Sidenotes for historians

Atrios says:

When the history of this era is written, I hope it is remembered that the President of the United States created a deck of cards with "bad guys" on it. The media, rather than seeing this is a bizarre and infantile thing, thought it was wonderful.

I guess that is a little bizarre in retrospect. But is it more bizarre than Republican congressmen painting their fingers purple for a state-of-the-union speech? More than renaming a cafeteria food to "Freedom Fries"? Infantile is a good adjective. It should get more use in politics.

These remind me of another annecdote that I suspect is forgotten by many. Back when we first invaded Afghanistan, the president asked that all US children donate a dollar to help out Afghani children. It harkened back to the compassionate conservative theme of the 2000 election and was also supposed to help children learn responsibility. I was actually supportive of the initiative at the time. It was cute, harmless, and helpful.

And then the president launched a second war while pushing for a 2nd round of tax cuts, blowing away the surplus of the 1990's, and increasing deficits to record amounts. Congress fattened up on earmarks while while Republicans increased the size of government more than any president back to LBJ. All the while we borrowed money from the Chinese (as we continue to). I'm confident historians will record how Bush sold future generations into debt so he could have an elective war while suspending the estate tax. But when it comes to passing the bill onto future generations, I really hope they include the part where he started by asking for a dollar.