From Tragedy to Citizenshi​p

Here's a tragic story with happy ending thanks to Congressman Rush Holt. This story was the subject of his latest newsltter: 

In my office in West Windsor last Friday, officials from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services joined me in hosting a swearing-in ceremony for five women who had traveled a long pathway from tragedy to citizenship.


When Waqar Hasan came to the United States in 1993, he did so in search of a better life for his family. His wife, Durreshahwar, and four daughters, Nida, Asna, Anum, and Iqra, followed a year later, and the family settled in Milltown.

They epitomized the hardworking, optimistic spirit that immigrants have always brought to this country. And they were on their path to citizenship when Waqar Hasan lost his life for no other reason than he was a Muslim with a “Middle Eastern” face.

An angry young man walked into Waqar’s convenience store in Dallas, Texas on the night of September 15, 2001, four days after the 9/11 attacks, ordered two hamburgers, and then shot the 46-year-old father of four in the face with a .380 caliber handgun. Nothing was taken from the store. When asked by police why he shot Waqar, 32-year-old Mark Anthony Stroman expressed no remorse. “I did what every American wanted to do but didn’t.”

His death would have ended his family’s path to citizenship – but in 2004, Congress passed and President Bush signed a bill that I wrote to allow the Hasans to stay in the United States and to become American citizens.

Statement of Rep. Rush Holt, Oath of Citizenship Ceremony, March 16, 2012

Let’s not lose sight that this ceremony is, first, about five individuals. These five, like one million others each year, now formally tie their futures to the future of the United States of America. These five individuals – Duri, Nida, Asna, Anum, and Iqra – are taking the oath to be citizens of the United States.

In a real sense, though, this is about the United States of America as much as it is about these five women. These five were tied to America long before today. They have considered themselves American. And the United States of America has had an obligation to them for many years.

Today we see hope coming out of tragedy, a fair result out of an insane injustice, and compassionate concern out of impersonal laws and regulations. The USA intends to provide and strives to give hope, fairness, and compassion; but these are not automatic. Cruel fate or happenstance often threatens to crush hope and opportunity. Irrational human passions and prejudices can thwart justice and fairness. The demands of life in a busy, complicated society and the exigencies of a complicated legal code can crowd out compassion.

All across the country America reacted in dismay when they heard in September 2001 the news of the hate crime that took the life of Pakistan-born Waqar Hasan. When they learned that the murderer committed his brutality as a perverse retaliation for the attacks of September 11, as an act of twisted patriotism, they knew this was a blot on our country. And all Americans felt the pangs even more deeply when they learned that Waqar Hasan left behind a struggling widow and four little girls.

For most Americans that was the end of the story, as they went back to their busy lives. The wheels of justice will turn and take care of this, they thought. What they did not think about was that the United States had already incurred an obligation to the Hasan family. Nor did they consider how impersonal the law can be.

Duri Hasan and her four little girls were subject to immediate deportation because they had been in the U.S. legally only by virtue of Mr. Hasan’s working papers. He had taken the first steps to become an American citizen, but when he died, the family’s visas and their hopes of American citizenship died with him. He was building his future and theirs in America. They were already Americans in every sense but the legal sense. This was the country the girls knew. Mrs. Hasan was working hard so that her family could make it in America. The girls were studying in school and growing up like so many million other American girls. It was apparent to those of us who got to know them that these are brave, industrious people, the kind of people our country is made of. In the laws of this country there was no exception. It required a new law to create a place for this family.

Waqar Hasan was a victim of the hate of September 11 as much as the thousands of others we mourned then and now, but he and his family might have been forgotten. The law did not include a provision recognizing that obligation our nation had incurred. Still, many Americans did not forget this fine American family. They rallied to support them in their struggles and to make a place for them in our society and our country. Human rights advocates, religious organizations, and concerned neighbors and strangers from around the country pushed for special legislation that was eventually signed by President Bush in the fall of 2004. Today, finally, hope, fairness, and compassion prevail. It is wonderful and heartwarming to see this family here today becoming full-fledged, official citizens of the United States of America.

