Comments on: Esquire: “Bushism must be ripped out, root and branch”

By: David Williams

David Williams — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:06:57 +0000

agreed. . . the really interesting thing about the SC packing, too, is not just the social conservative part, but the fact that the justices are always believers in near absolute presidential powers (particularly Alito and Roberts).

By: Deborah

Deborah — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:32:00 +0000

If 9-11 hadn’t happened, this would just have been another pedestrian Republican administration, which would have made some further inroads into transferring the wealth to the oldest and the richest, and packing the Supreme Court with conservatives, but would probably otherwise not have had the scary impact it has had. Bush and Cheney were empowered by our fear. In the last few years, the American people have had the chance to step back and take a breath and see what they lost to that fear. We’re afraid now in a different way, it’s true, of losing our security; but we’ve had the recent lesson of trusting the fearmongerers. Historically, this is what we do. We swing to the right, we become our worst selves, greedy, xenophobic, imperialistic, avid consumers of yellow journalism – and then we see what we’ve done and swing the other way. Obama keeps talking about this history, and I think he makes a lot of sense. He seems to be a real student of American history, and to have a grip on how to deal with it. This is going to be very, very, interesting.

By: narciso

narciso — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:56:31 +0000

Sounds like the clarion call of the narodniki; ( Russian anarchists), a little panicked an endorsement. Frankly some could read it as an incitement to violence. Not to worry, if the downturn is really as bad as they project it to be; we won’t be
concerned with Esquire, G.Q. or Vanity Fair; The New York Times and McClatchy; already a junk status. their ad revenues are already circling the drain. Their track record hasn’t been so great; Tim Mahoney, Admiral Fallon, talked him self right out of the CENTCOM job. I thought the takeover was inevitable, or do you not believe Erica Jong’s drug induced hallucinations. AQ was reduced to promoting the “B” team. or Mssr. Libi, to do a Halloween scare. Putin’s pipeline play, for the Caucasus fell afoul of the global downturn. Even Ahmadinejad is under the weather nowadays.

By: michelle

michelle — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:14:30 +0000

here’s something though….why do we care who esquire is endorsing? sure the article said some interesting things but….

who do you know that base their decisions on what a magazine or paper or superstar says?

the fan base, that’s who!

yankee doodle dandies thrive on what the stars are doing and who is doing a better job of it…..these endorsements mean a lot to the average hobo in america. that is why mc cain drew such a large crowd when schwarzenegger endorsed him….

do the dandies really give a shit about what’s going on in this country?

wait, i can answer that myself……

By: David Williams

David Williams — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:27:27 +0000

They’re fairly explicit that Obama isn’t a magic bullet: “Obama may not be the man to do it. . . ” I think the point is that he’s far more likely to pursue rollback than McCain, who will just tighten the screws/make it worse.

I also suspect that Bush II is likely to go apeshit with pardons, appointments, and executive orders in his final two months, and this may increase the pressure on Obama to take action , particularly if the Republicans have 40 or less in the Senate.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:29:12 +0000

If only they were right that a new administration would reverse the flow of the last 8 years. More likely it slows it. But why would anyone give back what’s been taken from us? A couple of symbolic gestures, sure. But the entire package? Hell no! That’s in the reserve tank dog. You never know when the Whites might get uppity and need a little timeout in a camp somewhere far away.

Let’s not oversell the promise of Obama. He gets my vote, but he’s no savior.