We're just under six weeks away from the biggest election of our times: George W. Bush v. John Kerry. And I've become slightly less than biased in this (can you tell?)
I really started off somewhat unbiased, trying to keep a level head and just watch it all from the sidelines, reporting what I see. But I guess I would make a lousy reporter, getting emotionally involved in the situation, wearing my bias on my sleeve. No station would ever hire me with my mixing opinion with fact. Well, except maybe Fox News. But they're obviously of the opposite opinion, so they likely wouldn't hire me either.
But thinking about the role of the reporters in this election brings me to Dan Rather. The last I read, people were calling for Rather's head on a stick, or at least his resignation. I'm not quite sure why though. He's a reporter. He reports. One night, he reported that his team had in their possession some papers which called into question W's war-time service, or lack of. As far as he knew, the papers were legitimate. So he went on the air and did his job, he reported. As we all know, the documents turned out to be fake. So explain why it's so much HIS fault that Rather should be fired?
Devil's advocate time. A leader of a team receives information that, to the best of his knowledge, is true. He acts on this information in a manner that proves to be disastrous to everyone involved, including people not on the team who rely on this man for his leadership. The information turns out to be entirely false. Should this leader be vanquished? How about his team that was responsible for the information in the first place? Would you still be answering "yes" to this, knowing that George W. Bush was the example, not Dan Rather?
See, W did the same things Rather did (if you believe his saying that he believed the Intelligence gathered pre-Iraq to be true ... and not that W. knew there were no weapons and no links to 9/11 but lied to get into Iraq). Of course, nobody died when Rather lied. Not true for George. And it's that kind of hypocrisy that has be so terribly biased this election.
It's not because I'm a Democrat, because I'm not. I'm a registered "non-partisan" which, in Nevada, is even less committal that voting as an Independent. They actually have an organization. Nope, I'm non-partisan. It is my earnest opinion that all politicians, by definition of their job, are full of shit, and are not to be trusted. The only reason to vote in the first place is to stand behind the guy who's selling the shit that smells the best to you. Whose bullshit SOUNDS better? Whose bullshit is more along the lines of your OWN bullshit. It's the reason I voted for Clinton. Twice. I LIKED his bullshit. It was MY KIND of bullshit. His faults were my kind of faults, except the whole "I didn't inhale thing". His fault there was not knowing how to properly smoke the ganj, and that's shameful. But in this election, after having witnessed four years of Bush's bullshit, I can't take anymore.
Let's just shorten it, shall we? Let's just call it "Bushit". It's easier. It's got a nice ring to it. At this point, I'd take the bullshit spewed forth by Miss Cleo instead of having to deal with more Bushit. So it's not at all surprising that I'm taken in my Kerry's bullshit. I LIKE his bullshit. There's some Hope in his bullshit. It's on the way.
For example: the original Bushit concept of "No Child Left Behind" was great. When W. cut taxes to that program after establishing it, making it entirely impossible, it made for a very clear sign of what W. thinks of education in this country. Now, Kerry says he's got a plan for education, and I read it, and it's not too bad. Is it bullshit? Quite possibly. Does it sound a lot better than hearing Bush say "no child left behind" again knowing that he already cut funding from it, and that he plans on cutting another $1.6 Billion from the program again in 2005? You're God damned right, it does. At least there's some hope of SOME progress in Kerry's bullshit.
And speaking God damning things...
W. got the election handed to him in Florida where, voters were turned away, disenfranchised, or otherwise confused, votes were counted and miscounted and remiscounted, and his brother was the Governor presiding over all of it. So how many hurricanes has Florida been hit with recently? How much damage is being done there? How many people have been killed?
Now, personally, I don't think God does shit like that, smiting people and all. But George W. Bush and the rest of the Christian Fundamentalists in this country DO think that way. Everything from winning the lottery to losing a limb or two is God's will. God does punish the wicked, especially the gay, with things like AIDS. So, if you follow my logic paired with theirs, I think God is pretty pissed at Florida. And at Bush. I think God may be tired of all the Bushit as well. That, or Allah really does hate us and is doing his part to kill off Americans.
