Nader, Bloomberg in "David and Goliath"

Now that his second favorite candidate, John Edwards, has dropped out, Ralph Nader is feeling an irresistible urge to pick up the fallen standard and hurl himself once again into the breach.

Ironically, Nader's inner struggle is reported by Bloomberg.com, part of the business news empire that made New York's mayor a billionaire who is, albeit silently, having the same crisis of conscience about saving the nation with an Independent run.

Inverting their physical attributes, Nader and Bloomberg would be playing David and Goliath in a sideshow of the '08 electoral circus to prove that (a) corporate America is crushing its people or (b) only a corporate genius can straighten out the mess Bush is leaving behind.

"Look at the major areas of injustice, deprivation and solutions that are not being addressed by the major candidates," Nader tells a Bloomberg reporter while denying that his 97,488 votes in Florida elected George W. Bush who won the state by just 537 votes over Al Gore in 2000.

Calling him a spoiler, Nader says, "is basically saying that small candidates are second-class citizens."

If Nader takes his pathological hatred of the Clintons into the arena this time, he won't be traveling in even that much style if Bloomberg comes in, too. Billionaires always go first-class and don't leave much space for anyone else.

No Crying Shame

This is starting out as a year for tears.

Days after Hillary Clinton rescued her campaign by welling up in a New Hampshire coffee shop, George W. Bush wept yesterday at a Holocaust memorial in Israel, expressing sorrow over US failure in World War II to bomb Auschwitz and save some of the victims.

Sen. Clinton was clearly crying in response to her own stress, but the President's tears seem more complicated. Faced with visible evidence of more than a million murders, he turned from aerial views of the concentration camp and told Condoleeza Rice, "We should have bombed it." Before leaving, he wrote in the visitor's book, "God Bless Israel, George Bush."

For a man who believes in a world divided into Good and Evil, that is an understandable reaction, but is there something more in him than self-righteous certainty?

Last year, at a ceremony awarding a posthumous Medal of Honor to a Marine who threw himself over a grenade and saved the lives of two men in his unit, Bush wept as he said, “He was the guy who signed on for an extra two months in Iraq so he could stay with his squad...to make sure that everyone makes it home alive."

As we reach for change in American leadership, Bush's tears evoke sadness that his capacity to grieve for that Marine and his family as well as Holocaust victims never led him to join the majority of those he serves who want to put an end to killing as the means of choice to make the world safer.

Now we know that Hillary Clinton can cry over herself, but will she or whoever else succeeds George Bush be truly committed to sparing American families tears in the years ahead?

"And That's the Way It Is..."

After the Tet offensive in early 1968, the Most Trusted Man in America announced the war in Vietnam could not be won. "If I've lost Cronkite," the President of the United States said, "I've lost America" and conceded by announcing he wouldn't run for reelection.

Walter Cronkite is 91 now, and George W. Bush is no Lyndon Johnson, but America's news nanny, who tucked us in every evening for two decades by ending the CBS Evening News with "And that's the way it is," has declared "Our Troops Must Leave Iraq."

In a piece co-written and appearing in print, Cronkite's voice is still being heard. In the Japan Times, on the eve of Pearl Harbor day, he concludes:

"Congress must act. Although Congress never declared war, as required by the Constitution, they did give the president the authority to invade Iraq. Congress must now withdraw that authority and cease its funding of the war.

"It is not likely, however, that Congress will act unless the American people make their voices heard with unmistakable clarity. That is the way the Vietnam War was brought to an end. It is the way that the Iraq War will also be brought to an end. The only question is whether it will be now, or whether the war will drag on, with all the suffering that implies, to an even more tragic, costly and degrading defeat. We will be a better, stronger and more decent country to bring the troops home now."

Trust is not what it used to be, and age has diminished the reach of Cronkite's voice, but he is still trying to tell America how it is.

Crazed Converts: Bush and Giuliani

Half a century after a book inspired President Eisenhower to warn about political fanatics, Americans have one in the White House and another who would get there by exploiting the hatred and fears described by Eric Hoffer back then.

