Monday, August 22, 2005

I read the news today, oh boy
I don't know why he does this. Bush's speeches to the general public never accomplish much. Remember last year at the beginning of the summer when they announced that he would be making a major foreign policy speech every week for five consecutive weeks? He made one, the week that Kerry announced his choice of Edwards as his running mate, then dropped the whole thing. He's not a good public speaker; he doesn't appear to like it, unless it's before an adoring, pre-screened fan club; and he never changes anyone's mind.

And yet, there he goes again.
President Bush will launch a new round of speeches Monday to rally support for the war in Iraq, advisers said, as protesters camped outside Bush's Texas home and polls showed weaker support for the two-year conflict.

Senior aides say Bush will attempt to portray the Iraq conflict in the context of long wars like World War II, which U.S. forces fought from 1941 to 1945.

They said the president also will invoke the September 11, 2001, attacks...,

Wow. He's going to "invoke the September 11, 2001, attacks" to gain support for his failed policies. So this is going to be a different type of speech.

I wonder why he feels the need to interrupt his five-week vacation at this point. Let's see if we can find a clue elsewhere in the news.
George W. Bush’s overall job approval ratings have dropped from a month ago even as Americans who approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president are turning more optimistic about their personal financial situations according to the latest survey from the American Research Group. Among all Americans, 36% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 58% disapprove. When it comes to Bush’s handling of the economy, 33% approve and 62% disapprove.

Among Americans registered to vote, 38% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 56% disapprove, and 36% approve of the way Bush is handling the economy and 60% disapprove.

As other bloggers have pointed out, this puts Bush in the same range as Nixon during Watergate. According to a Gallup poll in the summer of 1973, Nixon’s approval rating was 39%. Well, that's a good reason to go out trolling for support. Anything else?
Shiites and Kurds were sending a draft constitution to parliament on Monday that would fundamentally change Iraq, transforming the country into a loose federation, with a weak central administration governed by Islamic law, negotiators said.

[...]

The draft also stipulates that Iraq is an Islamic state and that no law can contradict the principles of Islam, Shiite and Kurdish negotiators said. Opponents have charged that last provision would subject Iraqis to religious edicts by individual clerics.

The Shiite and Kurdish negotiators also said draft calls for the presence of Islamic clerics on the court that would interpret the constitution. Family matters such as divorce, marriage or inheritance would be decided either by religious law or civil law as an individual chooses -- a condition that opponents say would likely lead to women being forced into unfavorable rulings for them by opponents demanding judgments under Islamic law.

Two and a half years after invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, we have managed to spend hundreds of billions of dollars and over 2000 American and allied lives in order to replace a secular dictatorship with an Islamic republic. We have helped to reduce the civil rights of fifteen million or so women. We have created a massive training camp for urban terrorists and given big, bad Iran an ally.

So, I guess Bush wants to take a few moments from his busy vacation to brag about his successes. I can understand that.

Meanwhile in Crawford, Cindy Sheehan is still away tending to her ill mother, but Joan Baez dropped by to lend support and sing a few songs to the Camp Casey protestors. Sounds like things are in good hands down there, so I’m going to go back to bashing creationists for a few days. How about that Senator Frist? Is this a pathetic cry for help, or what?

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