This Ain't Normal

We have had Presidents who weren't too smart....I'm looking at you, W.

We have had Presidents who were racists. I'd guess all of the ones from the South until Carter and Clinton.

We have had Presidents who were crooks. The obvious ones being Nixon and Harding.

We have had Presidents who were liars...probably most of them at one time or another.

We have had Presidents who were fools, bigots, misogynists, sexual predators.

But to combine all of these unfortunate traits in one bloated, orange, circus clown is a first!

And throw in the strong possibility of treason to boot...

I guess this is just another example of that famous American Exceptionalism.

We will get through this--I hope.

But we will never be the same country again.

Because once you let the crazy out of the bottle, it's impossible to put it back in again.

The "Permanent War" Party

The President's Iran deal is bad because, well...

War is the only American export we can always rely on!

And if you take that away from us, and by us I mean our defense contractors, who will be able to bribe our congressmen at the level they've come to expect?

Besides the Koch brothers, I mean.

After all, steak dinners at The Palm don't pay for themselves.

Remember when old Ike warned us about the Military Industrial Complex? (Eisenhower, by the way, was our greatest general who never actually saw combat--which makes him a model for all Republican chickenhawks past, present and future.)

Of course, he warned us as he was going out the door. And after allowing 8 years of non-stop growth for the Complex and their good buddies over at the CIA.

But still...

Anyway, JFK, who had seen combat, was in the process of removing us from Vietnam and reaching out to both Cuba and the USSR when he went down to Dallas.

LBJ quickly undid all that. And some of his Texas buddies made a killing building military bases in Southeast Asia.

Nixon gave us more of the same in Vietnam. Though detente and the opening with China must have scared some of our war lovers silly. Ford was a cypher and a punchline. Carter started the supplying of the mujahedin. Reagan was a godsend for defense contractors, what with the Evil Empire, Iran-Contra, and Star Wars. Like pigs in slop. Old Bush had his war. Clinton was the best Republican president of my lifetime. Dumb Bush/Cheney was another godsend for the war machine, after September 11th gave us a shiny new enemy to carry us forward.

And Obama wants to take some--not all--but some of that, away!

What, is he crazy?

War is what we do best. We've had a lot of practice.

Thank God we have the brave (well, chickenhawk brave) men and women of the Republican Party, and their partners over at Fox News, to stand in the way of anything even remotely looking like peace.

Et Tu Leon?

Another day, another "insider" memoir questioning President Obama's handling of the Bush-Cheney Middle East Morass.

This time it's from Leon Panetta, former CIA chief, former Secretary of Defense, ongoing Clinton family apologist.

Panetta's main criticisms of Obama are these:

A) He didn't argue hard enough for US troops to remain in Iraq. You remember Iraq, don't you? That war that Bush-Cheney lied us into? That multi-trillion dollar dark hole that Hillary Clinton voted for? Yeah, that Iraq. First of all, Bush negotiated the SOFA troop withdrawal--not Obama. Secondly, the government of Iraq didn't want us to leave troops there. Thirdly, the American people were and are sick and tired of that pointless (unless you're Halliburton or Blackwater or a card carrying member of the Military-Industrial Complex) war.

B) He did not arm the Syrian rebels fast enough. Hillary and Leon urged that we arm them in 2012. Of course, even at this late date, no one is really sure which--if any--of the Syrian rebel factions we can trust. For instance, the Syrian rebels included ISIS/ISIL. If we had guessed wrong 2 years ago, and a guess was all it would have been, they'd have even more American weapons than they have now. This would be very good for American arms manufacturers, but perhaps not so good for the security of the region.

C) He should have worked harder to reach compromises with the Congress. (At this point, feel free to give out a long, disgusted sigh).

Apparently Panetta is from the delusional Beltway school that believes that if only Obama had been nicer to the Republicans things would have been different. Played more golf with them, shared a bottle with Boehner now and then, taken Gohmert to the circus. You know, Beltway stuff. If only he had tried a little harder--like Clinton would.

And if only the Jews had been nicer to Hitler things would have been different. You know, invited him to sit Seder or sent him some rugelach for his birthday.

Let's set aside that the entire project of the Republican Party--since before Obama's first inauguration--has been to thwart whatever he proposed. Even those things that were initially Republican proposals. The Republican idea of compromise during the Obama years has always been "do exactly what we want--or we will shut down the government."

Despite what you might hear on Fox News, Iraq is a dangerous bloody mess because Bush-Cheney and their merry band of neo-cons, of which Hillary Clinton is an honorary member, wanted to a) show Poppy Bush how it should've been done; b) get their hands on all that oil; c) help "protect" Israel; d) all of the above. As far as I'm concerned, all the shit since then is on them.

At this point, Leon Panetta is just another Clinton family shill. His every utterance from here on out will be in service of getting Hillary elected and polishing Bill's legacy.

Memories

Of course we all remember when Willard Mitt Romney single-handedly saved the American auto industry. While treasonous Obama and the socialist Democrats dithered, Willard Mitt manfully took charge and brought Detroit back from certain ruin. Ann Romney is just like any working mom.

Nixon ended the Vietnam war in early 1969. He did have a "secret plan"--just like he promised in the campaign. The war didn't drag on for another 6 years and spill over into Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge never happened. Henry Kissinger is a great man.

Ronald Reagan was right about "welfare mothers driving Cadillacs." They were all that was really wrong with America, and once he got rid of them, wages rocketed skyward and the middle class thrived like never before. He correctly identified that "government was the problem" and realized that bankers and brokers always and only have the best interests of the American people at heart. His courageous actions prevented the Sandinistas from conquering all of Latin America and probably Canada, too. Ollie North is a hero.

Only the quick thinking of George H. W. Bush saved us all from being raped and then murdered by Willie Horton. Lee Atwater was a genius.

Bill Clinton was 100% right about NAFTA.  No American jobs have been lost and the Mexican middle class has flourished, turning that country into a stable, safe, law abiding, first world democracy. Ross Perot didn't know what he was talking about.

After the wholly unexpected and completely unpredictable attacks of September 11th, George W. Bush brought us all together with his "compassionate conservatism" and then hunted down and killed Osama Bin Laden. Only his quick action invading Iraq prevented Saddam Hussein from destroying the world with his stockpiles of WMD's. Dick Cheney is a patriot.

Ahhh, memories...