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We Are All Disgruntled |
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As has been discussed, the Bush administration is trying to dismiss Scott McClellan as a “disgruntled” ex-employee, rather than dealing with the substance of what he has to say. The administration’s disgraceful, but not surprising, attempt to change the subject got me thinking about who else is fed up with the administration’s “permanent campaign” approach to governing, its decision to lead us into war in Iraq on the wings of a lie, its disgusting attempt to discredit a critic by exposing his wife’s identity as a CIA operative. Here’s a partial list of people who I guess the Bush administration would write off as “disgruntled”:
- Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, who has rejected the Bush/McCain war in Iraq for three years
- Republican Rep. Walter Jones, who coined the term “freedom fries”, but changed his view and has also been opposing the Bush/McCain war for the past three years
- Former Reagan Justice Dept. official Bruce Fein, who voted for Bush in 2004, but was disgusted by the illegal warrantless spying program and became a critic of the administration
- Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor to Bush I, a long-time critic of the Bush/McCain war
- Former Bush II Treasury Secy. Paul O’Neill, who condemns the administration’s secrecy and says, like McClellan and others, that Bush made up his mind right after 9/11 to attack Iraq
- Former counterrorism chief Richard Clarke who, like O’Neill and McClellan, says the administration was set on attacking Iraq, no matter what, and also says Bush ignored threats by Al Qaeda in 2001
- UN weapon inspector Scott Ritter (also a Marine and long-time Republican), who said before the Iraq war started that the case for war was bogus
- The majority of Democrats in Congress who voted against the Iraq war
- The 2/3 of Americans who oppose the Iraq war and think it was a mistake
Not all critics of the Bush administration are disgruntled, vengeful, or even liberal. The broad array of Americans, right and left, Democrats and Republicans, who have had enough of this administration and its manufactured war in Iraq are far to many to be dismissed. We will keep speaking up, and perhaps the media will hear us, if not the bubble-enveloped, hunkered down, bunkered in Bush administration.
Me too - count me among the disgruntled and I live in a red state.
at one point, I saw that Bush’s approval ratings were below 50% in all but one state (I think Utah)…can’t find updated polling, but this is a deeply unpopular president