Could someone please explain it to me?

I remember in March of 2001, thinking, "Geez, this idiot is going to start a war with China." It seems I was half right - I only guessed the wrong country.

For a moment, for the sake of argument, let's assume that he has always had the best of intentions. That when he led us to war, he really believed that Iraq had a nuclear program and ties with Al Quaeda (which, by the way, evidence points to, suprise, he didn't really believe it). If that was the case, why has he not at the very least fired, or demanded the resignations of, those responsible? People that forge intelligence documents like that, regardless of how high up on the governmental chain they are, deserve seroious jail time. But, "interviews with current and former intelligence officials and the other experts reveal that the Bush administration only culled the assessments that supported its position and omitted those that did not. The administration ignored, and even suppressed, disagreement within the intelligence agencies and pressured the CIA to reaffirm it's preferred version of the Iraqi threat."

Let's assume, that he had no idea what the situation at Abu Ghraib was (something which, again, evidence suggests he did know what was happening). If that was the case, then why has he not demanded the resignation of everyone in the Justice and Defense departments involved in the leaked memos for trying to legally justify the use of torture? Sure, no direct evidence links the two, but think about it. The army comes asking for advice on how to interrogate prisoners. The Justice and Defense departments suggest that the use of torture might be legal. Nearly a year later, it's revealed that prisoners are being tortured at Abu Ghraib.

Do you really believe it's coincidence?

Seriously, I even have a tough time believing that Bush is even a decent human being. The man to told the media about what was going on at Abu Ghraib deserves to be commended; and yet, he was punished by the army for it. As commander in chief of the army, Bush had the power to put an end to that. But, he didn't. Anyone who lets a man get punished for doing what was inarguably the right thing, when they have the power to correct the situation, is slime.

Bush himself isn't the only one doing a less than poor job; many of the people he picked for his aides and cabinet are just as bad. John Ashcroft is not looking great either. Probably one of the most famous, nefarious, and oft used quotes of his,
Quote Originally Posted by John Ashcroft
To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: ‘Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve.’
Which is always compared to, and truly is chillingly similar, to
Quote Originally Posted by Herman Goering
…the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
While normally you'd look at a quote and say that, while similar, does not truly speak volumes about the speaker, the case of comparing the two becomes far stronger when you learn that John Ashcroft authored a bill last year dubbed the 'Patriot Act II', which is like the original on steroids, and allows such things as secret arrests. The bill itself can be found here, and a rundown translating it from legalese can be found here.

There are other embarassing quotes from the Bush administration. From a recent article in the new york times, "In the summer of 2002, after I had written an article in Esquire that the White House didn't like about Bush's former communications director, Karen Hughes, I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush. He expressed the White House's displeasure, and then he told me something that at the time I didn't fully comprehend -- but which I now believe gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency.

The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''"

There's not really any way to make a joke about a top senior aide to the President saying that reality doesn't matter. In fact, again, another paralell. This time with the book 1984.

Then there's the other things that get lost, for example the fiasco with a constitutional ban on gay marriage, which he knew from the beginning would never be passed, and when there's more important ammendments that could be made, such as one that eliminates the electoral college. Or how, after being convicted of being a monopoly under Clinton's administration, Bush pretty much said to Microsoft "Just kidding" and their penalties were drastically reduced, along with other pandering to big business. Easily, one of the top 5 things we need in a president nowadays is the balls to stand up to, and heavily regulate, business. Particularly the large, multinational corporations that have their arms stuck so far up our government's ass that it fairly often looks like a macabre marionette. And then there's the fact that he's caused this country the largest defecit in history, while at the same time cutting taxes for the rich - you do realize that the government's going to have to pay back this money they're borrowing someday, and you do realize how they're going to get that money, right?

Not every single thing Bush has done has been a mistake. Appropriating money for fuel cell research was a great move, and I'd love to see the government actually make good on his promise that we'll send human beings to Mars within the next couple decades. But he still has made a lot of mistakes. And many of these mistakes have truly been big trouting mistakes.