|
|
| Sorry, your entry can't be deleted right now. Please try again later. |
The Out of Office Countdown | | | | | | | | Tuesday, January 01, 2008 | | | | | | | | | | | |
Published on Monday, December 31, 2007 by The Independent/UK Leaving the White House: 386 days To Go (and Counting)
Those looking forward to George Bush’s last day in office can cheer themselves up with a calendar that helpfully counts down to the day of departure. It has become a best-seller, part of an industry dedicated to marking the historic date by Rupert Cornwell For the millions of Americans who are ticking off the days until deliverance, it is the perfect present - a 2008 calendar countdown until George Bush leaves the White House, its every page adorned with a quote from the President who has mangled not only the country’s image, but also the English language, as no other in the history of the Republic.  Novelty calendars are always a staple of the holiday season, but this one is a best-seller. The Bush Out of Office Countdown, it is called, January 2008 Through the Bitter End. Priced at $11.99 (£6) it includes some of the verbal gems that have adorned the past seven years. “They’re edgy and a way to mark the days, so it’s a perfect tie-in,” a spokesman for the distributors Calendars.
com says. “The intensity of dislike [for Bush] is driving these sales.” Predictably in the land of the free its not just calendar makers cashing in on Bush jnr’s unpopularity. Digital counters, ribbons and obviously badges complete your countdown options. Indeed, no other president has been subjected to such treatment - but then almost none as been as unpopular for so long. Not Ronald Reagan, not Jimmy Carter, not Bill Clinton, nor even George Bush Snr, whose verbal idiosyncracies were celebrated in their time. But where the father specialized in dotty malapropisms (and was not unloved for it), the son goes for ungrammatical gobbledygook. “You’ve also got to measure in order to begin to effect change that’s just more - when there’s more than talk, there’s just actual - a paradigm shift,” he opined for instance in 2003. Go figure. But it’ll cheer you up as you turn the page to Tuesday, 1 July 2008 (just 203 days to go). At another
moment, he excoriates terrorists who strike “at the whim of a hat”. At yet another, he promises his country a “foreign-handed foreign policy. Or, when he was discussing the difficulty of being commander-in-chief, “Make no mistake about it, I under stand how tough it is, I talk to families who die.” But, just occasionally, there comes an unintended little nugget of the truth. “You know,” he told the CBS interviewer Katie Couric, “one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.” Did he ever wonder why? However, the last entry for the slightly stretched 2008 diary - for Tuesday, 20 January 2009 when his successor will be inaugurated - perhaps best sums up the preceding eight years of incoherence. Thus the 43rd President of the United States at a 2004 campaign event in Oregon: “I hope you leave here and walk out and say, ‘What did he say?’” For the compilers of these calendars, finding sufficient content was never a
challenge. More difficult, surely, was choosing which of President Bush’s multiple manglings stood out above the rest. Couldn’t they, for instance, have found room for the following, uttered during a trip to Indiana in November about the hazards of heeding pollsters on Iraq: “If you’ve got somebody in harm’s way, you want the President being - making advice, not - be given advice by the military.” And, a few weeks earlier, he said this at his ranch in Texas: “I don’t particularly like it when people put words in my mouth, either, by the way, unless I say it.” Other people’s words in his mouth might often have come out better, but never mind. Eventually, 21 January 2009 will arrive and the Bush haters will be made bereft of the calendars that will have pepped up their spirits each morning for nearly 13 months and of their favorite target for bile and ridicule. The “Impeach Bush” signs and decals will have to come off their window panes and be peeled
off their car bumpers. And no longer will they have the bitter joy of watching their leader stand at the podium outside the White House and pronounce “nuclear” in a way that only he knows how. (Isn’t there a speech coach somewhere who could have taught him the correct way to say it?) It is just possible that some folks out there - the political comics for certain - might actually miss the guy. © 2007 The Independent These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
25 Comments so far -
baruch December 31st, 2007 1:46 pm “Eventually, 21 January 2008 will arrive and the Bush haters will be made bereft of the calendars that will have pepped up their spirits each morning for nearly 13 months and of their favourite target for bile and ridicule. The “Impeach Bush” signs and decals will have to come off their window panes and be peeled off their car bumpers.” Wishful thinking…I think you meant to say “Eventually, 21 January 2009 will arrive…” -
