Editorial:
accountable, Holding Bush
Holding Bush accountable A s we go to press, the Republican Party is gathered just a few miles from our offices to nominate George W. Bush for a second term as president of the United States....
...Both sides have had little trouble raising unprecedented amounts of money—or spending it...
...It is hard to imagine another leader with President Bush's record, either in the public or the private sector, who would have a decent chance of holding onto his job...
...Copyright © 2004 Commonweal Foundation...
...Cover design: Liska + Associates...
...Nor is there evidence that what the president's apologists like to call "decisive" action in Iraq has moved the Middle East closer to democracy—let alone stability...
...Single Copy, $3...
...Special two-year rate: U.S...
...All Canadian and foreign subscriptions must be paid in U.S...
...In other words, only endless war will bring about peace...
...1, 1924, to current issues available through University Microfilm, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 and on Microfiche from Bell & Howell, Wooster, OH 44691...
...The fundamental reasons given for going to war have all proved false...
...The nation is divided by region and "culture," or so the pundits and the polls tell us...
...Microfilm from Vol...
...date: _ _ Commonweal • 415 Riverside Drive, Room 405 • New York, NY 10115 * phone: 212.662.4200 • fax: 212-662-4183 • e-mail: circulationmgr@commonwealmagazine.org Commonweal 6 September 10, 2004...
...Most knowledgeable observers expect the November election to be very close...
...In every instance, Bush and his surrogates have sought to erase the correspondence between plain language and observed reality...
...and monthly July and August, by Commonweal Foundation, 475 Riverside Drive, Rm...
...Please bill my credit card ^ Card type: Amex ^ Mastercard ^ Visa ^ Card no.: Exp...
...foreign, $57...
...cover photo: Grant Gallicho...
...Too often, Bush has proceeded as though his intentions should define reality, and there-fore the ends justify the means...
...Yet an examination of the president's record leading up to and immediately following 9/11 leaves the objective observer with profoundly disturbing questions concerning his attention to warnings about the terrorist threat and his composure and judgment in a crisis...
...His most conspicuous failure, of course, was in leading this nation into an unnecessary and unjust war in Iraq, based on spurious if not contrived intelligence...
...also enviSTAFF Editor: Paul Baumann Managing Editor: Patrick Jordan Associate Editors: Darla Donnelly (At Large) Grant Gallicho Maurice Timothy Reidy Production Editor & Webmaster: Tiina Aleman Business Manager: Sandra J. Taylor Development: Mary Lundy Semela Copy Editor: Susanne Washburn Poetry: Rosemary Deen, Darla Donnelly Screen: Rand Richards Cooper, Richard Alleva Stage/Media: Celia Wren Columnists: E. J. Dionne Jr., John Garvey, Andrew Lustig, Jo McGowan, William Pfaff Circulation Manager: Malena Seldin Administrative Assistant: Quanda Williams Advertising Manager: Roth Advertising www.commonwealmagazine.org Commonweal, [ISSN 0010-3330] A Review of Public Affairs, Religion, Literature, and the Arts, is published biweekly except Christmas/New Year...
...Think of what the president and his administration said about who would benefit from tax cuts, what new prescription-drug benefits would cost...
...Bush casts himself as the righteous and grimly determined warrior...
...Display advertising correspondence should be sent to Roth Advertising, Inc., P.O...
...In matters of war and peace, life and death, truth and falsehood, however, a president must place the nation's interests above his own...
...This president has shown little patience for being held accountable—as all leaders must be in a democracy—for the unintended consequences of his actions...
...Europe, $91...
...Both parties have spent millions to register new voters...
...bank...
...Canada, $52...
...Whoever wields power is also able to control language and not only with the prohibitions of censorship but also by changing the meaning of words," wrote the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, who died last month at ninety-three...
...August 31, 2004 OfMO EAL The Unfinished Universe Is God at Wore I agree that Catholic college students need a magazine like Commonweal to help them understand the issues facing contemporary society...
