http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/Bush/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Thu, 28 Sep 2006 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2843/route_stepping_our_way_to_wwiii/ "Route-step, march" is a permissive military command that directs a marching formation to continue without a set cadence. So, "route-step" also is a common term of disparagement for sloppiness and indiscipline--an apt characterization, as it happens, for America's current response to world affairs. We little people, absent more vigilance and skepticism, are in danger of being route-stepped into World War III by our rulers and their ideological acolytes. If "World War III" sounds hyperbolic and alarmist, that's because it is. Precisely for that reason, it is the prevailing lingua franca of the Bush administration and those on the right who seek to solidify their hold on power by cowing the public. President Bush himself, who has unwaveringly stuck to calling… politics war and peace iraq war war on terror bush Susan J. Douglas Tue, 24 Oct 2006 05:34:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2868/george_w_bush_v_the_us_constitution/ In July 2005, 122 members of Congress, along with more than 500,000 Americans, sent a letter to President George W. Bush, asking him to verify whether the assertions set forth in the so-called "Downing Street Minutes" were accurate. The president never responded. That lack of response prompted Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, to commission his staff to write a report examining the administration's manipulation and deception during the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. When the New York Times reported in December 2005 that President Bush had approved widespread warrantless domestic surveillance of innocent Americans, (later corroborated in May 2006 by USA Today), Conyers asked his staff to document those abuses as well. The… books politics Bush Judiciary government: administration Susan J. Douglas Tue, 07 Nov 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2904/blumenthals_first_draft_of_history/ Journalistic compilations are a crucial part of America's literary, intellectual and political heritage. They enjoyed a golden age in '60s and '70s trade publishing: Gazing over the library of books I am using to write my own history of the years 1965 to 1972, I see collections by Joan Didion, Garry Wills, Jack Newfield, Steven V. Roberts, Jonathan Schell, J. Anthony Lukas, Tom Wolfe and Michael Herr, compiled from Esquire and the Nation, National Review and the New Republic. Without them, our understanding of postwar America would be much the poorer. Well, we are without them now. Trade publishers today rarely print such compilations--and our understanding of the years we are now living through has suffered for it. Thus it… Books Politics Bush Susan J. Douglas Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2937/in_praise_of_impeachment/ A lot of progressives were perturbed when, immediately after the American people handed the House Democratic Caucus the power to check and balance the Bush presidency, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) repeated her enthusiasm-dampening pledge that "impeachment is off the table." But there is nothing new about a Democratic Speaker of the House shying away from the "I" word, even when the leader knows that a Republican president merits official sanction. The same thing happened after Richard Nixon vanquished George McGovern in the 1972 election. Grassroots Democrats and a few bold members of Congress began suggesting that issues raised by the Watergate burglary and related matters were serious enough to merit discussion of impeachment. House Speaker Carl Albert, House Majority Leader… congress bush Susan J. Douglas Mon, 15 Jan 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2979/spoils_of_war/ Remember oil? That thing we didn't go to war in Iraq for? Now with his war under attack, even President George W. Bush has gone public, telling reporters last August, "[a] failed Iraq ... would give the terrorists and extremists an additional tool besides safe haven, and that is revenues from oil sales." Of course, Bush not only wants to keep oil out of his enemies' hands, he also wants to put it into the hands of his friends. The President's concern over Iraq's oil is shared by the Iraq Study Group, which on December 6 released its much-anticipated report. While the mainstream press focused on the report's criticism of Bush's handling of the war and the report's call for… iraq war bush corporations Susan J. Douglas Tue, 06 Mar 2007 05:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3068/america_own_worst_enemy/ In March 1999, President Clinton toured several Latin American countries, surveying areas devastated by Hurricane Mitch and meeting with governmental delegations to promote his vision of globalized trade and cooperative regional diplomacy. In each country, he received a warm welcome. When Clinton spoke before the National Assembly of El Salvador, members of the leftist FMLN party, former guerilla leaders who had become elected representatives, responded with a standing ovation. Given that the United States had worked diligently throughout the '80s to destroy the rebel movement, this was an astonishing sight. Yet, in spite of the United States' long interventionist history, Bill Clinton was popular in Latin America. He had a way of charming would-be critics. Gabriel García Márquez shared dinner… bush books foreign policy Susan J. Douglas Tue, 19 Jun 2007 04:59:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3240/officially_contemptuous_of_congress/ Well, it's official: President Bush doesn't much respect the laws Congress passes. