Byrd blasts Bush for 'flamboyant showmanship' with carrier speech
Well, of course it was flamboyant. If you assume the inherent correctness of the theorem "to the victor goes the spoils", then who could blame Shrub for being something less than self-effacing? Am I the only one wondering, though, how many of our tax dollars were wasted so that Shrub could stage a de facto campaign rally??
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Blasting President Bush's "flamboyant showmanship," the Senate's senior Democrat on Tuesday assailed the president for his speech aboard an aircraft carrier last week in which he declared an end to major combat in Iraq.
"President Bush's address to the American people announcing combat victory in Iraq deserved to be marked with solemnity, not extravagance; with gratitude to God, not self-congratulatory gestures," Sen. Robert Byrd, D- West Virginia, said in a sharply worded speech delivered on the Senate floor. "American blood has been shed on foreign soil in defense of the president's policies. This is not some made-for-TV backdrop for a campaign commercial."
Of course, Byrd's comments will be laughed off since Byrd has increasingly become a parody of himself. Nonetheless, the man has a point. Shrub's self-congratulatory junket to the USS Lincoln was little more than a backdrop for a campaign rally. To call it tasteless and disrespectul to those who gave their lives would be an understatement. We have every right to be proud of what our troops have accomplished in Iraq, but Shrub's campaign rally was both immodest, over the top, and devoid of respect to those soldiers who gave their lives.
It's unfortunate that none of the nine puppets currently jostling for the Democratic Presidential nomination had the courage to stand up and say what needed to be said. Of course, they're all living in mortal fear that their patriotism will be questioned. It's less risky to look like a group of bobble-head dolls than to actually take a stand questioning the motives and actions of Our Sainted President. The only candidate who has made even a tentative step in this direction - Howard Dean- has seen his patriotism questioned by John Kerry. It would seem that even the Democrats have no room or tolerance for independent thought. (Explain to me again the purpose of having a two-party system?)
This should come as a shock to no one, but no Democrat is going to be able to beat Shrub in 2004 by attempting to prove that they are more Republican than he is. We need a candidate with some cojones. John Edwards? John Kerry? Al Sharpton? Puh-leeze....
