It’s The Arrogance, Stupid!

Back in the 90’s, as Bill Clinton was winning two elections, there was a popular ‘catch-phrase’ that pundits used to draw attention to the nation’s economic woes – “It’s the economy, stupid!”. Not only did we have to frame the message on such things as jobless rates, poverty rates, inflation, GDP, and other economic statistics, but also adding the word “stupid” to the end of the phrase had a special meaning in my opinion. It alluded to the ignorance of the American people and served as a kick-in-the-pants to those who weren’t paying attention. It helped Bill Clinton make George Herbert Walker Bush a one-term president.

Today our economy is again a focus of attention as Bush’s reckless deficit spending has pushed our national debt into the stratosphere along side the price of gas. However, the focus of my article today is not about the economy. Today I attempt to address the question of questions – “Why do they hate us?” Many journalists and pundits have tackled this topic, but the responses I find most amusing are straight from the Bush Administration… “They hate us because of our freedoms”.

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, and people around the country… please don’t get caught in Dubya’s web of deception. The Arab community, Muslims around the world, and even Islamic Extremists could care less about our freedoms. If freedoms were what they really hated, they’d hate other countries such as Canada and The Netherlands (arguably more freedoms) a lot more then the United States. Are thooooooose countries waging a ‘War on Terror’? Nooooooo!

Make no mistake about it… they hate us because of our arrogance. My only hope is that they hate our government’s arrogance only, and not our people’s arrogance. Anyway, my mission today is to take a look into the Bush Administration’s arrogance…


The John Bolton Recess Appointment to the United Nations

This is a classic example of Bush’s arrogance and yet so fresh because it just happened earlier this month. George couldn’t get his friend approved through the conventional method… you know, with agreement from Congress… so he thumbed his nose at the legislative branch of our Government and appointed him to the post anyway while their backs were turned. Every indication is that John Bolton is the furthest thing from a diplomat and his presence at the UN will inevitably lead to hostility and worsened international relations. How much worse could it get? I don’t know, have we hit rock bottom? And even if we have, I’m sure there’s a new low.


The Secrecy

My ‘jury is still out’ on the DC Circuit Judge John Roberts nomination because I’ve never heard of him before this. And I do recommend that you do your own research before jumping to an opinion. Even so, there’s Bush Administration arrogance to be had because the White House continually refuses to surrender documents that would be crucial in formulating opinions for the Judicial Nomination committee. The secrecy of the White House, or should I say the lack of transparency of the Bush Administration, is another hallmark of arrogance. They can classify anything as “National Security”, hide it from the public, and that gives them free reign to do whatever they want and get away with it because there’s no evidence (did you see “Murder at 1600”?).


The Hypocrisies

This has been another hallmark of the Bush Administration. They’ve never heard that old saying… “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”. Instead it’s “Do as I say, not as I do”. There are so many layers, levels, and instances of hypocrisy in the Bush Administration, I could fill reams of volumes on this subject alone. As I write this, I’m watching one of Bush’s press conference in Crawford Texas, where he’s criticizing North Korea on their ‘Nuculer’ program. He said their government should be “…more transparent…” Give me a break! Where are my boots?


The Lies

How do you know when a Bush Administration official is lying? When he or she opens his or her mouth, of course! And the pathetic thing about that - it’s not even a joke. Check out Al Franken’s “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them”. This is a must-read for all progressives and anyone else who still believes the shit continuing to be spewed from the ‘right’.

The biggest lie of the Bush Administration of course, is that there were WMD’s in Iraq. We all know now that there weren’t, but there are still millions around the country who continue to think that the Bush Administration was simply a victim of faulty intelligence. Wake up sheeple! The Bushivicks were not ‘victims’ of faulty intelligence, they manufactured the faulty intelligence. They fabricated the faulty intelligence. They ‘fixed the faulty intelligence around the policy’. There never were WMD’s in Iraq and the Bush Administration knew it.

I could go on and on about the lies of the Bush Administration, but certainly Al Franken does a great job of it. Another great book on the subject is “The Book on Bush – How George W. Bush (mis)Leads America”.

To finish out my section on ‘Lies’, I wanted to allude to another huge lie of the Bush Administration - that we’ll eventually pull out of Iraq after we’ve trained the Iraqi military to defend itself. Don’t you believe it. The United States is building permanent-style military bases in Iraq. We may eventually pull out of policing the cities (sometime in my lifetime), but we will never completely pull out of that country. Have we ever completely pulled out of any country? You know what that means? Permanent insurgency. That’s right… don’t you think for one minute that this insurgency - the terrorism, the people in the Middle East fighting for their countries – will ever end.


The Treaties

Since George W. Bush took office, the United States has pulled out of every major international treaty. The Kyoto Protocol (addresses global warming), the Antiballistic Missile Treaty, the International Criminal Court of Justice, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, and the Land Mine Treaty are just a few of the many signs of George W. Bush thumbing his nose at the international community. As we continue to torture Muslims in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, think of the Geneva Convention being flushed down the proverbial toilet.


World Domination

Throughout the ages brutal conquerors have tried to take over the world. All have failed but time and time again, some delusional idiot will come along who thinks he’s God’s gift, and deserving of commandeering the entire globe. As absurd as this sounds, this is no joke. Bush and his band of neo-conservative henchmen have every intension of taking over the world, and if you don’t believe it, I suggest you check out their web site – Project For The New American Century. I’ve alluded to this before in an earlier article because it gets to the root of the evil known as the Bush Administration. When you read through their publications keep one thing in mind – this is NOT satire! The United States continues to spend more on Defense then every other country combined, and has placed military bases in over 150 countries. Along with that we’ve push our way of government and our culture on them. We tell them they can’t have ‘nuculer’ weapons of mass destruction, even though we have them and continue to produce more.

Obviously this narrative can go on endlessly. There have been volumes published on the subject of why the rest of the world hates us. I particularly like this article from Jason Miller, which was recently posted on The Smirking Chimp. It’s a lengthy read, but well worth it as he puts the anti-American sentiment into eloquent perspective.



Bottom line – the reason they hate us has absolutely nothing to do with our freedoms or our way of life. It’s our arrogance. And if you’re looking for a way out of this mess, start my dropping the arrogance. Start by treating foreign peoples, lands and cultures with respect & dignity. Start by acting with humility & understanding. And take a lesson from Gene Roddenberry by observing the ‘Prime Directive’.