Is it eligible for the Hugo? I thought it was published years ago. I read it last year in Charlie's collection Toast.
I think Jo is on the right track, but she isn't going quite far enough back. The power that Bush is claiming for himself is extraordinary; it's such an audacious claim that it's hard to notice just what it is. At first sight it appears that Bush has forgotten he is merely an elected official of a republic and that he is claiming the powers of a king. But in fact it's worse: he's not just claiming the powers of any king, but of an absolute monarch of a kind that hasn't existed in English tradition for a good long time.
The rule of law that Bush sneers at is was established by the barons' rebellion against King John in 1215. He really is trampling on things that are that fundamental.
I think there are plenty of reasons to think that the Bush administration doesn't care in the least about national security, that they're more like Tomas Nau and the Emergency (I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought of that analogy) than like serious public servents using means I disagree with in support of goals I share. The failure to protect ports is one obvious reason to think that. Other examples include: using the creation of the Department of Homeland Security solely as a short-term feint for weakening federal unions; failing to strengthen protections of chemical and nuclear plants; failing to investigate the anthrax letters (as Anna Russell might have asked: remember the anthrax?); abandoning Afghanistan for the third time; blowing the cover of a CIA agent (when did I start thinking of the CIA as the good guys?); and, just this week, openly manipulating the process of handling classified information whenever it's convenient for attacking their political enemies.
These aren't the actions of people who honestly believe they're defending a nation against foreign enemies.
Actually, it's even a little worse than what Stefan said.
If there's no attack between now and November then we should vote for Bush, because he has kept us safe. If there is an attack between now and November then we should vote for Bush, because the world is a dangerous place and we can't let the terrorists divert us from our course.
We're dealing with an updated version of Morton's Fork.
Disturbing, yes, but am I the only one who thinks that John Kerry looks like the the Smiler from Transmetropolitan?
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