Stopping George Dubya Bush

U.S. Politics & Elections Page 2008 U.S. National Elections Page TreasonGate Timeline Page at Spirit of America Bookstore

on this page: Links Books & Videos Impeachment Commentary

"The old Greeks coined a noun for the man who took no part in public matters,
and from it we got our word 'idiot'."
— columnist L.M. Boyd [1927-2007]

"If Dubya wins, America loses."
— G.E. Nordell (September 2004)

"That we are to stand by the president, right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile,
but is morally treasonable to the American public."
— Theodore Roosevelt [1858-1919], U.S. President 1901-1909

You are cordially invited
to join the Revolution!

The Working Minds Manifesto:
Revolution For A World That Works
Where Quality of Life is the Most Important Value
in English • in French • auf Deutsch • en Español
in Dutch • in Italian • in Greek • in Russian

The secret Downing Street Memo is the 'smoking gun' for impeachment of George W. Bush,
and the so-called 'liberal media' are suppressing it (thus proving who owns the U.S. media).
You can read the memo online at the London Times: click here.

essay "I Want My Country Back" and Timeline of the TreasonGate Cover-Up [July 2005]

TreasonGate Timeline Page at Spirit of America Bookstore

GOOD NEWS! 29 January 2007
I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's lawyers admitted into evidence a note in Dick Cheney's handwriting
stating that 'The Pres' gave the order to reveal covert C.I.A. agent Valerie Plame's identity.
{Déjà vu: Bush & Cheney & Rove & Libby & others committed crimes (including treason),
and then botched the cover-up !!}

BAD NEWS May 2007: Well, maybe there won't even BE an election in 2008. On 9 May 2007, President Bush signed a directive giving himself the power to run the entire U.S. government, single-handed. Yup, you can call it the 'Dictatorship Enabling Act of 2007'. The official title is "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive {N.S.P.D.-51 and H.S.P.D.-20}" and the link below is to the White House's oh-so-very-quiet press release. archived press release at White House website {confirmed 7/2012}

UPDATE 20 January 2009 Well, the whole damn thing is over. Duly-elected Democrat Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as U.S. President #44. He inherited a godawful mess from George W. Bush: wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, a worldwide recession and economic meltdown triggered by America's subprime mortgage bubble, un-Constitutional powers created by the Bush administration, and a Republican national debt of $25,000,000,000,000 – that's twenty-five trillion dollars!

George W. Bush's legacy? He ran up more debt than any other human being in the history of Mankind.
WM Essay #95: "How Bankrupt Is America?"

American citizens demand justice, we are NOT giving up!
Indict Bush Now website {empty because moot}

L i n k s

anti-Dubya bumper stickers, t-shirts, etc
Stop Bush in 2004
'Topple Bush' website
Anti-Dubya webring on RingSurf
Punk Voter Presents: 'Rock Against Bush' concert tour
Dump Dubya website
Remove Bush website
Bush, You're Fired!
PB's Impeach Bush website
De-Elect Bush website
the infamous JibJab website
Operation Truth: The Truth About Iraq from Those Who Served
Beat Bush Gear
World Can't Wait: Drive out the Bush Regime
After Downing Street.org / Censure Bush.org
Fighting Dems: Iraq War veterans running for Congress as Democrats
'The Bush Record on the Environment' at N.R.D.C.
Impeach P.A.C. website: Electing A Congress To Impeach Bush & Cheney
The Smirking Chimp blog
'Moron In Charge' political comedy blog
Iraq Body Count website

Bush 43 is 'The Toxic President'

Fighting Dems: Iraq War veterans running for Congress as Democrats

further Congressional & Senate campaign websites are at
U.S. National Elections Page

Impeach George Dubya Bush !!

