Oh, why did I vote for President Cheney?
Fred Kaplan of Slate has a fun article, Who Disbanded the Iraqi Army? These excerpts frighten me:
“The policy had been to keep the [Iraqi] army intact; didn’t happen,” Bush told Draper. Asked how he had reacted to Bremer’s reversal, Bush replied, “Yeah, I can’t remember. I’m sure I said, ‘This is the policy, what happened?’ “
Many stories have since been told about the dysfunctional nature of the Bush administration—the many instances when a decision would be made, in some cases by the president himself, only to be reversed or simply ignored by (most often) Rumsfeld and/or Cheney.
Despite the almost-certainty that John Kerry would not have been a great president, there are too many times when I wish he (or Gore in 2000) had won.
A week before the 2004 election, I’d planned on voting Kerry (see Kerry Haters for Kerry!), some reasons being it was time for a different face for international relations, not to mention Bush isn’t exactly president material. But when I saw that JFK wasn’t beating a weak GWB, that frightened me. How competent could someone be who has a tough time convincing people he’s better than Bush? Throw in that a couple Supreme Court justices would probably die soon, my decision was sealed (at that point, I’d rather have had the next justice be conversative). I voted for Bush.
If I had cast the election in its proper light—not Bush vs Kerry, but Kerry/Edwards vs Cheney/Rumsfeld—the decision would have been more obvious and less agonizing.
Donnie, where do you get the documentation for all these things about Bush? If they were true, wouldn’t the liberal press be making hay with them? My position is that with all the possibilities of Bush losing, from the primaries to the final election, God must have placed him in the White House for such a time as this.
Comment by Grandma | 10 September 2007
personally, I’m all for a dictatorship. none of this election bullshit. we obviously don’t know what the hell to do our voter “rights”. You know in some countries you get FINED for not voting? Or you have to provide a written excuse. I mean, women squawk when their “right” to abortion is taken away… we should take away voter rights too, slap us all a nice abrupt awakening.
Comment by annie | 11 September 2007
Annie, do be careful with the language. There are men present, you know.
Comment by Grandma | 12 September 2007
@Grandma: It was in the New York Times (at least). But it’s not the kind of stuff that makes headlines.
According to the Bible, God gives leaders their power. But that’s not necessarily because they are good (consider Pharoah).
Incidentally, I’ve been meaning to e-mail. I’ll have to do that tonight.
@Annie: Remember…I need to get 51%.
Comment by Donnie Briggs | 12 September 2007
Frankly, my dear, I have doubts about the New York Times.
Comment by Grandma | 12 September 2007
Donnie, I heard President Bush give a very clear testimony of his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not place him in the category of the wicked pharoah. You will remember there was also a good pharoah.
Comment by Grandma | 12 September 2007
Grandmother (it’s so weird calling you that, should I say Mrs. Briggs? haha
) I do place Pres Bush in the category of the wicked pharaoh. After much proof that the war is a fiasco, he refused to be humble and withdraw… in fact he dug in his heels and said “no, I am right, darn it” even though it was obvious our presence in Iraq is no longer useful. In ADDITION, he used God as an excuse to fight this war. “This is God’s will!” What the EFF?? To me that is just a gross abuse of power.
Comment by annie | 12 September 2007
Annie, make that Myers. It seems that everyone except President Bush knows what is good for this country in spite of the fact that the Muslims are dedicated to wiping us and Israel off the face of the earth. Everyone also seems to forget that he had the votes behind him.
Comment by Grandma | 13 September 2007
@Grandma: The Pharoah reference was not for his evilness, but for his poor decisions. I still don’t have a problem with the decision to go to war with Iraq, but it’s been prosecuted very poorly from a strategic standpoint.
@Annie: I’d agree that Bush looks at Iraq with more optimism than the rest of us. There’s a case, though, to be made that a withdrawal would a worse option.
Comment by Donnie Briggs | 13 September 2007
Whoa, Mrs. Myers…Muslims are not dedicated to wiping anyone off anything… any more than Christians are dedicated to killing gays or I dunno some other hate thing. I agree, the struggle dates back to biblical and goes way beyond anything I can understand, but omg…it’s not Muslims, it’s a buncha crazies who happen to call themselves Muslim.
And yes, WE put him in office. I don’t think anyone is denying that. But I agree, some people are conveniently saying “don’t blame me, I didn’t vote.” (cough me cough) Not that it’s anything to be proud of.
If the soldiers themselves are saying “um, this war isn’t working” then we have a problem. If a head ignores the body parts it leads… the body dies.
Comment by annie | 14 September 2007
I was talking about the votes that sent the troops into Iraq, not the election votes. Have you read the Qu’uran lately? “Allah” is not a very merciful, gracious god. And that definitely is not another name for my Triune God as some people think.
Comment by Grandma | 14 September 2007
*sigh* well, people argue that our God is a woman-hating, gay-hating, war-loving entity…(and He most certainly is not any of those things) so, I guess Christians and Muslims can be interpreted both ways. I no longer try to defend Him. It’s tough enough just trying to keep Him in sight.
Ok I’m about to display a digusting lack of awareness of current events, but there was a vote to send people to war? Lord. I’m not with it. I recall people being very angry, then there was a report that said “oops we invaded for nothing” and then all the calls for troop withdrawal.
Comment by annie | 14 September 2007