Real Kato Blog: Bush Wraps Himself in the Flag

Why are Republicans so predictable? Bush's first campaign ad shows images from September 11th, and trumpets his "leadership" during that time.

A number of relatives were outraged at Bush's use of 9-11 images for his campaign ad. They saw, as I do, Bush's transparent attempt to wrap himself in a mantle of patriotism, to distract the country from the real issues at hand. They saw him taking advantage of the tragedy of 3,000 victims, to advance his political career. It's sickening that people would fall for this garbage; and yet, somehow, they do.

This is the question I have: exactly what sort of "leadership" did Bush give us after 9-11, when his popularity soared and everyone seemed to think he was a such a phenomenal president? I vaguely remember a few speeches (that his speechwriters wrote for him) in which he condemned Tara -- oh wait, he was trying to say "terror", he wasn't talking about the Southern plantation -- and then I remember him telling us to keep spending money, to keep the economy going. And then he gave a huge tax cut to the wealthy. And then we invaded Afghanistan (okay, that was probably a good thing) and then we invaded Iraq (but that was a huge mistake) and gave lots of money to Halliburton.

So then, Bush's leadership apparently involves using a crisis as a distraction while making rich people richer; finding a way to funnel lucrative contracts to companies cozy with the administration; getting the rest of the world to despise us; and, slapping an "un-American" label on anyone who might think to criticize or question.

Yes, by all means, let's remember what kind of leadership Bush showed us, when November rolls around.

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