George Dubya Bush, during his illustrious career as head of the most undemocratic administration ever, managed to chalk up at least 950 days avoiding work at the office. Even Ronald Reagan didn't have the guts to indulge himself in that much slacker-time.
Even so, Bush and his cohorts made indelible scars upon democracy almost from the start of their highly questionable acquisition of high office. By January 2001 Vice President Cheney was setting the tone of the nation's energy policy with the secret input of oil executives. Then poor Bush had to cut his month-long vaction short in March to listen to the annoying briefing that Osama bin Laden was determined to attack the US. He snorted that the report was unimportant. But after the September attack Bush feigned indignation at the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, saying, "This crusade, this war on terrorism..." was going to take time. By December, even though the terroists were known to be working out of Afghanistan, the White House was fully immersed in plans for invading oil-rich Iraq!
In January 2002 Bush sneered that Geneva Conventions didn't apply to any war plans that he had, and stated that he was, to quote, "not that concerned with finding bin Laden." Filled with democratic zeal the Bush crowd then asked the NSA to begin warrantless wiretaps. By August Bush's lawyers in the Justice Department had drafted the "torture memo."
In the 2003 State of the Union message, Bush falsely declared that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, which an apologist later shrugged aside with the statement that Bush "is not a fact checker." And by March Bush got his "preemptive war" going by dangling the carrot of "missles of mass destruction" in Iraq before a doubting public, and Vice President Cheney's of company, Halliburton, was made recipient of a five year $7 billion NO BID contract in Iraq. As looting quickly became rampant in Bagdad, Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld shrugged it off with "stuff happens." By May, Bush theatrically declared "Mission Accomplished."
2004: as hundreds of US soldiers died in Bush's extended "mission accomplished" farce, the White House forced the news media to withhold all photos of flag-draped coffins of fallen service men being returned home. In May it was disclosed that the White House had created fake news reports in an attempt to privatize Medicare and link it with the stock market. And in June Dick Cheney was still publicly pretending that Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda were in cahoots.
2005 saw administration dealings kept well concealed. Useful in this was such "humane" illusions as Bush's much publicized "pro-life" move to keep Terri Schiavo on life support system. In June the reality of global warming was edited out of all reports by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. November of 2005 found Congress being lied to about all the secret meetings that oil executives continued to have with Cheney.
In January 2006 Bush blatantly lied "I don't know him" in reference to Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In February a top climate scientist was, in effect, barred from publicly explaining the dangers of climate chages. In April six retired generals publicly advised that Rumsfeld should resign. As hurricane Katrina roared toward New Orleans in August, the FEMA staff was actually ordered to stand down! Bush later tried to sidestep poor management of the disaster by saying that no one thought the levees protecting New Orleans would give way. However, videos later came to light that the Bush crowd had been warned about the possibility of levee collapse. As 2006 was closing (December), seven US Attorneys were illegally herded into resigning for not being "loyal Bushies."
In February of 2007 the public was shocked to learn that care for wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital included cockroaches, mouse droppings, and outright neglect. March saw the extent of Abramoff's dealings (whom Bush "didn't know") with with Department of Interior's number two man, J. Steven Griles, pleading guilty of related obstruction of justice tactics for Abramoff. In April, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Congress investigating the circumstances of the seven US Attorneys being illegally forced to resign that "I don't recall" for a total of 64 times. In June, Cheney sought to excuse himself from his covert dealing by claiming he was not part of the executive branch! In August it came to light that the CIA's secret prisons used torture methods that violated national and international law. By December all CIA waterboarding video tapes had been destroyed, and Congressional Democrats were demanding to know why.
March of 2008 found Bush whizzing through Afghanistan where he told the genuine defenders of democracy, "I'm a little envious of you." In May the Special Counsel office, the office supposedly established to protect federal whistleblowers, was raided by the FBI only to find that all files on whistleblowers had been erased. To show his great affinity with US service persons, Bush claimed that he hadn't golfed since August of 2003. He apparently forgot his October '03 golf game. June news revealed the eighty percent of "liberal" applicants considered for hire by the Department of Justice were illegally discriminated against. And in July it was disclosed by an ex-Environmental Protection Agency official that the public report on climate change had been edited by Cheney's office. Meanwhile, Karl Rove, Bush's strategist, thumbed his nose at the subpoena handed down by the House.
The last remaining days of Bush-league politics are sure to hold some more fancy footwork--especially in setting up of elaborate pardons to avoid the responsibility for the countless deceits and profiteering that this administration has spawned. Let us pray that true justice is at last served again once the Bush administration's corruption is swept out.
