Brutal Analysis of a failed President

I could not have said it better myself.

Bill O'Really



http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26753

Is Bush Becoming Irrelevant?
by Patrick J. Buchanan

After losing both houses of Congress in the 1994 election, Bill
Clinton expostulated: The president of the United States is not
irrelevant!

On learning his trusted aide from Texas Scott McClellan has denounced
as an "unnecessary war" the same Iraq war McClellan defended from the
White House podium, George Bush must feel as Clinton did.

The synchronized savagery of the attacks on McClellan as turncoat
suggests he drew blood. For what he has done is offer confirmation to
the president's war critics, from within the White House inner circle,
that Bush's motive in going to war was not a clear and present danger
of attack by Iraq with weapons of mass destruction, but to advance a
Bush crusade to impose democracy on the Middle East.
Continued
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Neoconservative ideology, not U.S. national interests, McClellan is
saying, motivated Bush to launch one of the longest and most divisive
wars in U.S. history.

When loyalists defect and seek to profit from that defection, it is
usually a sign of a failing presidency. And, indeed, events suggest
that history is passing Bush by.

Despite the administration's designation of Hamas and Hezbollah as
terrorist organizations, and of Syria and Iran as state sponsors of
terror with whom we do not negotiate, America's clients are ignoring
America.

Israel has ignored Bush's demand that it stop building and expanding
settlements on a West Bank that is to be the heartland of a
Palestinian state. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been secretly
negotiating with Syria for the return of the Golan Heights in exchange
for peace.

When America refused to play honest broker between Jerusalem and
Damascus, Turkey, at Israel's request, stepped into the role.

The pro-American Lebanese government of Prime Minister Siniora has
negotiated a truce and power-sharing arrangement with Hezbollah,
giving that militant Shiite movement and party veto power in the
Beirut government. Egypt is negotiating with Hamas for a truce in the
Israeli-Gaza war and to effect the exchange of a captured Israeli
solider held by Hamas for Hamas fighters held in Israel.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard, designated a terrorist organization
by the Senate, helped to arrange the ceasefire between government
forces and the Mahdi Army in Basra and Sadr City. While the United
States has used the roughest of language to denounce Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president has been received as an honored
guest by the Iraqi government we support and by the Ayatollah Sistani,
who has yet to meet a high-ranking American.

When Bush went to the Middle East to celebrate the 60th anniversary of
Israel as the Zionist he has become, he was criticized by a
Palestinian leader who survives on U.S. aid. When he went to Riyadh to
plead for an increase in the flow of oil, he got a token concession
from the king.

In Pakistan, the new government has been negotiating a truce with the
radicalized frontier provinces, which would leave the Taliban with a
privileged sanctuary from which to prepare their annual offensives to
overthrow the government in Kabul and expel the Americans, as their
fathers expelled the Russians.

As Russia and China move closer together to oppose U.S. missile
defenses and the U.S. presence, military and economic, in the Caucasus
and Central Asia, Latin America seems to be going its own leftward
way. The halcyon days of the Alliance for Progress are long gone.

The world seems to be waiting for Bush to depart and for the next
American president. For the foreign policy differences between John
McCain and Barack Obama are as real and stark as they have been since
the Reagan-Carter election of 1980, or the Nixon-McGovern election of
1972.

Looking back on the years since 9-11, it is hard to give the Bush
foreign policy passing grades. We pushed NATO eastward and alienated
Russia. We have 140,000 Army and Marine Corps troops tied down in Iraq
in a war now in its sixth year, from which our NATO allies have all
extricated themselves. We have another war going in Afghanistan, where
the situation is as grave as it has been since we went in.

The Bush democracy crusade was put on the shelf after producing
election triumphs for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood in
Egypt. And the Bush Doctrine of preventive war, after Iraq, appears to
be headed there, as well.

America remains the first economic and military power on earth. But
after seven years of Bush, we no longer inspire the awe or hopes we
once did. We are no longer the world hegemonic power of the neocons'
depiction. And the reason is that Bush embraced their utopian ideology
of democratic empire and listened to their siren's call to be the
Churchill of his age.

Of Bush, it may be said he was a far better politician and candidate
than his father, but as a statesman and world leader, he could not
carry the old man's loafers.

http://groups.google.com/group/politica ... ics?start=

You've got to be kidding me. Buchanan has oversimplified nearly every point he has written about, is in at least 2 cases inaccurate and is drawing false conclusions. Let's have a reality check.

How does one impose democracy on people? Democracy = Freedom and liberty. This needs to be forced on people? Oh Please!! Is he suggesting that there are people in Baghdad and Kabul who are angry that despotic dictators no longer oppress them? This is beyond ludicrous.

Iraq is part of the War On Terror. But, for a moment, I will let Buchanan have his point and separate the two. American troops have been in Iraq 5 years. Revolutionary War lasted 8 years and 25% of population remained loyal to King George throughout. The Civil War literally pitted brother against brother in battle. How does a war become more divisive than that? Direct American involvement in South Vietnam lasted 9 years. The Plains Indian Wars lasted more than 10 years. The Cold War which saw Americans risking their lives every single day, and killed some, lasted more than 40 years. Technically, the Korean War has not ended. A cease-fire agreement was signed, not an armistice, 58 years. Hello, Iraq is not even close to being one of the longest and most divisive wars in our history.

Do you think maybe, just maybe, Scott McClellan saw an opportunity to make a buck rather than clear his conscience.

You cannot put 5 people in a room and get them to agree completely on a given subject. It is a bit naive to state that it is GWB's fault that not every industrialized nation in the world will refuse to do business with Iran and Syria. To do so totally discounts human nature.

