It was Newspeak's finest hour...

"Hey, all you 'evangelical Christians' that voted for me..."

"...UP YOURS!"
After reading this, the dark "id" creature dwelling in the recesses of my heart is licking its chops, salivating in anticipation of the next four years. So many people are going to be made out before one and all as being deluded fools who preferred a lie more than they would adhere to the truth.

Tonight they party. Tomorrow comes the hangover.

It'll be tough, but I promise to try and not gloat when the hard reality finally strikes them in the face...

"We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world... So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."

Ahem...

Bush also said this, a little over four years ago: "But we can't be all things to all people in the world. I am worried about over-committing our military around the world. I want to be judicious in its use. I don't think nation-building missions are worthwhile." (Presidential debate at Wake Forest University, October 11 2000).

"America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies."

This from a guy who used to explode frogs with firecrackers and start vicious whisper campaigns against college classmates that he was jealous of. And so far as pretending that dissidents shouldn't be silenced: Hey Bush, stop using the "free speech zones" and having people arrest for the "crime" of wearing a Kerry t-shirt. Then we'll talk, bucko.

"The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them."

?!?!?!????

THIS, from the biggest control-freak who ever sat in the Oval Office?! Who trusts people in lands 8,000 miles away more than his own?!

I'd suggest that those who voted for this guy should now feel ashamed for their ignorance... but they tend to be the ones who don't have a sense of shame anyway, so why bother?

"From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon."

Translation: Prepare for more breast-fondling and strip-searches of 80-year old WWII veterans by the TSA goons whenever you fly. And pay no attention to the millions of illegals and Lord knows who else coming across from Mexico.

"All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself - and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character."

In other words you might as well sign up for the military as this gang's cannon-fodder now, before the inevitable draft coming down soon takes you in anyway.

Say, when do Jenna and Barbara enlist? I mean, they were up there with their Daddy: shouldn't they be setting the example by proving to the rest of us that there's some integrity behind his words? Seems like it would be a thing to uphold the honorable name of a parent, y'know.

"America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home - the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty."

Liberty in America was secured by idealistic individuals with guns aimed at tyrants. To add anything more would possibly incur a visit from the feds, but you catch my drift.

"Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before - ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Someone already did a better job than I in commenting on this: here's Sabertooth's take.

So did Bush write this himself or did he use a speechwriter? If someone else drafted it, Bush should fire them immediately: this entire thing is filled with little (anything at all?) but empty rhetoric and blatant falsehoods. If Bush himself wrote this...

...Well, it's said that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. His grasp of the concept of human liberty is downright lethal.

If he's serious about "creating" freedom and democracy around the world, he's already damned to be one of the worst Presidents in American history. You can't bestow freedom on a people that aren't ready to achieve it on their own. Iraq should be more than adequate proof of this.

There's no way he can fulfill all of this without a massive replenishment/reinforcement of the armed forces: they're far too stretched across the board as it is, and in situations that a defensive military was never intended for at all. Considering that the neocon hawks are now hot about - and heavily hinting at - invading Iran, there's going to be no logical option but to build up more military forces via a draft if they're seriously hellbent on committing to this. And when it's factored-in that Iran has quietly been acquiring some pretty scary ordnance (like the Sunburn anti-ship missile) for well over a decade, well... it wouldn't be as nicely a "mission accomplished" as Iraq was by any stretch.

Bush is not prepared for what he's suggesting, either in conceiving so vast an endeavour or to accept the consequences of his own actions when it fails.

All of this and more leads me to feel pretty thankful tonight, that I've chosen not to align with this lot.

(And with this entry, The Knight Shift has hit the mark for 100 posts made :-)