Not with a bang, but a W

Karl Rove says it’s the war that has the public turning away from Bush. “People like the president” he said to CNN. I’m afraid it’s not so, even far right Plutochristians like Pat Robertson are loudly denouncing the grotesque fiscal mismanagement of the steal and spend Republicans. Speaking to a group of teenage Republicans (what a concept) about the famous “bridge to Nowhere” pork project he said "This is our government at work, and unfortunately it is run by Republicans."

Of course Pat is someone who steals from the poor and gives to himself, but if he’s down on Bush, it has to be about something more religious than honesty or ethics or morality – it has to be about money.

Of course Pat who was once caught stealing from his charity to make business deals with Mobutu Sese Seko and Charles Taylor is no stranger to money, or to mendacity, but as far as I know the attack on Bush is novel and I’m glad to see it even if I wouldn’t want that psycho on my side.

Rove on the other hand shows no cracks in the façade and claims with the same straight face we used to see on the Iraqi Information Minister, that the President “in some polls” still is liked by 60% of Americans. I’m sure he has a special and unique definition of “like” but each of these men is a way typifies our modern world where new technology has brought us unimaginable access to information and yet we are drowning in lies and confusion.

When I was younger we used to hear a lot about he Doomsday Clock – a way of showing us how close we were to nuclear disaster. It seems far less threatening today, not that nuclear conflagration is unimaginable, but the world now seems far less likely to end with a bang than with a slow slide into the abyss.