ARTS & FARCES internet

Last month I outlined the trifecta that would bring down the Bush presidency in “Fighting a multi-fronted (scandal) war.” At that time I wrote that the Bush presidency was done, but I didn’t say when.

Since then things have only gotten worse and Bush the Lesser will be unelectable by Labor Day. Craig Cox, publisher of the Minneapolis Observer, and a co-worker at my day job laughs every time I say it, but he’s not laughing nearly as loudly now as he was last month.

Bush is now closing in on the statistically possible, but practically impossible. The superfecta. Here’s how it looks from the cheap seats:

1. Dennis Kucinich demanding a full disclosure of the allegedly staged rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch combined with no end in sight to the increasing number of American body bags coming home from Iraq.
2. The Bush administration’s outright lies with regard to Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
3. The secret transcript indicating that Jack Straw and Colin Powell had serious questions about the quality of American intelligence information. (Straw has since denied that the meeting took place; but reports indicate that the transcript continues to circulate.)
4. The Bush administration’s questionable veracity, ongoing secrecy, and stonewalling regarding the events surrounding the 11 September 2001 attacks.

The mainstream media, having so far failed to show up for the Bush II presidency, is showing signs of awakening.

In a front-page Washington Post story this morning, Danas Priest and Milbank do a pretty good job of deconstructing President Bush’s latest attempts at a historical rewrite. Bush now claims that the CIA’s doubts about the quality of the intelligence information were “subsequent” to his State of the Union address and that the decision to invade Iraq was made after Saddam Hussein refused to allow inspectors into the country.

Bush’s own administration has acknowledged that the CIA raised doubts more than three months before the State of the Union. And the UN weapons inspectors were still on the ground, presumably ducking and covering, as the U.S. invasion of Iraq began.

After all that Bush the Elder must be zipping up and down the Maine coast in his speedboat muttering to himself that “all his boys will be coming home soon” through a clenched jaw.

If that’s not enough, David Broder marks “Black Thursday for Bush” as last Thursday, 10 July when “the shadow of defeat first crossed his [Bush’s] political horizon.”

It’s all down hill from here, kids, but it gets worse. Who will the Republicans run in the 2004 election? You just know Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) had to cut some sort of a deal with the Bushies to stay out of it, but all bets will be off by Labor Day.

Before you spit coffee out of your nose laughing at my postulations, consider how cooked Nixon’s goose was this week 30 years ago. Then consider how much time has compressed in your own life over the last 30 years. Labor Day, I’m telling you. Labor Day.