Watching TV is Not Sacrifice

Huffington Post
Cenk Uygur
President Bush: Watching TV is Not Sacrifice

I should be used to it by now, but I am still flabbergasted every time I see yet another example of how painfully stupid our president is. This time it was during an interview with Jim Lehrer on PBS. Lehrer asked the president if he'd asked anyone but the troops to sacrifice for the Iraq War.

Watch his pathetic response here.

Come on, man. "I think a lot of people are in this fight. I mean, they sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night." Are you kidding me? So, the rest of us sacrifice by watching TV? Wow, don't ask us for too much.

On the other hand, watching Bush on TV is a pretty painful experience, so maybe that's what he's referring to. Put aside for a second that this is a hideously cavalier attitude toward the real sacrifice our troops and think about what a dumb answer this is. Even if you thought this, would you really say it on national television? Who thinks saying people sacrifice by watching TV was a smart answer to that question?

He even says people "are in this fight" because they're watching it on television. Can he possibly believe this? Or is he not capable of putting together a coherent thought? I think we all know the answer to that question.

By the way, I took out all his stammering from the quote above. It sounds even dumber when you add the incomprehensible gibberish he adds between words. And are any of the sentences he put back to back in logical order? Does one thought follow another?

1. People sacrifice by watching TV. 2. Our economy is in great shape. Why do those two sentences follow each other? What the hell is he talking about? We have grown numb to how dumb he is. But if you step back for a second and watch any of these interviews as if you have never heard the man before, it is staggering how little sense he makes.

It's painful, but let's continue. In his next rambling point he says, "When you think of the psychology of the country, it is somewhat down because of this war."

Oh, are we feeling down? Wow! Well, that must be sacrifice indeed. Gunnery Sergeant Johnson is missing a leg, but I'm feeling a little melancholy. Let's call it even.

Does this man have any feelings? Does he understand the words that are coming out of his mouth? Can he possibly feel that the death and mutilation of our soldiers in any way equates to other people feeling "somewhat down" about what's happening in Iraq?

And Mr. President, for the record, we feel a little more than just "down" about what's happening in Iraq. Unlike you, we feel sick to our stomachs. And unlike you, we care enough to try to change it rather than feed more of our fellow citizens into an unwinnable civil war for the sake of your ego.

But of course this isn't about what Bush thinks of our reaction to the war. This is about the president protecting his rich friends. He wants to make sure they don't sacrifice for this war.

That's why he keeps putting in references to the economy doing well and how we shouldn't raise taxes. So, when he says "people" are feeling somewhat down, he means my rich friends feel somewhat down because they watch the war on TV - and that's good enough sacrifice without us actually asking them to give up any of their cherished tax breaks so we can fund this war.

If George Bush really wanted to win this war and it was so urgent for the country that we do so, wouldn't he restart the draft, rollback the tax cuts and say we're putting in 500,000 more troops and $500 million more in funding to make sure we win. Otherwise, we might lose Indiana to the terrorists.

The reality is of course we're not going to lose Indiana or even Guam to the terrorists, let alone lose them to the Shiites and Sunnis we're actually fighting in Iraq. This has always been an optional war. And Bush is fighting it in the same lackadaisical, devil may care attitude he has always had. A smug look on his face, a sprinkling of more troops, everyone else watches on TV and his friends get more tax cuts and no-bid contracts.

But Bush isn't done yet. He saves his best for last. Get a load of this quote at the end of his answer: "One thing we want during this war of terror is for people to feel like their life moving on."

What??? First of all, that sentence is barely English. Second, Bob Cesca is right, it sounds like Borat talking. He even says "war of terror." Is he from Kazakhstan? Or is this another one of his famous Freudian slips? Third, his point is that we should move on as if nothing is happening during this war of terror. Isn't this a plain admission that he does not want anyone but the troops making any sacrifice for the war? Move along people, nothing to see here, go about your business.

This reminds me of the time he told us we should keep shopping. I bought an iPod yesterday, so I guess I did my part for the war. And I still have both my arms.

Go shopping. Do your part for the war by watching TV and feeling a little down. And then go on with your lives as if nothing ever happened. As if over 3,000 of our men and women in uniform aren't dead and over 22,000 of them haven't come home in pieces.

In the end, I was left wondering if the president is so monstrously unsympathetic to the real plight of our troops in Iraq that he can't understand why these words might seem uncaring or if he is so monstrously stupid that he thinks making light of their sacrifice will go over well with the rest of us. Then I realized, of course, the answer is both.