[HoneyBadger]

I didn't think the war in Iraq was a blunder-a mess yes, but not a stupid mistake on the part of the Bush administration. War is never a mistake, when it comes to political favor. Even the Vietnam War didn't usher Nixon out of office.

And as far as Bush-bashing goes, the American people, as a whole, were *behind* Bush when 9/11 happened. The Iraq war sounded like a good idea then-we were going to get rid of Saddam, and the weapons of mass delusion, and then take out the terrorists, using Iraq as a staging ground.

My dad, for instance-an extremely bright and talented man, who's also quite reactionary and a lot more right-winged than I'm entirely comfortable with-loved and praised and defended Bush to me when he first entered office. For the several months in office, he was a "savior" and "the best man for the office", because he was going to whip the terrorists Texas-fashion (single-handed and bare-fisted, if need be), restore the country's pride in the whitehouse, and then lift our economy to unforseen new heights.

Now my dad hates him. Can't stand Bush. Misses Clinton-which at the time he couldn't stand.

Bush and his cabinet screwed the pooch. Plain and simple. If he and his followers had made better choices, people wouldn't *be* bashing him. It wasn't the war on terrorism that unmade Bush, it was Hurricane Katrina, and the gas prices, and the fact that even isolationist America doesn't like being spit on by other countries-and we really don't like it when the other countries have good reasons to spit on us.

Bush is a joke, because he's made of himself a laughing-stock. Not because he's Republican, or rich, or war-mongering, or any of those things. It's because he's a goofy bastard that can't do the job-and consistently rubs our faces in the fact that he can't do the job. The fact that Cheney managed to shoot his best friend in the face, while in office, didn't help things either.

Bashing Clinton because he had sex with an intern is lame, irrelevant, and sensationalist. Bashing Bush because his cronies let a bunch of Americans die unnecessarily, and made the world hate us, and are systematically destroying American businesses, the environment, and the Constitution, is just being sensible and patriotic.

I do know exactly what you mean, Ballbarian-I've lived under the same system you have, for over 30 years, and I'm open to your way of thinking. I don't like how irresponsible and irreverent-to-the-point-of-blasphemy-and-disgrace the media is, either, but there's a time and a place for questioning our leadership, as free citizens who are also responsible for the freedoms we have--and this is it.

And I'm hoping that the black thing will even itself out, actually--there are lots and lots of traditionally conservative states that also have large Black and Hispanic populations, and Utah's one of them. It might actually work in Obama's favor. I can see lots of people not wanting to vote for Obama, but I can't see that many people actually bothering to vote for Mccain.