LITTLE MEN, BIG POWER
America is in the midst of it's own Waterloo. Can’t pay your water utilities, you too will have "no water in your loo".
History presents itself over and over again. Napoleon had his Waterloo. A decisive battle that turned the tides of history and led to his defeat. Sound familiar? Like former President George W. Bush.
Genghis Bush II thought the proper approach to his dad's failure to rid the world of Saddam Hussein and breath democracy into the middle east was a classic ego driven act of stupidity.
Napoleon went after Russia, Bush went after the legacy of the Crusades. A legacy so carefully written about for centuries and documented that even with a Librarian in the White House he never finished the book.
As I predicted these will be tough times for the new government appointed leaders. Bad decisions create bad times. Bad times linger on long after the creator of the bad times is gone.
New administrations inherit a lot of dirty laundry and it will take many loads of wash to clean up this mess and that costs. Hopefully, intelligence will prevail and they will contrast the bungling of the previous administration by removing our sons and daughters from places that nation building is more readily changed by plagues and locusts than the western approach. As someone said to me bombing Afganistan into the fourth century would be an upgrade.
"KATRINA" and the SPERM BANK
It might be based on selecting persons of intellect and common sense, rather than how well the applicant “kept the sperm bank records on Arabian Stallions”.
Those were the credentials of the Bush director of FEMA. He got the job on the recommendation of a Bush friend, to pay back a favor. This applicate with no previous experience in the job, combined with communication problems, an inaccurate chain of command, and poor leadership resulted in the starving, drowning, and displacement of people in scenes reminiscent of the Tsunamis in Indonesia.
Meanwhile the former President is patting him on the back, telling us "What a fine job you are doing Mike Brown". On channels not covering the photo-op they were showing floating bodies in the water and people starving for food and water. Waterloo.
There were many clues to the fact, your leader and mine, our former President was out of the loop, most think of this as his Waterloo. It was just another Waterloo for Bush. The incompetence of the chain of command, the photo-ops contrasted by truth, the press had this debacle covered better than the government knew what was going on, what to do about it, and finally to react.
Thank goodness for the heros of Katrina, a certain General name Honore and the calvary who came to the rescue. The unselfish efforts of the Active/Reserve Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and those wonderful civilians who pitched in to save the day. It was not a shinning moment for the President, his staff, his appointees and anyone else locally, statewide or federal who happened to think they needed camera time.
TOO HARD TO BELIEVE
The 911 attack on the twin towers went down. Our leader was reading children's books in a Florida school and didn't want to be disturbed. Then the Secret Service agent tells him the second building went down. The problem with photo-ops is some times they catch you at a bad moment, all too common in that foo-pah laden administration. Waterloo again and again.
McCAIN'S WATER LOON
Not in touch, looms its ugly head again with McCain when he tells us our economy is sound on Tuesday and the ceiling is falling on his head on Wednesday, bad timing. Then he goes into acting 101 with his hurried trip back to Washington to convince Congress in a series of photo-ops during the stimulus package votes and hopefully the planet. To me I have seen better acting in a cartoon with Mighty Mouse when he sings, "Here I come to Save the Day!" McCain sang that song and crashed into a building because the rope was too short. It was more like, Here I come to save the …SPLATT ! ! ! !
The single reason McCain lost this election is that he was not John McCain. A true American hero, a fighter and a survivor, for that I honor him. I am a big fan of his, not his handlers. Where did he find that crew, I believe the infamous Karl Rove's name pops up… Granted he was a rogue pilot with a mind of his own, and spent five years in a hell hole in Vietnam, but he was shot down, and rule one is check your six, jink often, work with your wingman and so forth. His second biggest mistake was taking twenty of Bush's advisors with him for his campaign. Mitt Romney will learn that lesson in 2012 and for years to come.
They took the dark side, attacking Barack Obama’s birth certificate, his middle name, his religion, all with incredible inaccuracy, We refer to these decisions as Cranial Rectal Dyslexia. It is number one on the standard treatment forms in most Washington hospitals. Note: The second most common ailment in Washington is memory lapse. Occurs every day in Congress.
The commoners had just enough. Unprepared choices, popularity contests, musical skills, and not a brain amongst the candidates. Slogans not answers, rallies, not dispersion of good common sense and new ideas. And many showed a lack of constitutional knowledge, the spine of American Democracy.
THE PUBLIC IS DUMBED DOWN
I divide the blame between the lack of knowledge of the public into searching for the real truth and the deeper lack of knowledge of those running. Today with a polarized media supported by big dollars anything and everything winds up on the TV.
People don't read the papers the last bastion of truth. This election also showed me after countess conversations how few knew the role of the Vice President, especially..Sarah Palin, the candidate running for the job. She was asked point blank what is the role of the Vice President, she didn't have a clue.
Had it all wrong on TV in front of millions. That floored me. No one is that ignorant of a position you apply for. It's basically quite simple and I believe the shortest swearing in of all the federal positions. Who is the Vice President? "The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution indirectly elected by the people through the Electoral College to a four-year term.
What is his job: "The vice president is the first person in the presidential line of succession, ascending to the presidency upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president. If the president is not able to assume his job the Vice President would have to assume the role of Commander in Chief." Simple? Very.
Lets look at her coaching. She was heavily coached by Joe Lieberman, the Dean of Side Switching in the Congressional Senate. I once wrote that if Lieberman threw a coin in the air to decide something, it would neither be heads, nor tails. He would catch it and sell it. At first I though it was a joke. It seems there was a bunch of ignorance in the McCain camp. It turns out the Drama queen had a bad drama coach.
McCains publicity chief Nancy Mitchell Pfotenhauer was formerly executive Vice President at Citizens for a Sound Economy, President of Independent Women's Forum (IWF) and Americans For Prosperity. Great title, very impressive and a really pretty gal. Thats her strongest attribute, her looks. Chris Mathews of Hardball had her on his show and after she went through the usual talking points, he asked her the same question PALIN was asked. As a senior advisor to Sen. John McCain she didn’t have the right answer either.
Here is her reply; PFOTENHAUER: That's right. That's right. Well, I mean, obviously the role of the Vice President is to support the President, but to also to preside when necessary over the US Senate. Wrong and wrong.
Where do we find these buffoons and the buffoons who sponsor them?
The Vice Presidential oath is the shortest in the Congress for the 2nd in command of the executive branch.
The Vice President is the first person in the presidential line of succession, and would ascend to the Presidency upon the death, resignation, or removal of the President.
Under the Constitution, the Vice President is President of the United States Senate. He does not actually preside over the Senate, he is a tie breaker because the senate is an even number. In that capacity, he or she is allowed to vote in the Senate when necessary to break a tie.
While Senate customs have created supermajority rules that have diminished this Constitutional power, the Vice President still retains the ability to influence legislation Pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the Vice President presides over the joint session of Congress when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College.