Reality Doesn't Bullshit

Can things get any worse for the Bush Administration?

Uh-huh, sure they can.

Maybe "abysmal"?

"Catastrophic"?

Or how about that old reliable standby "FUBAR"? Better keep a Thesaurus close, folks, we're gonna need it.

Let's start with Iraq, shall we? "From the names of our fallen soldiers to the gradual withdrawal of our allies to the growing insurgency, it's become all too clear that facts in Iraq have an anti-Bush agenda," The Daily Show's Rob Corddry reported. Over four thousand American soldiers dead, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed, and billions of dollars misspent, Dubya's plunge down the rabbit hole into Iraq has already lasted longer than World War II. Isn't it scary that a "fake" news program like The Daily Show comes closer to telling the truth than the Fox network or The Washington Post?

But it isn't just Iraq that's gone terribly wrong for Junior. Adding up Abu Ghraib, Katrina, the Downing Street Memo, rising gas prices, Terry Schiavo, Foleygate, Gonzo, the disembowelment of Habeus Corpus, and the ever-growing trillion dollar deficit, historian Sean Wilentz concludes that George W. Bush is the runaway favorite to be remembered as the Worst President in History.

Our arrogant Commander-In-Chief, who once boasted of spending his "political capital" is bankrupt, his approval ratings at a subterranean 28%. The chickens coming home to roost are savage, Godzilla-sized behemoths stampeding towards the White House. And they're hungry.

So, what went wrong?

It's not that complicated: Reality Doesn't Bullshit.

Yes, I know it's vulgar. But it's a slogan easy to remember and it's short enough to fit on a t-shirt, bumper sticker or a business card. It's also the first real truth we learn and it effects us for the rest of our lives.

I like to imagine we're all students in the Big Schoolhouse of Life, and we're trying to graduate with a passing grade. Every day we get a new exam and, as we become older, the harder the exams get. In this turbulent classroom, adventurous children eagerly try to kill themselves as they grow up and call it "fun". Still, the iron laws of Cause & Effect can't be ignored, or very bad things will happen to you. Reality Doesn't Bullshit.

So what happens when you're a immature, nasty-tempered brat who stubbornly refuses to learn? ("Naw! Uh-uh, no thanks, I wanna stay dumb! I won't grow up, I won't !")

Why, you're rewarded with a prestigious, high-paying job in the Bush Administration.

We'll hit the "rewind" button and take another look at that infamous statement by the anonymous Bush aide:

"The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,'which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality - judiciously, as you will - we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.' "

Can you say "vainglorious hubris", boys and girls?

Now it's 2007, and after seven ugly years of idiocy, corruption, mismanagement and failure, I think the American public want people in the government who know what to do instead of bad actors who pretend that they do. Last year's midterm elections proved to me that voters are fed up with Republicans. Finally.

Yeah, I think it's that simple. In the real world, you don't go to a bad dentist when an infected tooth needs to be pulled out, hire a bad mechanic to fix your car or use a bad lawyer to handle your divorce. Why would you vote for a bad senator or congressman? Or support a bad President? The image of a triumphant Bush standing on top of the ruins of the World Trade Center is fading into obscurity like the mirage it was. What people remember is a dumbfounded Georgie reading "My Pet Goat."

Reality doesn't bullshit.