1. Yes. Just like them. Btw, why do you know those names? Could it be because it's so rare for families of privilege to actually work for the benefit of people who don't have as much as they do that they become instantly famous as targets of the rest of the moneyed and powerful?
How do I know those names? Who doesn’t know those names? They’re examples of the people you were talking about - those born with silver spoons in their mouths, did nothing to earn the wealth they were born into, and use that wealth to perpetuate their own power. They don’t give a sniff about people with less than they have, and only work for those with less when it benefits them – either monetarily or politically. Don’t kid yourself – they really don’t give a damned whether you or I disappear from the face of this planet.
2. I was specifically referring to the good ole' boy network that propped up a drunken cocaine addict through every failed business he ran and finally decided that he was too stupid to succeed in business so they made him governor of Texas. After that it was only a short step and a couple of stolen elections to make him a 2 term president. If being handed a presidency after demonstrating conclusively that your only qualification is that you are stupid enough to be easily manipulated and stubborn enough to do the wrong thing no matter how many people tell you to reconsider isn't a perfect example of privilege, there probably isn't one. I mean even Paris Hilton had to suck cock on a video to claim her place in the sun. Bush only had to do it in the offices of all his daddy's buddies.
That’s who I thought you were alluding to – I just wanted you to state it. I’m not even going to try to address your statements because you’ve demonstrated that your mind is made up, and that’s that. Ok, cool – no worries. But I do have to ask you; why so bitter? News flash – Bush is gone – your guy won. It’s done and over with. All is supposed to be sweetness and light – the lion is supposed to be lying with the lamb – we’re supposed to be on the threshold of the social utopia that was to be the result of “change we could believe in.” The air is supposed to be cleaner and taste sweeter. The birds are supposed to be chirping just a bit louder. The rainbows are supposed to be just a bit more vibrant. And the anointed one was supposed to take care of all of our needs. It ain’t happenin’, is it? You folks on the left are going to have to realize that Bush is gone, and there’s going to come a time when you simply can’t blame him for all of your problems, just as the right had to forget about Bill Clinton and stop blaming him for all of their problems.
For the record, I was never a big Bush fan or supporter to begin with. He did some things I supported, but he did a lot more that I didn’t support. Yes I did vote for him twice, but I didn’t so much vote for Bush as I voted against John Kerry and that turnip Al Gore (talk about a potential national disaster – he would have made the absolute failure that was the Carter presidency look like a walk in the park.) Still, neither he, nor any other president, is the cause of my problems, and at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who is in the white house. I didn’t lose any sleep under Clinton or Bush, and I certainly don’t plan on losing any sleep under Obama. And yeah – the birth certificate people need to get over it – he’s the president, ok? Grow up, will ya?
3. What does the mismanaged financial recovery plan have to do with how we got there? If someone slices open my femoral artery, I don't think anyone is going to blame the guy who doesn't know how to apply a tourniquet if I bleed to death (well, some people would, but they're fucking idiots). They'd blame the guy who caused the actual damage. But I guess if you can't argue the point, you just try to change the topic. Take your strategy from the RNC playbook much?
Actually, I don’t take anything from the RNC or DNC – I’m neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I refuse to be a water boy for any political party whose only interest is the perpetuation of their power, so I’m not a member of any party. And let’s be honest here – it doesn’t matter whether you’re on the left or the right, you know deep down inside that that’s all the two major political parties are really interested in – power.
I obliquely asked you what the “mismanaged financial recovery plan” had to do with how we got there. I mean, you brought it up. Yes it was horribly mismanaged – it was, after all, proposed, administrated, and managed by the government. [sarcasm] Hmmm… A mismanaged government program. Imagine that. Whodathunkit? [/sarcasm] And people wonder why I don’t want some government bureaucrat in charge of my healthcare.
As far as how we really got there is concerned, do a bit of research for yourself – you won’t like the answer. And I can debate you all day long on the issue because I have the facts on my side. It’s all a matter of public record, available to anyone online by going to the House of Representatives website and the Senate website, and doing a bit of looking in the archives. I could do it for you and present my case, but it’s a lot more meaningful if you do it on your own. See, that’s a fundamental difference between me and several others (not specifically you, ebilbob – nothing personal here, ok?) that I’ve seen post on this and other political forums – and that is that I don’t believe a damned thing the gov’t tells me, and I believe damned little the press tells me. I check it out for myself. I do the research, and form an opinion based on my own due diligence. I don’t always get it right – I’ve found lots of supplemental sources that had information I had never seen before, and that info has, at times, made me change my opinion. I encourage everyone reading this and any of my other posts to do the same thing. Don’t believe a word I say – check it out yourself. It’s by doing that that we become an informed electorate, and the politician’s worst nightmare. I don’t pay attention to a 10-second sound bite taken from a 30-minute speech. I want to hear the entire speech – and so should you. I don’t listen to a damned thing any politician of any party says – I check out their actions and voting records. Those actions and voting records are a matter of public record, and can be easily found if you truly want to look for them.
In your femoral artery analogy, you say that people would blame the guy who caused the actual damage. Ok, I think we would both agree that that would be the logical thing to do. Problem is, too many people are either associated with, supporters of, or beholden to the guy (or in this case people) who did the actual damage - they refuse to admit their guy did it. So, as a result, everyone starts pointing fingers in different directions - anything to focus attention everywhere but upon themselves. Don’t get me wrong, both sides do it. It’s an ingrained “inside the beltway” defense mechanism – something that’s either a learned pattern of behavior, or in the water of Washington DC. That’s just another of the many reasons why I don’t trust a thing any politician says.
I realize that people have lives, so they don’t want to spend a lot of time looking into an issue. Fine – hey, I have a life too, believe it or not. But if I’m going to step into a voting booth, I think it’s my responsibility to know a little something about what I’m voting on. And if I’m going to inject myself into a political debate, I’d better have sources and facts to back me up if I’m going to successfully defend my position.
Far too often, however, people are satisfied with what the media spoon-feeds them, so consequently, that’s all they’ll ever know. Remember one thing – you only know what the media (no matter the source) wants you to know. People just don’t take the time to learn even the basics. Consequently we have college students walking the streets who don’t even know who the vice-president is, let alone which state of the US has a unicameral legislature. We’re really dumbing ourselves down here. That’s scary.
Now I know that the above probably isn’t a satisfactory answer to your questions. Sorry that I don’t want to play “swap-the-insult” with you or anyone else here on the board. I don’t have time for that, and it never really interested me to begin with. I’ll defend any position I’ve taken, and defend an opinion or idea that I support. I’ll also admit it if I’m wrong. I don’t get personal because at the end of the day, it’s just politics, and the sun is gonna set tonight and rise in the morning regardless of who is in charge in Washington. So, again, nothing personal – it’s just politics. Life goes on…