The life paths of George W. Bush and now Rudy Giuliani fit Hoffer's description of how "The True Believer" converts personal failure to political success: "Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance."

The disastrous consequences of Bush's midlife crisis are now clear, but the effects of Giuliani's conversion are just coming to light. On September 11, 2001, a lackadaisical lame-duck mayor with no political prospects and two failed marriages was transformed into a money-making preacher and then the zealous leader of a crusade against Islamofascism.

In today's New York Times, Paul Krugman cites the Republican front runner's dedication to spreading what Franklin Roosevelt called “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror” inspired by those described by Frank Rich as "the mad neocon bombers shaping his apocalyptic policy toward Iran" after giving Bush an outlet for his new-found religious zeal in attacking Iraq.

For a time, Giuliani seemed merely cynical in courting Republican extremists who find his social values distasteful, but more and more, the alarming truth seems to be that he may really believe what he is saying about a holy war.

As he surrounds himself with more and more Podhoretzes and Kristols, the future Republican nominee may want to ponder the words of Hoffer, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan: "The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led."

The rest of us will have to take comfort in another Hoffer observation: “It is cheering to see that the rats are still around--the ship is not sinking.”

The George Bush of Sports

Before the basketball season starts, the New York Knicks have suffered a stunning defeat, reaffirming its status as the worst-managed professional sports team in the world.

A jury ruled today that coach Isiah Thomas sexually harassed a team executive, subjecting the married mother of three to unwanted advances and verbal insults, in a case that an organization with any brains at the top would have settled out of court to avoid the humiliation of an ugly trial.

But today’s result only extends the record of team owner James Dolan as the George Bush of the sports world, a second-generation perpetrator of monumental misjudgments that have left lifelong followers of the team of Bill Bradley, Walt Frazier and Willis Reed in a state of shock and rage. Running a baseball team, Bush traded away Sammy Sosa, but Dolan makes him look like a genius.

The Cablevision heir's devotion to Thomas, who assembled the highest-paid N.B.A. roster with the worst record, has prompted Madison Square Garden crowds to chant “Fire Dolan!” on a regular basis, an unprecedented response to a team owner.

Bush and Dolan raise questions about the wisdom of Warren Buffet, who once said, "I want to give my kids enough so that they feel that they can do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing."

In some cases, nothing would be a blessing for the world.

Bill Clinton's Jack Bauer Moment

On Meet the Press yesterday, the former President worked his way around to agreeing with his wife, the future President, that our policy should be “uncompromisingly opposed to terror--I mean to torture.”

Freudian slip aside (some lingering doubt about using torture to avert terror?), Bill Clinton’s, uh, tortured explanation may have given us some insight into how a President deals with the real world as opposed to abstractions.

“There’s a one in a million chance,” Clinton said, “that you might be alone somewhere, and you’re Jack Bauer on ‘24’...It happens every season with Jack Bauer, but in the real world it doesn’t happen very much. If you have a policy which legitimizes this, it’s a slippery slope and you get in the kind of trouble we’ve been in here with Abu Ghraib, with Guantanamo, with lots of other examples.

“And I’m not even sure what I said is right now. I think what happens is the honest truth is that Tim Russert, Bill Clinton, people filming this show, if we were the Jack Bauer person and it was six hours to the bomb or whatever, you don’t know what you would do, and you have to--but I think what our policy ought to be is to be uncompromisingly opposed to terror—I mean to torture, and that if you’re the Jack Bauer person, you’ll do whatever you do and you should be prepared to take the consequences. And I think the consequences will be imposed based on what turns out to be the truth.”

Translation: Policy and politics don’t cover every contingency in the real world, and people in power sometimes have to make horrific judgments. But if a President decides to become Jack Bauer or his ancestor, Dirty Harry, at some critical moment, he should be prepared to take the consequences for breaking the rules.

