Rove Steps Down


Presidential advisor Karl Rove, the man called "Bush's Brain" by some (I'll refrain from the jokes), is stepping down at the end of this month. While I and many Americans would've preferred Rove leaving earlier and under different circumstances, one has to be glad that his foul stench will soon leave the capital.

Rove says he's proud of being part of history. He's proud to be the architect of the Bush presidency. Proud of what?

  • A $1.35 trillion tax cut and new spending that gobbled up the surplus and exploded the deficit?
  • Dick Cheney's energy policy of deregulation and subsidies to gas, coal and oil companies?
  • Limiting federal stem cell research to existing lines?
  • Pulling out of the Kyoto Treaty?
  • Abandoning a promised reduction in carbon dioxide to fight global warming?
  • Pulling out of the ABM (antiballistic missile treaty) treaty?
  • The biggest national security breakdown in US history where 19 hijackers crash four planes and kill nearly 3,000 people and no one loses their job?
  • Abandoning the Geneva Convention?
  • Allowing torture?
  • Allowing warrantless wiretaps?
  • allowing Osama Bin Laden to escape at Tora Bora?
  • Passing a huge new entitlement program that turns out to be a gift to the pharmaceutical lobby.
  • Threatening to fire a government employee if he told Congress the true cost of the program.
  • Changing government global warming reports.
  • Prohibiting the release of birth control pills for ideological, not scientific or health reasons.
  • Silencing the Surgeon General on health issues for political reasons.
  • Misleading the American public into an ill-fated, ill-prepared war in Iraq.
  • Cheney and Justice Antonin Scalia go duck hunting together three weeks after the Supreme Court agrees to hear a case about the vice president’s energy task force records.
  • In just the third prime-time press conference of his term, Bush is stumped when asked to name one mistake he’s committed since September 11. He replies, “I’m sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hasn’t yet.”
  • Hurricane Katrina hits and Bush's government is exposed as ill prepared to handle it. If it had been a terrorist attack, the public would've been abandoned.
  • U.S. prestige takes a hit worldwide. Even among allies, our popularity is at an all time low.
I could go on and on. Everyone knows it. Karl Rove, do you know who Zhang Shuhong is? He ran a large toy company in China. Recently, Mattel Inc. recalled over a million toys imported from Shuhong's company citing high levels of lead used in the paint on the toys. Shuhong's response to the potential tremendous amount of harm his toys could've done to American children? He hung himself.

Now, I'm not suggesting Mr. Rove hang himself. Oh no, not me. (Just in case, Home Depot sells strong rope.) But you might want to look over what you've "accomplished" with a little more insight and contrition instead of pride. It's going to take a long time to clean up this mess and get our reputation back.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Matt Garcia

Image
Ten years ago, I woke up and turned on my laptop and went to the Daily Republic website and was devastated to learn of the shooting of Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia. I immediately called my brother Tony who answered and knew why I was calling. We shared our shock and horror. But mainly we just cried together on the phone. Later when Matt had been removed from life support and passed away I told Tony that it felt like hope itself had died. He told me, “Matt has inspired too many people to let hope die. But hope took a beating today.” It seemed like some horrible cosmic joke. Twenty-one year old Matt Garcia, elected to the Fairfield City Council on a platform of supporting youth and curbing violence is murdered on the streets of Fairfield. What's worse, his killer mistook him for someone else. It was a pointless act of evil in which a worthless example of a human being took the life of a priceless one. In 2007 Matt invited me to lunch at Joe's Buffet to discuss...
Read more

What if we could enforce our own driving laws?

Image
Thursday, June 6, 2013 Let’s all enforce our own driving laws By Kelvin Wade From page A11 | June 06, 2013 | Leave Comment Vallejo resident Anthony Cardenas, 52, became a local hero after painting his own crosswalk near his home on Sonoma Boulevard at Illinois Street. Cardenas claims the busy street is dangerous for pedestrians, so he painted the crosswalk and earned himself an arrest for felony vandalism and trip to jail for his trouble. Mr. Cardenas makes me want to place my tongue firmly in cheek and take matters into my own hands to make things safer. Have you ever had idiots zoom down your street in complete disregard for kids in the neighborhood? I’d love to creep outside at 3 a.m. with some cement and make my own speed bumps. The next time the speedsters come flying down my street, they’d make a sunroof with their own heads when they hit my new speed bump. BAM! Problem solved. Last week, my friend Nedra Polk asked me to write about the condition of Clay Bank Road between Air B...
Read more

The reason I've ditched my earphones at night

Monday, August 26, 2013 FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA Accident convinces me to ditch my iPad By Kelvin Wade From page A7 | August 22, 2013 | 4 Comments I’ve been an insomniac for years. I used to embrace my insomnia by putting on a pot of coffee at night and doing some of my best writing while the stars were out. I wrote about having a sleep study a couple of months ago and one of the things the analyst told me is I have to stay off my iPad in bed. That hasn’t happened. But recently, my girlfriend Cathi stumbled upon a cure for my nightly iPad habit. So there I was in the middle of the night in bed with earphones in listening to an awesome version of Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Live and Let Die” while pummeling various victims in “Words with Friends” on my iPad when I heard a boom. I turned on a lamp and saw my Beagle, Theo, panting at the bedroom door. I thought he’d jumped against the door to get my attention. Lately, he’s had to go out a lot at night (a dog with the bladder of a mouse...
Read more