FRAMESHOP:FRAMESHOP: APRIL WAS THE CRUELEST MONTH

National Concern Growing:  Bush Tries To Control Debate With Talk of 'Moving Forward' and 'Turning Points'

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April 2006 truly was the cruelest month for President Bush:

1. Gas prices oozed above $3 per gallon, while oil exec 'retirement' pay rose above $400 million.  (Oh, my, god! $400 million dollars paid to one person!!!)
2. The Republican Congress tried to buy back the public's confidence by proposing a $100 check be sent to everyone in America.
3. News emerged that Republicans not only took bribes and gifts from lobbyists, but also accepted free limousine rides to hotel suites filled with pre-paid prostitutes.
4. Karl Rove testified again in front of the Grand Jury
5. President Bush was roasted until well-cooked by Stephen Colbert.
6. Newly trained Iraqi soldiers ripped their uniforms off at their own graduation upon learning they would be assigned to dangerous parts of their country.
7. Statistics revealed this month that English middle-aged citizens are healthier overall than American middle-agers (the English!  As in:  they eat blood pudding for breakfast, and they are healthier than us).
8. What Americans once thought of as play-money, the Canadian Dollar is making huge strides against the U.S.Dollar, and will reach parity by 2007.
9. Taking advantage of desperately low recruitment standards, U.S. urban gang members have enlisted in (infiltrated?) the U.S. military--apparently being sent by their gang leaders to enlist in order to learn urban warfare (wonderful).
10. Even shallow Hollywood is more on top of the genocide in Darfur than the Bush White House--with a host of actors and actresses launching a high-profile campaign drawing attention to President Bush's inaction on the Sudan humanitarian crisis.
11. The petty tyrant nation of Iran continued to drive the world to the verge of World War III, in a game of brinkmanship that makes President Bush like the dumb victim of a con game.
12. Massive protests and a national strike turned national sentiment against the Republican Party and it's draconian anti-immigration bills.
13. With hurricane season only one month away, panic is rising in the Gulf States as the Bush administration seems no more prepared for national emergencies this year than it was last year.

In the midst of all this, President Bush is yet again trying to frame his disastrous policy areas with language that pushes the American people to look 'up the road,' rather than focus on the blunders that have us all waist deep in rising national anger and frustration.

Beware, fellow  citizens, for the White House use of the phrases 'moving forward and 'turning point' are being used copiously in a cynical attempt to prevent a total Republican rout in the 2006 mid-term elections.

'Moving Forward'
Listen to this quote from the last press  conference with dead-man-walking press secretary Scott McLellan:

The Cabinet is being formed. The Prime Minister-designate is committed to putting in good, competent people, particularly into the key security positions, like the Department of -- the defense ministry and the interior ministry. And they are moving forward to get that cabinet in place quickly.    That's an important development. It's a very hopeful moment for further progress on moving forward.    And the President talked about that yesterday, and talked about how this is a -- really a turning point for the Iraqi people.

(full transcript is here)

Lines like this would be funny--if it was not so incredibly ridiculous.  Iraq is a train wreck, a car crash, a head on collision of the eighteen-wheel truck of George W. Bush's Presidency that drove 100 MPH into the brick wall of the Middle East--and it's burning, it's exploding, injured and dead passengers are strewn all over the road--and in the midst of all this--President Bush drives is telling the American people, "Nothing to see,  here.  Everything is wonderful.  Moving forward, moving forward...that's our turning point up ahead."

Meanwhile, on the question of immigration which looms as a major electoral disaster for the GOP:  same scenario as Iraq.  Everything is 'moving forward' according to McLellan:

In terms of the other issues, the President has been talking with members, particularly of the Senate, of recent, to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform. Now, this is a difficult issue...And the Senate is moving -- is on the verge of moving forward.    There is an agreement that got to the floor of the Senate.    Now it's time to get that off the floor and get it into conference. Now, this is an issue that's going to take some time to work through the details, but we're hopeful that it can get to conference, and we can begin to iron out some of the details and get a comprehensive piece of legislation passed. But again, that's something that's going to take some time going forward.

(full transcript is here)

Actually...funny story...what's 'moving forward' is Americans' sense that George W. Bush has unleashed a wave of base Republican hatred against immigrants in this country.  Immigrants--who are the backbone of our national history, economy and culture--suddenly feel they are about to be hunted down like criminals.  Rather than leading a national conversation about illegal corporate practices, President Bush has let America's vigilantes drive the debate.  But, "Nothing to see, here.  Everything is wonderful.   Moving forward, moving forward...that's our turning point up ahead."

Anything else moving forward, Mr. President? 

Ah, yes.  The Gulf Coast after hurricane Katrina:

Congress is also moving forward on emergency spending legislation. I think the President will touch on that, as well. It's important that we get this legislation passed, so that our troops have the resources they need and that we continue to move forward on the recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of the hurricanes.

(full transcript is here)

That's right.  We are 'moving forward' to deal with the problems in the gulf from last year, before the problems in the gulf from this year come crashing down.  FEMA is still more disfunctional than the 9th Ward in New Orleans. Oil Companies are paying their executives billions of dollars in bonuses and golden egg retirement instead of pulling out the stop to repair the Gulf refineries (because, hey!  if supply of gas goes down--they make more money anyway!).  Ah..."Nothing to see, here.  Everything is wonderful.   Moving forward, moving forward...that's our turning point up ahead."

America Wants Action Right Now!
The way to fight this 'moving forward' frame is not to repeat it--that's the first step.  The problem is, Americans want to talk about and correct all the problems the President created and we are in right now.  And if we talk about 'moving forward' and looking up the road and turning points--we get distracted from the present.

To reframe, we should force the debate to use a new phrase:

America wants action right now!

This phrase focuses the discussion in Iraq, on immigration policy, on oil policy, on hurricane preparedness--focuses attention on the real concern:  a government that fails to act in the face of huge problems.

These problems we face are all challenges we can solve together. But we cannot solve them with a government that is tangled up in prostitution for politics scandals, with a government that wants to pay off citizens to keep quiet about gas prices, with a government that looks at a car wreck and sees nothing but a beautiful spring day.

April was the cruelest month for President Bush because it convinced Americans that they can no longer wait for the Republican Party to stop being corrupt, bellicose and deceitful.  Americans know understand that what we want--what we need is "action right now."  Action on all fronts, without excuses, without spin, without bribes--without Republicans.

And soon, very soon, Americans will act on their own to make this happen.

April was the cruelest month for President Bush.  But November will be much, much worse.

©  2006 Jeffrey Feldman