"2005? Oh yes, that was the year of the coup." (The Boston Globe)

[kpete]

Staying the course
By James Carroll | December 26, 2005

Where is the shame in Washington today? How does Donald Rumsfeld not blush in the presence of the soldiers he so routinely betrays? How does Dick Cheney maintain that straight face, treating core values as a joke? The recasting of the nation's moral meaning -- a blatant embrace of ends-justify-the-means -- is happening in plain daylight. No shadows here.

Every time the Bush administration is caught in one of its repugnant purposes (Thank God, again this year, for Seymour Hersh), the White House declares its intention to stay the course. Torture? Wiretapping? Kidnapping? Deceit? The president's eyes widen: Trust me, he says with a twisted smile. Then he leans closer to display a snarling defiance. The combination reduces his critics to sputters.

Perhaps Bush's savviest achievement has been to make the public think that Rumsfeld and Cheney are the dark geniuses behind the administration's malevolence. If Bush is taken as too shallow to have a fascist ideology; as too weak to stick with hard policies that undermine democracy; as a religious nutcase whose apocalyptic fantasies don't matter; as a man, in sum, the average citizen can regard as slightly less than average -- then what he is pulling off will not be called by its proper name until it is too late. 2005? Oh yes, that was the year of the coup.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/12/26/staying_the_course/

[David Van Os]

1. Wrong. 2000 was the year of the coup.

[BlueEyedSon]

6. Seconded

[DavidDvorkin]

9. Thirded

[Uncle Joe]

18. Fourthed n/t

[goforit]

35. fithed!!!!!...........But great editorial none the less.

[mattclearing]

38. Sixthed. n/t

[TheWatcher]

43. Seventhed.

[Octafish]

12. Wrong. 1963 was the year of the coup.

Here's what George Herbert Walker Bush did minutes after President Kennedy was assassinated:



Source:

http://www.internetpirate.com/bush.htm

More here:

Poppy Bush Involved in JFK Assassination -- BFEE's Spooked!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3274455

[RazzleDazzle]

28. Yes, I think so too

2000 was the year it landed in our laps, full grown and ugly and undeniable.

[goforit]

36. Yes this was the beginning of the New World Order (sad)

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. Bingo. The day the U. S. Supreme Court gave control to Georgie.

[Horus45]

24. Fifth-ed

[ck4829]

29. Sixthed

[TheWatcher]

44. I have to Seventh this, too.

1963 probably was the beginning of the Coup.

December 12, 2000 was the Funeral.

[Doctor_J]

2. Wow!

I hope some admin critics read this and adopt its tone. It would be great if Boxer and Dean and the few talking heads on our side started using language like this, EVERY DAY

[Oversea Visitor]

3. Oh USA better wake up

The South American Nation are piss of at US
Canada ....wheeee not too happy too
The EU hey they 25 nations strong and they playing the global game while they laughing at Bush.
Meanwhile East Asian Summit held and constitution being draft for next year meeting in Phillipine.
Watch the EAS take shape, countries in this soon to be Economic grouping
Russia, India, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand including the 10 Asean countries which will be use to evolve into the EAS. Total estimated population in the grouping ... 3 Billion souls.
There are plans to include in 2 South American countries.

And what does BUSH do. He trying his best to UNITE them :rofl:
BUSH the Uniter.

Dear Bush,
If you keep walking the course you going to bring a lot of grief to the future generations of American. You will create A Pariah country out of USA. You now has more enemies than friends. And you doing this all in the name of the American people. WHAT A PRESIDENT.
Better start doing your job hey.

[zippy890]

10. you can laugh you don't have to live here

seriously, your perspective is interesting and perceptive - the world IS uniting against the US more so than ever thanks to our A**hole president & company and congress letting them get away with it.

in 10- 20 years this country will be reduced to a regional power, if that

[Oversea Visitor]

19. Hmmm

maybe need to tone down the :rofl:
Me might not live in US but me live on this ball call earth. No where to hide no where to run if world go crazy.
Nutty US president bad news all round for peace and economy.
US goes Kaboom world goes Kaboom
US economy crash our economy goes FUBAR

I dont think we can call what is going on a SNAFU, suituation not normal and it is worst then fuck up.

Me always read people want to leave US to escape nutty President but hey no space flight develop yet.
Virgin Galatic not functioning yet. Space X better get act together fast. Hope Jeff Bezos get space Hotel ready. :rofl:

[zippy890]

22. you're right, fellow earth-dweller

US Kaboom & Crash - much of the world goes Kaboom & Crash (already has - in Iraq)

I was hoping to get aboard the manned Mars exploration but no more $$ for that from the US government, its broke. Maybe Japan will go to Mars? I will stowaway in cargo department.

