Contemptuous Conservatism In Action
 

December 20 2004
Counterbias.com
Steve Horowitz
 

George Bush is a man with a sense of humor.

Of course, when I say "man," I don't mean it in the sense of the Yiddish word mensch: thoughtful, responsible, fundamentally decent; I just mean he doesn't have a vagina. And when I say "sense of humor," I mean that hateful jokes about people he doesn't like make him laugh.

He seems to have had a lot of fun on Wednesday, laughing heartily as panelists at his 'economic forum' took turns bashing trial lawyers. "Deep pockets collides with shallow principles," is how Robert Nardelli, CEO of Home Depot, described the relationship between big business and personal injury attorneys.

Trial lawyers, not coincidentally, contribute heavily to the Democratic Party and its candidates. And Home Depot, not coincidentally, was reporting 185 customer injuries a week before it quit releasing safety information to the media. Figures the company provided to the federal government, however, showed a 45 percent increase in workplace safety violations in 2002. So yeah, Nardelli has something of a beef with trial
lawyers. Oh, and his company gave over half a million dollars to Republican candidates this year, which got him his ticket to the Bush economic dog and pony show.

As a Knight-Ridder report put it, "The hourlong session on 'the high costs of lawsuit abuse' was one of several panels examining various aspects of Bush's second-term domestic agenda. With nary a word of dissent, the panelists -- all selected by the White House -- endorsed the president's plans to partially privatize Social Security, permanently extend his first-term tax cuts and limit lawsuits."

Nary a word of dissent. That's how Bush likes it, as he shows at every press conference and with every Cabinet appointment. Never has an American president made less of an effort to eschew partisanship, listen to new ideas, and do what's best for the nation. Bush has one priority -- getting his way. And his way is doing what's best for big business, oil conglomerates, defense contractors, and insurance and pharmaceutical companies. He promised to be a uniter, not a divider, but he'll demonize a whole class of people -- lawyers -- if it helps him get his way.

Nobody likes lawyers, of course. Just like nobody likes cops -- until something goes seriously wrong. Then we need the cops to go after the bad guys, or lawyers to go after negligent companies. But justice for ordinary folks is just a joke for Bush, a concept to be mocked. With no dissent allowed, he'll get everyone around him to say Yes, we must give Wall Street a borrowed trillion or two to "privatize" Social Security; Yes, we must continue to spend billions in Iraq while lowering taxes for the rich; and Yes, trial lawyers are the reason health care costs keep rising and the trade deficit is so high.

Such breathtaking, vicious lies. Such relentless effort on behalf of the most wealthy and privileged among us. Such contemptuous disregard for the welfare and well-being of everyone else.

Personally, I don't see anything funny about it.

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