The year in review
At the start of the year I was getting despondent. The President was shopping a social security revolution that was going to leave our poorest citizens without the means to survive retirement. The Iraq war was taking a back seat and it looked plausible for the President to drive his agenda forward. He had a successful meeting with European leaders and the world seemed to understand their was little choice but to deal with Bush. Dean took the reigns of the Democratic Party and immediately announced that he would support pro-life candidates for President. Wolfowitz was rewarded with a promotion to head the IMF.
In March the tide began to turn, the allegations against Tom Delay were made public. Terri Schiavo was front page news and court after court was ruling in favor of her husband. Iraq was back on the front burner after disquiet between ruling parties. At home death penalty convictions were being overturned. Robert Harlan's sentence was commuted after it was shown jurors used the bible to help them come to a verdict.
Following the death of Schiavo, Bush made the following comment: "I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected." This after he executed 152 people while governor of Texas. Still his comments were not enough for Christian conservatives who demanded stronger language from the President. A rift between moderate and far-right wing Republicans was emerging.
Democrats were able to defeat the nomination of John Bolton to the UN. But Bush determined to appoint the worst man for the job, circumvented congress and gave him the job without their approval. It's about this time I started warming to the idea of a flat tax. I’m now convinced it's the best solution for tax reform.
In May Bush made this classic comment; "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." It's always nice to hear your President paraphrasing Hitler. People were getting fed up with the war and pork barrel spending had gotten to a point where the whole country was getting offended. Social security reform was dead in the water and the Presidents approval ratings were down across the board. With a baby on the way I suddenly found myself concerned about family values. Not the family values that needed me to start going to church to imbibe but practical values that would ensure my son has a healthy upbringing.
We had another shark summer. CNN, Fox and MSNBC, when not running stories about miracles, made sure that every shark within 50 miles of the US coastline had their 15 minutes. Meanwhile Robert Mugabe was forcefully relocating the poorest people in Harare by burning down their homes. It was a form of gerrymandering that would have made Tom DeLay proud. At this point Scooter Libby wasn't getting much air time but it was apparent that Karl Rove knew about Valerie Plame and had discussed her identity with a reporter. Tom Cruise sold crazy over the summer and made it clear that actors really should stick to acting (that includes Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter).
The London bombings indicated that the war on terror was far from won and in reality would probably never be won. The bombers were Britons of Pakistani descent who had tentative links to Al Qaida. Apparently the war in Iraq had strengthened their resolve. In the US the media was praying for a bad hurricane season, if only they knew. The president successfully lobbied for his CAFTA legislation and we started hearing about CIA detentions in Europe.
We found out in August that more than 1.1 million Americans had joined the ranks of what the government officially considered the impoverished. That's $19,000 for a family of 4. In my city that would last a single person 6 months. About this time Hugo Chavez was becoming more popular in South America, popular enough for Pat Robinson to call for his assassination. Gas prices started to rise and the creases in the Republican agenda were beginning to tear.
Hurricane Katrina was a wake up call for many liberals and moderates. Watching starving US citizens in their own country, left in conditions unsuitable for animals many Americans came to the realization that the current social policy had left many people behind. I say liberals and moderates because conservatives are blind to the cause of those who are less fortunate than them. Sure they will donate time or money but are not interested in adopting policies that would benefit the poor in the long term. Hence a compassionate conservative is an oxymoron as emphasized by the recent Republican lead reduction in Medicare and Medicaid benefits for the poor and the elderly.
In October avian flu, the Iraq war, the failed nomination of Harriet Miers and the indictment of Scooter Libby added to the woes of an already battered administration. Alito’s nomination gave evangelicals some hope but the President's wish for a speedy "up or down vote" was ignored. A new study revealed that the incarceration rate in the US was 25% greater than any other country in the world. At the same time the US had the worst crime rate of any G-8 country. Go figure.
Ecological catastrophe in Harbin reminded us all that China is still suffering the growing pains of a developing nation. In November the government announced that debt to China had ballooned to 1 trillion dollars. Not only did we still refuse to buy into Kyoto we lost leverage against a country that may eventually lead us into a global environmental meltdown.
This month the debate focused on the liberal conspiracy to destroy Christmas. Meanwhile we found out that many tsunami victims wouldn’t survive the winter. Promised funding hasn’t arrived and many families are starving. Now the American news media is focused on the story of an Iraqi 3 month old name Noor. She has spina bifida and without the assistance of benevolent US national guardsmen won’t last 45 days. Meanwhile President Bush announced that 35,000 Iraqi's have been killed during the current conflict. I wonder how many Noor’s die each day in Iraq without appropriate medical care and luxuries like clean water and electricity.
I wish everyone the best for 2006. Politically it will be an exciting year and I look forward to a continued healthy debate.
