-Caveat Lector- Dazed and Outraged http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php? op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=313&mode=thread&order=0 &thold=0
Armed with a six-pack and a bottle of tequila -- essential equipment to endure any Bush State of the Union address -- here is what the president said and more importantly what he "forgot" to say. By Regis T. Sabol As I watched George Bush�s State of the Union address Tuesday night, I didn�t know if I should laugh or cry. So I got drunk. It was my wife�s fault. When I showed her a website called �The State of the Union Address Drinking Game,� she immediately ordered me to get some beer. You have to understand that my wife is not a big drinker, so her response came as a surprise. And the speech was about to start in ten minutes. But I went and got the beer. It was a good thing I did. As soon as Bush squinted those notoriously beady eyes into the camera with that familiar smirk on his face and declared that �the State of the Union is sound,� I knew we were going to need a whole lot of beer to handle this journey through Bushite Fantasy Land. �What planet is he living on?� I asked the missus. The unemployment rate, in the millions, hasn�t been this high since Bush the Elder was in office. Millions of elderly Americans can�t afford the prescription drugs they need to stay alive. Even millions more have no health insurance coverage of any kind. In the last two years, Bush, Cheney, and the other oil barons have wreaked havoc on policies and regulations that protected the environment. And the state of the union is sound? Wall Street has gone into the tank, flushing down the toilet the pension plans of millions of America while larcenous corporate CEO�s pocket billions collectively. The nation�s treasury has gone from a healthy surplus two years ago to a projected $300 BILLION deficit� and that doesn�t include the billions the next round of Bush�s tax cuts for the rich or his war come hell or high water with Iraq will cost us. And the state of the union is sound? You can understand why we ended up drinking large quantities of beer fortified with occasional shots of excellent tequila. Here�s how the game works: Every time Bush uttered key words or phrases, players were required to take a drink. Special words or phrases required more than one drink. For example, tax cut, stimulus, terror/terrorism/�Terrah�, Iraq or Saddam Hussein, regime or regime change, disarm/disarmament, weapons of mass destruction, prescription drugs, Medicare, and seniors or senior citizens, scored one drink. That list of buzzwords or phrases alone gives you some idea of how much alcohol we were required to consume to endure the entire speech, which ran almost an hour. Then there were the words and phrases that required multiple drinks. �Biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons� required two drinks, as did any reference to faith-based initiatives. Equally damaging were the point scorers strung together in single sentences: prescription drugs, Medicare, seniors; terror/terrorism, Iraq or Saddam Hussein, disarm, weapons of mass destruction. Bush repeated these buzz words so often that it was difficult to keep up. Yes, we drank too much. But, tell me, how else could we sit through all the deceit and cow dung this Texas snake oil salesman was slinging at us without going stark raving mad? At least we were able to laugh. Still, even through an alcoholic haze, I could not cease to wonder at the brazen, shameless hypocrisy of the man. Bush obviously practiced hard on the speech his handlers worked up for him because he delivered it more fluidly than in the four-word phrases that generally mark his rhetoric. I understand he gave a dress rehearsal for a select audience of Republican bigwigs and lobbyists a few hours before he drove up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. Consider the Bush domestic agenda: First, of course, we have the $670 billion tax cut plan, including the provision to end taxation of most stock dividends. �This tax relief is good for everyone who pays income taxes,� Bush declared. That�s true, to a point. But it�s far truer for the top ten percent of Americans who will reap millions than it is for the other ninety percent who will get a few hundred bucks�if they�re lucky. Then there�s Medicare. Bush promised to spend $400 billion over the next 10 years to �reform and strengthen Medicare,� with the addition of prescription drug benefits. And how does he intend to perform this miracle? By encouraging (read �coercing� here) the elderly to drop their Medicare plans in favor of private HMO�s. What Bush failed to mention is that even now most HMO�s refuse to insure elderly Americans with health problems. Cuts into profits, you know. Another Bush suggestion for dealing with burgeoning healthcare costs: limit malpractice awards. That�s good for doctors and insurance companies but bad for the unlucky patients on the receiving end of medical malpractice. Naturally, Bush again floated his proposal for privatizing Social Security, the stone in the craw of Republicans since its creation as part of FDR�s New Deal. Yes, investing Social Security funds in the stock market is an excellent idea, especially since the stock market continues to dive like a zealous kamikaze pilot. Then there was Bush�s surprise display of his trademark �compassionate conservatism.� He apparently just heard about the AIDS epidemic that has been ravaging Africa for more than a decade. Bush vowed to combat AIDS by asking Congress for $15 billion over the next five years. The good doctor estimated that this money would prevent seven million new cases of H.I.V. infection, treat at least two million people with life-extending drugs and provide care for millions infected with the virus. This from an administration that will not allow international aid workers to mention the word �condom,� even though condoms remain the most effective way of combating transmission of the deadly virus. Other examples of Bush�s �compassionate conservatism� were his proposals to spend $450 million on a plan to provide mentors for children whose parents are in prison and $600 million to help 300,000 people to get treatment for substance abuse. (I wonder if his niece will be one of the beneficiaries?) Wouldn�t it make more sense to simply reduce the prison population? As for the drug treatment money, that�s nothing more than a band-aid that will do little to improve drug abuse treatment in America. Bush did show he has a sense of humor. After touting his �clear skies initiative��a plan with the clever idea of eliminating forest fires by eliminating forests, he declared he would ask Congress for $1.2 billion for research on �clean hydrogen-powered automobiles.� That�s right, folks. Coming to an auto showroom soon�well, actually in 20 or 30 years, the all- new Hindenburg! Meanwhile, back on terra firma, he�s offering tax breaks for small businesses that buy gas guzzling SUV�s and refusing to tighten emission control standards. Cutting carbon dioxide emissions would, of course, have an immediate impact on the air we breathe and, we can only hope, slow the pace of global warming. But that would offend Bush�s friends in the energy and auto industries. Can�t do that. It wouldn�t be prudent. The big question, of course, is, where will the money for all these schemes come from, especially since Bush warned Congress �to show some spending discipline in Washington, D.C.?� Bush told Congress, �We must work to fund only our most important priorities.� And that brings us to Iraq, the main event in Bush�s flim-flam performance. As far as Bush and his war cabinet are concerned, going to war against Iraq is our most important priority. So he used that most reliable tool of advertisers and demagogues to whip up war fervor among the populace, even if millions of Americans and most Europeans either flat out oppose such a war or, at the very least, question its necessity. Fear mongering. Here are a few choice examples: �Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the gravest danger facing America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.� Three drinks needed there. �Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option.� One drink. �We will consult, but let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people, and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.� Let�s see. That�s four drinks. Bush assured us that he has evidence Saddam Hussein has links to Al Qaeda �from intelligence sources, communications and statements by people now in custody.� He said he�d show us the proof later. Two more drinks. And if that didn�t scare the jeewillickers out of us, Bush resurrected the tragedy of 9/11 by suggesting what would have happened if the hijackers had access to chemical or biological weapons provided by Old Saddam. �It would take just one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our power to make sure that day never comes.� A couple more drinks. Did he forget that plastic box cutters were the weapon of choice in the 9/11 attacks or that none of the hijackers came from Iraq while most came from our dear Middle East ally Saudi Arabia? After being terrorized with that kind of doomsday pretzel logic, it�s no wonder I got drunk. Can you blame me? Regis T. Sabol is a senior editor for Intervention Magazine. He is also editor of A New Deal: an online magazine of political, social, and cultural thought. 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