Would somebody please explain that to George Bush and Dick Cheney?

The Secular Humanist's Saint

In the second half of the past century, the nun known as Mother Teresa was a celebrity of goodness, devoting herself to the most wretched people on earth with a selflessness that transcended religious belief.

As a magazine editor, I chronicled her life for millions of all faiths and no faith at all. To learn now from her newly published letters that she had her doubts and despair serves only to strengthen admiration for what she accomplished over a long life.

Risking sacrilege by mentioning George Bush in the same sentence, Mother Teresa’s uncertainties are a reminder of how fallible human beings rather than religious zealots are the ones who do good in this world.

She once told an interviewer, “I’m only a little pencil in God’s hand, writing a love letter to the world.” The little pencil wrote well.

Another Draft to Dodge? Not Likely

Talk about political non-starters: The President’s “war czar,” Gen. Douglas Lute, asked yesterday on NPR about a return of the draft to ease pressures on the U.S. military, answered, “I think it makes sense to certainly consider it, and I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table.”

Not to worry. According to the AP, the Army is pulling out all the stops to get new volunteers with sign-up rewards that may include up to $45,000 tax-free to help buy a home or build a business as well as money for college and to pay off student loans.

At the same time, recruitment is loosening rules on age and weight limits, education and drug and criminal records.

Before asking today’s privileged young people to emulate George Bush, Dick Cheney and Bill Clinton in finding ways to avoid going to Iraq, the government will try to sign up all the overweight, financially strapped drug users it can find.

Covering the Super-Healthy Only

If Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney or Chief Justice John Roberts applied for private health insurance, they wouldn’t get it.

Neither would Michael Moore for his obesity or Arnold Schwarzenegger, who went to the hospital in 2005 for rapid heartbeats.

An organization called the Medical Information Bureau would take a quick look at their histories and tell 470 companies they are hopelessly bad risks. Their work helps health insurers cherry-pick prospects to cover only those who are unlikely to get sick.

So much for universal coverage and the faith that Republicans, including President Bush, have in the marketplace. After the removal of his five polyps last month, he would have trouble getting health insurance himself.

CBS reported recently that a survey by the Commonwealth Fund last year found that 89 percent, or 52 million, of those looking for individual health insurance didn't get it because it was too expensive or they were turned down.

“Insurers are getting double the profit that they make in the group market. Why is it so lucrative? Because they exclude anybody and everybody who has even a remote sense of risk associated with their health care," said Dr. Bryan Liang, who has studied the insurance industry for more than a decade.

Someone should break the news to Rudy Giuliani, who loves the current system. His 2001 treatment for prostate cancer would rule him out for coverage in a New York minute.

Bad Bush Movies

If this Administration were a Hollywood studio, it would have been shut down after the “Heaven’s Gate” of wars in Iraq and the “Ishtar” of disasters in New Orleans.

No one wants to watch, but they still keep grinding them out. Alberto Gonzales is starring in an extravagant remake of “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,” with a cast of thousands as the bounty hunters.

This week, the cameras roll on a new version of “Into the Mouth of Madness” with Condoleeza Rice and Robert Gates as the intrepid couple looking for answers in places where reality and fantasy are indistinguishable.

Meanwhile, in the White House, George Bush himself is doing a final cut on “Battlefield Earth,” while Dick Cheney prepares for his close-ups in “Godzilla, the Musical.”

"My Country, Right or Wrong"

John Boehner is a living metaphor for the political muddle in Washington over Iraq.

During a meeting of the Republican Congressional caucus yesterday, the House Minority Leader reportedly characterized Senate colleagues as “wimps” for backing away from unquestioning support of the Bush policy.

He was rebuked by Rep. Heather Wilson, a former Air Force officer, who expressed admiration for Sen. Richard Lugar’s speech about rethinking Middle East policy.

Boehner is an emotional man. In May, before debate about the Surge, he wept openly as Rep. Sam Johnson talked of his years as a POW in North Vietnam, describing how his captors would play tapes of antiwar protesters back home over prison loudspeakers.