The people of the United States and our government have an odd attitude toward immigration and immigrants. Often forgetting our own origins, and even our own best interests, we resist diversity and even lash out against others, like ourselves, because we mistakenly think they are not like ourselves. Our country has a founding commitment and history of openness, however, punctuated with many instances of rejection, bias, and hatred. The historical record is very clear that openness toward immigrants and policies of inclusion have benefited us greatly. Yet human prejudices too often break through. We see it around the country even today. Today, here in New Jersey, though, we recognize and celebrate the realization of the aspirations of these five Americans—and the aspirations that Waqar Hasan had for his family – and we recognize the successful functioning—ultimately—of American law.

We must not forget that year by year over two centuries the United State of America has moved by means of laws to overcome these prejudices of humans and the impersonal forces of society to create opportunity and fairness and to build a compassionate and supportive society for each person. This is not a country that says, “You are on your own.”

We must lift our lamp by the golden door, but also keep the door and our laws and our hearts open.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt

Member of Congress

Poll: Bush still blamed for economy

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

More Americans blame the Bush administration for the nation's economic troubles than the Obama administration, according to a new poll.

(CNN) - More than a year after President George W. Bush left office, more Americans continue to blame his administration over any other entity for the nation's economic woes, according to a new poll.

In a New York Times/CBS News survey out Friday, 31 percent of Americans said the Bush administration is at fault for the current state of the economy while only 7 percent pointed their finger at President Obama and his team.

An additional 23 percent said the fault lies with Wall Street institutions while 13 percent assign the blame to Congress. Nearly 10 percent said the blame lies with all of them.

In a CNN/Opinion Research poll released last November, the public appeared split on who should be blamed if economic conditions don't approve: 47 percent said Bush and congressional Republicans while 45 percent said Obama and congressional Democrats.

"The public still tends to blame the Republicans for current economic conditions," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "But looking forward is another matter. Americans think the GOP is responsible for getting us into this mess, but they think both parties are responsible for getting us out of it."

The poll, conducted February 5-10, interviewed 1,084 Americans and carries a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Was Christie A Pay-to-Play "Pioneer"

The latest Corzine '09 campaign ad that was released today clarifies the connections between Chris Christie and his "Pioneer" status for his massive political contributions to George Bush, and his subsequently being named as U.S. Attorney—a classic example of pay to play. Once he purchased his office, Christie brazenly awarded his political allies and fellow Bush cronies millions in no bid contracts.

Here are the Facts:

Chris Christie was a George W. Bush Pioneer and helped raise over $350,000 for Bush. Gannett News Service, in 2003, asked, “What motivates a ranger or pioneer?” One of their answers was, “there's political patronage as well. Three of Bush's 21 New Jersey pioneers in 2000 won presidential appointments. Former Republican congressman William Martini was named a federal judge, Internet communications executive Clifford Sobel was named ambassador to the Netherlands, and former Morris County Freeholder Christopher Christie was named New Jersey's top federal prosecutor.” The Star Ledger, in 2004, also indentified Christie as a Bush Pioneer. According to the New York Times, “He became counsel to the Bush campaign in New Jersey in 2000, while joining Mr. Palatucci to raise more than $350,000.” The Washington Post and Bergen Record have also reported that Christie helped raise $350,000 for George W. Bush [Gannett News Service, 11/7/03; Star Ledger, 11/19/04;New York Times, 7/21/04; Washington Post, 11/27/02; Asbury Park Press, Bergen Record, 10/10/02]

