Today's blog is undoubtedly not 'fair and balanced', but as the President has taught us, the truth doesn't matter when you're right.

The Mind of a Man Without Doubt
or
The Rusty Pipe Dream Called Iraq

George W. Bush has made very clear the reasons for American military action in Iraq. The fact that these reasons have changed regularly as the truth was brought to light should not concern us. The phantom WMD's, although forming the push to war Bush wanted, we have been told were actually secondary to Bush's concern for the Iraqi people -- they wanted us to 'liberate' them from the evil of Saddam Hussein, and we were the omnibenevolent purveyors of good. Now that the Iraqi people are thoroughly disgusted with our continuing occupation, we are now told that in fact we are not in Iraq because they want us there, but rather to serve Bush's ideological vision of a democratic Middle East. Like a child caught in a lie, Bush denies ever having made WMD's the reason for our war. He ignores the failure of his ridiculously optimistic vision of a liberated Iraqi love-fest. The premises of this war have changed so continuously that even debating its legitimacy has become difficult.

Had Saddam possessed WMD's, there may have been an arguable case for war. If the Iraqis would have stuck with us through the occupation, there may have been an arguable case for war. Bush's pie in the sky vision of a "domino effect" utopian democratic Middle East, however, is neither realistic nor sufficient reason for a pre-emptive invasion.
Democracy is not something that can be artificially implanted, nor is it a system of government that is easy to develop. Even the early Americans, with centuries of liberal thought and tradition to support them, were significantly divided between those loyal to the crown and the revolutionary "yankees". How is it that George Bush is so confident that these Islamic people, with centuries religiously fortified autocracy, will wholeheartedly embrace liberal democracy?

There only seems to be one explanation: George Bush is a wolf in sheep's clothing -- a strange synthesis of utopian revolutionary and 'conservative' ideologue. For some time now President Bush has not been concerned with reality, and seems to think that somehow (by act of God perhaps?) everything will go his way, all the time. No matter the sentiment of the people we are trying to force democracy on, no matter the nature of democracy itself, no matter the costs of war -- America does not exist in the here and now to George Bush, but in some odd corner of his mind. Bush's response to the atrocities in Abu Ghraib? "I didn't like it one bit." Well George, we don't expect you to like it, we expect you to do something about it. This is reality. This is how the world works, and as the leader of the free world, you are responsible for it.

Since 9/11, George Bush has kept his head buried firmly in the ground and his mind high in the sky. His aspirations are admirable, much in the sense that communism would be delightful -- if only it worked. Democracy in the Middle East would be great, if it was plausible. Tax cuts and massive spending would be great, if they didn't result in massive deficits. It seems George Bush holds a firm belief that pigs can fly, everyone is a Texan at heart, and money grows on trees.

One thing is becoming increasingly clear: George W. Bush the conservative is, much like his beloved WMD's, a figment of the neocon imagination. I'm sorry George, but sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken. George Bush talks like a conservative and is mysteriously good at appealing to conservatives, but he does not act like one. Unless we are prepared to redefine conservatism as the support of massive spending, ideological idiocy, and a unflinching denial of reality, the GOP should start looking for a truly conservative candidate.

If things continue to go as they have been going, George Bush will be remembered by history not as a conservative, but as a man who invented his own politics of the implausible, the impossible, and the unlikely.

To his credit, George Bush has made the assessment of his presidency very easy. If his unrealistic ventures in Iraq, his insane fiscal policies, and most of his other policies turn out well, we will know without a doubt that God is on his side. Albert Einstein once said "God does not play dice with the universe." Well, George Bush certainly does, and if any of his insanity turns out well, it can be nothing but an act of God.