The Minority Leader was strongly moved by Johnson’s analogy of his experience in hearing that opposition to any expression of Congressional disapproval of the policy in Iraq.

There is no reason to question Boehner’s sincerity or patriotism, but his judgment is another matter. He embodies a classic American debate.

In 1816, after a victory, Naval Commander Stephen Decatur proposed a toast: “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.”

In 1872, Sen. Carl Schurz, a former General, amended that declaration: “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”

George Bush has complicated that difference by re-defining patriotism as support for a mindless, belligerent foreign policy that has alienated our country from almost all of the civilized world.

In Boehner’s heart, it may simply be a question of patriotism, yes or no. But someone should explain to him that Bush’s Neo-Cons have hijacked American patriotism and that some of those in both parties who truly love their country are fighting to get it back.

Ahmadinejad, Oliver Stone Trade Barbs

The movie-maker who never met an anti-American he didn’t want to film has met his match. The president of Iran has refused to cooperate with Oliver Stone, his flack saying that Stone may be “considered part of the opposition in the U.S., but he is still part of the Great Satan."

A friend of Fidel Castro who is unaccustomed to being turned down by tinpot dictators, Stone responded with the unkindest cut of all, comparing Ahmadinejad to George Bush.

"I wish the Iranian people well,” Stone said, “and only hope their experience with an inept, rigid ideologue president goes better than ours."

Then again, Ahmadinejad may be a film buff who has seen JFK, Nixon and other paranoid biopics of Stone’s. On his blog a while back, the President praised “Iranian filmmakers who refused to participate in a Denmark film festival in protest at the blasphemous caricature published by a Danish newspaper against Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) last year.”

The man is a tough critic.

When They Look Back at Libby

Future researchers digging through the legal and political rubble of US v. I. Lewis Libby may be puzzled to find:

“If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is," the President said in 2004 about the outing of Valerie Plame. "If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.”

In 2007, he took care of the leaker by commuting his 30-month sentence before it started.

Libby, who was found guilty, did not serve one minute. A New York Times reporter was behind bars for 85 days.

The Vice President’s former chief of staff was fined $250,000. His admirers raised $5 million for his defense, none of which, they insisted, would be used to pay that obligation.

The day after the commutation, a New York Times editorial titled “Soft on Crime” said Mr. Bush “sounded like a man worried about what a former loyalist might say when actually staring into a prison cell.”

The same day on the facing page, columnist David Brooks wrote: “The farce is over. It has no significance. Nobody but Libby’s family will remember it in a few weeks time.”

Whatever those future researchers conclude, they may find it a curious setback for the rule of law, separation of powers, freedom of the press and, perhaps most of all, plain-spoken honesty in public discourse.

Worse Than Bush: Blair Knew Better

With his elegant English accent, Tony Blair lent George Bush a confident air of intelligence and rationality as the “Coalition of the Willing” prepared to invade Iraq in 2003.

Now as he prepares to leave office, an altogether different picture emerges. As the Observer sums it up:

“Tony Blair agreed to commit British troops to battle in Iraq in the full knowledge that Washington had failed to make adequate preparations for the postwar reconstruction of the country.

“In a devastating account of the chaotic preparations for the war, which comes as Blair enters his final full week in Downing Street, key No 10 aides and friends of Blair have revealed the Prime Minister repeatedly and unsuccessfully raised his concerns with the White House.”

In view of Blair’s misgivings, Bush offered to let him off the hook. Condoleezza Rice, then our national security adviser, confirms that Bush told Blair he didn’t have to send troops, suggesting “Perhaps there's some other way that Britain can be involved” and that Blair replied: “No, I'm with you.”

All this makes Tony Blair look even worse than Bush. Sensing disaster, he nevertheless did a Winston Churchill impersonation and took his country into Iraq. Our deluded Neo-Cons were true believers, but Blair apparently knew better. Whatever his motives, he has even more to answer for than they do.