"The Impeachment of George W. Bush" cover article by Elizabeth Holtzmann
in 'The Nation' Magazine [30 January 2006 issue]

"The White House Criminal Conspiracy" cover article by Elizabeth de la Vega
in 'The Nation' Magazine [14 November 2005 issue]

Vote Online to Impeach George Dubya Bush
Impeach P.A.C. website: Electing a Congress to Impeach Bush & Cheney
Carl Bernstein's 'Call For Senate Hearings' [Vanity Fair April 2006]
Lewis Lapham's essay 'The Case For Impeachment' in Harper's Magazine {website + March 2006 issue}
"The Case For Impeachment" article by John Dean {FindLaw, June 2003)

Impeach Cheney website

People's Email Network's Impeach Both website

	"The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder" [2008] by Vincent Bugliosi Vanguard Press 9¼x6½ hardcover [5/2008] for $16.77 official booksite
	"United States v. George W. Bush et al" [2006] by Elizabeth de la Vega Seven Stories Press 7x5 pb [11/2006] for $10.17 official bookpage
	"The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure For Royalism & Why It Must Be Applied To George W. Bush" [2006] by John Nichols New Press 7¼x5¼ pb [10/2006] for $10.85
	"The Case For Impeachment: The Legal Argument For Removing President George W. Bush From Office" [2006] by Dave Lindorff & Barbara Olshansky Thomas Dunne Books 8½x6 hardcover [5/2006] for $15.57
	"Warrior King: The Case for Impeaching George Bush" [2003] by John Bonifaz, Preface by Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan The Nation 7¾x5 pb [10/2003] for $8.76 publisher's bookpage
	"Impeachment: A Handbook" [1974 classic] by Charles L. Black, Jr.; Foreword by Akhil Reed Amar of Yale Kindle Edition from Yale Univ Press [1998 edition] for $7.99 Yale Univ Press 8x5 pb [10/98] out of print/used Yale Univ Press 8¼x5¼ hardcover [10/98] out of print/used