Hey, you never know, do you? It's our god versus theirs, in a battle to see who has the biggest invisible friend. "My god can beat up your god." According to both sides, the Almighty, whatever name you call her, is on their side, guiding them to righteous victory over infidels and terrorists. Another lesson in Bushit: God is on our side. I believe that like I believe that one day, all the faithful are going to be sucked right out of their Reebok Classics and up to the right hand of God in Heaven to watch the plagues and tortures that befall His enemies on Earth. That sounds about as realistic as spending eternity in a paradise with 72 virgins, doesn't it? Well, if you don't know... Bush believes in the Rapture. That day when he'll be pulled from the planet to meet God and watch... who? the terrorists be punished? The Arabs? Muslims? Hell... JEWS?
Yes kids, our great leader believes in fairy tales like that one. He lives his life like one too. He sends our soldiers off to foreign land to rescue the poor form the evil dictators and expects them to be treated like knights on white horses. Well, we see how well that's turning out, don't we? Fairy tales aren't real, George. even if fairies are
Now, back home, we have an election coming up to decide who is the best person to lead us in this time of trouble. On one hand we have the person who GOT US INTO this time of trouble. On the other we have a man who has been knee deep in rice patties doing everything he can to get him and his team OUT of trouble.
Do you choose the man who started a war in a country over false pretenses, turned a self-defense reaction into an offensive against a person who never attacked us, and has caused over 1000 Americans to die for this unknown cause? Do you choose the man who ignored public opinion, both in his own country, and all over the world, effectively alienating us from the majority of the world's population? The man who did all of this while ignoring the problems his own country has, and has done nothing but divert funds meant to fix our country into this war, changing the best economy into the worst economy even seen? and smallest deficit into the biggest deficit the country's ever seen?
Or do you choose the man who thinks the whole thing was a terrible mistake and wants to do whatever it takes to correct it? Who realizes that mistakes have been made and need to be corrected? Who understand war and the costs of war, both political, monetary, and human? The man who wants this country to be respected again, rather than feared and loathed? The man who actually has a plan to take care of healthcare, education, the environment, AND national security?
It's your decision. You have to live with it. Unfortunately, so do the rest of us. Personally, I'll hang on to my bias and spew forth my own bullshit. And I'll cast my vote for the man who I think actually has a clue as to what might make me sleep better at night, proud to be an American, and able to say that I live in the best place on Earth. Because for the last four years, I can't say any of those have been true.
No more Bushit.
I really started off somewhat unbiased, trying to keep a level head and just watch it all from the sidelines, reporting what I see. But I guess I would make a lousy reporter, getting emotionally involved in the situation, wearing my bias on my sleeve. No station would ever hire me with my mixing opinion with fact. Well, except maybe Fox News. But they're obviously of the opposite opinion, so they likely wouldn't hire me either.
But thinking about the role of the reporters in this election brings me to Dan Rather. The last I read, people were calling for Rather's head on a stick, or at least his resignation. I'm not quite sure why though. He's a reporter. He reports. One night, he reported that his team had in their possession some papers which called into question W's war-time service, or lack of. As far as he knew, the papers were legitimate. So he went on the air and did his job, he reported. As we all know, the documents turned out to be fake. So explain why it's so much HIS fault that Rather should be fired?
Devil's advocate time. A leader of a team receives information that, to the best of his knowledge, is true. He acts on this information in a manner that proves to be disastrous to everyone involved, including people not on the team who rely on this man for his leadership. The information turns out to be entirely false. Should this leader be vanquished? How about his team that was responsible for the information in the first place? Would you still be answering "yes" to this, knowing that George W. Bush was the example, not Dan Rather?
See, W did the same things Rather did (if you believe his saying that he believed the Intelligence gathered pre-Iraq to be true ... and not that W. knew there were no weapons and no links to 9/11 but lied to get into Iraq). Of course, nobody died when Rather lied. Not true for George. And it's that kind of hypocrisy that has be so terribly biased this election.
It's not because I'm a Democrat, because I'm not. I'm a registered "non-partisan" which, in Nevada, is even less committal that voting as an Independent. They actually have an organization. Nope, I'm non-partisan. It is my earnest opinion that all politicians, by definition of their job, are full of shit, and are not to be trusted. The only reason to vote in the first place is to stand behind the guy who's selling the shit that smells the best to you. Whose bullshit SOUNDS better? Whose bullshit is more along the lines of your OWN bullshit. It's the reason I voted for Clinton. Twice. I LIKED his bullshit. It was MY KIND of bullshit. His faults were my kind of faults, except the whole "I didn't inhale thing". His fault there was not knowing how to properly smoke the ganj, and that's shameful. But in this election, after having witnessed four years of Bush's bullshit, I can't take anymore.
