Kicking it

"We're kicking ass" said the ever-eloquent George W. Bush to Australian Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile. That's not to say, of course that we're making Iraq safe for American occupation and oil exploitation, much less making it safe for Iraqis and it's certainly not to say that we're winning. We have however, kicked a lot of people out of their country and they may be the lucky ones. "Kicking Ass" to my way of thinking is one of the exhausted idioms George Orwell refers to as a token of insincerity. It allows Bush to seem sanguine without actually lying.

Bush, of course, is in Australia seeking to aid the re-election of Prime Minister John Howard over the Australian Labor Party's Kevin Rudd and of course to sell his war. Somehow the full scale riots expected in protest of his presence and his policies would make the effort questionable, but questionable efforts, questionable ethics, and questionable deeds have never really seemed to matter to Bush who listens to higher sources than the people he's hired to serve. I'm sure he will kick ass in Australia too.