...If among pairs of opposites which we use every day the opposition of life and death has such an importance, no less importance should be ascribed to the oppositions of truth and falsehood, of reality and illusion," " Milosz wrote...
...classified advertising correspondence to 475 Riverside Dr...
...foreign, $89...
...POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Commonweal, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 405, New York, NY 10115...
...Instead of reassessing his decision, Bush now blithely justifies the war on idealistic and humanitarian grounds...
...Canada, $82...
...Toll-free: 888-495-6755...
...dollars by International Money Order or by check on a U.S...
...Telephone: (212) 662-4200...
...On each side of the political divide, partisan support is deep and unflinching...
...The president was wrong, and in being wrong he has squandered the most potent weapon in the war against terrorism—U.S...
...Yet it carries an element of dissonance, especially in light of the reputation Americans have for being political pragmatists, not ideologues...
...Name: Address: City: State: Zip: Alma mater ^ or other choice ^: Commonweal may select the college: ^ Number of subscriptions I will sponsor at $18 each (minimum of 5 please): ^ 5 ^ 10 ^ 15 ^ other May we identify you as the donor...
...Columnist portraits: Elaine Mills Commonweal 5 September 10, 2004 ronmental regulation, the detention of "enemy combatants," accountability in the Abu Ghraib scandal, and the shame-less effort to discredit Senator John Kerry's Vietnam war record...
...other parts of the world, $101...
...In fact, many of the government's most experienced antiterrorist experts argue that the invasion of Iraq has advanced rather than forestalled the agenda of Islamic fundamentalists...
...We are repeatedly told, for example, that if we do not fight the "terrorists" in the streets of Najaf and across the Middle East, we would have to fight them in Des Moines...
...occupation of Iraq has gone from illusion and miscalculation to one disaster after another...
...E-mail: editors@commonwealmagazine.org...
...Yearly subscriptions, U.S., $47...
...credibility...
...405, New York, NY 10115...
...Much of Bush's continuing popularity can be attributed to the purposeful, aggressive way in which this administration distorts, manipulates, or ignores the truth...
...Undecided voters are few, and concentrated in a handful of "swing" states, mostly in the Midwest...
...He should be able to admit mistakes rather than hiding behind rhetorical evasion and the sup-posed purity of his intentions...
...Fax: (212) 662-4183...
...Box 93, Sea Cliff, NY 11579 (516) 674-8603...
...There is no evidence that the removal of Saddam Hussein—doubtless a good thing in itself—has made this nation safer from terrorist attack...
...We are making the Middle East safe for democracy, he tells us...
...Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional offices...
...Yes ^ No ^ Check enclosed...
...Serials Data program No.: ISSN 0010-3330...
...Milosz spoke out tirelessly against the assault modern politics makes on our ability to know and to grasp what is real and true...
...The poorly planned U.S...
...Commonweal articles are also available at many libraries and research facilities on CD-ROM and in electronic databases...
...Commonweal is indexed in Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Catholic Periodical Index, Index of American Periodical Verse, Book Review Digest, and Book Re-view Index...
...Even when the president's assertions are contradicted by the evidence, most voters do not seem eager to question Bush's avowedly lofty motives and explicitly religious demeanor...
...Yet reality belies that claim...
...All politicians stretch the truth, tailoring their language out of self interest and to please those whose support they seek...
...Annual rates for air-mail delivery outside U.S.: Western Hemisphere, $86...
...Yes, George W. Bush seems to possess personal qualities—piety, sincerity, unpretentiousness, a certain warmth, and sense of humor—that broadly reflect how Americans like to think of themselves...
...This portrait of the electorate and the political process is by now all too familiar, even cliched...
...Yet if Bush remains a friendly and re-assuring presence for many, this can hardly disguise his failures in judgment, or his determination to obscure the truth whenever it works to his advantage...
...Nothing should frighten Americans more than George W. Bush's manifest inability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, reality and illusion...
Vol. 131 • September 2004 • No. 15
