I Won't Howl When Bush Leaves Office

I’ve been howling for exactly one year online about the atrocity that is George W. Bush. Offline, I’ve been howling about him even before he was president. (Thank you, Molly Ivins.) And yes, many others have been howling about Bush for quite some time now.

From Add Up the Damage by Bob Herbert:

When Mr. Bush officially takes his leave in three weeks (in reality, he checked out long ago), most Americans will be content to sigh good riddance. I disagree. I don’t think he should be allowed to slip quietly out of town. There should be a great hue and cry — a loud, collective angry howl, demonstrations with signs and bullhorns and fiery speeches — over the damage he’s done to this country.

What Mr. Herbert proposes strikes me as too little, too late.

In the rest of his column Mr. Herbert does a very good job of summing up what many of us already know. The Bush administration really, really sucked.

Let’s start with the first comment I read in response to this segment of Herbert’s column:

The Bush administration specialized in deceit. How else could you get the public (and a feckless Congress) to go along with an invasion of Iraq as an absolutely essential response to the Sept. 11 attacks, when Iraq had had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks?

Here is the comment (by M. Fox):

Well, perhaps that question should be asked of Judith Miller and the rest of the staff at the Times. Perhaps, that question should be answered by all members of the mainstream media. You were all complicit in the deceit. Yes, the Bush administration played on the fears and false patriotism of the citizens but where was the press? The press/mainstream media was cowering in a corner...afraid to appear as if they were not supporting the troops. The Times was afraid of The Post and television and cable news was afraid of Fox news. No one wanted to lose readers/viewers by questioning any of the rash statements made by the Bush administration. You went along with it. The press made a choice. You chose cash over courage. You abdicated your responsibility as members of the fourth estate. Where is this mentioned in your article? You assign justifiable blame to Bush and to the people but where in your article do you accept blame for your actions and your lack of actions?

This is the problem with the press. You keep score of your own game and by your reckoning you are never to blame...

Yes, the Bush administration really, really sucked. Many say that he is the worst president we have ever had. The problem is that the terribleness of the Bush (Bush the Terrible, I like that) administration did not happen in a vacuum. Along with the Bush administration, the press (as M. Fox pointed out) and the media really, really sucked. The Congress (the worst in our history, 2nd only to the Congress that impeached Bill Clinton) really, really sucked. The American people (voting for Bush for a second term) really, really sucked.

Why do something as trivial as howl when Bush leaves? Bush should have been impeached years ago, and he wasn’t. I’m still howling about that.

Why do something as trivial as howl when Bush leaves? Bush should be tried for war crimes. I’m still howling about that, also.

Why do something as trivial as howl when Bush leaves? We should be holding all those who enabled him accountable. I’m still howling about that, as well.

Why do something as trivial as howl when Bush leaves? We should be examining why we have a military that is so willing and able to attack and invade other countries. I’m still howling about that, too.

For some reason, I can't seem to get the image of Allen Ginsberg out of my head right now.

Update:
Perhaps Mr. Herbert should howl at himself before he howls at others, because the complicitness in deceit of the New York Times is still going on.