Chris Christie was named U.S. Attorney in return for his Bush fundraising. A Star Ledger editorial, in 2001, decried Christie’s appointment to U.S. Attorney and stated, “What Christie brings to the table is excellent political connections. He has energetically raised money for various candidates, including George W. Bush in 2000, and his mentor and law partner is William Palatucci, a friend of the President and a powerful figure in the state GOP… It is common for U.S. attorneys to have political ties, but Christie's party links are closer than most. This is a patronage appointment, plain and simple. This is a distinguished position, one of the most important jobs in the state. It should not become a political plum.” The New York times reported that “after the Bush victory, Mr. [Bill] Palatucci sent Mr. Christie's resume to Karl Rove, the president's chief strategist. Mr. Bush, who dubbed Mr. Christie ''Big Boy'' (an apparent reference to his hulking frame), chose him for United States attorney.” [Star Ledger, 9/7/01; New York Times, 7/21/04]

Christie went soft on crime by refusing to indict companies that ripped off the American public. Chris Christie decided not to indict several companies; instead, he gave them deferred prosecutions agreements. As the Gloucester County Times noted, these “agreements basically let potential corporate criminals go free in exchange for paying millions to have ‘monitors’ oversee their affected operations.” In an editorial titled “Going Soft on Corporate Crime,” the New York Times described deferred prosecution agreements as “cozy deals” and wrote, “Federal prosecutors have been regularly offering settlements to companies for wrongdoing that, in previous administrations, would likely have led to criminal charges. It is another disturbing example of how [the Bush] administration has taken the justice out of the Justice Department…. The cost [of deferred prosecution agreements] to the public and the rule of law is too high. If corporations believe that they can negotiate their way out of a prosecution, the deterrent effect of the criminal law will inevitably be weakened.” [Gloucester County Times, 6/27/09; Associated Press, 6/24/09; New York Times, 4/10/08]

Chris Christie awarded Bush cronies millions in no-bid contracts. “When the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey needed to find an outside lawyer to monitor a large corporation willing to settle criminal charges out of court last fall, he turned to former Attorney General John Ashcroft, his onetime boss. With no public notice and no bidding, the company awarded Mr. Ashcroft an 18-month contract worth $28 million to $52 million…. The New Jersey prosecutor, United States Attorney Christopher J. Christie, directed similar monitoring contracts last year to two other former Justice Department colleagues from the Bush administration, as well as to a former Republican state attorney general in New Jersey.” [New York Times, 1/10/08]

Chris Christie is pushing for the same Bush economic policies that wrecked our economy. Chris Christie’s proposed economic policies include Bush re-treads such as tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations and opposition to government regulations that protect the public. Christie has pledged to cut income taxes for the “very top of the wage scale.” Christie has also said “it will be a priority for the Christie administration to reduce corporate business tax rates.” While Christie has been vague on specifics, he has consistently voiced broad opposition to government regulations and has said he will “rollback,” “rescind” and “freeze” New Jersey regulations. The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance regulations include “consumer protections through the regulation of 16 types of businesses that provide a variety of consumer financial services.” The Department regulates “state-chartered credit unions through on-site examinations and report filings to ensure safety and soundness, as well as compliance with applicable state and federal laws.” [Fox News, Neil Cavuto, 5/4/09; 55 Way Chris Christie Will Fix New Jersey, http://www.votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=459712&keyword=&phrase=&contain=; Gannet News, 5/16/09; 88 Ways Chris Christie Will Fix New Jersey, New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, http://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_banking/index.htm

Christie is recklessly calling for tax cuts without a plan to pay for them – just like Bush. The Philadelphia Inquirer opined, “Christie, incredibly, says if elected he will cut income taxes and corporate taxes across the board. Sound good? You bet it does. But as this governor's race progresses, Christie will need to fill in a few gaps of his own. He stands to inherit the same conditions that have been battering New Jersey's economy for the past two years. For example, how would Christie balance the state budget while lowering revenue further through tax cuts? Corzine will have cut the budget in absolute dollars two years in a row. That's unprecedented in any state, and especially in New Jersey. Tax cuts would require even deeper budget reductions by Christie. That's not to say it can't be done, but Christie was deliberately vague during the Republican primary campaign about how he intends to achieve even bigger savings in Trenton.... coasting time is over for Christie. Now, he must tell voters with specificity how he would tackle the same long-term problems more effectively.” [Philadelphia Inquirer 6/7/09]

The number of unemployed Americans has increased by more than 7 million since the recession began. According to the U.S Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.2 million.” [Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit

The Jesse Ventura Smackdown Interview with Hannity

If you haven't scene this awesome smackdown of Sean Hannity by the one and only Jesse " The Body" Ventura, former Governor of Minnesota, then you are in for a real treat.

Ventura puts Hannity in his place over a number of issues, from the "Obama deficit", 9/11 and Monica Lewinsky.

Hannity literally does not know where to go and he looks foolish trying to defend President Bush and laughing at the notion hat Barack Obama is a very intelligent man because he can read off a teleprompter- something that Hannity does everyday.

Justice Has Been Served: Iraq shoe thrower sentenced to three years in jail

My buddies and I were just talking about the Iraqi shoe thrower yesterday at work, we were wondering what ever happened to him. The last we heard he had became some kind of Islamic cult hero.

Today Reuters News Service is following up on the story and reports that he has finally been sentenced to 3 years in prison for his vicious attack on President Bush.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A Baghdad court sentenced an Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at former U.S. president George W. Bush to three years in prison on Thursday.

Muntazer al-Zaidi worked for Al-Baghdadiya television, and earned instant worldwide fame when he threw his shoes at Bush at a news conference in December, calling him a dog.

"This sentence is harsh and is not in harmony with the law, and eventually the defense team will contest this in the appeals court," said Dhiaa al-Saadi, the head of Zaidi's defense team.

Zaidi's sister Ruqaiya burst into tears, shouting "Down with Maliki, the agent of the Americans," referring to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Zaidi's brother, Uday, said the verdict was politically motivated.
(Reporting by Waleed Ibrahim, Writing by Mohammed Abbas: Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

The Transition

Inauguration Day

Here's the official schedule of events:

President-elect Barack Obama, Mrs. Obama, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden for church services tomorrow morning at St. John's Episcopal Church. The President-elect will not speak during the services.

Following the services, President-elect Obama, Mrs. Obama, Vice President-elect Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will have coffee with President Bush, Mrs. Bush, Vice President Cheney, Mrs. Cheney and members of the House and Senate leadership at the White House. The coffee is closed to the press.

President-elect Obama, Mrs. Obama, Vice President-elect Biden and Mrs. Biden will travel with President Bush and Mrs. Bush, Vice-President Cheney and Mrs. Cheney to the Capitol. Vice President-elect Biden will be sworn in by Associate Justice John Paul Stevens. President-elect Obama will be sworn in by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. at 11:30 AM ET. Mrs. Obama will carry the Lincoln Bible to the platform and hold it while the oath of office is administered. President Obama will deliver his Inaugural Address at approximately 12 PM ET.

The new President will then proceed to the Capitol where he will sign cabinet secretary nomination certificates. A pool from the Joint Committee on Congressional Ceremonies will be present for the signing ceremony and for the remarks at the Inaugural Lunch that will follow. The Senate Press Gallery is determining the pool. The President and First Lady, Vice President and Second Lady will then proceed to the East Front of the Capitol for the Review of the Troops, before the beginning of the Inaugural Parade.

The President and First Lady will travel with the Presidential Escort to the Presidential Reviewing Stand where they will meet up with their daughters and the Biden family to watch the rest of the parade.

The President and First Lady will attend all ten official Inaugural balls. The President will speak briefly at all ten balls.

