The Dusty Dog

Dumbya as Truman

Before I write about my observations from this morning's CSPAN open call-in show, I'd like to make a single comment regarding this latest (of many, lately) Constitutional crisis that is now facing Congress and the White Wash. In particular, the FBI raid of Rep. William J. Jefferson's (D-La.) office after finding out and indicting him on bribery charges. The burning question I have is did other indicted or accused members of Congress, and even those who have already pled guilty, be they from the House or Senate get their offices raided by the FBI? Was DeLay's office raided? Was Cunningham's? Were anyone's office raided and files and computers taken, other than Jefferson? I suspect not, because it's only Jefferson's indictment that has caused such a reaction. Think about it. The rest of the Congressional slimeballs were republican neocon cockroaches. Jefferson is a black democrat, who apparently is also a cockroach. I suppose if you're a member of Congress who happens to get caught with greased palms, it's bad enough. If you're a democrat, that's scores extra points. A black democrat, well hell's bells, that must be the jackpot.

Don't get me wrong. I, in no way, support any such bribery activities, grease palms, corruption, whatever. But, for god's sakes, people, where's the equity? Why is the press allowing this kind of hypocrisy to go unchallenged?


Now, to this morning's CSPAN..........

The initial question that the show's host, Steven Scully, asked of his audience was, "What do pople think about Bush's West Point commencement speech?" Of course, the item that rose to the top immediately was dubya's comparison of himself to former President Truman. As always, the phones start ringing off the hook, I'm sure, even though we cannot hear them. How do I know? I've tried to call in, but I never got past the busy signals. Never.

Anyway, the phone dialogue proceeded to deteriorate (for lack of a better word) into those who are for dubya and how this country is under attack by the liberals against good Christians who support the war on terror, and the liberals who bashed this administration's supposed support (again for lack of a better word) of the Christians who are fighting against the evil Muslems. In fact, the neocon supporters seem to use their hatred of Europe because the Europeans have allowed the terrorists to breed within their countries, according to one caller.

There was one caller who felt that this war is against Christianity itself. The Christian extremists (obvioulsly racists) use their Christianity as the basis for their mutual support of dumbya and the neocons. Conversely, the liberal callers did an excellent job of questioning the corporate backing for this war, stating that were it not for corporate interests, there would be no war. I tend to agree, obviously, as anyone who knows me already knows. The entire CSPAN segment was a weird clash between religious ideologues and apparently well-informed free thinkers.

One caller mentioned that when Truman took office, war profiteers were making crazy profits from WWII, but Truman effectively put a stop to that. I don't know if this is true or not, so I navigated over to Wikipedia and looked up Truman. What I found is rather interesting, though the question about war profiteers was not answered. The only reference that dubya made that appears to be even close to any similarity to Truman was the advent of the Cold War, wherein the Truman Doctrine was the beginning of it all. That's it. Period. Of course, the Cold War was a war against a nebulous enemy, the Communists, for which this country sank into severe Constitutional crises, most notibly stomping upon First Amendment rights to free speech. Interesting that dubya would make such a comparison.

In fact, there are other aspects of Truman's legacy, from what I read at Wikipedia, that are so diametrically opposed to dubya's philosophies, that the dubya comparison is tantamount to a joke. A stupid joke that obviously goes right over our stupid buffoon of a president's head. For instance:

Fair Deal

Following many years of Democratic majorities in Congress and Democratic presidents, voter fatigue led to a new Republican majority in the 1946 midterm elections, with the Republicans picking up 55 seats in the House of Representatives and several seats in the Senate. Although Truman cooperated closely with the Republican leaders on foreign policy he fought them on domestic issues. He failed to prevent tax cuts and removal of price controls. The power of the labor unions was significantly curtailed by the Taft-Hartley Act which was enacted by over-riding Truman's veto. The onset of the Korean conflict in 1950 once again required an increase in taxes.

As he readied for the approaching 1948 election, Truman made clear his identity as a Democrat in the New Deal tradition, advocating universal health insurance, the repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act and an aggressive civil rights program in a broad legislative program that he called the "Fair Deal."

Now, back to dubya's comparison of himself to Truman, of particular note is the Truman Doctrine, signed into law in 1947, which was foreign policy "that the U.S. government would support Greece and Turkey with military and economic aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet orbit. The Doctrine shifted American foreign policy towards the Soviet Union from détente to, as George F. Kennan phrased it, a policy of containment..."

Metaphor

The "Truman Doctrine" has become a metaphor for emergency aid to keep a nation independent. Truman used disease imagery not only to communicate a sense of impending disaster in the spread of communism but also to create a "rhetorical vision" of containing it by extending a protective shield around noncommunist countries throughout the world. It echoed the "quanrantine the aggressor" policy Franklin Roosevelt proposes in 1937. The medical metaphor extended beyond the immediate aims of the Truman Doctrine in that the imagery combined with fire and flood imagery evocative of disaster provided the United States with an easy transition to direct military confrontation in later years with communist forces in Korea and Vietnam. By presenting ideological differences in life or death terms, Truman's rhetoric increased the nation's feelings of insecurity and constrained future foreign policy decisions [Ivie 1999]

Sound familiar?

It's also amazing that dubya has to go back in history to compare himself to a former president. It's pretty obvious why he chooses to do so. He has nothing but a failing record, and he sure cannot talk about anything relevant to his own failed policies on every level of government. He's got the anti-Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to crap. His record is nothing but failed ventures and crap.

posted by Dusty Dog at 5/28/2006