What It's All About

As the leading Democrat candidates continue to fail to offer radical critiques (don't really know why I'm surprised there) of our position in Iraq and our unbridled consumption of oil, I am so disheartened that I don't know what to do.

Consider: Bush's reckless use of Presidential signing statements is nothing new, nor are the record profits that oil conglomerates have been posting in the last few years as the price-at-the-pump has skyrocketed and put a WWF-style smackdown on working families, nor is the neocon program for permanent US bases in the middle east. But it is utterly inconceivable that none of these issues are adequately addressed by Democrat frontrunners--not how they would reverse the momentum toward an imperial presidency, not how they would de-imperialize our foreign policy in the middle east, not how they would do anything to make me proud enough of my country to stand up when the band plays the national anthem at sporting events.

So it should come as no surprise when this week Shell breaks UK records for oil profits, Exxon does the same in the US, and Bush uses a signing statement to circumvent a Congressional defense act's ban on permanent bases in Iraq. After all, why the fuck would he let something like that pass and undermine everything he's been working for?

The worst part about this, though, is that our beloved Fourth Estate, the supposed bearer of our democracy, has nothing to say about this news on Bush's signing statements. Why is ThinkProgress the best coverage of Bush's signing statements for permanent bases?

I swear to god, I've just about reached the point where I have to leave. I mean, I don't see what other options I have if I want to have any semblance of ethical conduct.

...

Update: And it goes on. A 20 February 2008 piece on the Washington Post asks how it is that "pause" seems to equate to "permanence" in Iraq policy.

Update 2: A 5 June 2008 piece from The Independent reports that the Bush administration is working on an agreement with the Iraqi government under which the US would maintain 50 bases indefinitely, as well as control Iraqi airspace and garner legal immunity for all US soldiers and, of course contractors.