- Political Wire

The Bush Years

NBC News compiles a devastating list of statistics to show what the United States looked like when George W. Bush entered office in January 2001 and what it looks like today as he's leaving. The numbers are striking, here are a few:

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
Then: 4.2% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2001)
Now: 6.7% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 2008)

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE
Then: 10,587 (close of Friday, Jan. 19, 2001)
Now: 9,015 (close of Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009)

FAMILIES LIVING IN POVERTY
Then: 6.4 million (Census numbers for 2000)
Now: 7.6 million (Census numbers for 2007 -- most recent numbers available)

AMERICANS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE
Then: 39.8 million (Census numbers for 2000)
Now: 45.7 million (Census numbers for 2007 -- most recent available)

U.S. BUDGET (deficit)
Then: +236.2 billion (2000, Congressional Budget Office)
Now: -$1.2 trillion (projected figure for 2009, Congressional Budget Office)

Where Do We Go from Here?

Sen. Bernie Sanders  from Vermont has an interesting essay posted on the Hill's Congress blog today. It outlines some of the failures of the past eight years and what will be waiting for Barack Obama when he takes office on January 20th. 

Sanders also lists a few initiatives that he will be working on in the Senate come the new year, it's good stuff:

The next few months will be a pivotal period in the history of the United States and for much of the world. The Bush Administration, perhaps the most reactionary and incompetent that our country has ever seen, is leaving office after eight disastrous years. President Barack Obama and an increased Democratic majority take power amidst the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The decisions that are made early on will send an important signal as to whether Obama’s campaign of “hope” and “change” will be seriously pursued and realized, or whether the power of the Big Money interests will persist — regardless of which president is in office or which party has the majority. Will a new president and a new and more Democratic Congress finally respond to the needs of the middle class and working families of our country, or will Wall Street, insurance and drug companies, the military-industrial-complex, the oil and coal companies, big media, and the other powerful special interests continue to hold sway?

Here are just a few of the issues that President Obama, the Congress and all Americans must confront:

The middle class is continuing its steep decline with unemployment soaring, and millions of people in danger of losing their homes, savings, and health insurance. The dream of a college education is fading away for many working families as college costs go up while incomes go down. This year, as a result of the economic downturn, the bailout of Wall Street, ongoing tax breaks for the very rich and the war in Iraq, our nation will have a record-breaking deficit and a huge $10.4 trillion national debt. The United States continues to have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country, and the most unequal distribution of wealth and income.

As a result of Wall Street greed, recklessness, and dishonesty, our entire financial system is in danger of collapsing. The taxpayers of this country have seen trillions of their dollars placed at risk in the largest bailout in world history.

Our incredibly inefficient health care system is disintegrating. Despite spending far more per capita than any other country, 47 million Americans have no health insurance. Even more are underinsured. And we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

Finish reading Berinie Sanders's blog posting >>>Here

Bush's Books: 95 read in 3 Years?

Can anyone believe this? I certainly can't, it's just to unbelievable to take seriously.

The presidential point man in charge of President Bush's legacy project, Karl Rove, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Mr. Bush has read 95 books in the past 3 years!

However, Rove claims victory in their book reading competition, having read 110.

Writes Rove: "The president lamely insisted he'd lost because he'd been busy as Leader of the Free World."

Now unless Mr. Bush has read "My pet goat" 95 times I find this highly unlikely. The President would have had to have read nearly six books a month over 3 years to reach the 95 books that Mr. Rove claims the president has read. 

After reading so many books when would have the president had time to read all of those daily briefings or newspapers that he must read. 

 After all, when asked by reporters over the years to name a book that he has read, President Bush has had a hard time naming anything other than the Bible. 

I agree with others on this one, I think that Mr. Rove is just a pathological liar trying to shed a new light on Bush's legacy.

Quote of the Day: Further Evidence of Bush's Arrogance & Ignorance

"So what?"

-- President Bush, when told by Martha Raddatz that al Qaeda is only in Iraq as a result of the American invasion. Bush was trying to use al Qaeda's presence in the country as justification for the invasion and continuing occupation.

