2005 08:12 AM, with "wow - all of the wrongthinking rightist talking points, both domestic and foreign, in one post". You may not agree with my refutations of your "wrongthinking rightist talking points", but given that I took the trouble to refute you in some detail, you can at least find the time to (a) find a non-racist argument that shows that welfare programs destroy black families (if you can): (b) show how Reagan's failure to respond early enough to the first news of the AIDS crisis was not responsible for it turning into a crisis. Here's a timeline that may help you figure it out: (c) ...no, I'm not really interested in reading yet another clever explanation of how Reagan funding terrorists in South America and Afghanistan somehow ended the Soviet Union. Go read a biography of Mikhail Gorbachev and do some thinking. Or, you know, just give up.

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:06 PM EST
    Charley: -welfare check acted as substitute for family and provided disincentive for forming family(husband=no check) Ah. But (a) you forgot to explain why that only applies to black families and (b) that's certainly an argument against means-tested welfare for single mothers only. I suppose you support welfare checks to all families with children living below the poverty line (naturally, checks that continue until the family is safely above the poverty line even without the welfare checks), regardless of whether they're single or dually parented? If not, what is your argument? in fact, we can ignore the facts Well, yes, you certainly seem to intend to with regard to the history of the Soviet Union. AIDS-you still have to go back to the fact that sexual promiscuity in the gay community led to its outbreak in that community Actually, no. HIV can be transferred by a single sexual encounter. Promiscuity does not "cause" or "lead to" AIDS: providing all partners practice safe sex, a person can be as promiscuous as they prefer without getting infected, whereas a single unprotected encounter with an infected individual can lead to the virus being transferred. Unfortunately, Reagan's administration chose to assume that it was unimportant that gays, addicts, haemophiliacs, and Haitians were dying, until there was an extremely large pool of infected people - to all our misfortune.

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#14)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:07 PM EST
    Some of you conservatives seem to be in a sour mood for some reason. After all, you control the Presidency, the House, the Senate, and the Courts. Where is that golden age thats been promised once Republicans are elected? You know I'm willing to bet that if every Democrat who ran for election was defeated, a few members of your party would have to switch so that you could have someone to blame besides yourselves.

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#15)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:09 PM EST
    john horse:
    ...you control the Presidency, the House, the Senate, and the Courts. Where is that golden age thats been promised once Republicans are elected?blockquote> Good points, and question, John... I think we're living it right now, aren't we? Well..? Hmmm..?

    Re: Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned (none / 0) (#16)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:14 PM EST
    He wanted to hang out with Bianca Jagger and party down
    "now that he's back on the sauce"
    "I've never even met the bastard," said the 60-year old ex-wife of Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger. "Unless it was during my blackout period . . . or his blackout period. Was he ever involved with David Bowie?"
    billmon

    Anyone But Bush: How Little We've Learned | 15 comments (15 topical)