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report--commissioned by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and released yesterday--confirms that Bush's use of presidential signing statements are, in fact, utterly without precedent. Though they've been used by American presidents for about 200 years, signing statements--edicts issued by the president to declare his intent to construe a provision within a law differently than Congress does--are Constitutionally questionable. But George W. Bush's use of them far exceeds his predecessors', both in number and in severity, and he has consistently used them to flout the will of the legislative branch. Though the GAO report makes no claims about the legitimacy of… administration bush Susan J. Douglas Tue, 28 Aug 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3290/how_does_laura_bush_sleep_at_night/ With the passing of Lady Bird Johnson, we are reminded that First Ladies used to stand for something. She was not as beautiful as Jackie Kennedy, and in the mid-1960s with the war in Vietnam escalating, beautifying America's highways may have seemed a trivial goal. It wasn't. Lady Bird Johnson--a successful businesswoman in her own right--combined a disdain for the spread of commercial clutter with a love for the environment that today seems positively progressive in a first lady. She helped her husband advance the Head Start program and civil rights; she spoke publicly in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. By contrast, what does Laura Bush stand for? Well, at first it was "literacy" and the merits of being… administration bush Susan J. Douglas Tue, 18 Sep 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3337/twilight_of_the_markets_idols/ As I write this, Republicans, nearly deranged by their own homophobia, have succeeded in ousting Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) because he made some odd foot and hand movements in an airport men's room. But the person they should be going after, and not just because of the quagmire in Iraq, is Bush, a bigger disaster for the Republican Party than even his colleagues might think. For the Bush administration's singular accomplishment, aside from demonstrating why unilateral military intervention is a road to ruin, has been to discredit the alleged virtues of free-market ideology. The neocons' and Reagan's crowning achievement in the '80s was to reverse the 50-year notion, established by the New Deal, that the government had a crucial role… bush economy Susan J. Douglas Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3444/the_boy_who_cried_wmd/ There goes the Axis of Evil. On Dec. 3, news broke that 16 U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded that Iran had halted its nuclear arms efforts in 2003. You would think the report--known as the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)--would give Bush pause in his push for another war. You'd be wrong. At a Dec. 4 White House press conference, Bush said, "Iran is dangerous, and the NIE doesn't do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world. Quite the contrary." For years the Bush administration and its neoconservative buddies have been ratcheting the rhetoric against Iran. At an Oct. 17 press conference at the White House, Bush warned that Tehran's nuclear development could lead to… bush iran weapons Susan J. Douglas Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3466/the_end_of_impunity/ The Senate Judiciary Committee moved to revive a fading congressional zeal for holding the Bush administration accountable to Congress on Thursday by passing contempt resolutions against two of four White House officials who have refused to fully comply with committee subpoenas. The resolutions passed 12 to 7, with Republicans Charles Grassley of Iowa and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania voting with the Democrats. Specter's vote came reluctantly, issued only after his attempts to mollify the White House reached an impasse. Specter told the committee that he had accepted the White House's position that presidential aides should be allowed to testify in private, not under oath, and without a transcript. But he drew the line at a White House demand that inquiries… bush congress Susan J. Douglas Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4040/knowing_when_to_walk_away/ It wouldn't be the George W. Bush we all know if our shamed president didn't spend his remaining White House days in a final fit of polarization. That's what Bush's moves this week are clearly about: dividing -- not uniting. The New York Times reported that during his first meeting with Barack Obama, the outgoing president suggested he might support Democrats' economic stimulus package and aid to struggling automakers if party leaders "drop their opposition to a free-trade agreement with Colombia." While Bush later denied an overt quid pro quo, one was obviously implied. Strange behavior? Yes and no. Bush is the Texas Hold 'Em addict who raised on the largest tax cuts in contemporary history, re-raised on two wars… bush Colombia NAFTA Susan J. Douglas