To Rumsfelt the situation, Is the United States Being Shoved Down The Drain? Of course it is, that's obvious. Is It Being Done Deliberately? Well sure, why would anybody accidentally go out and destroy the greatest societal organism the world's ever seen? Do the Republicans want to finish the job? Absolutely: God wants it done. Does God speak directly to Bush? Well sure, some of the time, but a lot of the time He talks to Cheney or Rice, or even Ashcroft, and of course sometimes to Rumsfelt.
To leave Donald behind for a time, there truly are some actions this Administration is taking that should give everybody pause. Today, HHS withdrew funding for an international conference because Reactionaries with access to the Administration couldn't stomach the idea of giving any support to possible abortions. As it does this kind of thing, the Admin always carefully puts out a message that it is fighting AIDS worldwide, that it's fighting hunger worldwide, that it's making lives better every day because of its carefully considered policies.
What else: Oh, yes, there's the little matter of the economy. The US can theoretically borrow money for its operations indefinitely, and the Republicans are testing that theory to the tune of half a trillion dollars in the hole per year.
Environmentally, the Republicans joyfully tout their positive record as they discard goals of cleaner power plants, cleaner air, cleaner water, and they ignore collaborative efforts along those lines.
Now the Republicans are going afater Kerry's war record, presumably because after he served his time in Vietnam he protested the war he had just fought. Who has a better understanding of that war, Kerry who fought it, or Cheney or Bush who avoided it? Who has been PROVEN RIGHT about it, Kerry, who watched the US run screaming away from Vietnam, or Cheney and Bush who gosh probably had better things to do than to watch the US flee Vietnam.
Argh.