Books & Videos & Music

	"The New Nuclear Danger: George W. Bush's Military-Industrial Complex" [2002, rev 2004] by Dr. Helen Caldicott New Press 8¼x5½ pb [4/2004] for $17.95 New Press 8¼x6¼ pb [4/2002] out of print/many used
	"Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential" [2003] by James Moore & Wayne Slater Wiley & Sons 8¾x5½ pb [1/2004] for $11.53 Wiley & Sons 9½x6¼ hardcover [2/2003] for $17.61
	"Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda In Bush's War On Iraq" [2003] by Sheldon Rampton & John Stauber J.P. Tarcher 8¼x5½ pb [7/2003] for $8.96
	"The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception" [2003] by David Corns Three Rivers Press 8x5¼ pb [5/2004] for $9.71 Crown Books 9½x6¼ hardcover [9/2003] for $16.32 official website
	"The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, The White House & The Education of Paul O'Neill" [2004] by Ron Suskind S&S pb [9/2004] for $10.50 S&S 9½x6¼ hardcover [1/2004] for $17.68 Audioworks ABR audio CD [1/2004] for $21.00 Audioworks ABR audio [1/2004] for $17.68 official booksite "El Precio de la Lealtad: Con una Cierta Mirada" Peninsular pb [5/2004] for $21.90
	"House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties" [2004] by Craig Unger Scribner 9¼x6¼ hardback [3/2004] for $14.68 Audioworks ABR audio CD [3/2004] for $20.40 Audioworks ABR audio [3/2004] for $17.68 Radio Inside Scoop interview April 2004 [archived MP3]
	"Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet" [2004] by James Mann Penguin 8½x5½ pb [9/2004] for $11.20 Viking 9¼x6¼ hardcover [3/2004] for $17.65
	"Mission Not Accomplished: How George Bush Lost the War on Terrorism" [2004] by William W. Turner Penmarin 8½x6½ pb [6/2004] for $12.71 publisher preview page
	"Losing America: Confronting a Reckless & Arrogant Presidency" [2004] by Sen. Robert C. Byrd [Dem-WV since 1958] W.W. Norton 8½x5½ hardcover [7/2004] for $16.77
	"Let's Stop Beating Around The Bush: More Political Subversion" [2004] by Jim Hightower Viking 9¼x6¼ hardcover [7/2004] for $15.37 Penguin ABR audio CD [7/2004] for $20.37
	"Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" [limited release Aug 2004] Produced & directed by Robert Greenwald Disinformation DVD [3/2004] for $9.95 full credits from IMDb official movie website
	"Fahrenheit 9/11" [Lions Gate/I.F.C. June 2004] Written & directed by Michael Moore Col/TriStar widescreen DVD [10/2004] for $18.82 Col/TriStar VHS [10/2004] priced for rental market Rhino soundtrack CD [10/2004] for $12.99 full credits from IMDb • official movie website
	"Plan of Attack" [2004] by Bob Woodward S&S 8½x5½ pb [10/2004] for $10.50 S&S 9½x6½ hardcover [4/2004] for $17.64 S&S ABR audio CD [4/2004] for $18.87 S&S ABR audio [4/2004] for $16.38
	"The Official Fahrenheit 9/11 Reader" [2004] S&S 9¼x6 pb [10/2004] for $10.50
	"Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush" [2004] by John W. Dean Warner Books pb [4/2005] for $10.17 Little, Brown 8&frac134x5¾ hardcover [4/2004] for $15.61
	"Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress" [2004] by Carl Pope & Paul Rauber Sierra Club Books 8½x6½ pb [5/2006] for $11.53 Sierra Club Books 9¼x6½ hardcover [5/2004] for $15.72
	"Big Bush Lies: 20 Essays & A List of The 50 Most Telling Lies of George W. Bush" [2004] Edited by Jerry Barrett S.C.B. Distrs pb [5/2004] for $12.71
	"Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President" [2004] by Justin A. Frank, MD Regan Books 9x6 pb [7/2005] for $9.72 Regan Books hardcover [6/2004] for $15.72
	"Bush vs. the Environment" [2004] by Robert S. Devine Anchor pb [6/2004] for $9.00
	"The Bush Betrayal" [2004] by James Bovard Palgrave Macmillan 9½x6¼ pb [9/2005] for $11.53 Palgrave Macmillan 9½x6½ hardcover [8/2004] for $16.98 author website
	"Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country & Hijacking Our Democracy" [2004] by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Harper Perennial 8x5¼ pb [7/2005] for $10.46 HarperCollins 8½x5¾ hardcover [8/2004] for $14.93
	"The Twilight of Democracy: The Bush Plan For America" [2004] by Jennifer Van Bergen Common Courage Press 7½x5¼ pb [9/2004] for $10.85 Common Courage Press 7¾x5¼ hardcover [9/2004] for $29.95

	"American Idiot" rock opera album [2004 bestseller] by Green Day enhanced/explicit lyrics: WEA/Reprise audio CD [9/2004] for $13.99 WEA Intl audio CD [8/2005] for $21.98 album info at Wikipedia • official band site • official fansite
	"A Special Place In Hell: Four Years Under the Boot Heel of George W. Bush" [2004] by Bill Jabanoski Niawt audio CD [9/2004] for $13.99

