Liberals love to blame former president George W. Bush for such a wide variety of perceived woes that it has often turned into a joke. Don't like the current deficit? Bush's fault! Polar ice cap might melt in a century? Bush's fault! A baseball playoff game is called off because it was snowed out? Bush's fault!
The above are all jokes but to Gail Collins of the New York Times it is no joke. Bush's fault! And in her latest blame Bush rant, Collins blames Bush for the unlikelihood of the current Cap and Trade bill being passed by the Senate. Bush's fault! But in this case is that a bad thing if a high tax bill doesn't pass?
What kicked off Collins' latest rant was saying farewell for awhile to David Brooks in their periodic The Conversation column in which they discuss matters back and forth. Collins will be gone for a few weeks to go on a book tour but before she leaves she takes one final blast at her obsession:
Speaking of jerks, I’m afraid I’ve got to depart on a negative note because I need to register a long wail of pain and rage. It’s about George W. Bush.
GEORGE W. BUSH!!! Slooowly I turned...step by step...inch by inch...
I know we’re supposed to move on, and honest, I’ve tried to let it go. I have never once — well, until this very moment — dwelt on the fact that all our problems in Afghanistan might have been far less problematic if the last president hadn’t turned his attention away from the good fight to wage the dumb fight down the street.
Speaking of moving on... Oops! Sorry for interfering with your obsession, Gail. Please resume "re-Gailing" us with how just about everything bad is Bush's fault:
And during all this health care slog, I haven’t pointed out that this would be way, way easier if He Who Must Not Be Named hadn’t screwed everything up with those stupid tax cuts. O.K., I may have mentioned it once in a while. But not nearly as often as I thought it.
Bad nasty tax cuts. Putting more money back into taxpayers' pockets and allowing the economy to grow. Bad! Better for the government to waste those dollars. Bad tax cuts!
But this week I’ve been obsessed with energy. Watching the long struggle to get a health care bill through has made it pretty clear that the chances of getting any kind of effective energy bill passed are about nil.
Your energy obsession pales in comparison to your Bush obsession, Gail. Please return to it at once:
That means we’re not going to reduce our dependence on oil-rich governments that sponsor or shelter violent Islamic fanatics. We’ll have done nothing to set a good example for countries that are currently unenthusiastic about cracking down on Iran because they depend on Iran’s oil.
So does that mean Gail is supporting increased off-shore drilling? Silly me. Collins is an extreme liberal and we know that such an obvious solution is taboo in her circles. Much easier to blame "He Who Must Not Be Named."
You would need one big whopping dramatic moment to get Congress to pass an effective energy bill — the kind of moment that only comes along once in every several generations. We had it after Sept. 11. The country was totally ready to make sacrifices to fight the war on terror. It would still have been hard, but we could have done it.
Instead, President Bush decided to invade Iraq and cut taxes. I am never going to get over that.
I believe you, Gail. I believe you will never get over your Bush obsession. Bush's fault for not using the 9/11 tragedy for passing liberal big government legislation. And no matter how badly Barack Obama messes up the economy or generates foreign policy failures, it will always be Bush's fault in your mind. So for you folks who happen to meet Gail Collins on her book tour, please don't mention the name of...
GEORGE W. BUSH!!! Slooowly I turned...step by step...inch by inch...
