We lost one of the best writers DU had to offer. Mike McArdle, also known as birdman, has passed. There is a thread to commemorate him in the Lounge, here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=438164&mesg_id=438164I suggest you check out the incredible work he did for us. Below is but one example. Our chain is one link shorter today. Keep Mike McArdle in your thoughts today, and carry your banner in his name.
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The Most Dismal State of the Union
January 28, 2003
By Mike McArdle
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/01/28_union.htmlToday President Bush will deliver the State of the Union address. Now, of course, Bush "delivers" the State of the Union about the way the paperboy "delivers" your newspaper. Even his supporters will realize that he had about as much insight into the speech he will read as the kid on the bike had into the lead editorial that he flings onto your lawn.
But even though his role in the address begins when they fire up the teleprompter and ends when it runs out of words even Bush must realize that the state of the union that he at least theoretically presides over has rarely been more dismal. The economy has settled into a malaise that may last years. The country is divided by deep cultural and philosophical differences that seem to split the nation in half. Polls show that dissatisfaction in the direction of the country is the highest it's been in years.
This is the country that the little man staring at the teleprompter is trying to lead into what Bush apologist George Will euphemistically calls an "optional" war, meaning I suppose that Will likens the decision to kill maybe tens of thousands of innocent people to the decision you make about the sound system on a new car. You get the feeling that the Bushies share Will's view of the coming optional conflict and deeply resent those that are demanding that killing people be more important than your SUV's CD changer. Those naysayers are actually demanding that the administration demonstrate some that kind of threat exists before they unleash a destructive force that could make the world a more dangerous place for generations to come. Support for this venture is eroding rapidly but the Bushies have apparently decided to go to war anyway and hope that the rally round effect will rescue them politically.
As precarious as the state of the union may be domestically America has almost never been held in such little regard by the international community. Just 16 months ago in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks much of the world felt a solidarity with Americans. Today the rest of the earth including some of our most loyal long-time allies have begun to regard America as the worlds pariah and the greatest threat to world peace.
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