	"Scarecrow: A Novel" [2004] by Bill Jabanoski Niawt Books pb [10/2004] for $17.84
	"Bush's Brain: A Documentary About Karl Rove" documentary film [2004] Directed by Joseph Mealey & Michael Shoob Tartan color DVD [10/2004] for $8.99 Tartan color VHS [10/2004] for $9.49 full credits from IMDb; official moviesite
	"Sorry, Everybody: An Apology to the World for the Re-Election of George W. Bush" [2005] Compiled by James Zetlen Selections from the www.SorryEverybody.com website that U.S.C. student Zetlen set up two days after Dubya was re-elected, providing a forum for a wide range of Americans to raise their voices in protest. Hylas Publg 10¾x8¼ pb [1/2005] out of print/many used
	"What Happened Here: Bush Chronicles" [2005] by Eliot Weinberger "reading [this book] is like being punched in the solar plexus" New Directions 7x5 pb [9/2005] for $10.74
	"The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism To Terrorism" [2005] by Haynes Johnson Harvest Books pb [10/2006] for $11.70 Harcourt 9¼x6½ hardcover [10/2005] for $17.16 Highbridge ABR audio CD [10/2005] for $23.07
	"Rove Exposed: How Bush's Brain Fooled America" [2005] by James Moore & Wayne Slater Wiley 9x6 pb [11/2005] for $9.97
	"State of War: The Secret History of The C.I.A. & The Bush Administration" [2006] by James Risen Free Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [1/2006] for $16.38 Audioworks ABR audio CD [1/2006] for $18.87
	"Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America & Betrayed The Reagan Legacy" [2006] by Bruce Bartlett Doubleday 9½x6½ hardcover [2/2006] for $17.16
	"The Architect: Karl Rove & The Master Plan For Absolute Power" [2006] by James Moore & Wayne Slater Crown 9¼x6½ hardcover [9/2006] for $17.13
	"On The Brink: An Insider's Account of How The White House Compromised American Intelligence" [2006] by Tyler Drumheller, with Elaine Monaghan The former head of C.I.A. covert operations in Europe reveals the steps taken by the Bush White House to undermine legitimate intelligence prior to and after the invasion of Iraq. Carroll & Graf 9x6¼ pb [10/2006] for $17.79
	"Daydream Believers: How A Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power" [2008] by Fred Kaplan A devastating report on the Iraq war and on the Bush Administration's fantastic foreign policy in the Mideast Wiley & Sons 9¼x6¼ hardcover [1/2008] for $17.13

Commentary

"It still seems inconceivable to me that someone as incompetent, incoherent and obtuse as Bush
could possibly command almost half the votes of his fellow countrymen."
— Ariel Dorfman

"The Bush regime relies on faith when it can and reason when it must,
not in the cause of peace or justice, but in the pursuit of power."
— Earl Shorris

The U.S. Trade deficit in November 2004 was $60.3 billion, an all-time record.

Bush 43 is 'The Toxic President' post at Dateline Chamesa blog

'WMail' ezine essay #62: "Bush & Blackmail"
'WMail' ezine essay #60: "Climate & Politics"
'WMail' ezine essay #57: "Civil Disobedience"
'WMail' ezine essay #56: "State of Emergency"
'WMail' ezine essay #53: "I Want My Country Back"
'WMail' ezine essay #47: "Dumping Dubya"
'WMail' ezine essay #29: "War Is Good?"
'WMail' ezine essay #19: "Virtual Tea Party"
'WMail' ezine essay #3: "John Galt vs. George Dubya"

The Working Minds Manifesto

The Working Minds 'Boycott W-9 Project' [est. 2/2006, moot 2/2009, moved 3/2012, revivied 3/2017]

Los Angeles Times Saturday 28 May 2005 California Section / Letters [page B-22] Social Security Switch        Re Social Security reform: As I continue to read about President Bush's concern about a Social Security crisis, I can't help but wonder: Are our memories so short that we have forgotten Al Gore's "lockbox"?        During the 2000 presidential campaign Gore maintained that we should put aside the surpluses that existed at the time to shore up Social Security. His opponent, Bush, said that was not necessary, we should use the money instead for tax cuts.        Now I hear Bush say Social Security is in a crisis. Why have I heard no one question this transformation?        Pat Gallagher        Venice, California

