A few well-turned phrases

First, from Bob Herbert's column in today's NY Times (behind subscription wall).

The Bush crowd, which gets together each morning to participate in a highly secret ritual of formalized ineptitude, is trying to get its creepy hands on all the telephone records of everybody in the entire country.

and

The Constitution and the elaborate system of checks and balances were meant to protect us against the possibility of a clownish gang of small men and women amassing excessive power and behaving like tyrants or kings. But the normal safeguards have not been working since the Bush crowd came to power, starting with the hijacked presidential election in 2000.

and

The Bushies will tell you that it is dangerous and even against the law to inquire into these nefarious activities. We just have to trust the king.

Well, I give you fair warning. This is a road map to totalitarianism. Hallmarks of totalitarian regimes have always included an excessive reliance on secrecy, the deliberate stoking of fear in the general population, a preference for military rather than diplomatic solutions in foreign policy, the promotion of blind patriotism, the denial of human rights, the curtailment of the rule of law, hostility to a free press and the systematic invasion of the privacy of ordinary people.

There are not enough pretty words in all the world to cover up the damage that George W. Bush has done to his country. If the United States could look at itself in a mirror, it would be both alarmed and ashamed at what it saw.

Next, from Dark Syde at Daily Kos:

It doesn't matter if it's apologists defending the latest incomprehensible Republican screw-up or Bush's schizophrenic immigration policy. The MO is predictably the same. Some right wing Bozo comes out on a carefully managed stage with a spiel so ridiculous that it would really be more appropriate if presented by a guy peddling a unicycle and juggling GOP talking points to circus music in full clown regalia, while a mini-Karl Rove chatters around grinding an organ and holding out a cup. It doesn't matter if the clown falls off his unicycle over and over and drops all the talking points. Someone stage right-wing will throw him new talking points to juggle, and he'll just pretend they're the same ones he started with. It doesn't matter if the clown kills a few audience members in the process or sets the big tent on fire. None of that will be mentioned and the reviews will be rave.

Sean Hannity will note that the clown was wearing a yellow ribbon on his vest and the Rove monkey had a miniature Uncle Sam hat on, so critiquing the show is exactly like blowing up the Statue of Liberty and fragging our troops. Bill O'Reilly will angrily denounce anyone who doesn't agree with him that this is the greatest clown ever and the monkey is a super genius. Chris Matthews will say he really, really likes this Bozo personally. Joe Lieberman will be so smitten, he'll rush the stage with a dozen roses and kiss the clown on the lips. Straight talking Johnny McCain will flash a valium-esque smile at the clown and hug the monkey warmly while it takes a dump on his lap and smears shit all over his face. And an editorial written by a belt way democratic insider will warn us all that if we don't clap real loud and pretend it was a terrific show, the performer will turn into the Killer Klown From Outer Space and the monkey will prance around the stage menacingly in a parody of King Kong.