Ratlines

Rats and sinking ships
By Frank Pitz Online Journal Contributing Writer Nov 14, 2005

For a good many years I had a rather crude cartoon tacked on my office wall, it depicted a rat caught in a trap with an endless line of fellow rats backed up each having their turn at a specific anatomical part of the captive. The caption read: “When you’re down and out, everybody wants a piece of your ass.”

With an approval rating hovering in the mid-30s, and his fellow Repugs distancing themselves from him, like he has an extreme case of body odor, George Bush must feel much like the rat in that crude cartoon. You know it’s bad when one of GW’s staunchest pals -- Ricky (the sanitizer) Santorum -- does not want you campaigning for him in his home state of Pennsylvania.

So while Bush was lambasting his Iraq critics at the Tobyhanna, (Pa.) Army Depot, Santorum was down the highway in Philadelphia making comments like “the war has been less than optimal” and “maybe some blame could be laid at the White House.” Even the Moonie press (Washington Times) has seemingly abandoned poor George given recent editorial criticisms on its pages.

So just what is an embattled leader to do? Well, if you are an unstable, alcoholic like Georgie boy you put on your 800-pound gorilla suit and run your mouth. What this type personality does is to ratchet up the decibel and name calling level in the hopes that by beating his chest and scowling one can instill fear in people and bring them around. Of course, folks can readily see through this subterfuge and the bully becomes nothing more than a pitiful caricature.

However there are other options open to our beleaguered monkey boy. Karl Rove can always roll out the old “tail wagging the dog” trick and we could see a myriad of scenarios unfold which would serve to push Bush’s woes off the front page. Along those lines, it seems there is a “confidential memo” making the rounds of senior Repug leaders which suggests that a “new attack by terrorists on U.S. soil could reverse the sagging fortunes of President George W. Bush -- as well as the GOP.” The existence of this memo was reported by Publisher Doug Thompson of Capitol Hill Blue in a November 10 column.

I can guarantee you that if all of a sudden bombs start blowing up in American cities, I ain’t going to blame Osama bin Laden. All one needs know is that history confirms that presidents are not above sacrificing American lives as a means to an end, and George W. most assuredly needs something right now to boost his poll numbers.