Today's (Sunday) editorial section of the Arizona Republic(an) has yet another editorial by Doug MacEachern that proves many things.  Primarily, it proves Doug(easier to type than your last name, forgive me) still can't admit that he was wrong when he voted for the dumb rich guy instead of the smart rich guy, and the whole country is suffering for it.

It also proves that Doug cannot admit a mistake, or maybe, like his hero, Dubya, he can't think of one he ever made. 

In this right-wing diatribe, Doug does come close to admitting W is a failure as a president . . . when he says things like, "It is not enough that the Bushies fumbled the prosecution of the war . . ." right there, there is some hope.  He implies that he knows W is incompetent, and/or those around him are.  At the end, he mentions failures with Abu Ghraib and Katrina.  Doug, herein you almost have credibility.

But he can't seem to accept that his dearly beloved president would lie to him . . . it seems to upset Doug that others say Bush lied us into war.  Or maybe he is upset people think W lied about other things as well.  Odd, the right-wingers who excel at name-calling, can't stand to have one of their own called something less than honest?

I would think by now, he would understand that ALL presidents lie.  The issue is, what do they lie about, and who gets killed or impoverished because of the lies?

Did George (keeping to first names here) tell the truth about his National Guard Service?  Why are there no records from his time in Alabama?  He said on TV that, "I made an arrangement to get out eight months early."  OK.  Where's the letter?  Where's the authorization. . .  or did he simply blow it off and go to Harvard (after being refused admission to U. of Texas Law School).

Did George tell the truth about the sale of his Harken Energy Oil Company stock?  He said at first that he did file, as required, but the SEC lost the papers.  Then he said his lawyers lost them. Maybe it helps when your Daddy can nominate the head of the SEC . . . .

Did he tell the truth about balancing the budget?

Did the Clean Air Act make the air cleaner?

Dit the Healthy Forest Initiative improve the state of the land?

Tell the truth about having compassion for the victims of Katrina? (or did he play golf and do fund-raising?).

Compassion for troops killed, by attending a funeral?  No on that, too.

In the run up (there's a term) to the Iraq War . . . or call it the Oil Wars if you like . . . did Doug's hero, W, tell the truth about weapons of mass destruction, mushroom clouds, Iraq's association or participation in 9-11 attacks . . . or links to Al Qaeda, or Powell's speech at the U.N. with those nifty drawings of mobile chemical labs?

ONE IMPORTANT THING MISSING (OTHER THAN FACTS OR REASON) FROM DOUG'S ARTICLE IS THIS:

He does not mention the DOWNING STREET MEMOS.  We know that the Italians forged the Niger uranium documents and offered them, or it, to the U. S.  It seems our CIA didn't believe them.

SO WHY DID W, IN THE STATE OF THE UNION, SAY IT WAS THE BRITISH INTELLIGENCE WHO SAID SADDAM WAS GETTING URANIUM FROM NIGER?  Have we heard the term, "plausible deniability?"

Another lie, Doug, and again, you buy it.  You drink the kool aid that is offered to you.  Maybe you truly believe in George Bush . . . too bad, I would have hoped a "journalist," to use the term most loosely, as I live in Arizona, would be concerned with the facts . . .

THE DOWNING STREET MEMOS prove Bush and Blair lied about the war.  This is why the Scooter Libby trial, and Valerie Plame, are important.  It is not about a personal attack.  Plame worked on issues of NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION  especially in Iraq and Iran.  She and her husband knew the truth . . . that Bush and his whole team were lying . . . that is why Libby is the fall guy for outing her and trying to discredit Wilson's article in the NYT.  The outing goes higher.  The memos and the Wilsons both proved the reasons for war were all lies . . .  but Doug and some others still can't admit it . . . or face it . . . just like little Georgie at that press conference where he said he could not think of a single mistake he had made . . . somehow I want to throw in something about Georgie's Mom saying that the poor people living on the floor of the Astrodome were doing better than they were at home . .  "this is working out well for them . . ." but it doesn't really fit, so let's leave the Bush family character issues (there are many examples) out of it . . . heh heh.

At least Democrats, years ago, finally realized that one of theirs, President Lyndon Johnson, was a professional liar, and was getting kids killed for insane reasons, all based on the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which Congress bought, most all rushing, Dem and Rep alike, to prove who was more patriotic by voting to "authorize military force" agains Vietnam in retaliation . . . cowards . . . it was not a "Declaration of War" as the Constitution requires . . . and yes, after 9-11, OUR NATIONAL BLOOD WAS UP . . . . and we repeated the same mistake, with Georgie in the White House, and his cabal of NeoCon chickenhawks whispering in his ear . .

George Bush might have been conned by those guys the same way MacEachern seems to be still conned by ol' likeable, affable, good ol' Connecticut-Texan, rich boy gone bad, the one with no apparent personal history before the age of 40 when he saw the light in a Denny's... and no one talks about anything he did before the age of 40 . . was that it ? 

I don't usually rant like this, but don't have the time, and the article I respond to is not worth it, to craft an expository essay first, and work it over to improve it, before posting it, as I prefer to do.

I usually don't read Mac's stuff either, especially not since a while ago when he postulated that raising the minimum wage was bad . . . for poor people  . . . . but when our major paper puts his right-wing fantasy crap on the front page of the section, instead of maybe in the comics or some other suitable place (obits?) . . . I am compelled to respond . . .

Forgive my lack of polish on this . . .  and write on.

--KZ