By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama was poised to make history on Tuesday as the first black U.S. president, riding a wave of public optimism he will need to tap to deal with the worst economic crisis in 70 years and two wars.
As dawn broke, thousands of people, bundled up against the cold, made their way through the city's darkened streets toward the national Mall, where they will watch Obama take the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol at noon.
Some estimates put the number of people expected to pack the Mall and inaugural parade route at more than 2 million after they clogged the city's metro rail system and thronged the security check-points in a mood of excitement.
Yes, I am happy and proud of my country that Barak Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th US president and the first black American to hold the office. It is truly a historic event, and one that the USPS will probably use as a holiday in the future.
But what I am celebrating today even more than Obama's inauguration is the end of the Bush administration. At noon today the gaggle of fucktards that have run this country for the last 8 years will formally give up their positions of power (I hope). And that is a cause to celebrate. It is certainly hard to know how Obama will fair as president, and I can understand to some degree the anxiety many hard core conservatives must have. He will probably make some good decisions as well as some serious errors. It will certainly be a daunting challenge for him to live up to the image and expectations that have been crafted. But at the very, very least we will finally have an administration that does not show contempt and disdain for the Constitution, the rule of law, and the American people and one that actually applies reason, logic, and inquiry to governance rather than strict ideology. Hurray for thinking! Hurray for science! Hurray to the end of the Bush administration!
Now, let's get on with the indictments! Cheney, you first.
12 comments:
Amen to that!
Obama's speech today was truly momentous and inspiring. Despite my rather skeptical expectations, it truly did live up to the moment.
But then Reed offers a crushing reminder of what spiteful, vitriolic, one dimensional assholes Americans can be. And then Pope chimes in to affirm it.
I'd almost forgotten! I was under Obama's voodoo black magic of "hope" and "change". I almost believed it possible! Whew! Dodged a bullet on that one. Thanks guys!
Fuckers!
I usually stay out of the name-calling but...
You are being a nasty, hate-filled, immature piece of shit. Reed is completely right. The last 8 years have been filled with an anti-science, anti-rational thought, pro-torture, pro-oil, anti-free speech, pro-WAR, lying, vindictive, abusive administration. The Bush years are certain to go down in history as a dark time in the American story. We are bogged down in 2 wars that seem to have no end in sight (especially no good end in sight), we are in an economic crisis, we have had 2 terrible Supreme Judges appointed who are at best backwards thinking, we have seen abuses in and power leading all the way to the VERY least the VP's office, there has been NO LEADERSHIP at all for at least the last 6 to 7 years, we have lost the respect of the whole fucking planet... Good job conservative/republican assholes, the country is nearly in ruin!
Plus, everything he stated was his opinion, as this is mine. Where did he say, "People like Beck did this." ? Hell, he even expresses fair-minded doubt about Obama.
I am happy to see those worthless scumbags go. Fuck them and fuck you too for being such a prick, the vitriol is coming from the person who is looking at you in the mirror.
Reed's right... for once.
Umm...what prompted that. If it is because of the "gaggle of fucktards" comments we will just have to disagree. I am sorry to resort to crude language, but I stand by the sentiment. Conservative or liberal ideology aside, the last administration flew in the face of what I see as the core values of this country. And correct me if I wrong, but those values, even broadly writ, are justice, the rule of law, democracy, reason and rationale in governance, and civil liberties.
Now, I understand the ire of many conservatives who are understandably upset at the HUGE setbacks there party now faces, at the staggering electoral losses handed to them. But if there is anyone for conservatives to blame it is Bush. Not only did his administration cost the GOP at the ballot box, it took a steaming dump on a lot of what the GOP as a party stands. Aside from promoting security concerns, which is certainly a major issue for the party, most his admin's policies benefit a small group of vocal elites and fringe supporters: bankers, gun manufacturers and NRA nuts, the insurance industry, pharmaceutical companies, and hardcore evangelicals.
Perhaps I should be more forgiving and gracious. But why? These are things I have been saying for 8 years so why would I want to pardon any of those jerks now. I am not condemning all conservatives. In fact, I only mentioned the Bush admin in the post. And I stand by what I said. While I have preferences in terms of policies, I can accept, live under, abide, and forgive when a leader makes decisions I disagree with. I can do the same when an administration so blatantly defies logic, reason, and morals in the pursuit of their own ideology. I hope to God that this isn't the case for the Obama administration, but when and if his administration ignores facts, science, and the public opinion in order to implement policies, I will criticize him as well.
Hail to the chief baby.
Wow. Ok, first off: My post was originally *intended* to be a little more tongue in cheek than it sounds. After re-reading it, I certainly would have certainly worded it a little differently, or given some indicator that I wasn't being *entirely* serious. Unfortunately, I can't gesticulate wildly on a blog post like we would sitting around a table at the Philosopher's Stone.
But even so: Fuck you too! You are being an EXTREME hypocrite, and I'm calling you on it right fucking now. I was most certainly NOT being a "nasty, hate-filled, immature piece of shit!" How? By lamenting over partisan vitriol? By being even nominally frustrated by the fact that the country is full of people who claim to support Obama's vision of unity to commonality in purpose, but don't actually want to make any contribution to it by changing the way we approach politics?
Conservative/Republican assholes? like me? Like my dad? Like my wife? Her family? My brother? His wife? Almost all of whom voted for Bush. Many of whom voted for Obama this time around because of what he represents? Or for McCain because they wanted *him* to fix the mistakes of the previous administration?
You, sir, can eat a dick for being so fucking hateful!
*the bird*
I hope you can see this, because I'm doing it as hard as I can!