Even communists in Philippines want to kill americans:

Philippine rebels to target US troops

"The Communist Party of the Philippines, in a statement on Monday, its 37th anniversary, criticized the US military for increasing intervention in the Philippines. It urged its members to take steps to deter the US from "further plundering" the country.

It called on its armed wing, the New People's Army, to "study and learn in advance how to inflict casualties on US military personnel" and said the rebels ..."http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3C12C83E-1D3C-48DD-90E2-192DAF45451C.htm

anyways, I like to read your posts, and keep up the good sense of humor -- its what gets us through these dark times

nutty asshole president will not serve out his term - our people will kick him out by then or he will be forced to resign.
:hi:

[Oversea Visitor]

27. Haha nowhere else to post

Me sing to choir, Went to freerepublic got TS on first post. That was early this year :rofl:
Me long enough here to understand that people here can see the problems. While you fight the RW in a bubble, Me fight to break bubble of anti-americans and make them anti-bush as it should be.

All these spinning world get to see and truly amaze at how come Americans dont act. Getting harder each day. Lots losing patience and has very little sympathy left for poor bushbused (ABUSE) Americans.

[eppur_se_muova]

30. "...fight to break bubble of anti-americans and make them anti-bush..."

Hope you have lots of success there; we're going to need it desperately in the post-Bush era.

[Oversea Visitor]

31. Lots of success

very easy bush very helpful :rofl: Must remember world not concern about R or D, just issue.
In US it is all about R or D.

If you strip off the politic bush fail big time. Anyway you can see his face all over protest poster anywhere he goes and BUSH get more mention than US :rofl: truly amazing his popularity.

[eppur_se_muova]

40. That's reassuring, in a way. Of course we *NEVER* see those protests!

It has always upset me to see protestors burning the American flag, even when I knew from the context that they are angry with the actions of US administrations or corporations, not everyday US people (not to imply that we're automatically guilt-free in every case). If they burn Bush in efigy, I see no problem with that. Just keep the Starts and Stripes separate from Bush -- he keeps trying to hide behind the flag, but the flag is not for people like him.

[YourBrother]

20. dont take it personally

the people of the world know its not the american people

its the psycho's holding the crown

prior to invasion of Iraq i remember seeing a man pleading with the camera, "we love the english people" he said "they are intelligent and fair", "its your governments policies we object too" he said

but the German people suffered shame for many years, "just for following orders"

Don't be expectin too much different, unless you stop this utter madness in its tracks soon

kidnapping, torture, state media/propaganda machine, invading sovereign nations under the guise of protectorate?

ring any bells?

i worry for america if it doesn't wake up to the effects of its foreign policy over the last 50 years

Didn't it make anyone wonder all those years ago when bob hope said he was "offered" the job as president ... in a democracy? ... who's is it to give but the people's?

unless of course ... democracy is the illusion

[gordianot]

11. You do have a good point.

America is quickly becoming a pariah country. The majority of the people in America do not support him. One way to stop this is for the rest of the world to express in clear terms what they think of the Bush.

Deny American use of foreign bases.
Eliminate American charities.
Stop buying American military equipment.
Tell the world what is happening to American Democracy.

Bush and his British Poodle crossed the line long ago.

[Oversea Visitor]

17. Well

US was a world leader. Was a sorry day that responsibility was abused. Now the free ride is over.
All it that was a chimp and 5 years. All the hardwork gone down the drain.

The Corporation will move against him I think. After all an unhealthy US image means an unhealthy market for US brands.

[HamdenRice]

4. Best editorial in the MSM to date ...

What Carroll has done is what the MSM ordinarily refuses to do -- put all the pieces together and see that the administration does not believe in elections, asserts the right to detain anyone anytime indefinitely, torture, surveille citizens, spread disinformation -- in essense, to erect a dictatorship.

Thanks. Nominated -- I wish I could do it more than once!

[DanCa]

5. Gee whatever happened to the chimps mandate

"when he had the will of the people at his back?"

[xynthee]

7. a must-read

snip:

"Sound familiar? Again and again, in the year now ending, the American people have been told by their leaders that strategies based on a new "repugnant philosophy" are required if the nation is to survive the challenge facing it. Forbidden incendiary weapons must be used in urban settings. Prisoners of war must be deprived of Geneva protections. Aggressive interrogations of enemies must approach torture. Commitments to provide US combat forces with adequate protective gear must be forsworn. Extrajudicial kidnapping of bad people must be justified. Allies must be pressured into joining secret networks of detention camps.

