With six years of their administration now in the history books, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have admirably justified historians' judgment that theirs is among the five worst U.S. presidencies in our 230-year history.
Given another 22 months in office, they might ramp up the ranking to the worst of all presidencies.
Now, new scandals flowering in Washington add to the composite portrait of a presidency so rife with incompetence, dereliction, lying, criminal conspiracy and betrayal of the public trust that even the 29 percent sliver of Americans still claiming support of Bush and Cheney must grope for shreds to defend.
Self-shame and political outrage in presidencies past would have chastened this impeachable misconduct. But Bush and Cheney had the good fortune of a slothful Democratic opposition that lost its spine and voice simultaneously, obedient Republicans kept rigidly in line by party-over-country loyalty, submissive veterans organizations that fret more about flag burning, and hack Bush appointees who cherish pensions over honesty and truth.
Tales of bungled treatment and indifference to returning wounded GIs is no surprise. They're the pitiable victims of incompetent ideologues so convinced their war would be a "cakewalk" they forgot the reality of tens of thousands of casualties, not to mention failing to provide adequate combat supplies and the inability to return Iraq to a livable society.
White House cheerleaders for "support the troops" have cruelly exploited uniformed men and women as useful photo-op props during speeches and as cannon fodder in the desperate hope of winning their unwinnable folly. Naming a former Republican National Committee boss to manage veterans' health care is absurd.
"Scooter" Libby's conviction Tuesday for lying about Cheney's reprisal on war critic Ambassador Joseph Wilson is symptomatic of the unchecked evil this White House unleashes when its corrupt ways are threatened.
Along with the GI medical care disgrace, more outrage is exposed—the firing of federal prosecutors for failing to carry out the Bush-Cheney political agenda. At least one senior Republican U.S. senator and a Republican House member added pressure for firing able government lawyers. So much for the "Justice" department, led by a shallow Texas political gofer with little respect for the U.S. Constitution, Alberto Gonzalez, who's reminiscent of hacks hired by mobsters to defend and endorse despicable breaches of law.
The mess bequeathed by Bush and Cheney is unparalleled—the world's largest debtor, an environment choking on air and water poisons, a broken military, civil liberties shredded, advancement of science throttled in the name of religion.
Could America possibly survive another "conservative" White House?
