The January 17, 2001 edition of The Onion carried this headline:
Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'
In George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 The Party had three memorable slogans:
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Yesterday George W. Bush gave a speech to CPAC. Join me as we explore why when Bush speaks, Orwell turns (over in his grave) and The Onion sniggers (at seeing their faux headlines become reality).
Bush Speaks(at the CPAC convention)
In his speech Thursday at the CPAC convention, President George W. Bush told the audience, "This is an important election. Prosperity and peace are in the balance."
While economists are debating it, the American public believes the economy is already in recession. You probably know the litany of bad economic news. The sub-Prime mortgage crisis and it's fallout: bond insurers MBIA and AMBAC heading towards insolvency, billion dollar losses from investment banks around the globe, tens of thousands of home owners going into foreclosure and the Fed slashing interest rates in attempt to soften the landing. Real wages have declined in 4 of the last five years and inflation is rearing it's ugly head.
Yes, Mr. Bush, Prosperity is in the balance. Any more prosperity like this and we'll all be sitting on street corners with tin cups and cardboard signs.
At the same CPAC convention the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee spoke. John McCain didn't reprise his most stupid Iraq War statement, but you know we'll be seeing it as the center-piece of countless democratic ads this fall - in case you've been vacationing on Mars, let me repeat it for you as reported in Mother Jones:
[McCain] said he had no objection to U.S. soldiers staying in Iraq for decades, "as long as Americans are not being injured, harmed or killed." After the event ended, I asked McCain about his "hundred years" comment, and he reaffirmed the remark, excitedly declaring that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for "a thousand years" or "a million years," as far as he was concerned.
Senator McCain didn't clue us in on how many decades, centuries, millennia he foresees for the 26,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. You haven't forgotten Afghanistan, have you? Did I mention that one of the central themes in 1984 is perpetual war?
Yes, Mr. Bush, Peace is in the balance. We're currently fighting two wars and there'll be no end in sight if John McCain is elected President.
Orwell Turns Over In His Grave ...
Remarking upon the Bush administration's Orwellian nature has almost become a cottage industry. Orwell wrote a cautionary tale; memo to President: you're supposed to AVOID comparisons to 1984 and "Big Brother" or "The Party," -- not encourage them.
"Peace and Prosperity are in the balance."
Jesus H. Christ! We're not experiencing any prosperity and we're fighting not one, but two fucking wars.
I want the name of the President's speech-writer. I have an idea for him. I suggest we make the assertion that George W. Bush is the strongest President in American history .... because "Ignorance is Strength" and he's surely the most ignorant.
.... meanwhile, back in Madison, Wisconsin ...
The Onion Sniggers
... chuckles ... laughs maniacally ... remembering that January 17, 2001 headline:
Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'
Still 346 days left .... someone hand me a beer ....