Musings: Blown Off

The moon was headed toward full all night, but thick clouds muffled her brilliance, so she made her way across the sky without fully strutting her stuff and now the sun is being similarly thwarted. But that’s OK, because cloudy days and showers are all a part of Spring.

It was wet and quiet when Koko and I went walking on this religious holiday that a Rasta friend dubbed “Bad Friday” because it perverted Christianity into a belief system that links suffering and love. As he noted, it also sets up a good Christian justification for war and killing, which otherwise would be considered sins. If God sacrificed His only Son, surely you shouldn’t fuss about sending your kid off to die, too.

Even if you do fuss about all the people dying in Iraq, Bush and Cheney ain’t listening. That was made crystal clear on Democracy Now! yesterday, which broadcast a report: “Bush, Cheney Dismiss Iraq War Opposition.”

It began with Bush’s usual denial of reality.

At the Pentagon, President Bush dismissed criticism of the war, saying US occupation has brought “undeniable” success in Iraq.

President Bush: "There is an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting, whether the fight is worth winning and whether we can win it. The answers are clear to me: removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision, and this is a fight America can and must win.”

Bush’s approval rating is at 31 percent, a forty-point drop since the eve of the Iraq invasion.

A recent survey found more than two-thirds of Iraqis believe US-led coalition forces should leave Iraq. A quarter of those surveyed said they had lost a family member to murder since the war began. Meanwhile a new CNN poll shows two-thirds of Americans oppose the war, while more than seven-out-of-ten believe it’s hurt the economy.

But far more chilling was Cheney’s blatant “piss off, screw you” attitude toward the public, as captured in an interview with ABC’s "Good Morning America" and rebroadcast on Democracy Now!

Vice President Dick Cheney: “On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.”

Martha Raddatz: “Two-thirds of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.”

Cheney: “So?”

Raddatz: “So? You don’t care what the American people think?”

Cheney: “No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.”

Nope, ya gotta hold the course that's taking the ships right onto the rocks — even if it means blowing off an overwhelming majority of the citizenry. Hmmm. Isn’t that the point where a democracy become a dictatorship?