claudius December 31st, 2007
2:29 pm 386 days still is ample time to do even more damage. -
forextrader December 31st, 2007 3:14 pm 386 more days of hell that is. But then again after 2009, hell will be extended, as we will continue to have Bush policies even without Bush. -
nayoibi December 31st, 2007 3:15 pm judging by the bush character or rather the complete lack of lt.i expect commander-in-chief,his family,friends and relations,to cut and run. -
dr_h December 31st,
2007 3:17 pm I have one of the “backwards clock” digital calculators. It doesn’t include Shrub’s (unintentionally) funny sayings, but I love it anyway. Sometimes I just sit and stare it, letting its countdown hypnotize me into thinking that progress is actually being made. Somehow. -
ren ren December 31st, 2007 3:17 pm this destruction won’t be undone just because dickweed and george are out of office. and I hate to say there’s no way down but straight down, but that seems to be the case. maybe some of the spiritual people here can say something constructive. because I don’t see the light at the “end” of this. and goodness how shallow was that last part, about the comics missing
him. I don’t give a ripple what the comics need for material. are we so far gone that the best we can do is that? Organize, mobilize, revolt. -
Mendo Chuck December 31st, 2007 3:20 pm Don’t you worry . . . I am sure that before January 21st we will have plenty more to add to his resume. This guy hasn’t a clue on why to stop. Especially while his keeper “Cheney” has the leash in place.
Wait until he dreams up a Plan B for Pakistan, North Korea, Iran and who knows what else. -
Amos December 31st, 2007 4:05 pm Good riddance … pestilent scum… -
dcbeltway December 31st, 2007 4:33 pm Champagne at my place on Jan 21st 2009 you’re all invited. -
nayoibi December 31st, 2007 4:51 pm silly me,forgot-bush and family’s.”doubles”will live in u.s..just like osama’s “double” is still trotting around.the real bush and osama will be partying elsewhere.while rome burns. -
dreamertoo December 31st, 2007 5:11 pm -
Vera
Gottlieb December 31st, 2007 5:14 pm Don’t hold your breath! Only believe it when you see the new President being sworn in. And even then…the nightmare might continue. Good luck to the entire planet. -
Nietzsche December 31st, 2007 5:15 pm Every time I think I have seen a prize-winning picture of George I see a better one. Did anybody ever in their whole lives see a more effeminate, shallow, not to say stupid man? (”God made him. Therefore let him pass for a man.”—Shakespeare) -
TruOrange December 31st, 2007 6:00 pm Lest you all
get too happy, remember that on 1/21/09, this country will still have Roberts, Alito, and the dozens of fanatical rightwing lifetime federal justices that Bush appointed. Through them, Cheney (the leash holder) will be with you all for the rest of your lives - and on into your children’s lives. Some happy new year. -
Gail December 31st, 2007 6:44 pm Seven miserable years - going on eight. I’m counting the days! -
George C. Brown December 31st, 2007 7:04 pm 386 days is not soon enough! Action needs to begin now in the House of Representatives: Cheney first, then Bush. The
appropriate House committee has the proper material to begin proceedings. All they need to do is vote it out of committee and get it to the floor. Dennis Kucinich provided the means, now all that is needed is to get the timid reps to act! -
Heathen December 31st, 2007 7:13 pm On that magical day, will the power structure that controls our puppet dictator suddenly cease to exist? -
pacplyer December 31st, 2007 7:32 pm Thanks dcbeltway, I’ll be there! Unless of course he chokes to death on a pretzel first! Then, the drinks are on me and everybody’s invited!!!! -
nspire December 31st, 2007 7:43 pm He doesn’t deserve even 386 seconds of freedom, prior to life-long incarceration for war crimes
I heard that the Syrians might have an available space for him, but there wouldn’t be room for any SS agents, or a light bulb. -
WTF December 31st, 2007 8:32 pm If Romney wins in 2008, we certainly will miss the little chimp. -
Rebel Farmer December 31st, 2007 9:22 pm I don’t want to wait for 386 days before we go and celebrate with pacplayer and dcbeltway. Even if they are paying. I want it all, and I want it NOW!! I don’t care if it is tomorrow or on Jan. 19, these monsters need to be impeached. There is no statute of limitations. Get ‘em!!! Ya know what would be cool?….Just when they thought they were home scott free…Jan 19 they ALL get convicted of impeachable offencses! Gawd. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? O.K…. Now I got my new years resolution all figured out. I’ll spend all of 2008 to get ALL these bastards impeached, effective 2009. Then I get to work on getting them all over to the Hague…..Ya know, I feel better already. Happy New year to ya all. See ya on the other side…… -
abuelito December 31st, 2007 9:53 pm
i really wish those people would stop talking about how long we gotta wait.
