In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
He Hit the Trifecta, Remember?
Despite Dick Cheney's furious attempts to malign the New York Times for reporting the findings of the 9/11 Commission ("They do a lot of outrageous things," Mr. Cheney, appearing on "Capital Report" on CNBC, said of the Times, referring specifically to a four-column front page headline that read "Panel Finds No Qaeda-Iraq Tie." Mr. Cheney added: "The press wants to run out and say there's a fundamental split here now between what the president said and what the commission said") -- and George Bush's infuriating tautologies ("The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and Al Qaeda" is "because there was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda"), otherwise known as the Because I Say So defense (works great for four years olds) -- some of us connected the dots before they were even dots, including Bush himself. This column is from June 2002:
Bush, in the weeks before September 11, pledged to honor the sanctity of the Social Security lockbox except in the event of recession, war, or a national emergency. But after "everything changed" on 9/11, he reportedly gloated to his budget director, Mitch Daniels, "Lucky me--I hit the trifecta!" At the time, this comment (a variation of which is being recycled for laughs at current GOP fundraisers) seemed merely offensive. But in light of revelations that Bush's August 6 briefing memo was titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S.," Bush's "luck" and weird prescience are worth more than passing scrutiny. . . .
For now, it is difficult to say who knew what when because the administration is not exactly being forthcoming, preferring instead to use the scandal as an excuse to broaden the FBI's snoop powers. However: there was a potential motive for the administration to sit on perceived terrorist threats. . . .
Think back to the days before 9/11. The topic on everyone's lips (Condit aside) was: what will happen when budget realities force Bush to raid Social Security? He had explicitly promised during his campaign to establish a contingency fund for severe emergencies that would keep Social Security untouched. But the economy was tanking and the costs of the tax cut made the raid inevitable. Even Daniels acknowledged that the government would be forced to tap Social Security to the tune of $14 billion to fund pending legislation. Strangely, Bush kept insisting, "We can work together to avoid dipping into Social Security." But, beginning August 24, he gave himself an escape clause: "I've said that the only reason we should use Social Security funds is in case of an economic recession or war." (Three days earlier he had said that there should be "special consideration" in the budget for these contingencies. Otherwise, this was completely new rhetoric.)
September 4: businessman and commentator Ben Cohen ran a mock "help wanted" ad reading, "Serious enemy needed to justify Pentagon budget increase. Defense contractors desperate." Same day: a CBS poll found that 66 percent of Americans did not think a recession (extant, but not yet confirmed) was reason enough to tap Social Security. September 6: Bush invented another exception. "The only time to use Social Security money is in times of war, times of recession, or times of severe emergency." September 11: he had all three. Lucky Bush.
These extraordinary coincidences have gone unremarked in the media, who have entirely missed that the terms of the "trifecta"--note that the word connotes something you bet on--was never mentioned until two-and-a-half weeks after Bush's August 6 briefing and days before 9/11. (He has since claimed the 'trifecta' was a campaign promise. This is a lie.) It is sickening to contemplate an administration intentionally looking the other way while terrorists scheme so that whatever havoc they wreak can provide cover for the president to raid Social Security.
Bush did a lot more than just raid Social Security: He emptied out the U.S. Treasury like a piggy bank and used all your children's credit cards to mortgage their future as far as anyone's eyes can see, then pulled the wool over them. He bankrupted our standing in the eyes of the world. And what of those billions promised to defense contractors mentioned in this article? By June 2002 it was too soon to say; by February 2003 it wasn't. In fact it was a done deal in November 2000. "Sickening" hardly describes it. Something to chew on, if you have any doubts about "intelligence failures."
- Michael 10:30 AM - [PermaLink] -
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