What Happened...In my opinion

First I just have to say that I am not at all surprised that someone within the Bush Administration has finally burst out of the closet with tales of deceit and corruption, screaming in anger at the One Man who was supposed to unify this country and create positive change for the American People. I am just surprised it's taken this long.

This blog, of course, should begin with a huge confession. I voted for Bush in 2000. *ashamed face*.

As a young, lower middle class girl, voting in her very first presidential election I found myself drawn to the this Texas Cowboy with his flawed speech, his 'everyman' bravado and his shoot from the hip mentality. I fell for it...hook line and sinker. He seemed like a refreshing change from the 'politics as usual' Clinton administration. However, experience and maturity has shown me that any presidency looks like 'politics as usual' after 8 years. I think the office itself corrupts even the best of men. And clearly Clinton wasn't the best of men before he sat in the Oval Office....I was tired of the scandals and the corruption...I was looking for change. And Bush reminded me of my Grandpa. Straight talkin', fast shootin' George. Despite all my liberal views and hippie love mentality, I fell for him. Oh how I have lived to regret that single moment in the voting booth.

Clearly Scott McClellan lived to regret his faith in George W. Bush as well. The excerpts I have read so far from What Happened have more than confirmed most of my suspicions and fears about this administration. As I watched our soldiers march off to war, and as the body count began to rack up the, the sick feeling in my stomach deepened fearing that his motives were far from justified. The idea that we had sent our young men and women to that battle field and lied to them about their true purpose. The fact that mother's and father's buried their children ~ on both sides of this war ~ sacrificial lambs to a lie, pissed me off. The fact that my best friend spent 15 months over there, miserable and disillusioned about her government and the Army, pissed me off. I am still pissed off! And fought with everything I had to get him out of office in 2004...all the while knowing that Americans historically do not boot out a sitting president in the middle of a war...a fact I wondered if Mr. President was keenly aware of before he set foot in Iraqi sand.


Then there is the CIA scandal. This entire drama fascinated me from the beginning and I long suspected that at the least the Vice President was at the root of this scandal if not the President. Clearly we can see the full picture now through McClellan's eyes. Am I surprised? No. Do I wish that perhaps I could have lived in ignorance and not had to face the fact that my suspicions were true? Yes. I do believe that the full weight and consequence of this one incident is lost on the American people. If allow even one time for our CIA operatives to be fed to the enemy, even if only in theory (fortunately she was yanked from her undercover position before this hit the news), we are defeating the purpose of the CIA and the security of our nation. If the President and his administration can sleep easy at night knowing they declassified information, purposely, to protect the scoundrels within their closets, to distract from their failing war mission, to distract the American people from the fact that they are failing at their job, and risk the safety of the few people who sacrifice their entire lives to protecting our national security, then I fear for our nation as a democracy. This man is dangerous. I used to blame a lot of this on Chaney, thinking *hoping* in some ways that Bush was more of the dim witted second banana in this sitcom, with Chaney pulling the puppet strings. I think this book makes it very clear that Mr. Bush is far more capable of deception and destruction than I gave him credit for.

I am anxious to read this book in it's entirety. I am sure there will be more on this topic...my brain is swimming with thoughts of 911, Bin Laden, Gas Prices etc...but right now I need to go fix a loaf of cinnamon toast for the hungry masses! :0)