Time Magazine 6 December 2004 issue Letters Section Four More Years        I have always been proud to be an American. But after seeing this nation choose Bush for another four years despite all [that] he has done to endanger our health, prosperity and reputation, I am embarrassed and frightened to be an American.        Virginia Pasquarelli        Roswell, Georgia * *         * *         * *         * *        I now believe that Bush is a brilliant man. He persuaded many of my fellow Ohioans to vote against themselves not just once but a second time as well.        Adam Michael Rosenberg        Cincinnati, Ohio * *         * *         * *         * * Counting All the Moral Votes        In a remarkable display of naiveté, a majority of Americans voted for Bush, thinking [that] they were voting for moral values [Nov. 15]. They have instead elected a duplicitous group of war profiteers whose only interest is self-interest. The Republican juggernaut has seized control of all three branches of government. Religious conservatives will dictate how we live our lives. Toll the bells, my fellow citizens: democracy is dead in America.        Francine Pasetti        Tampa, Florida * *         * *         * *         * *        Let's see if I have this straight. It's O.K. to lie about reasons for invading another country but not O.K. for two men or two women to marry. It's O.K. to hand out children a budget deficit that will choke them, but not O.K. to use stem cells to fight disease. It's O.K. to duck the real war on terrorism, jeapardize Social Security and take a pass on fixing the health-care system but not O.K. to believe in the separation of church and state. Would those be the famous 'moral values'? Thanks, but no. You keep yours; I'll keep mine.        Denise Dunne-DeVaney        Sekiu, Washington * *         * *         * *         * * Dining with the Devil        Are we supposed to wave the flag and rally behind our President so that he can finish the job [that] he had no business starting – launching some new wars against other countries [that] we think threaten our God-given right to rule the planet and bleed it dry, all while turning the U.S. into a cross between a thocracy and an oligarchy? I'd move to Canada first.        Martin Kracklauer        Austin, Texas

L.A. Weekly 12 November 2004 Letters        For Harold Meyerson to say that the political pendulum will swing back toward voters more culturally liberal is wishful thinking – the Republicans own the pendulum.        Monday-morning-quarterbacking the Kerry campaign does little. The people who dislike Bush did mobilize. But it was Christian fundamentalists who gave Bush the extra votes. ... The fundamentalists, along with evangelicals, fill auditoriums without celebrities or Bruce Spring-steen. Combine them with the prejudice and white power embedded in the South, and you have last Tuesday.        The pendulum isn't going to just swing back. The Bush regime is going to clamp down harder on freedoms to make sure [that] that doesn't happen. The best plan is to move to disrupt the regime. The question is: Do the American people have the courage to organize?        Mark Flores        Hollywood, California

Los Angeles Times Monday 8 November 2004 California Section / Letters [page B-10] The President's Plan to Change Social Security        I have read several times about a supposedly Republican mandate because Bush received more votes than any other presidential candidate in history.        Well, the presidential candidate who holds second place for the most votes of anyone in history is Sen. John F. Kerry with 56 million. This also means that Bush holds the dubious record of being the president with more votes cast against him than any other president in history. Is this a mandate of satisfied or dissatisfied voters?        If Bush insists on spending his "political capital" to ram his tax and Social Security programs down our throats, all he will do is further divide an already greatly divided country.        Steve Amsden        Rialto, California * *         * *         * *         * *        I can't help feeling that justice was served with Bush winning another four years. This way the Republicans cannot put the blame on a Kerry administration when the Iraq war worsens, which it surely will given that no plausible solution is in sight. Bush now has the "mandate" to fix the problems he himself created. Kerry won't be the scapegoat. That's justice and that will be Bush's legacy.        Vivencio Valdez, Jr.        Victorville, California * *         * *         * *         * *        Methinks that before the president "spends his political capital", he should first pay back the deficit.        Owen R. Husney        Marina del Rey, California