Let's just shorten it, shall we? Let's just call it "Bushit". It's easier. It's got a nice ring to it. At this point, I'd take the bullshit spewed forth by Miss Cleo instead of having to deal with more Bushit. So it's not at all surprising that I'm taken in my Kerry's bullshit. I LIKE his bullshit. There's some Hope in his bullshit. It's on the way.
For example: the original Bushit concept of "No Child Left Behind" was great. When W. cut taxes to that program after establishing it, making it entirely impossible, it made for a very clear sign of what W. thinks of education in this country. Now, Kerry says he's got a plan for education, and I read it, and it's not too bad. Is it bullshit? Quite possibly. Does it sound a lot better than hearing Bush say "no child left behind" again knowing that he already cut funding from it, and that he plans on cutting another $1.6 Billion from the program again in 2005? You're God damned right, it does. At least there's some hope of SOME progress in Kerry's bullshit.
And speaking God damning things...
W. got the election handed to him in Florida where, voters were turned away, disenfranchised, or otherwise confused, votes were counted and miscounted and remiscounted, and his brother was the Governor presiding over all of it. So how many hurricanes has Florida been hit with recently? How much damage is being done there? How many people have been killed?
Now, personally, I don't think God does shit like that, smiting people and all. But George W. Bush and the rest of the Christian Fundamentalists in this country DO think that way. Everything from winning the lottery to losing a limb or two is God's will. God does punish the wicked, especially the gay, with things like AIDS. So, if you follow my logic paired with theirs, I think God is pretty pissed at Florida. And at Bush. I think God may be tired of all the Bushit as well. That, or Allah really does hate us and is doing his part to kill off Americans.
Hey, you never know, do you? It's our god versus theirs, in a battle to see who has the biggest invisible friend. "My god can beat up your god." According to both sides, the Almighty, whatever name you call her, is on their side, guiding them to righteous victory over infidels and terrorists. Another lesson in Bushit: God is on our side. I believe that like I believe that one day, all the faithful are going to be sucked right out of their Reebok Classics and up to the right hand of God in Heaven to watch the plagues and tortures that befall His enemies on Earth. That sounds about as realistic as spending eternity in a paradise with 72 virgins, doesn't it? Well, if you don't know... Bush believes in the Rapture. That day when he'll be pulled from the planet to meet God and watch... who? the terrorists be punished? The Arabs? Muslims? Hell... JEWS?
Yes kids, our great leader believes in fairy tales like that one. He lives his life like one too. He sends our soldiers off to foreign land to rescue the poor form the evil dictators and expects them to be treated like knights on white horses. Well, we see how well that's turning out, don't we? Fairy tales aren't real, George. even if fairies are
Now, back home, we have an election coming up to decide who is the best person to lead us in this time of trouble. On one hand we have the person who GOT US INTO this time of trouble. On the other we have a man who has been knee deep in rice patties doing everything he can to get him and his team OUT of trouble.
Do you choose the man who started a war in a country over false pretenses, turned a self-defense reaction into an offensive against a person who never attacked us, and has caused over 1000 Americans to die for this unknown cause? Do you choose the man who ignored public opinion, both in his own country, and all over the world, effectively alienating us from the majority of the world's population? The man who did all of this while ignoring the problems his own country has, and has done nothing but divert funds meant to fix our country into this war, changing the best economy into the worst economy even seen? and smallest deficit into the biggest deficit the country's ever seen?
Or do you choose the man who thinks the whole thing was a terrible mistake and wants to do whatever it takes to correct it? Who realizes that mistakes have been made and need to be corrected? Who understand war and the costs of war, both political, monetary, and human? The man who wants this country to be respected again, rather than feared and loathed? The man who actually has a plan to take care of healthcare, education, the environment, AND national security?
It's your decision. You have to live with it. Unfortunately, so do the rest of us. Personally, I'll hang on to my bias and spew forth my own bullshit. And I'll cast my vote for the man who I think actually has a clue as to what might make me sleep better at night, proud to be an American, and able to say that I live in the best place on Earth. Because for the last four years, I can't say any of those have been true.
No more Bushit.
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