Reckoning, Texas Style

George W. Bush just sounded remarkably harried on CNN a moment ago; even more so than is his general disposition in these days of drowning approval numbers. He was speaking fast & loud about why the price of fuel is going to make a whole lotta voters very displeased just in time for the midterm elections. Of course he said nothing about vaporizing votes, it was all about the so-called reasons, bullet points and all, for these fascinating fluctuations in petrol price points. Harvard MBA after all. Lay it all out and leave the flourishes for the egg-heads. In reality, he is running interference for the House and Senate GOP members who are all of sudden finding themselves on the endangered species list. Maybe W. is feeling a little guilty about all those bad decisions, the ones where he left one GOP heavy after another holding the bag. The chickens are coming home to roost and talk of jumping gasoline prices, unprovoked by the David Gregorys of the world, is a symptom of exactly how nervous good ol' W. is about where those feathered fiends are going to land. Pecking nightmares are sure to follow; it's all the pathology of a man who knows that the jig is up.
But let's not dwell on the negative, as there are plenty of good vibes to go around. To wit: long gone are the days of Bush's trademark banter and silly cackling that would strike me as curious instead of offensive if the subject matter were not nearly always so dire. He's not laughing anymore and neither is Tom DeLay, that serious rat-fucker of an individual who is finally, at long last, getting his comeuppance. He had lied, stolen and cheated his way to a temporary height from which he is now solidly in a free fall. Of course he is no different really than any of the corrupt politicians that dot the history of nations great and small; but who amongst us reveres such people? They are not innovators, they are not role models, they are not leaders in the best sense of the term. These men and women, to be sure, are very often the grease in the wheels that make things happen for the powerful while forsaking the powerless. There is a special place in hell for the dogmatic public officer who has no sense of right and wrong; only success at all costs for those that share his narrow, underdeveloped vision of the world.
Well, shit, I got all dreary and preachy again! Positive, positive: It seems like the fine state of Texas is a great place to start a political career destined for corruption and national embarassment, which at least according to the 2004 presidential election returns are the gold standards of political success in this new Millenium. As such, I think the GOP should set up a brandy-new Political Action Committee or Think Tank or Supersecret Underground Training Facility in the geographic center of the Lone Star State to prepare the next generation of fools, zealots and war mongerers. The future is now!