Posted on 11/12/2005 5:36:04 AM PST by FerdieMurphy
It is time we all face a few facts: The political establishment in Washington DC -- both Republicans and Democrats -- has grown into a lazy, lying, manipulative and dirty machine which is surely destroying our country.
The so-called mainstream media (MSM) is an adjunct to this corrupt machine. Instead of asking questions in behalf of the American people, the MSM has become the propaganda arm of the politicians of both parties who lie constantly.
Let’s take Iraq: last week’s column, WAR BASED ON LIES, has prompted numerous emails from good readers (so many, in fact, that they can’t all be answered individually).
That column opined that, in order to start the war in Iraq, the Political Establishment in DC harnessed the anger and fear from a still-fresh-in-our-hearts 9/11 attack to ‘pivot’ and aim - not at Osama Bin Laden - but at Saddam Hussein (even though he and Iraq had nothing at all to do with the 9/11 attacks).
So the Political Establishment - with the complicity of the so-called MSM - ran a concerted campaign using leaked intelligence to scare the bejesus out of the American people until almost everyone believed Saddam was just minutes away from attacking us with WMD and pilotless drones that could fly from Iraq to the United States mainland.
Almost every elected politician in DC - Republican and Democrat - fell in line and parroted the accepted line that Saddam had these weapons and therefore we had to pre-emptively invade before he attacked us. John Kerry - ever the political prostitute - just loved the opportunity to expunge his pacifistic past and appear to be a war hawk; so, too, Hillary Clinton looked like General George Patton calling for even more troops than Don Rumsfeld wanted.
One thing you all need to know: Members of the House and Senate are the single most pathetic group of people you will ever meet. They are weak, mealy-mouthed ‘followers,’ who haven’t had an original idea in their lifetimes. No wonder a Senator hasn’t been elected president since JFK in 1960; Capitol Hill is the worst place to learn about America and the American people.
So when this so-called ‘intelligence’ of WMD began to miraculously surface almost daily in the MSM in the summer and fall of 2002, the Congress was more than happy to hide behind it in a pathetic display of ‘one-upmanship,’ whereby every member of the House and Senate fell over themselves to warn Iraq that they better turn over their WMD or else.
OK. Now it is years later and no WMD have been found. None. Many readers have been claiming that in fact we did find WMD in Iraq - some claim 500 tons of uranium and several tons of enriched uranium. Let us be clear about something: GW Bush is in severe political trouble - in great part because the American public has soured on Iraq. If our troops had found any WMD - especially enriched uranium or anything else of this nature - the White House would have the President over there standing next to it in the greatest PR offensive in history to vindicate him for going to war!!!
It is a myth that we have found anything. And it is a myth that assuages many people’s guilt over supporting an invasion based on false claims.
This Administration does not even claim to have found WMD. They have abandoned that line when it proved to be too embarrassing.
Nor do they perpetuate this other myth that the WMD was moved at the last minute to Syria or the Bekaa Valley.
Again, if that were true the White House would be more than happy to go get it, dig it up and expose it to the world.
Mr. Bush would then be a hero. And the Iraq war would be seen as necessary and thus the entire political landscape would be different today.
(Plus, let us remember we have today almost every top Iraqi leader and scientist from the now-infamous deck of cards in custody including Dr. Germ. We have clearly ‘sweated’ these scientists and leaders. If we had come up with anything to vindicate the pre-war WMD claims, don’t you think we would have made it public? Of course we would!!!)
No, sadly there were no WMD in Iraq since the end of the Gulf War in 1991 and the imposition of sanctions. Saddam from that point on bluffed his enemies - internal and elsewhere - into thinking he had them because in the past he had used them on his Kurdish enemies. And in the Middle East fear and bluffing are instrumental in maintaining a hold on power.
Today in Washington, the very same politicians who got us into this mess in Iraq - a mess which can only result in an Iraq in alliance with Tehran (our worst nightmare) - are running scared trying to place blame elsewhere.
Bush is in a total meltdown - in great part because Iraq has sapped his credibility - and the Congress is held in almost the same level of disdain. Iraq, gas price rip-offs, illegals swarming unabated into our nation and Katrina have soured the American people.
The American people are waking up to the perfidy of their Leadership Class. From the Enron Era in business, to the Catholic Church scandals and the mess in DC, people are disgusted with our leaders. And they should be.
Look for a looming political revolution in this country - maybe even a powerful Independent Third Candidate for president in 2008.
Things have to change. And the American people will make that change happen.
If the Republicans don't stop trying to out-democrat the DemocRATs, no constituent will believe ANYTHING they say.
They are weak, mealy-mouthed ‘followers,’ who haven’t had an original idea in their lifetimes. No wonder a Senator hasn’t been elected president since JFK in 1960; Capitol Hill is the worst place to learn about America and the American people.