Human rights standards must be jettisoned. Traditional obligations to the United Nations must be ignored. Treaties that limit action can be cast aside. Distinctions between foreign and domestic espionage must be left behind, with US citizens subject to unmonitored surveillance by military agencies. Public libraries must be regarded as government peepholes. The lawyer-client privilege must no longer be regarded as sacrosanct. The press must be recruited into the project of information management. Dissent must be labeled as treason."

[zippy890]

8. Excellent piece by Carroll -just read it

"The president's eyes widen: Trust me, he says with a twisted smile. Then he leans closer to display a snarling defiance. The combination reduces his critics to sputters."

bush with his smirking twisting smile, leaning forward in 'snarling defiance' - perfect description

[unblock]

13. what did he actually do IN 2005 as far as a coup is concerned?

2005 is merely the year in which it became OBVIOUS that a coup has taken place.

at least, to those of use who couldn't see it in 2000....

[zippy890]

15. read the last paragraph in the article again

bush has pulled off a coup - as far as the media & american public is concerned,(bad president, but due to negligent stupidity, not malevolence ) thats unimpeachable cheney & others.

[formercia]

14. Nominated and kicked

[kpete]

16. what we are up against...

[American liberal]

33. Amen, but overthrow only if it posed a threat to U.S. oil interests

[Horus45]

23. oops

[Peace Patriot]

25. Yeah, but didn't Sy Hersh promote this idea of "bubble boy religious...

...nutcase" recently? I didn't read that whole piece, just excerpts here, I think. Wasn't it Hersh? I thought it was off-point.

Personally, I think what we have is a triumvirate of unchecked greed and power madness--in Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. Bush is quite a stupid little sadist, who is easily manipulable and programmable by the other two. I think his "bubble" existence and religious ideas are part of what they use to give Bush grandiose notions, and prep him for his puppet lines. They likely also use blackmail--they surely have black dossiers on him, documenting treason and felonies--and maybe drugs (all those fallings off his bicycle). He is by no means innocent, but he is truly limited in intelligence and has no concept of how government actually works. Cheney (greed) and Rumsfeld (power) are the masterminds and puppetmasters, with Rumsfeld the most dangerous of the two, in my opinion. (I think of him as "the Lurker.") (Rove is more of an attack dog, and Cheney was willing to make him the patsy on Treasongate. He's not critical to the junta.)

I think this article is correct to point out Bush's diabolical nature--and to question our tendency to think of him as "non compos menis" and to blame others. I think the situation is that he is a WILLING puppet--a mean, sadistic child-man, a bully--who is fed delusions of power, but has little real power. (For instance, I don't think he has the power to fire Cheney or Rumsfeld.) And this is the problem. He is a front man. He is manipulatable and blackmailable. He depends on others to prop him up. He has no sense of responsibility for his own actions. And he is completely immune to public opinion--and is deliberately unsulated from it. We, the people, have no handle on him at all. His 'buds' put him up there, and they can take him down.

[Usrename]

32. If you listed the 100 most dangerous neo-cons,

I'm pretty sure Bush and Cheney wouldn't even come close to making the list. The real power is behind the curtain, just like you say. The ones pulling the strings must be brought to justice this time around. They have slipped the noose for too long and done way too much damage. This is a time for justice and truth.

Bringing this Administration to task through impeachment would be a good first step in discrediting their methods and their message. The longer it takes to begin, the more difficult the job becomes.

[ClassWarrior]

26. Bingo. K&R.

NGU.

[ThomWV]

34. Now There's One That Nailed It

Right to the wall.

[emald]

37. dead wrong, coup happend in 2000 when scotus

gave us the current piece of shit bypassing the will of the people. That is when our democracy truely gave up it's last ghost, when we were suddenly cast into a monarchy. Fucking GOP stands for lies, deciet, and dishonesty every which way you look.

[Divine Discontent]

39. 34 & 37 posts are so right on

commenting to yours.. how the "supreme court of the united states" gets to decide who is president is beyond me, and sets precedent that they can do it whenever they want if challenged???? right????

I hope these moderate repub senators (what, about 10?) join with the democrats and bring justice and honor back to our country by looking for all proof of injustice.

[Cha]

41. We've been in coup mode

for five years now and the unsupreme 5 have a lot to answer for when they betrayed America.

[orleans]

42. spooky. n/t