In March the tide began to turn, the allegations against Tom Delay were made public. Terri Schiavo was front page news and court after court was ruling in favor of her husband. Iraq was back on the front burner after disquiet between ruling parties. At home death penalty convictions were being overturned. Robert Harlan's sentence was commuted after it was shown jurors used the bible to help them come to a verdict.
Following the death of Schiavo, Bush made the following comment: "I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected." This after he executed 152 people while governor of Texas. Still his comments were not enough for Christian conservatives who demanded stronger language from the President. A rift between moderate and far-right wing Republicans was emerging.
Democrats were able to defeat the nomination of John Bolton to the UN. But Bush determined to appoint the worst man for the job, circumvented congress and gave him the job without their approval. It's about this time I started warming to the idea of a flat tax. I’m now convinced it's the best solution for tax reform.
In May Bush made this classic comment; "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." It's always nice to hear your President paraphrasing Hitler. People were getting fed up with the war and pork barrel spending had gotten to a point where the whole country was getting offended. Social security reform was dead in the water and the Presidents approval ratings were down across the board. With a baby on the way I suddenly found myself concerned about family values. Not the family values that needed me to start going to church to imbibe but practical values that would ensure my son has a healthy upbringing.
We had another shark summer. CNN, Fox and MSNBC, when not running stories about miracles, made sure that every shark within 50 miles of the US coastline had their 15 minutes. Meanwhile Robert Mugabe was forcefully relocating the poorest people in Harare by burning down their homes. It was a form of gerrymandering that would have made Tom DeLay proud. At this point Scooter Libby wasn't getting much air time but it was apparent that Karl Rove knew about Valerie Plame and had discussed her identity with a reporter. Tom Cruise sold crazy over the summer and made it clear that actors really should stick to acting (that includes Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter).
The London bombings indicated that the war on terror was far from won and in reality would probably never be won. The bombers were Britons of Pakistani descent who had tentative links to Al Qaida. Apparently the war in Iraq had strengthened their resolve. In the US the media was praying for a bad hurricane season, if only they knew. The president successfully lobbied for his CAFTA legislation and we started hearing about CIA detentions in Europe.
We found out in August that more than 1.1 million Americans had joined the ranks of what the government officially considered the impoverished. That's $19,000 for a family of 4. In my city that would last a single person 6 months. About this time Hugo Chavez was becoming more popular in South America, popular enough for Pat Robinson to call for his assassination. Gas prices started to rise and the creases in the Republican agenda were beginning to tear.
Hurricane Katrina was a wake up call for many liberals and moderates. Watching starving US citizens in their own country, left in conditions unsuitable for animals many Americans came to the realization that the current social policy had left many people behind. I say liberals and moderates because conservatives are blind to the cause of those who are less fortunate than them. Sure they will donate time or money but are not interested in adopting policies that would benefit the poor in the long term. Hence a compassionate conservative is an oxymoron as emphasized by the recent Republican lead reduction in Medicare and Medicaid benefits for the poor and the elderly.
In October avian flu, the Iraq war, the failed nomination of Harriet Miers and the indictment of Scooter Libby added to the woes of an already battered administration. Alito’s nomination gave evangelicals some hope but the President's wish for a speedy "up or down vote" was ignored. A new study revealed that the incarceration rate in the US was 25% greater than any other country in the world. At the same time the US had the worst crime rate of any G-8 country. Go figure.
Ecological catastrophe in Harbin reminded us all that China is still suffering the growing pains of a developing nation. In November the government announced that debt to China had ballooned to 1 trillion dollars. Not only did we still refuse to buy into Kyoto we lost leverage against a country that may eventually lead us into a global environmental meltdown.
This month the debate focused on the liberal conspiracy to destroy Christmas. Meanwhile we found out that many tsunami victims wouldn’t survive the winter. Promised funding hasn’t arrived and many families are starving. Now the American news media is focused on the story of an Iraqi 3 month old name Noor. She has spina bifida and without the assistance of benevolent US national guardsmen won’t last 45 days. Meanwhile President Bush announced that 35,000 Iraqi's have been killed during the current conflict. I wonder how many Noor’s die each day in Iraq without appropriate medical care and luxuries like clean water and electricity.
I wish everyone the best for 2006. Politically it will be an exciting year and I look forward to a continued healthy debate.
posted by mochi at 2:20 PM
5 Comments:
Wow, Mochi. Impressive post.
-Jack
Going into 2006, I was feeling pretty good about 2005. Mochi's post reminded me how much Bush's diminishing credibility cost us conservatives, from an ever increasing federal deficit via expanded welfare programs like the prescription drug program, to his failure to legitimize social security as a secure investment via private accounts. I suppose I feel a bit like the wacky libs who elected Clinton as the second coming of George McGovern. Both of us, it seems, have reasons to be disappointed.
I agree with Jack; a great recap 8^)
Oops, by the way, to compliment Mochi's post, Tom Tomorrow's 2005 pt I and 2005 pt II are a bit of fun...
Ha
Post a Comment
<< Home