Los Angeles Times Sunday 24 October 2004 Opinion / Commentary [page M-1] Karl Rove: America's Mullah        by Neal Gabler This election is about Rovism, and the outcome threatens to transform the U.S. into an ironfisted theocracy.        Even now, after Sen. John F. Kerry handily won his three debates with President Bush and after most polls show a dead heat, his supporters seem downbeat. Why? They believe that Karl Rove, Bush's top political operative, cannot be beaten. Rove the Impaler will do whatever it takes – anything – to make certain that Bush wins. This isn't just typical Democratic pessimism. It has been the master narrative of the 2004 presidential campaign in the mainstream media. Attacks on Kerry come and go – flip-flopper, Swift boats, Massachusetts liberal – but one constant remains, Rove, and everyone takes it for granted that he knows how to game the system.        Rove, however, is more than a political sharpie with a bulging bag of dirty tricks. His campaign shenanigans – past and future – go to the heart of what this election is about.        Democrats will tell you it is a referendum on Bush's incompetence or on his extremist right-wing agenda. Republicans will tell you it's about conservatism versus liberalism or who can better protect us from terrorists. They are both wrong. This election is about Rovism – the insinuation of Rove's electoral tactics into the conduct of the presidency and the fabric of the government. It's not an overstatement to say that on Nov. 2, the fate of traditional American democracy will hang in the balance.        Rovism is not simply a function of Rove the political conniver sitting in the counsels of power and making decisions, though he does. No recent presidency has put policy in the service of politics as has Bush's. Because tactics can change institutions, Rovism is much more. It is a philosophy and practice of governing that pervades the administration and even extends to the Republican-controlled Congress. As Robert Berdahl, chancellor of UC Berkeley, has said of Bush's foreign policy, a subset of Rovism, it constitutes a fundamental change in "the fabric of constitutional government as we have known it in this country."        Rovism begins, as one might suspect from the most merciless of political consiglieres, with Machiavelli's rule of force: "A prince is respected when he is either a true friend or a downright enemy." No administration since Warren Harding's has rewarded its friends so lavishly, and none has been as willing to bully anyone who strays from its message.        There is no dissent in the Rove White House without reprisal.        Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki was retired after he disagreed with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's transformation of the Army and then testified that invading Iraq would require a U.S. deployment of 200,000 soldiers.        Chief Medicare actuary Richard Foster was threatened with termination if he revealed before the vote that the administration had seriously misrepresented the cost of its proposed prescription drug plan to get it through Congress.        Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was peremptorily fired for questioning the wisdom of the administration's tax cuts, and former U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III felt compelled to recant his statement that there were insufficient troops in Iraq.        Even accounting for the strong-arm tactics of Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon, this isn't government as we have known it. This is the Sopranos in the White House: "Cross us and you're road kill."        Naturally, the administration's treatment of the opposition is worse. Rove's mentor, political advisor Lee Atwater, has been quoted as saying: "What you do is rip the bark off liberals." That's how Bush has governed. There is a feeling, perhaps best expressed by Georgia Democratic Sen. Zell Miller's keynote address at the Republican convention, that anyone who has the temerity to question the president is undermining the country. At times, Miller came close to calling Democrats traitors for putting up a presidential candidate.        This may be standard campaign rhetoric. But it's one thing to excoriate your opponents in a campaign, and quite another to continue berating them after the votes are counted.        Rovism regards any form of compromise as weakness. Politics isn't a bus we all board together, it's a steamroller.        No recent administration has made less effort to reach across the aisle, and thanks to Rovism, the Republican majority in Congress often operates on a rule of exclusion. Republicans blocked Democrats from participating in the bill-drafting sessions on energy, prescription drugs and intelligence reform in the House. As Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) told the New Yorker, "They don't consult with the nations of the world, and they don't consult with Congress, especially the Democrats in Congress. They can do it all themselves."        