All in the First Crime Family

You've got to hand it to those Bushes. In a televised interview last week, George the elder said that he wanted son Jeb to run for the senate. With a straight face he said that Jebbie would make a perfectly fine senator. I was reminded of his appearance last year at the Republican National Convention. His son, George 43, didn't dare show up at the event because of the nasty little fact that he is the most unpopular president in American history and candidate McCain wanted to keep him as far away as possible. So he addressed the delegates via satellite from the security of the Oval Office:

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"Fellow citizens, if the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain's resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure that the angry Left never will."

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What an asshole. When the First Fool's tirade was over and done with, the cameras cut to poor old, clueless Poppy. It was more than apparent that he was just as proud as a peacock at the performance of his half-witted kid. Obviously they've been hiding the newspapers from the hideous old bastard these past eight years. No question about it, the man is undergoing a serious case of denial.

Let us give credit where credit is due: Jeb Bush is not quite as stupid as his older brother. He has seen the writing on the wall. He knows damned well that the public has a terminal case of Bush fatigue. He promptly made the announcement that he will not be a contender for the Republican nomination in 2010. When Dubya got this news the hideous little thug seemed genuinely surprised. He had not spoken to his brother in a number of days and was disappointed in the news, he said.

QUESTION: Are you as amazed as I am by the arrogance of these knuckleheads?

The most important political development of the next few years should be that the Bush Dynasty be rendered as dead as the Adams Dynasty (NOTE TO THE SECRET SERVICE: I mean figuratively, not literally, dear boys) The damage they have done to this country is incalculable. If I had it my way, there would be a Constitutional amendment immediately ratified that prohibited any Bush or Bush descendant from running for public office for the next two-and-a-half centuries. It will take at least that long to rehabilitate them.

This is a family that has been defecating on the Constitution for generations - going all the way back to grandpa Prescott. We now know that he continued to conduct business transactions with the Nazis after Hitler declared war on the United States - this at a time when his son George was in uniform in the Pacific fighting Germany's allies, the Japanese. He was also involved in a plot that planned the overthrow of the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Thankfully, the scheme was foiled by a great American patriot, retired General Smedley D. Butler. For reasons I've never been able to understand, Roosevelt didn't have the stomach to prosecute Prescott Bush and his cohorts for treason. Think of that: FDR had the chance to strangle the Bush Dynasty in its cradle but failed to do so. I am a great admirer of Roosevelt but he really screwed up there.

The familial motivation behind the support of a potential Jeb Bush candidacy was - without a doubt - the possibility that he would reclaim the White House in 2013 or 2017. If you've been reading "The Rant" these past three years, you know damned well that I am no great proponent of the intelligence of the American electorate. A people capable of electing as president the likes of Ronald Reagan and the Georges Bush are capable of just about anything. But the question has to be asked; would they really be so dumb as to go down that road again? MY heart says, No! No! No! But my mind says, Yes! Yes! Yes!

During the 2000 campaign, it was obvious to the most casual observers that George W. Bush would be in way over his head as chief executive - and yet a significant minority of the people foolishly sent him to the Oval Office anyway (Don't forget; Al Gore won the popular vote. Also, they were able to illegally remove 57,000 black people from the voting rolls in the state of Florida that year). As far as American politics is concerned, what used to be the unthinkable is now the inevitable. Expect the unexpected.

Here's the biggest irony of all: Jeb Bush really had a good shot at that senate seat. The thing that must be remembered about Florida Republicans is that they are just about the most idiotic people on the planet, second only to South Carolina Republicans. Jeb had more than a good chance to take that seat, but he must know that the ultimate prize, the Oval Office is beyond his reach. He must realize that as the years transpire, the crimes his brother committed against the American people will be revealed for all to see. Not only will George be the last Bush to make it to the White House, it is now a fairly good bet that he will be the last Republican to get there. That party has been reduced to ashes and it was George W. Bush who struck the match.

I can't possibly emphasize this enough. I want that dynasty to die (Again, to the SS: figuratively speaking, my loves). A lot of people are using the excuse that dynasties are intrinsically bad in order to throw a monkey wrench into Caroline Kennedy's quest for the senate seat that will soon be vacated by Hillary Clinton. Let's get serious here, kids: Comparing the Kennedys to the Bushes is as futile as comparing the acting skills of Lawrence Olivier to those of Larry the Cable Guy. It is such an absurd comparison it is hardly worth mentioning but for the fact that it's such a funny one. To paraphrase something Dick Gregory once said comparing Jack Kennedy to Dick Nixon, when President Kennedy walked into a room, the whole room would light up. The only time George W. Bush lights up a room is when he leaves.

So let's make a national pact: No more Bushes, OK? Enough is enough. Between the corrupt sons, George, Neil and Marvin, the father and the grandfather, the damage that these foolish, hideous people have done to our country over the years is too great to even calculate. Let's take the Bush Dynasty to the vet and have it put to sleep.

Some in the know are beginning to imply that the future of the Bush Family's political aspirations lies in Jeb's son, George P. Bush, a good looking guy whom many have compared to John Kennedy, Jr. Please, let's not even go there. The next few years will see the GOP propaganda machine portraying the guy as a new and improved, different kind of Bush. Let's all promise ourselves that America never goes down that road again. You can expect the entire clan to spend the rest of their lives justifying and defending the hideous administration of their brother, uncle and father. That would mean perpetuating the Bush economic/world view should, Heaven forbid, any of them get elected to public office in the foreseeable future. Been there. Done that. We must make sure that that never happens again. These are awful people.

George W. Bush is a textbook example of how dumbed down the American people have become in the last half century. There once was a time when the not-very-bright son of a failed ex-president would not have been taken seriously running for the position of Sanitation Chief of an impoverished, rural county let alone president of the United States.

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By now, only a fool would argue against the fact that Franklin Roosevelt was one of history's finer presidents. In the decade following his death, FDR's sons attempted careers in politics and they all failed. Why? Because, with the exception of Jimmy Roosevelt, they were all seriously flawed, unenlightened human beings - and yet they were a whole hell of a lot brighter than Bush. Once upon a time, we Americans had standards of excellence by which we measured our leaders. We can only hope that the election of Barack Obama has awaken us from our long, dark coma.

Despite the current, lingering economic catastrophe we are now experiencing, I'm feeling very hopeful about America right now. More hopeful than I've ever felt in my fifty years (Ugh! Don't remind yourself, Degan!) Maybe the light really is at the end of the tunnel. Maybe this three-decades-long era of incompetence and corruption is about to end. Eric Sevareid once said of Edward R. Murrow, "He was pessimistic about tomorrow, but optimistic about the day-after-tomorrow". For the first time in my life, I am feeling good about tomorrow. Really good.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY.
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Hijacking Catastrophe
a film by Robert Greenwald

There are less than ten days (nine, to be exact) until these contemptible people are gone forever. The days between now and January 20 will seem like an eternity. God bless you, Beth Quinn.