-Political Wire

Santa takes out Bin Laden

Somewhere in Waziristan, our most unfavorite Terrorist has put a Jihad out on Santa, unfortunately for him Santa finds him first.

Which leads me to ask, if Santa could find Osama Bin Laden so easily how come George Bush couldn't?

Quote of the Day

If this doesn't qualify as an overstatement, I don't know what does.

"I'm just a simple president."

-- President Bush, in an interview with ABC News.

Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Suit

Bush Grants 14 Pardons, Two Commutations

From the Hill- Leading the News
President Bush on Monday granted what could be a first round of pardons for a number of convicted criminals before he leaves office in January.

Bush granted 14 pardons and two commutations Monday. Speculation has swirled around whether the president will grant a full pardon to I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, after commuting his sentence in 2007 for committing perjury in the CIA leak investigation. In addition, Bush could grant some form of executive clemency to a number of Republican congressmen who have been convicted and jailed for corruption.

But no big Washington names were present in the batch of pardons released by the Justice Department on Monday. Instead, many small-time criminals benefited from Bush’s pardon power. Several drug dealers, a bank embezzler and even someone who violated the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act saw their criminal records wiped clean by the White House.

Additional high-profile figures have petitioned the Justice Department’s Office of the U.S. Pardon Attorney, such as media baron Conrad Black and "America Taliban" John Walker Lindh. Several lawmakers have also pushed for Bush to weigh in on behalf of Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos, two U.S. Border Patrol agents who have been sentenced to prison after shooting a Mexican drug smuggler during a routine border stop three years ago.

Bush has not been known to be generous with his power to wave away a criminal record, though. The president has now pardoned 171 individuals and commuted sentences for eight people, a relatively small number compared to past administrations.

Funny Man Bush, Are We Really Going To Miss Him?

Here's a little Friday fun, a handfull of blooper videos of some of President Bush's more unforgettable moments. Enjoy!

 

Bush: Obama win ‘a triumph of the American story’

The Hill - Leading the News

President Bush on Saturday used his first post-election radio address to praise Democratic President-elect Barack Obama, saying that he “represents a triumph of the American story.”

Bush added that the Illinois senator’s victory is a “testament to hard work, optimism, and faith in the enduring promise of our nation.”

The president noted that the wartime transition of power will be the first in four decades and pledged that making it as seamless is possible would be a “priority for the rest of my time in office.”
Bush also pointed to other challenges facing Obama.

“Our country faces economic challenges that will not pause to let a new president settle in,” he stated, adding, “We’re in a struggle against violent extremists determined to attack us -- and they would like nothing more than to exploit this period of change to harm the American people.”

The president detailed steps he had taken to make sure that the transition is successful, such as “fully informing” Obama of any important decision he makes.

“Taken together, these measures represent an unprecedented effort to ensure continuity throughout the executive branch,” he stated.

Obama, in his first address as president-elect, also had kind words for Bush, saying that the current president “graciously offered his full support and assistance in this period of transition.

“Michelle and I look forward to meeting with him and the First Lady on Monday to begin that process,” Obama stated. “This speaks to a fundamental recognition that here in America we can compete vigorously in elections and challenge each other’s ideas, yet come together in service of a common purpose once the voting is done.”

Nowhere man: a farewell to Dubya, all-time loser in presidential history

by Simon Schama - the Guardian

"Forgotten but not gone" was the way in which the supremo of Boston politics, Billy Bulger, liked to dismiss the human irritants he had crushed beneath his trim boot. The same could now be said for the hapless 43rd President of the United States as the daylight draws mercifully in on his reign of misfortune and calamity. How is he bearing up, one wonders, as the candidate from his own party treats him as the carrier of some sort of infectious political disease? How telling was it that the most impassioned moment in John McCain's performance in the final debate was when he declared: "I am not George Bush."

