BYE, GEORGE
Bush 43 has stumbled on so many fronts it’s impossible to list them all; however, here are a few
BY KEN WARD

Ken Ward is opinion page editor of the Press Journal in Vero Beach, Fla. A Las Vegas resident from 1990-2002, he was a freelance columnist with the R-J and assistant managing editor at the Sun. E-mail him at kenricward@juno.com  Other stories by Ken Ward

Jimmy Carter calls George W. Bush the worst president in history (talk about the pot calling the kettle black), but why should the ol’ peanut farmer care? Bush, like his father, is giving the country to Democrats on a platter.

You don’t have to question the feckless war in Iraq to reach this conclusion. Heck, every Republican presidential hopeful has criticized Mr. Mission Accomplished for mismanaging that campaign.

Bush 43 has stumbled on so many fronts it’s impossible to list them all here. From the incompetent Alberto Gonzales to the vacuous Harriet Meiers, this president can be judged by the company he keeps. He seems as oblivious as Dad, who couldn’t keep a promise and didn’t recognize a grocery store bar-code scanner when he saw one.

That this mediocre front man graduated from Yale and belonged to the secret, elite Skull & Bones Society reveals an American aristocracy as inbred and addled as latter-day Rome’s. Indeed, the allusions to Empire are haunting.

From our porous borders to the pandering in Washington, Bush and his neocon minders have fatally compromised the security and sovereignty of this nation. While the commander-in-chief makes war across the globe, he’s left us wide open to terrorists, tuberculosis and the flotsam and jetsam of the Third World.

Alternately posturing as a “compassionate conservative” and a tough-minded leader, he is neither. And, make no mistake, the Republican Party is paying for this charade.

To be fair, Bush’s miscues, bad as they are, are hardly exceptional. The other side of the two-party coin trafficks in the same gimmickry of “democracy” and global capitalism — which ensure more economic colonialism, bogus trade deals and perpetual war.

Anyone who truly believes that Democrats offer anything substantially different lives in hyper-partisan La-La Land. The only difference is that the donkey will get us to full-blown socialism one day earlier than the elephant.

So why should it matter? Bush … Kerry … McCain … Clinton II — they’re all fundamentally the same stooges playing a political duopoly game.

Regrettably, this is not a new phenomenon.

Back in 1920, H.L. Mencken, writing in the Baltimore Evening Sun, observed the perversion of democracy and a paucity of good presidential timber: “As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.’’

Sarcasm aside, can there be any question that the talent pool is drying up? Is there any doubt that the system is stuck on stupid?

In ways that even Mencken could not imagine, corporate hegemony (splitting cash evenly between the parties) and universal suffrage (keep those multilingual ballots coming) have commoditized democracy like Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi.

Ultimately, this corporatized democracy delivers mediocrity. And, just as with our government schools, that’s by design because mediocre minds are more easily manipulated. Whether its developers at the county commission, gamers at the Legislature or Zionists on Capitol Hill, the fix is in.

There’s no coincidence that Papa Bush and Bill Clinton are globe-trotting best buddies, or that Junior enlists Ted Kennedy to gin up yet another amnesty scheme. When such coziness becomes too blatant, eccentric goofballs like Jimmy Carter spout off to distract the masses and keep the misdirection game going.

The media are an essential part of this sham. Magnifying Bush’s faults — as if that’s difficult to do — the press primes the public for regime change. Playing his role (im)perfectly, Bush implodes politically. Having squandered his momentary majority, the advantage shifts to the Democrats under alternating-possession rules. 

This would be amusing puppet mastery if the stakes weren’t so high. The United States once was the world’s best hope for liberty and freedom. Today, our national sovereignty has slipped more badly than Paris Hilton’s jeans. Indeed, the only thing the current White House occupant appears to have in common with our inaugural president is his first name. No fan of political parties in his day, Mr. Washington may well look on at the Rovian machinations and say: “I told you so.”