"Remember the Rug"
President Bush muses on marriage, chicken-plucking and rugs ...
Bush went to Tipp City, Ohio last week to talk about terrorism .. but he ended up rambling on about marriage and chicken-plucking plants, the agony of death and his Oval Office rug, which resembles a sunburst.
When he talked about his hope for succeeding in Iraq, Bush said, "Remember the rug?"
What's up with the Republicans? You have Bush rambling like he's on something .. and McCain changing the Beach Boys hit "Barbara Ann" to "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran" during a speech in South Carolina (stick a fork in 'im).
I don't know if "Remember the Rug" will be the new national catchphrase .. "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember 9-11" were soul-stirring .. but now, Remember the Rug?
It also looks like the president is running out of friendly places to give speeches. He's been reduced to audience-selected town hall meetings like the one in Tipp City. And military bases .. because it’s practically a foregone conclusion that men and women in uniform are going to give their CIC a boisterous response .. especially when he’s trying to motivate them with encouraging words about their mission ..
.. well no, that didn't happen when he spoke at Ft. Irwin, CA a week or so ago, dozens of camouflage-wearing troops sat quietly at their lunch tables, some joined by family members, and they didn't look like happy campers. The applause was .. well, underwhelming.
Maybe they felt awkward being used as patriotic props .. there IS that Department of Defense directive that forbids service members in uniform to attend “partisan political events.”
Yes, partisan .. Bush does complain about Democrats to them, how they're trying to impose a pullout deadline. I can't imagine that there are no Democrats in the military .. that there were no Democrats in that lunchroom quietly thinking, "Go Democrats!"
Remember the 2006 Military Times poll? Barely one-third of service members approve of the way the president is handling the war.
Maybe the troops were subdued because they are tired of the backdoor draft and extended tours in Iraq .. or going back for a third, and even forth, tour of duty.
Or maybe because this administration actively tries -- and often succeeds -- to cut Health Care benefits for active and retired military, cut Family Housing for the military .. education for the children of the military .. and so on and so on ...
It wasn't only at Ft. Irwin that they were subdued with their applause .. just a couple of months ago the president appeared at Ft. Benning, GA looking for a "friendly audience and a patriotic backdrop" to help sell his escalation policy. He didn’t get the reception he expected.
The far-right Washington Times even said the troops’ response to the president was “tepid.”
"FORT BENNING, Ga. -- President Bush sought a friendly audience and a patriotic backdrop yesterday to continue to make his case for sending 21,000 more troops to Iraq, but he received only tepid applause at this Army base, where the commanding general forbade soldiers from talking to reporters."
The president’s support is down to about 30% .. I get the sense that a lot of the troops and their families are with the other 70%.
The true weight of this miserable war is entirely on their shoulders .. and on their families. The rest of us aren't sacrificing one dang bit.
Here's another clue:
Untrained ‘Surge’ soldier dies in Iraq
Untrained ‘Surge’ soldier dies in Iraq
“One of the soldiers died just hours after arriving in Iraq — and was one of those troops rushed to the country in the “surge” who did not receive full training.”
… “some Iraq veterans in the 1st Brigade have expressed concerns about their younger counterparts missing the mission rehearsal. ‘The training was good but some guys came in after that. They’re basically going straight from basic training into Iraq,’ said Staff Sgt. Jason Massey last month, before saying goodbye to his family for a third combat tour.”
This must stop!
What makes this double disgusting is the fact that the Decider is stomping around insisting that it’s the Democrats who will leave the soldiers untrained and ill-equipped .. blah blah blah ...