Where, O where are you, Dubya, as the action passes you by like a jet skirting dirty weather? Are you roaming the lonely corridors of the White House in search of a friendly shoulder around which to clap your affable arm? Are you sweating it out on the treadmill, hurt and confused as to why the man everyone wanted to have a beer (or Coke) with, who swept to re-election four years ago, has been downgraded to all-time loser in presidential history, stuck there in the bush leagues along with the likes of James Buchanan and Warren Harding? Or are you whacking brush in Crawford, where the locals now make a point of telling visitors that George W never really was from hereabouts anyroad.

Whatever else his legacy, the man who called himself "the decider" has left some gripping history. The last eight years have been so rich in epic imperial hubris that it would take a reborn Gibbon to do justice to the fall. It should be said right away that amid the landscape of smoking craters there are one or two sprigs of decency that have been planted: record amounts of financial help given to Aids-blighted countries of Africa; immigration reform that would have offered an amnesty to illegals and given them a secure path to citizenship, had not those efforts hit the reef of intransigence in Bush's own party. And no one can argue with the fact that since 9/11 the United States has not been attacked on its home territory by jihadi terrorists; though whether or not that security is more illusory than real is, to put it mildly, open to debate.

Bet against that there is the matter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian casualties, more than 4,000 American troops dead, many times that gravely injured, not to mention the puncture wounds and mutilations inflicted on internationally agreed standards of humane conduct for prisoners - and on the protection of domestic liberties enshrined in the American constitution. If the Statue of Liberty were alive, she would be weeping tears of blood.

If Bush himself has been largely kept out of sight, his baleful legacy has been visible in the McCain campaign. McCain has made much of his credentials for independence of mind, a claim which once was credible given his support for immigration reform and opposition to Bush's tax cuts. But somewhere along the road to the Republican nomination, all of this became less important than the lessons of the Reagan-Bush-Rove political playbook which, with the exception of the Clinton election of 1992, seemed to have a track record of unbroken success.

McCain knew this from bitter personal experience, having been on the receiving end of Bush lowball politics in the South Carolina primary in 2000. Coming out of a convincing win against George Bush in New Hampshire he was stopped in his tracks by a smear campaign conducted through push-poll phone calls in which people were asked whether they knew that the daughter McCain had adopted from Sri Lanka was in fact the illegitimate child of an affair with a woman of colour. Now you would think McCain could never reconcile himself to a politician capable of those kinds of tactics. But there he was in the campaign of 2004, stumping the country for the incumbent, ingratiating himself with the conservative base he knew he would need, even as his old Vietnam buddy, John Kerry, was being coated in slime by the Swift Boaters.

Whatever misgivings McCain might have had about adopting the hardball tactics of his 2000 adversary have long since disappeared before the blandishments of classic Bush-style operatives like Rick Davis and Stephen Schmidt. "Do you want to be pure, or do you want to win"? they must have asked right after the nomination. Ditching Joe Lieberman as a running mate and unleashing pitbull Palin was his answer.

So even while George Bush is kept at arm's length from the campaign, his campaign style lives on as Obama is stigmatised as a terrorist-friendly stealth-socialist, too deeply unAmerican to be let anywhere near the Oval Office. "He just doesn't see America as we do" says Sarah Palin trying to wink her way into Dick Cheney's seat. McCain is betting the house that this way of doing politics has at least one more hurrah left in it, and we will find out on in the early hours of Wednesday morning whether he is right.

The Bush presidency is the spectre haunting the feast in more than tactics. Although every conservative administration since Ronald Reagan has promised to deliver, through supply-side stimulation, economic growth without bloated deficits, they have never been vindicated in their blind faith in what Bush senior once rashly called "voodoo economics". Consistently, they have brought the US Wall Street crashes and recessions along with massive deficits; and yet somehow, the stake that history attempts to drive through the heart of their economic theology never puts the ghoul away.

