America the Entitled

Again today Bush exhibits his utter lack of tolerance and understanding for any point of view other than the one he's been programmed with by the likes of Rove, Cheney and Wolfowitz. The only way they could possibly hold the unwavering conviction that the Bush camp has on the Iraq war and the separate "war on terror" is to have the firm belief that America and the American people are unequivocally superior.

Bushies are incapable of viewing the world through the eyes of anyone but their own. In fact, even suggesting that there may possible be more than one world point of view, or that others across the globe may not see our war efforts as being quite as "pure" as the Bushies do, brings a swarming attack from the right of being unpatriotic and sympathizing with the terrorists.

NO! It's called diplomacy. It's called respecting ALL human life, not just the lives of those lucky few of us who live inside these 50 states. It's called not having the idea that this country has the "God-given" right to whatever the hell we want (oil) or the belief that we can impose our will on other countries down to the form of government that we find acceptable for them to practice? How long will the rest of the world tolerate the unfathomable depths of our national leader's hubris?

In a news conference today a reporter asks Bush to comment on Colin Powell's concern that the world will not look kindly on America abandoning its morals and things like, oh say the Geneva Convention articles which prohibit torture. Of course, he completely evades the point and basically paints his fellow-Republican (Colin Powell no less!) as a terrorist sympathizer. Could he possibly be this stupid? Or, has Rove just taught him so well how to reframe an argument with vitriolic language away from a valid point that he can't resist even using it against one of his own? Here's the exchange with the reporter today:

QUESTION: Mr. President, former Secretary of State Colin Powell says, "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism." If a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former secretary of state feels this way, don't you think that Americans and the rest of the world are beginning to wonder whether you're following a flawed strategy?

Bush's Response:
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BUSH: If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic.

It's just -- I simply can't accept that.

It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective.

My job and the job of people here in Washington, D.C., is to protect this country. We didn't ask for this war.
You might remember the 2000 campaign. I don't remember spending much time talking about what it might be like to be a commander in chief in a different kind of war.

But this enemy has struck us and they want to strike us again. And we'll give our folks the tools necessary to protect the country. That's our job.

It's a dangerous world. I wish it wasn't that way. I wish I could tell the American people, "Don't worry about it. They're not coming again." But they are coming again.

And that's why I've sent this legislation up to Congress. And that's why we'll continue to work with allies in building a vast coalition, to protect not only ourselves but them.

The facts are -- is that after 9/11, this enemy continued to attack and kill innocent people.

I happen to believe that they're bound by a common ideology. Matter of fact, I don't believe it, I know they are. And they want to impose that ideology throughout the broader Middle East. That's what they have said.

Makes sense for the commander in chief and all of us involved in protecting this country to listen to the words of the enemy. And I take their words seriously. And that's what's going to be necessary to protect this country, is to listen carefully to what they say and stay ahead of them as they try to attack us.

Steve?

QUESTION: Can I just follow up?

BUSH: No, you can't.

Steve?
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OK, here's the Cliff Notes:

Question: Mr. President, are you concerned about how the world may view America if we abandon our morals in the name of a war on terror?

Bush: How can you possibly say that Americans are anything like the baby-killing terrorists? They want to kill you and I'm not going to let them kill you. Are you scared? You should be scared. They want to kill you. Vote Republican.

That's about the extent of his argument.