Monday

LBJ v. George W.

The beginning of a song, to the tune of Onward Christian Soldiers
Onward AWOL soldiers, ducking out of war.
With the cross of Jesus covering our rear
Chickenhawks together, letting others die
Back behind protected lines, they don't see us cry

Thirty six years ago, a once-popular wartime president from Texas decided he wasn't the right person to lead the country. Lyndon Johnson announced on March 31, 1968, that he wouldn't run again for president. George W. Bush is facing the same circumstances but with less resolve.

Containing Communism and taking down Saddam Hussein are worthy causes. But the Vietnam War and the Iraqi War were the wrong battles that were started for the wrong reasons. Both were started over lies: The Gulf of Tonkin incident was, at best, an exaggeration and, at worst, made up entirely. Meanwhile, we knew for sure that Saddam Hussein did not have WMD and that there was no connection to Al Queda.

The rabid anti-communists left over from the McCarthy era blithely assumed that no country wanted to go Communist, but we were on the wrong side of a civil war. In reality, Indo-China was continuing its thousand-year fight for independence. The French figured this out, and we were stupid enough to take over a losing proposition. Vietnam cost American lives, damaged American prestige abroad, and was ultimately unsuccessful in its stated goal of preventing South Vietnam from becoming Communist. The Domino Theory was proven dead wrong. Nixon's "Secret plan to end the war" was to spend the next six years losing it. Nixon remains the only US president to surrender to a Communist country.

The rabid chickenhawks left over from the Reagan/Bush years blithely assumed that no country wanted to be run by a madman, but they selected George W. anyway. The radical right is really pissed off at the mere thought of the US having to explain our actions to a World Court, yet they have no problem in deciding the leaders of other countries. As we should have learned from our support of the Shah of Iran and the subsequent ascension of the religious fanatic Ayatollah Khomeini, residents want to have the greatest say in the running of their own country, even if they make dreadful mistakes. The US helped put Saddam in power and sold him much of his weaponry so the arabs weren't happy with us in the first place. Inspections, international coalitions and arab ostracization had been working to keep the problem contained. All the mass graves dug up and used, retroactively, to demonstrate our helpfulness came from 1991... when George HW Bush screwed up the Gulf War by not finishing the job. The handlers of George W. knew he screwed up before 9/11, during 9/11 and after 9/11, and desperately needed to wag the dog. The scandal-plagued Bush administration needed a political distraction more than they needed to keep America safe. George W. Bush is now the only US president to officially hand over the government of a country to a communist. Iraq is continuing to cost American lives, continues to damage American prestige abroad and is so far unsuccessful in its stated goals of finding WMD and bringing the perpetrators of 9/11 to justice.

Vietnam and Iraq are different wars fought under different circumstances, but the political parallels abound. We should learn from our mistakes. The shame of being a conservative has never been greater.

Bush refuses to hold himself accountable, but the cover-up is unravelling. The voters will hold Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld et al responsible. The light is shining, at last. I'm happy Saddam Hussein isn't around, but his capture meant that the Iraqis could fight the US without fear of being called a Saddam Loyalist. That reign of terror is over, but to the Iraqis and other countries in the region, Bush is the new Saddam. This is exactly what Osama bin Laden wanted to happen.

John Kerry is a proven leader who won't make the same mistakes of the goppies, and will protect the US while punishing the terrorists. Kerry is such a superior choice to Bush, you have to wonder who could possibly support George W.? Bush is a lying cowardly scumbag who should be impeached for several crimes, and possibly dragged before a military tribunal for desertion. Bush's support is the same as Osama's: Religious fanatics and ultra-conservatives.

Ah, but as the best Republican president said, "you can't fool all the people all the time." Here in the "battleground" state of Minnesota, the Bush hate-mongers have been inundating the airwaves with a very dirty campaign, and yet the Republicans have lost ground. A poll published today (4/4/04) shows Kerry leading Bush by 12 points. While polls this early don't mean much come election day, the snapshot of Minnesotans today reflects the character of Kerry and the lack of integrity of Bush. And it's only going to get better for Kerry. In many states, Bush has spent tens of millions on negative ads, but the mud slinging has either not made much difference or has splattered back in Bush's face. As the lies are exposed, more and more Republicans are changing their affiliation.

LBJ's Great Society was mainly left over from the Kennedy Administration, and under him the economy was booming. But his own failings left the country divided and played right into the hands of Nixon's "Southern Strategy". He decided not to run and should have been more active in the campaign of Humbert H. Humphry. George W. Bush has no successes to his credit, and can't run on his record. He doesn't have the guts to step down, and his disgusting treatment of our soldiers is losing the military vote to the Democrats. But he has nowhere to run: the neocons have seriously pissed off any intelligent Republican such as McCain, and Cheney isn't going to be president, so the huge leadership vacuum of the GOP will force Bush to run a losing battle.

Is it too early to predict the Kerry Landslide?

'KICK OUT THE REPUBLICANS'

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