There is no answer to the Israel-Palestine debacle. In case Mr. Buchanan was asleep during history class, I shall remind him that religious wars have been fought over this region for 1000 years. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all claim Jerusalem a holy city. Again, to lay yet another failed peace negotiation at GWB's feet is naive and simplistic.

Do you think maybe Egypt is negotiating with Hamas to stop the flow of Palestinian refugees into Egypt? Is that even a slight possibility? Again, Buchanan is overly simplistic.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard IS a terrorist organization. Has Buchanan forgotten that the IRG, including Ahmadinejad, invaded our embassy in '79. The IRG IS providing weapons, IEDs and training to terrorists in Iraq. I don't care if an IRG thug helps little old ladies across the street, he is still a terrorist. And Sistani? Why on Earth should GWB meet with a man who still calls the U.S. the Great Satan? Good god man, STEP AWAY FROM THE KOOLAID!

Zionist--noun--one who supports the development and protection of the Jewish State of Israel. This is a dirty word? Israel has every right to protect itself from all enemies, just as we do. And, any American president who would not support that cause is not worthy of the title. Palestinians are not killed for being Palestinian. However, Jews are killed for being Jewish.

Again, do yo think it might be possible that China and Russia oppose our missile defense system because it will mitigate the threat of their nukes? This is bad for us how? And, might it also be possible that they oppose our presence in Central Asia because they seek to dominate this region themselves? I mean we are talking about a communist nation and a nation ruled by former (read closet) communists. Mr. Buchanan is over simplifying again.

GWB did not unilaterally drag Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO. All, at the time, 16 member states agreed to extend the invitation. Today, Polish troops are on duty in Iraq, as are British troops. Doesn't that make the statement that all other NATO members have extricated themselves from Iraq false? Next time a Google Search might help.

If America no longer inspires awe and hope, why is there a waiting list for people to legally emigrate to this country? Better yet, when a third world country is in trouble and needs help, who do they call? When the USMC appears on the horizon do the oppressed and downtrodden run and hide, or come out and cheer?

Has reality been sufficiently checked or need I go on?

Excellent, Bedbug!

I might add..prior to the Democrats taking over Congress in 2006, the economy was rolling along at a magnificent pace, gas prices were much lower and the Islamofacists did not have nearly as much material to hype and get new recruits until they were fed the venom against Bush from Dems suchs as Murtha, Reid, Pelosi, Durbin, Kerry, Kennedy, Biden, Rockefeller, et al. Oh, and guess what..we haven't been hit again by those wishing to kill all of us infidels, and Israel is still standing.

Scott McClellan's publisher and the two lawyers who were involved in getting him to write this book are affiliated with George Soros. Let's face it, McClellan has gone to the dark side for the money, honey. George Bush isn't running for President but this is an attempt by the left to hurt McCain (the third term Bush according to them). He hurts himself all by himself and doesn't need their help.

I don't agree with everything Bush has done, but what is Pat Buchanan's purpose of dumping on Bush like a common liberal?

Reality ....... checked.

Excellent post.

Typicical WHINY LIB, TRASHING our GREAT BRAVE PRESIDENT, who deals with the STRAIN of the WAR FOR FREEDOMS EVERY DAY.

You should have more respect for our COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. He has made some MINOR ERRORS (AMNESTY) but he has the INTRESTS of our NATION at HEART.

I read the article by Buchanan several days ago and thought about it for 3 minutes and then consigned it to the rubbish bin.

Buchanan is not always wrong. But, when he is not wrong he is usually only partially right. I enjoy reading him for no other reason than he is provocative and makes me think about where and why he is so often so wrong.

Of course, being wrong doesn't make Pat a "whining liberal." Attacking George Bush doesn't make one a "whining liberal." There are plenty of good reasons for conservatives to attack Bush on conservative principle. But, Pat Buchanan is consumed by an isolationist, "racialist" view of the world. I have not decided whether Buchanan a racist in the most commonly assigned meaning of the word. I don't know that he feels other races are inferior but he clearly seems to believe that "the west," a term he seems to use as a synonym for European and Caucasian people is being overrun by non-Caucasian people and will eventually be overwhelmed by them and their cultures.

Pat's ranting and political shenanigans over the past 16 years have made me lose any respect I may have ever had for the man. But, that doesn't make him a "whining liberal" any more than it makes Bill Clinton a statesman or BHO a unifying force in American politics. Or Father Pfleger a Christian.

Why thank you. Thank you very much.

I vehemently disagree with GWB on immigration, entitlements, MMGW and his refusal to veto Republican earmarks. But damn it, he stepped up when we needed leadership, after 9/11, and I'll not stand by and let this tripe go unchallenged.

Some tripe is worth challenging.

Some tripe simply needs to be ignored.

paleocon wrote:Some tripe is worth challenging.  

Some tripe simply needs to be ignored.

Some tripe is best when batter-fried.

3 lb. honeycomb tripe, cut in pieces
1 c. sliced onions
1 green pepper, chopped
2 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 c. flour
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. pepper
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. water (more if batter is too stiff)
Oil for frying
To begin mix first 7 ingredients in crockpot. Cover with water. Cook 1 hour on high, lower temperature and cook approximately 4 hours more or until tripe is tender. Cool.
Meanwhile, make batter by mixing flour, salt, pepper, egg and water to batter consistency.
In bowl mix a cup of water and one tablespoon of garlic powder. Dip tripe pieces in this mixture. Drain. Dip in batter, fry until golden brown.

It would be difficult to ignore THAT tripe. Have you ever smelled it while it was cooking? That tripe is best thrown out into the hog slop. When can we expect your recipe for ChateauBriand?