Four More Years, Four More Years Two More Months, Two More Months

Would the president finally address domestic issues as he accepted the nomination? Sort of, for about a third of his speech, and then he, like most of the convention before him, resorted to Kerry bashing and the Fear theme. But even so, did I miss something? I heard virtually no mention of Al Qaeda and no reference to that guy…what was his name… Bin Laden.

So let’s move to Mr. Bush’s main domestic theme: The Ownership Society

Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Owning is cool. Everyone wants their own house. And having lots of things is the highest priority, isn’t it? That’s what GWB wants you to agree with, and why not? Just after 9/11 he asked us to go out and shop and spend our money to keep America strong. Ownership means something to cowboy oilmen. What other measurement of success is there, after all, than owning stuff, including other people’s stuff?

But now even better, you can own your own retirement!

Translation – if we can get rid of these albatrosses called Social Security and Medicare, why, you’ll have a lot more to spend on things. What a plan for the country from someone who is diametrically opposed to evolution. This is natural selection at its best. Those of us who can’t take care of ourselves or invest in our own future are a real drag on those who want to shop and own more stuff, and we’ll just have to die off.

Trouble is there are a whole lot more of our fellow citizens who can’t get health care now, and almost 2 million more per year are losing it.

Oh yeah, we are getting manufacturing jobs back because GWB’s folks changed the definition: fast food and most other minimum wage jobs have been reclassified as “manufacturing” – amazing how that outsourcing problem just disappeared according to our incompetent Secretary of Labor.

And a half million vets are being denied medical care. And thousands of reservists are going to have trouble owning stuff when/if they return from the Middle East. Their jobs are gone and so are their businesses.

And no-child-left-behind is resulting in teaching to the test, not in education.

But, let’s talk about YOUR record Mr. Bush, not John Kerry’s, or the one you made up last night:

Economy & jobs – a dismal recession for four years
Health Care – in a death spiral
Education – a failed Texas system forced on a nation with the same results
Veterans – ignored, they are not as attractive to you as active duty warriors
International Relations – we’re in a new Ice Age
Small Businesses – ignored
Environment – grandstanding with no substance
Deficits – all-time highs

...and last but not least:

The War on Terror – a waste of precious lives and resources chasing the wrong bad guys

That’s just part of your REAL record.

We “see a valley” too, but it looks more like a huge tar pit to us.