Bottom of the Barrel
03 December 2006 6:00 am by Taylor Marsh
Bottom of the Barrel
| One more time, with feeling. Cover illustration by Robert Grossman |
Ever? Or since
Dick?
When you get that low does it matter?
To soldiers fighting a war gone bad, yes. After the Webb – Bush verbal sparring,
which insulted George Will\’s delicate sensibilities, I received this from a
reader recently (which I also mentioned on my radio show).
Regarding the Webb-Bush imbroglio reported yesterday. An news source reported
that a few days ago, 3 Marines riding the tank next to Webb\’s son were killed
as they came under fire. I am sure this heightened the tension and partential
agony that Webb is going through, and underscores his anger at Bush\’s callous
questioning.
Eleanor Clift talked about that event yesterday, too, when she became the one and only
writer to stand up and speak out in favor of the Webb snub, which was an understandable reaction
to a president who actually makes Dick — as in Nixon — look good.
A president snubbed by a junior senator-elect and then, more tellingly by
the puppet prime minister in Iraq, should be wondering where he went wrong,
not the other way around.It’s justice long overdue for a president who has so abused the symbols
of war to get his comeuppance from a battlefield hero who personifies real
toughness as opposed to fake toughness. Bush struts around with this bullying
frat-boy attitude, and he gets away with it because nobody stands up to him.
Bush could have left Webb’s initial response stand, but no, he had to
jab back—”That’s not what I asked you.” Webb is not
one to be bullied. He knows what real toughness is, and it’s not lording
it over people who are weaker than you, and if you’re president, everybody
by definition is weaker.
Clift gets it right. Webb won\’t be bullied. Bush doesn\’t get it and neither did George Will.
But regardless of where Bush stands in the terrible president pecking order, he\’s got company. This would be merely insulting if it hadn\’t come so late. But given it did, it\’s just plain revolting.
Two days before he resigned as defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld submitted
a classified memo to the White House that acknowledged that the Bush administration’s
strategy in Iraq was not working and called for a major course correction.
… …
The title of the memo is Illustrative New Courses of Action. The text
is here.
The last item on the \”less attractive options\” portion is \”Try
a Dayton-like process.\” That\’s last?
Again, worst president ever? Anyone who would keep Rumsfeld on as long as he
did deserves the title. Just ask our troops.
