The system right now spawns coyotes and smugglers

[Text of Bush's News Conference]

Why must there be a fabricated ideological war between the "smart" and the "dumb" in the United States? Why do neocons insist upon installing a proud, stupid person in the office of the presidency with the aim of enraging and distracting those who consider themselves smart and earnest? And why is it so effective?

When I'm listening to George W. Bush respond to questions at a press conference, I can no longer remember Bill Clinton's press conferences. Bush's unceasing refusal to answer the question asked of him, to actually address the issue raised, is maddening and mind-numbing, so much so that I can no longer recall a time when a president would respond to the substance of the query.

This is, of course, the most infuriating thing about the Bush presidency. Bush and his closest aides seem to be incapable of self-correction. They cannot admit mistake or failure, and, by extension, they cannot behave admirably. Admirability, nobility, honest reflection, and self-censure as concepts are suspect, in and of themselves. If Bush were to admit, outright, that several terrible mistakes were made in the calculations prior to invasion of Iraq, and to dismiss several responsible parties, and then to impale himself upon a flaming bayonet on live TV, despite his being dead, I would be more likely to entertain the feasibility his administration's ideas. As it is, my initial reaction (which is easily controlled, mind you) to any official administration policy or idea is suspicion.

However, would I really want it any other way? Would I really want to be able to trust the government, on any level? Is not the hallmark of a truly free society the ability and willingness of the people to question the government's actions, at all levels?

Maybe. But what do you call it when you have a government that you can question, sort of, but that WASN'T UNEQUIVOCALLY FAIRLY ELECTED?

November 2, 2004 was a momentous day for those of us who cannot completely rid ourselves of the desire to live in a reasonably Free (TM) and Open (C) Society (R). I've tried to banish those desires, since they never seem to correspond to consensus reality. Perhaps I'm getting better at it. My visceral reaction, though, to the categorically wrongheaded actions of the Bush administration is one of concern. My dissatisfaction with both American-style capitalism/corporatism and representative democracy is well-known, but I still have this ingrained, raised-in-the-Reagan-era desire to have society succeed. These months following the presidential election have been weird. The situation has contained nothing as clearly partisan and illegal and on such a scale as what happened on December 12, 2000 (to say nothing of all the other irregularities), but maybe this is worse. Four years ago, the illegality of the events that installed George W. Bush in office was demonstrable. This time, they're just short of demonstrable.

Probably worse.

All this generalizing and typographic gesticulation is giving me a headache.