rebel farmer is right we CAN’T wait. they must be stopped. take them to jail charge them with war crimes and lock them up. ok impeach if that’s all you can do. but we really must do something to stop the bleeding quickquick.
bet them poor Iraqis ain’t putting up no how many days stickers -
dcbeltway December 31st, 2007 11:01 pm Rebel Farmer I want him out now also so if we can all manage to impeach the bastards I’ll open the champagne bottles early no problem! Regardless the day he leaves office whether as a result of impeachment or the next inauguration I’m celebrating like its 1999! Man 1999 things were damn good back then. -
KEM PATRICK January 1st, 2008 12:48 am They were even better in 1954. I bought a georgeous, red leather upholstered, brand new white topped, 48 Buick Roadmaster Convertable for $500 and it got 20 mpg and a full tank of premiium cost five bucks. I was earning $2.50 an hour and had no worries. Of course I was single then. A cheezeburger was $0.19 cents and the drive in theatre was a buck a carload. A brand new Chevie or Ford cost $1,200, if you had the radio, tinted glass, two tone paint job, whitwalls and a heater. Jackie Gleason was the big show and all of the kids weren’t using drugs or getting pregnant. (A very few did.) Chuck Bedenarick, the 60 minute lineman, earned a whopping ten grand a year and there wan’t any DU in the air. Racial tensions and white supremacy was still a major issue, especially in
the southern states, but Truman had made steps to stop that in the military and Jackie Robinson was in the Majors. We were trying to do it right. We did have Senator Joe Mcarthy and the war in Korea was in a truce, Russia had the bomb and the ‘cold war’ was going strong. But our press was FREE and they printed the news and they finally nailed “Tail Gunner” Joe Mcarthy. We didn’t have nuclear power plants and life was pretty damn good. The Marshall Plan had worked pretty well for Europe and Japan was getting back to normal, they had a Democracy and it worked and most Americans didn’t hate the “Japs” anymore. EWe called them Japanese again. We weren’t feared and hated by all of the other citizens of the world and our President was ELECTED and he wasn’t a psycopathic, lying fool. You know I have learned more here at Common Dreams in a few months, than I had learned in the past 72 years. I wish to thank all of you for helping me to grow up.
__ I mean that. Let’s all try to have a better year, the crystal ball fell 48 minutes ago. Take care of your loved ones and hang in there, we cannot let a fool get us down. This still is America and if we pull together, we can have it back like it should be. Got to do a lot better than 20 mpg though,__ right. -
shakker January 1st, 2008 3:42 am Bu$h the inferior must be the worlds record. What is he - about 85 Courecs? (Courec is the standard measure for turds per Southpark)
Join the discussion: You must be logged in to post a comment. If you haven't registered yet, click
here to register. (It's quick, easy and free. And we won't give your email address to anyone.) | | | | | FAIR USE NOTICE | | | | This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy,
scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
| | | |
| | Common Dreams NewsCenter
A non-profit news service providing breaking news & views for the progressive community.
|  Jennifer Suzanne Martino
Maranges 5-2
L'Escala, Gerona, Spain 17130
972-77-1931
¿Chef por primera vez? - Sé un mejor Cocinillas.
Entra en Yahoo! Respuestas.
Trackbacks
The trackback URL for this entry is: http://jennifermartinonosarchuk.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2D8BFAAFAA7347C0!334.trak Weblogs that reference this entry
|
Tools 
