Bill Maher was AWESOME

Like, dude, Bill Maher, like, totally roolz! Or something like that.

It occurred to me that, although he certainly had some fresh material, the basic themes were the same ones he's been using for some years. That's not at all to say that I was disappointed in the show, though. The striking point is the question of how long does the pink elephant in a tutu have to tap dance on the dinner table before you admit he's in the room? What do I mean? The point that Bill Maher makes over and over and over is that we need to have someone take a credibly unbiased appraisal of the President's actions for the benefit of the nation. There are apparently a number of people who still believe that George W. Bush has done, is doing, and will continue to do a superb job as President of the United States. However, what truly dismays me is the number of those people who still reject as absurd (and unpatriotic) the idea that Bush might be the wrong man for the job. To say that sitting on his ass for 7 minutes on 9/11, plus losing Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan or Pakistan because Bush had to run off to Baghdad, plus busting the treasury worse than all 42 previous Presidents combined, plus abrogating more treaties than all 42 previous Presidents combined, plus adding more weasel clauses when signing bills than all 42 previous Presidents combined, plus accidentally forgetting to think about what we do after our tanks roll into Baghdad, plus purposefully and repeatedly violating the very core of the Constitution he has sworn before God to uphold, plus putting Brownie in charge of hurricane response, plus yada yada and yada — to say that all that doesn't justify the suspicion that just maybe George W. Bush really is an incompetent, ineffective leader — that's nothing more than blind faith, and I'm here to tell you that blind faith isn't really faith at all. If you truly have faith, then you will still have faith after you open your awareness. If you can only preserve your faith by pretending that no alternative exists, then you are saying that your faith — whether it is faith in George W. Bush or faith in النبي — is so weak that it cannot withstand the slightest challenge. That is why my answer to the pitiful fools who would humiliate themselves defending النبي's honor from a cartoon (as though محمد were a thin-skinned five-year-old girl) is, "Fuck yourselves and the camels you rode in on." I say that as an advocate of international understanding and cooperation, but no, you do not get to tell me that I can't make fun of your god, and likewise I say to George W. Bush that he does not get to tell me what god or gods I can or can't believe in, nor does the government get to recommend any one over the others, explicitly or implicitly. To say otherwise is simply to hate my freedom, Mr. Bush.

If you believe that Bush's track record is so shiny and golden, then why not have Bush and five of his advisors take on Bill Maher and five of his advisors? Or if not Bill Maher then maybe Michael Moore or would you prefer Jon Stewart or Stepan Coldbear? Or maybe Robin Williams? And if Bush is too busy to do it himself, let him anoint someone as his official stand-in. Karl Rove will do just fine, or Tom DeLay, or even Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly. We'd be happy to take on Rick Santorum, but we can't guarantee he won't leave in tearful humiliation. We can have the usual sissy "kid-glove" moderation, or how about no holds barred?

I absolutely agree with the Bushies on only one thing: whatever else, George W. Bush's term as President will not be some William Henry Harrison or James Garfield, a mere footnote in history. George W. Bush has set a record that I hope stands for many years for being the most consequential President in the history of our nation, perhaps even eclipsing Lincoln and Washington and Jefferson and Samuel Adams. By definition, the debt Bush has racked up on our behalf in just five short years will not be forgotten for at least two generations, not to mention the prisoners he's put "on the rack" in our names.