(cross-posted to The Agonist)
I took a long hard look the latest Newsweek poll that came out yesterday. It’s a rather damning indictment of the last six-plus years of Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader’s reign of error…and it also says a lot about just how low our standards really are.
Yeah, there are a lot of numbers and the inevitable attempts to spin those numbers. Even so, the results did yield some interesting insights:
A majority of Americans believe Bush is not politically courageous: 55 percent vs. 40 percent.
[N]early two out of three Americans (62 percent) believe his recent actions in Iraq show he is “stubborn and unwilling to admit his mistakes,” compared to 30 percent who say Bush’s actions demonstrate that he is “willing to take political risks to do what’s right.”
All of the candidates can perhaps take some solace in Americans’ dissatisfaction with the way things are going in the United States at this time (only 25 percent are satisfied; 71 percent dissatisfied). American dissatisfaction ratings last hit 71 in the NEWSWEEK poll in May 2006, at the height of the scandal over secret government wiretapping inside the United States. The last time that even half of our survey respondents were happy with the direction of the country was in April 2003, shortly after the start of the Iraq war. With that many unhappy Americans, the nation should have a strong appetite for new leaders and new ideas.
Interesting isn’t it? A majority of American believe that Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © is simultaneously lacking in political courage and too stubborn to own up to it when he’s made a mistake. This for a President in the middle of his second term. Frankly, I think this tells us more about the American Sheeple than it does The Worst President EVER © .
Somewhere along the line, we as a people lost our ability to demand the very best from our leaders. We’ve allowed Republican hacks like the late Lee Atwater, Roger Ailes, and Karl Rove to use any and every dirty trick to smear candidates who legitimately have something to offer. We’ve become willing to settle for the lowest common denominator- Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush because we as Americans have shown that we just don’t want to do the heavy lifting of thinking critically.
Certainly, we deserve better…not that we actually care enought to demand it….
When Rush Limbaugh is accepted as an authority on anything, when Bill O’Reilly is given a forum from which to spew hatred and gratuitous insults, and when harridans like Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin reach millions with their newspaper columns filled with hate and disinformation, what does that say about America? I’m not saying that anyone with half a brain should vote Democratic (though I wouldn’t argue with that sentiment). What I am saying is that we’ve become a nation of sheep, willing to be led by those who would appeal to our baser instincts- our fear, ignorance, and hatred of those who are “different”.
More than 54 million Americans voted for King George the Worst © in 2004, even though the war in Iraq was a mess. Of course, it didn’t help that Democrats fielded a candidate in John Kerry who wouldn’t recognize passion if it bit him on the ass. Instead of attempting to address the issues facing this country, Bush relied on his surrogates- Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and Fox News Channel, chief among them- to roll out the propaganda.
Karl Rove and his lieutenants understood a basic truth initially recognized by Josef Goebbels- The Big Lie. Rove understands the power of repetition, in that it really doesn’t matter if this message is true or not. Repeat it often enough, and it will eventually become the truth in the minds of the sheeple. Thus John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War hero, came to be viewed by many Americans as a coward. No one bothered to ask about Commander Codpiece’s © Vietnam War record. In the end, the war hero became a coward, and a coward became a legitimate hero and brave, insightful leader.
Truth may be the first casualty of war, but it’s also the first casualty of politics when Republicans are allowed to frame the propaganda debate. The Republican Noise Machine understands that they cannot compete on the issues. What they can do, however, is to be meaner, louder, and more arrogant than Democrats. Silly…we’ve actually thought that debating the issues was the right thing to do. Perhaps we should spend more time reading Machiavelli and less time on Miss Manners.
While this may be a despicable approach to determining the political direction of our great nation, the sad reality is that IT WORKS. Why? Because Americans either don’t want to be bothered with the critical thinking required to evaluate the issues and candidates…or they just don’t care. They vote Republican because they always have, or because they’re the ones wrapping themselves in flag and faith. Negative advertising is used because IT WORKS…and it’s certainly easier and more rewarding that trafficking in the truth or debating the issues.
The difference between Democrats and Republicans is really very simple: Democrats want to make the world a better place, while Republicans are interested in only one thing- political power. Until Democrats managed to grasp this reality, and learn how to use it to combat Republican propaganda and fear-mongering, we will always be on the bottom looking up.
We’ve lost more than 3,000 of our sons and daughters because we couldn’t be bothered to demand accountability from our leaders. We couldn’t be bothered to get off our collective ass long enough to ask the questions that are crying to be asked: WHAT’S THE PLAN? WHAT ARE WE ACCOMPLISHING? IF “MAJOR COMBAT OPERATIONS” ENDED FOUR YEARS AGO, THEN WHAT IN THE HELL ARE WE WRAPPED UP IN??” HOW MANY MORE HAVE TO DIE? HOW MANY MORE LIVES WILL BE WASTED?
Yes, Our Glorious and Benevolent © bears responsibilty for the lies, the propaganda, and the criminal mismanagement of the war in Iraq. Ultimately, though, we have only ourselves to blame for being too stupid and lazy to THINK about what’s been done in our name.
IF A PRESIDENT CAN BE IMPEACHED FOR GETTING HIS HELMET POLISHED BY A ZAFTIG INTERN, SHOULDN’T WE BE ABLE TO EXPECT THE SAME FOR A PRESIDENT WHOSE LIES AND INCOMPETENCE HAVE KILLED MORE THAN 3,000 OF OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS?
If you’re not outraged, you’re simply not paying attention. Clearly, most of us haven’t been paying any attention at all. We’ve been too busy slapping magnetic ribbons on our SUVs.