No weight of evidence to the contrary has ever shaken the totemic belief that tax cuts can grow the economy robustly enough to compensate for drastic shortfalls in revenue. George W Bush clung to this belief even as the Clinton budget surplus was converted into a mountainous deficit, and John McCain continues to parrot the same belief with the shining face of a true believer.

Not even Gibbon could supply a story as fatefully bizarre as the ultimate consummation of Reagan-Bush conservatism, its last act: the most massive shift of financial power from the private to the public sector since the New Deal. Rather like the Pope deciding that all along he really wanted a barmitzvah.

If you look at this saga as the history of a dynasty; it's come full circle. For, believe it or not, there once was a time when Bush politics was about centrist moderation. Dubya's revered granddad, Prescott Sheldon Bush, son of an Ohio railroad executive and senator for Connecticut from 1952 to 1963, was punished in the Catholic towns of industrial Connecticut for his connection with Planned Parenthood. Not only that, but he was a trustee of the United Negro College Fund, the kind of institution that made the eventual career of Barack Obama conceivable.

But the Bushes have always been selective about idealism. And even at the height of the Kennedy-Johnson apogee, Prescott and George Herbert Walker Bush were turning the pages of Barry Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative. They could smell the wind direction changing. The future of Republican money and Republican power lay elsewhere; with Texas oil. Hence the migration to Midland Texas of George Herbert Walker Bush and his makeover into a Texan who knew the ways of the corporate world; and how to bring about the Great Cosiness between government and business that seemed like the perfect feedback loop: money to power, power to money; tax breaks for the corporations; donations to those who might command the heights.

This is the politics George W Bush inherited, and he has been its faithful disciple; to the point of purging it of any remaining traces of pragmatism. It is astounding to hear rightwing talkshow bloviators rant about the predicament of the Bush administration being caused by its failure to carry out the true conservative agenda. For there never has been and never will be a more doctrinally faithful instrument of the creed. Never mind the hanging chads of 2000, the Cheney-Bush administration seized the moment to bring on the Goldwater-Reagan Rapture in which government was once and for all got out of the way of business.

So it hasn't really been all George Bush's fault, the stupendous American fiasco. He came to power armed with an ideology that was about to crash and burn; that was, years before the present tumult, already fatally disconnected from historical reality. It was on his watch that American government needed reinventing. It was responsible government that was needed in Iraq and Afghanistan; government that was desperately needed in New Orleans after Katrina, while all George Bush could manage was a fly-by. It is government that this most anti-governmental of all American administrations is learning that is needed now to save the United States from a second Depression.

In his heart of hearts I actually think the shell-shocked Dubya, somewhere in the bowels of his presidency knows this. But he is nowhere to be found, and so on goes the mad rant that health care reform and progressive taxes are the Trojan horse for socialist revolution. To which those who have another view altogether might want to say, fear not, for yours, as a Republican president once said, is a government of the people, by the people. And really it will not perish from the earth.

President Bush on SNL Last Night

President Bush (A.K.A. Will Ferrell) made a suprise appearence on last night's special election coverage edition of Saturday Night Live. It was extremely funny and if you missed it, watch it here.

A bad day for the GOP on politics, bailout plan

(AP) - Even for a party whose president suffers dismal approval ratings, whose legislative wing lost control of Congress and whose presidential nominee trails in the polls, it was a remarkably bad day for Republicans.
A White House summit meeting on Thursday meant to shore up John McCain's shaky campaign "devolved into a contentious shouting match." And that's how McCain's own campaign described it.

The meeting revealed that President Bush's $700 billion bid to combat the worst financial crisis in decades had been suddenly sidetracked by fellow Republicans in the House, who refused to embrace a plan that appeared close to acceptance by the Senate and most House Democrats.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson begged Democratic participants not to disclose how badly the meeting had gone, dropping to one knee in a teasing way to make his point according to witnesses....

Read the full story Here !