You may disagree with some of this, but I believe all will agree with this statement. These guys need to live in their states and come to Washington and stay in a barracks with others during brief legislative sessions. Their staffs need cutting by 80% which would leave them with 4 or 5 staffers.
I believe that President Bush thought it wise to have a presence amidst the arab world. To have our troops on the ground in an unfriendly muslim nation in order to use the threat of spearheading those assembled troops in the direction of the miscreant: Syria, Iran, et al.
Too bad we aren't doing something a little more dangerous to North Korea than to ourselves.
Oh well. Can't have everything.
Didn't Colin Powell show satellite photos to the UN which showed convoys of trucks leaving known WMD sites headed to Syria?
The media/political cabal surely seems to be moving us in a certain direction.
Since the world's intelligence, including that of the French, Germans, Russians, UN and IAEA, was also wrong on WMD in Iraq, what makes you so sure that the world's intelligence is correct on N. Korea? Maybe we're all be scammed there too.
This potential catastrophe should have been nipped in the bud long ago.
North Korea should have been turned into a giant rice paddy.
There are only so many limousine liberals, muslims, trailor camp trash and nut cases out there that would vote scum like that into the White House. Remember, some voters actually like their country.
It's almost like they're commiting suicide.
This article is exactly right.
But it is to the American people that the responsibility falls. Reps and Dems alike fall victim to the "Beltway Disease"- they forget about the American people in a rush to get invited to the "best" parties and desperately want the media to "like" them (witness: John McCain).
It is a sorry fact that even those who vote in the general elections without fail, hardly EVER vote in the primaries. They THEN whine about the candidate the party hands us.
WE can take control AND send a big message to the party- WE call the shots- NOT YOU.
VOTE in the primaries!
I am sick unto death of hearing that Bush lied. Produce evidence he lied. Otherwise it is nothing more than a slander. Having poor evidence is much different than hearing he lied.
I think It's time for a third political party to arise and threaten the current politcal establishment in the nation. One which will represent the real majority of the country, not pay homage to the fools that are destroying it. On the political pendulum ideally it should be a "Center-Right" party whose core is the hard-working middle-class members of our society - not the rabble who are sucking the life out of it.
>>>OK. Now it is years later and no WMD have been found. None . . . It is a myth that we have found anything. <<<
This borders on Lew Rockwell conspiracy nonsense. I am surprised you did not question this conclusion, Ferdie. The finding of some WMD's in Iraq is well-documented. But, then again, you are new to Free Republic so you may not be up-to-date.
BTW, did you know the troops found over 30 hi-tech Soviet fighter planes buried in the desert? If not for the tall tail fins sticking out of the sand, we may not have found them. How much easier to bury smaller containers of chemical and biologicals?
Anyone with half-a-brain knows that Saddam would not have given up over 100 billion dollars in oil revenues due to U.N. sanctions if he had not been hiding WMD's. All he had to do was allow the U.N. inspectors free reign and he would have been 100 billion dollars richer, and still in power!
"On the political pendulum ideally it should be a 'Center-Right' party whose core is the hard-working middle-class members of our society"
They already have it: the Republicans.
Bush has expanded fed involvement in education, added a whole new entitlement, and kept the old ones expanding.
That what the middle class WANTS!
Who do you think shut down Bush when he tried to enact social security reforms? The very people you call the hard working middle class members of society. They don't want change, and will only push the pols once something like an economic collapse happens, and then it will be too late.
Bush *is* the big mushy middle.
It would appear that term limits for at least the Senate would be a good idea. Just as we tire of Presidents, we are beyond tired of certain Senators from MA and NY and one from UT and one from AZ and one from WV and one from WA and one from ME and one from VT..... I get tired just thinking about it.
Any third party should be to the left of the 'Rats if it's possible, to pull the 'Rats further left.
This is old stuff from the hopelessly inept who would have everyone believe that all politicians are corrupt,so (as their ineptitude inevitably leads them) throw out all the bastards.
Hopelessness and helplessness only makes matters worse...and actually contributes to making all things worse.
Your brand of "patriotism" is unwelcome.
I consign you and your article to the metaphysical garbage can they deserve.
The country would be greatly improved if these weasels would serve no more than two four year terms with the president's term being extended to six years and he would serve two terms as well.
Additionally their staffs would have to be whittled down by 90% and they would not have a residence in the area. Their place is in their home state with sessions in DC being only 2-3 weeks at a time.
No cafeteria, no haircults, no medical facility on location, nothing extra whatsoever!
Or we could declare a civil war, fire them all and start over with a fresh sheet of paper.
Don't worry. There's always a job that an out of work bureaucrat or politician can perform. (Towel boy being one of them.)
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