The metaphysics of Bush-hating*

I do not like George W. Bush. I have not liked him since the election of 2000 was in the recounting stage and he and his minions mounted an Orewellian brain-washing campaign against Al Gore. and the Democrats, accusing them of trying to "steal" the election and other nefarioius plots. People who engage in that kind of propaganda warfare are not nice and do not intend well for anybody but themselves and their suck-buddies. But I was a lonely voice in chiding Democrats for calling him stupid in the early stages of his presidency. I have a violent aversion to the personal attack. A person should not call another "stupid" unless the person has proved that attribute beyond a reasonable doubt.
I think George has proved it.

That leads to the matter of hatred. There are two kinds of hatred. One kind is that of prejudice and predisposition in the hater that grows from an inherent quality of malice toward certain things. The other is earned hatred, in which the object of hate becomes hated the old-fashioned way: by earning it. The first kind of hatred is the kind that some people feel toward other races. The second kind is the kind of moral revulsion and indignation we feel for the Hitlers, the Stalins, the bin Ladens, the Saddam Husseins because of what they have said and done.

George W. Bush has earned the contempt and distrust of the people through his clandestine operations, his deceit, and his oppressive actions and policies.

The instances of his perfidy are many:

• Despite the fact that weapons inspectors, foreign governments, and many people with official positions in U.S. government said there was no producable evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and connections to Al Qaeda, he pushed us into a war in a classic wagging-the-dog manipulation of public sentiments.
• He used his executive manipulations of the propaganda forces to discredit and wreak revenge on any who expressed doubt about his verity. This includes the Valerie Plame business and high-level officers who noted his obsessive need for the war--which he used to throw a fearful public into blind trust and obedience.
• While giving our loyal troops what is tantamount to verbal, nice-job- buddy pats on the ass, he did not pay attention to what kind of rehabilitation efforts were provided them in their transitional, outpatient stages. Meanwhile, the war was a great source of fortune for the Halliburton subsidiaries.
• He initiated policies and actions that destroyed any basic rights to privacy and due process for those he and his minions chose to attack.
• He instituted prison policies regarding detainees that equal the worst conditions of the Soviet gulags and other totalitarian violations of human rights.
• He fired U.S. attorneys who apparently did not meet the standards of his political vindictiveness.
• I save the worst for last. In his vain and self-serving war, he has made good soldiers expendable in the name of a war that cannot be justified by any moral standards.

The list goes on and on and on. If George W. Bush is reviled, it is because of his record of actions. He is not a nice man. He has earned any contempt felt for him.

*Acknowledgment to Herman Melville's "The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating."