Click Here To Purchase From Amazon Sinking the Ship of State – The Presidency of George W. Bush

Author: Walter M. Brasch

ISBN: 978-1-4196-6950-7

Gosh, when I received this book, I had a million other things I could be doing – anything rather than reading about a president who rewrote the constitution, lied to the people to get them to back a war, and approved torture for POWs. A president who changed cabinet members like people change underwear was not the thing that made a good day for me. However, I dug into Sinking of Ship of State and was thrilled! I could not put it down – it was the first piece of truth I had heard in years about George W. Bush.

From the first page, I said, “I remember that…I recall that…that was classic.” Brasch opens with Bush’s “stay the course” fiction and finishes on the same page with “We’ve never been ‘stay the course…We are constantly adjusting the tactics. Constantly” – George W. Bush, October 22, 2006.  I was intrigued. Someone had actually been paying attention to the “constantly adjusting” words in the boring and uninformative, waste-of-my-time-because-I-would-rather-be-chewing-glass speeches. 

It’s amazing how much we forget in just a short span of time. What with the grueling take-away-your-rights acts, nail-biting caskets-draped-with-flags ceremonies, angry because-you-lied again and sad that-everyone-looks-at-the-USA-as-a-bunch-of-dictators time of our lives, how can we pick up on every word or action of George W. Bush? How much can you take of someone who sputters, stutters and spews?

I had easily forgotten that McCain had won “52 of Michigan’s 58 delegates” in the last primaries. I had other things to be concerned with – high taxes, high prices for milk and gasoline, and Lyme disease (Hey! The President and I have something in common – except he thinks it’s curable). “However, the Bush campaign needed McCain to lock up not only a call for unity but viewership during Prime Time Tuesday. During the primaries, McCain had called Bush everything but a weasel. By the convention, McCain had become the loyal soldier, telling the cheering convention that Bush is a man of “courage and character,” concluding, “I support him. I am grateful to him. And I am proud of him.” Since the Bush clan wasn’t so sure McCain would not again tell the truth, he was asked to leave the convention before Bush arrived.

Use them and lose them – and the bonus is that they thank you for it. 

The Democrats don’t seem to be much better. “And this is the party that, having learned its lesson four years ago when it banned Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey from speaking against abortion, now welcomes Casey’s two sons to the podium to advocate the pro-life philosophy” -- August 2000. I don’t believe things have changed much since then. And the “schmoozing and boozing at the conventions,” where millions are spent and “fake” is in, makes me wonder what we are really voting for – a President or for the one who can throw the best ho-down.

Forget the “news” coverage, too. Few people watch television when the feature is the run for another four years of poverty, war, and lab-created illnesses in order to bring in the New World Order. Why should we? We have sports, movies, and reality shows! And besides, what media is going to find news to tell us? “As it is, the writers for Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, and especially Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” give America better insight than the sound-bite politicians who stand before TV cameras, interviewed by personalities who pretend to be journalists.” 

But some of it has been entertaining!

“Following the CIA briefing in Crawford, Texas, Gov. Bush decided it would be a nice gesture to provide the super-sleuths and some hovering reporters with a fresh dinner of recently shot doves. But, there was a problem. Texas was in the middle of one of the biggest droughts in its history, and the doves, said the state’s governor, “don’t seem to be flocking in right now. But, to make sure the CIA spooks didn’t think the “W” in his name was for “whimp,” Gov. Bush added, “I’m a hunter and if I decide to shoot some dove, I’ll shoot ‘em and eat ‘em. The best way to eat dove, said the Republician presidential candidate, is to “pluck’em, breast ‘em, put ‘em on the grill with maybe a little bacon and jalapeno.” Some perople marinate the dove, he told reporters, but he said he was probably just going to “throw ‘em right on the grill [and] baste ‘em. He didn’t get any doves that night.”

However, that isn’t the end of the story!

“Six years earlier, while campaigning against incumbent Gov. Ann Richards, Bush thought it would be a great photo opportunity to show the people of Texas that he was the bold epitome of Lone Star Macho, a fearless take-charge kind of guy who could sight-in on any kind of problem. So, he and his gaggle of aides staged a dove hunt to attract the reporters and photographers. He flushed that bird. He looked. He aimed. He shot. Blasted that dove right out of the sky. At least he thought it was a dove. Turns out the bird was really a killdeer, protected by federal law. An embarrassed Bush, who obviously couldn’t distinguish a 10-inch long brown-and-white bird with two black bands and constant whistle from a long grayish-white bird that coos – paid a fine for his stupidity.”

Now, we’re all paying.

From the media, to conspiracy, and on to the Patriot Act, Brasch covers anything and everything – in the most open, revealing, and Patriotic fashion – by presenting the facts!

What a novel idea – using truth, facts, and their own words to get the message out – a message we should have gotten long ago.

This was a refreshingly, yet somber, look at a legacy that, if I am not mistaken, will be rewritten to make it look like a social hour at the local grade school (you remember, where George W. Bush was reading to children during story hour as planes were destroying the towers?). Thank goodness we will have a real history book here – one that won’t be rewritten and can’t be smoothed over. If it weren’t true, this would be the comedy to beat all comedies. Sex, lies, cover-ups – no one walks away from Walter Brasch’s accounting in Sinking the Ship of State.  

There is justice after all – even if no one is impeached or goes to prison.

 Click Here To Purchase From Amazon Sinking the Ship of State – The Presidency of George W. Bush

 The above review was contributed by: Sue Vogan: Sue is a Writer & Author of NCO-No Compassion Observed: To read more of Sue's reviews Click Here 

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