<"@#u1347823478147891245
So, it's occurred to me that what we have here is me being so fucking pissed off right now over *your* being pissed off at my being marginally irked by Reed, but because a post on a blog doesn't impart much in the way of inflection or intent, came across more pointedly than intended.
Hilarious, or tragic?
*breathes deeply*
So I'll see you Monday then? :)
My apologies... I don't like being called a "fucker", ... tragic... again, my apologies, I went a little overboard.
The internet doesn't lend well to understanding intent unless to is totally ridiculously overt.
Apology accepted.
(fucker!!!)
Oh, and Reed can eat a dick too, just for good measure. :)
Ah, there we go. That is the Dick Cheney spirit I was expecting. Jesus Hussein Obama Christ! And in the spirit of, well Cheney, I will comment on you "conservatives like me and my family" statement.
Yeah, I hold you all partially responsible for the last 4 years. I will begrudgingly give you the first 4. You didn't know better.
Now, the next four...that is a different story. You didn't know what Kerry would do. It might have been bad. But come the frack on! Bush and Cheney were already ruining the economy by trashing any sort of oversight and regulation in banking. They had done their best to kill the EPA-who needs that damned environment anyway? They had bogged us down in two wars, at least one of which was completely fabricated and based more on ideology and revenge than on security (Yeah, we knew that in late 2004). They had gutted on the Constitution. And they had given a big "fuck you" to science in order to appease the backwards-ass evangelicals.
Now, I am not going to bother calling names and such. There is no need and it's not nice. But, I will hold you responsible for hating "liberal" policies so much and being so afraid of what a Democrat might do that you would stick to a regime that was clearly so rotten to the core and held such contempt for so many American people (let alone all those dark people in the world).
So, I'll say this: Four years from now, if Obama does all of those things that rabid conservatives say he is going to (e.g., turn the US into a Soviet-style communist state, outlaw guns, let in thousands of "dangerous illegals," let America be attacked by Islamo-fascists," etc.) and I still vote for him (assuming we can still vote), then you are welcome to blame me. Blame me all you want. Tell me it is all my fault that the country is in the crapper. Tell me that liberals and all those people under Obama's voodoo black African magic caused the downfall of the country. Either it won't matter because I will be totally delusional, or I will say "yeah, I fucked up. Anne Coulter and Bill O'Reilly were right."
That said, I am glad you decided to vote for Obama in the end. I guess that is in itself an admission of some responsibility for the past 8 years. I mean, you did vote for the most liberal nominee in decades. So that says something.
You are entitled to an opinion, Reed, of course. But the reason most of us voted for Bush for a second term was because the absolute best the Democrats could offer in 2004 was a generic, empty suit of a senator who's sidekick was a smarmy, glad-handed lawyer that, as my very a-political wife once so aptly put it, "everytime he speaks, I feel like I need to go take a shower" People weren't voting for Kerry so much as they were voting against Bush. As a conservative, I was *looking* for an opportunity to vote against him, and the Democrats didn't deliver. And that's too fucking bad, I'm not going to apologize for it. If you want people to vote against their ideological values, you'd better nominate one worth a damn. And you didn't.
I voted for Obama because, as far as I'm concerned, he's liberal where it's helpful, and conservative where it counts. While I dearly love McCain, his VP sucked, and the Republican party itself just did not deserve my support.
You can blame conservatives all you like for our current woes, Reed. But I'd like to point out that most of the Dems in congress *gave* Bush permission to invade Iraq. The Dems in congress spearhead much of the de-regulation responsible for our current financial woes. The dems in congress put political pressure on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to loosen their lending standards to increase home ownership amongst minorities. The dems in congress voted for every single funding bill for the war in Iraq that came their way, and never EVER put up more than token opposition. The dems in congress championed the absolutely absurd Wall Street bailout with little to no structure to it, and have had the nerve to point fingers elsewhere as to why there's been no accountability so far.
But so long as liberal democrats avoid accepting their fair share of responsibility for our current woes, they are going to continue to look like monumental hypocrites, cause friction with their conservative peers, and we're not going to get anywhere.
* - Revision: The dems didn't so much champion the bailout as throw their collective support behind it. Democrats are very good at telling the private sector what to do with its own money, but when it comes to government spending, they seem fully prepared to throw caution to the wind.
Ok, wait. What I am hearing from Beck and lots of GOP politicians is that the new president's reverse course from the damages of the Bush regime and his (and the Democrats generally) desire to pin a lot of blame on Bush for the fucktardary of the last 8 years is vitriolic, angry, counterproductive rhetoric that will derail the country.
I believe that angry speech is counterproductive, but come on. I mean, Bush and Cheney fucked the country, Republicans all got in line behind it. And you are right, the Dems did initially as well; most of them just figured out they were being duped and eventually started to develop some spine and say NO to the bullshit. So when the incoming administration and the Democratic congress lay blame at the feet of Bush-Cheney and call out conservatives for a lot of the crap that happened, it seems a little disingenuous for Conservatives to cry foul and complain about how the "liberals" are already being mean to them and interjecting blame and vitriol into politics. Please! The GOP spent 6 of the last 8 years beating on liberals, calling them unpatriotic, using all sort of nasty propaganda and retarded rhetoric to bully adversaries and manipulate the American public. And now, now that they were handed a crushing electoral blow and are in a weakened position they want to cry about the big mean liberals that aren't playing fair. They want to blame liberals for being partisan and not finding compromise. For Christ's sake! What kind of hypocritical crap is that?
Where the fuck was that spirit of compromise and demand for fair play before about 2 months ago? Talk about hypocrisy.
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