Bush defenders need to wake up

Ted Heneberry Charlottesville
Published: July 18, 2008

On July 4 a letter writer expresses his opinion that George W. Bush is a “thoroughly good and decent man” deserving of our respect (“Writer’s attack on Bush insulting,” The Daily Progress). The letter writer is talking about a person whose lifetime record is one of failure; a feckless incompetent who has only his family’s wealth and connections to thank for his absence from the welfare rolls.

Clearly, one should never underestimate the power of people to deceive themselves, or the capacity for evil of those who are certain of their righteousness.

Cal Thomas’ column on the same page (“The president off the record”) states Bush’s belief that America is in a war that requires us to strike first against our enemies (real or imagined.) There is a word for this philosophy: terrorism. The low standards of those who think so little of our country that they live in fear disgrace us all.

Bush also boasts of government eavesdropping. He is proud that his regime has brought America to be the land of the spied upon and the home of the fearful.

No foreign enemy could so damage our country. It may be generations before Amer-ica and the world recover from our actions over the last eight years, but we can take heart that America is much greater than its enemies, even ones as insidious as the Bush Reich and its supporters.