Bush entered office promising to be a "uniter, not a divider." But Rovism is not about uniting. What Rove quickly grasped is that it's easier and more efficacious to exploit the cultural and social divide than to look for common ground. No recent administration has as eagerly played wedge issues – gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, faith-based initiatives – to keep the nation roiling, in the pure Rovian belief that the president's conservative supporters will always be angrier and more energized than his opponents. Division, then, is not a side effect of policy; in Rovism, it is the purpose of policy.        The lack of political compromise has its correlate in the administration's stubborn insistence that it doesn't have to compromise with facts. All politicians operate within an Orwellian nimbus where words don't mean what they normally mean, but Rovism posits that there is no objective, verifiable reality at all. Reality is what you say it is, which explains why Bush can claim that postwar Iraq is going swimmingly or that a so-so economy is soaring. As one administration official told reporter Ron Suskind, "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. We're history's actors."        When neither dissent nor facts are recognized as constraining forces, one is infallible, which is the sum and foundation of Rovism. Cleverly invoking the power of faith to protect itself from accusations of stubbornness and insularity, this administration entertains no doubt, no adjustment, no negotiation, no competing point of view. As such, it eschews the essence of the American political system: flexibility and compromise.        In Rovism, toughness is the only virtue. The mere appearance of change is intolerable, which is why Bush apparently can't admit ever making a mistake. As Machiavelli put it, the prince must show that "his judgments are irrevocable."        Rovism is certainly not without its appeal. As political theorist Sheldon Wolin once characterized Machiavellian government, it promises the "economy of politics." Americans love toughness. They love swagger. In a world of complexity and uncertainty, especially after Sept. 11, they love the idea of a man who doesn't need anyone else. They even love the sense of mission, regardless of its wisdom.        These values run deep in the American soul, and Rovism consciously taps them. But they are not democratic. Unwavering discipline, demonization of foes, disdain for reality and a personal sense of infallibility based on faith are the stuff of a theocracy – the president as pope or mullah and policy as religious warfare.        Boiled down, Rovism is government by jihadis in the grip of unshakable self-righteousness – ironically the force the administration says it is fighting. It imposes rather than proposes.        Rovism surreptitiously and profoundly changes our form of government, a government that has been, since its founding by children of the Enlightenment, open, accommodating, moderate and generally reasonable.        All administrations try to work the system to their advantage, and some, like Nixon's, attempt to circumvent the system altogether. Rove and Bush neither use nor circumvent, which would require keeping the system intact. They instead are reconfiguring the system in extra-constitutional, theocratic terms.        The idea of the United States as an ironfisted theocracy is terrifying, and it should give everyone pause. This time, it's not about policy. This time, for the first time, it's about the nature of American government.        We all have reason to be very, very afraid. Neal Gabler, a senior fellow at the Norman Lear Center at U.S.C. Annenberg, is author of "Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality." Los Angeles Times Tuesday 26 October 2004 California Section / Letters [page B-10] Karl Rove and the Fight for Political Dominance        Congratulations for printing "Karl Rove: America's Mullah" (Opinion, Sept. 24). Neal Gabler's article on Rove and Rovism describes with deadly accuracy the political battle for America's soul. I hope every voter reads this article and then casts a vote for saving America's soul.        If voters understand the nature of the conservative agenda and the means being used to promote it, they will surely vote progressive by casting their vote for John Kerry.        Milton Gonsalves        Cathedral City, California * *         * *         * *         * *        What Gabler refers to as Rovism has a much older name. It's called fascism, which is the direction Rove, a.k.a. Bush's brain, would take this country. Though politicians are often prone to exaggeration, Kerry's assertion that this may be the most important election in his lifetime is actually an understatement. Rove seeks nothing less than the creation of a one-party state where power over the nation's discourse is increasingly controlled by consolidation of corporate control of the mass media, suppression of the opposition vote through intimidation and electronic deletion become the norm, and dissent is equated to treason. The Rove-led cabal that now occupies the world's most politically powerful office poses a threat to the very existence of constitutional democracy in these United States.        Ernest A. Canning        Thousand Oaks, California

Los Angeles Times Thursday 14 October 2004 California Section / Letters [page B-10] 'Must' Reading        The article by Antonia Juhasz ("A Nice Little War to Fill the Coffers", Commentary, Oct. 14) should have been published on the front page instead of the editorial section. It gives figures and facts and does not seem to be an opinion.        It is frightening to think that we will have another four years of this unbelievable immoral and evil behavior if President Bush wins. It should be mandatory reading for all.        Elinor G. Crawford        Venice, California

Los Angeles Times Saturday 17 July 2004 California Section / Letters [page B-18] A Confusing Tale        America is safer, but if Al Qaeda attacks around Nov. 2 we may have to postpone the election (especially if President Bush trails in the polls).        All the intelligence on Iraq was wrong, but the war was right.        Sen. John Kerry doesn't have the combat experience to be commander in chief, but Bush's National Guard records were inadvertently destroyed.        Millionaires Kerry and John Edwards cannot speak for the common man, but millionaires Bush and Dick Cheney can.        We have given Iraq freedom from oppression, but not from getting its people killed by the dozen.        Are Lewis Carroll and George Orwell alive and kicking, writing the history of our day?        Fred Bauman        Riverside, California

Los Angeles Times Friday 26 March 2004 California Section / Letters [page B-14] 9/11 Hearings Did Not Make Anyone Look Good        While the White House does its viciously personal damage control against [Richard A.] Clarke's assertions, it's worth noting that there is one good reason why Bush failed to act on Clarke's urgent recommendations and the CIA's report to the president (entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."), delivered a month before 9/11:        After less than eight months in office, Bush was taking the entire month of August 2001 off. That sums up his sense of urgency, doesn't it?        Ken Narasaki        Venice, California * *         * *         * *         * *        Let me see if I can get this straight. The White House refuses to let national security advisor Condoleezza Rice give televised testimony before the 9/11 commission, then puts her on the network morning shows to ruthlessly badmouth the administration's former counterterrorism chief for criticizing the way the boss handled 9/11.        Oh, right. Nobody is under oath on the "Today" show.        Ken Wheat        Studio City, California * *         * *         * *         * *        Someone should alert Vice President Dick Cheney to the fact that declaring Clarke to have been "out of the loop" isn't a defense — it's an admission of breathtaking incompetence and negligence. It also runs counter to Rice's insinuations that 9/11 was Clarke's fault. One cannot be both out of the loop and responsible for failing to thwart the tragedy.        Linda Cordeiro        Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles Times Sunday 21 March 2004 California Section / Opinion / Letters [page M-4] President and His Friends Have a Lot to Answer For        It is so great to see Vice President Dick Cheney emerge from his undisclosed bunker for his typically precise and accurate assessment of Sen. John Kerry's leadership skills ("Clash Deepens Over Wartime Leadership," March 18). The vice president usually comes out of his hole only to do a little part-time work for Halliburton or to shoot farmed birds with his pals from the highest court of the land. This time Cheney appeared, issued his warning – and saw his shadow: four more years of war.        Marty Trujillo        Westminster, California * *         * *         * *         * *        Politics seems to be the only place where a draft dodger from Wyoming and an AWOL guardsman from Texas can question the loyalty of an authentic war hero from Massachusetts.        Jerry Buck        Sherman Oaks, California

Los Angeles Times Monday 15 March 2004 California Section / Letters [page B-10] Sen. Kennedy Points to Bush's Iraq Statements        In "The Fringe Fires at Bush on Iraq" (Commentary, March 11), Max Boot conveniently ignores the fact that my case against the decision to go to war was based on President Bush's own statements misrepresenting the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and the intelligence community's specific dissents from those statements.        On Oct. 2, 2002, as Congress was preparing to vote on authorizing the war, Bush called the Iraqi regime "a threat of unique urgency". In a speech in Cincinnati, he said, "Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof – the smoking gun – that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." In his 2003 State of the Union address, he said: "Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al Qaeda."        A mushroom cloud. An urgent and unique threat. Close links to Al Qaeda. These were the administration's rallying cries for war. None of that was true. The intelligence community was far from unified. The administration concealed that fact by classifying the dissents in the intelligence community until after the war and continuing to make false claims about the immediacy of the danger. Iraqi exiles are bragging about how they misled us so effectively. The truth was there, but those in the Bush administration refused to see it. They wanted to go to war in the worst way, and they did.                U.S. Senator [D-Massachusetts]

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