This otherwise prosaic and ho-hum op-ed from The Daytona Beach News Journal has one sentence that really seems to stand out (the rest of the paragraph included for context)
"That the administration is cashing in on the dead is not unusual. President Lincoln did it to great effect at Gettysburg. President Reagan did it movingly in Normandy, on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, when the 1984 presidential election was conveniently within sight. Most presidents do it badly, so most have the grace to leave the dead in peace once the speeches are over. President Bush has been doing it gracelessly and cravenly for two and a half years."
"Tastelessness" seems to be the hallmark, not only of the Bush administration, but the Bush family in general. Not the kind of tastelessness that leads you to partake in John Waters movies or collections of poirot dolls, but the kind of tastelessness and lack of tact that comes when you're become so accustomed to your own life, you simply can't see past your own nose. I have no doubt Bush won't backtrack on those 9/11 ads because he (and the people who surround him) doesn't really see anything wrong with the ads.
Bush's bad taste is the tastelessness of the nouveau riche: the kind of tastelessness that equates money and power with class. But money and power don't equal class: it's not something you can buy. You can see this tastelessness in the behavior of Bush Senior, who famously vomited on a Japanese diplomat and was so out of touch that he didn't know how a supermarket scanner worked back in the late 1980s. You can see it in Bush Jr.'s photo-ops at sporting events that displace paying customers, or take up the resources of small towns and then refuse to reimburse local governments for their police and fire expenditures. Or hiring actors to portray firemen in September 11-themed ads, because "it's cheaper" than hiring real firemen (not that many firement would come out to support a Bush effort anyway; they've had their funds cut by you-know-who as well). And the examples go on and on and on.
Don't just throw Bush out because his administration is a bloodthirsty relic from the cold war with a 19th century mindset. Throw the bums out because of their utter lack of taste and class.
"That the administration is cashing in on the dead is not unusual. President Lincoln did it to great effect at Gettysburg. President Reagan did it movingly in Normandy, on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, when the 1984 presidential election was conveniently within sight. Most presidents do it badly, so most have the grace to leave the dead in peace once the speeches are over. President Bush has been doing it gracelessly and cravenly for two and a half years."
"Tastelessness" seems to be the hallmark, not only of the Bush administration, but the Bush family in general. Not the kind of tastelessness that leads you to partake in John Waters movies or collections of poirot dolls, but the kind of tastelessness and lack of tact that comes when you're become so accustomed to your own life, you simply can't see past your own nose. I have no doubt Bush won't backtrack on those 9/11 ads because he (and the people who surround him) doesn't really see anything wrong with the ads.
Bush's bad taste is the tastelessness of the nouveau riche: the kind of tastelessness that equates money and power with class. But money and power don't equal class: it's not something you can buy. You can see this tastelessness in the behavior of Bush Senior, who famously vomited on a Japanese diplomat and was so out of touch that he didn't know how a supermarket scanner worked back in the late 1980s. You can see it in Bush Jr.'s photo-ops at sporting events that displace paying customers, or take up the resources of small towns and then refuse to reimburse local governments for their police and fire expenditures. Or hiring actors to portray firemen in September 11-themed ads, because "it's cheaper" than hiring real firemen (not that many firement would come out to support a Bush effort anyway; they've had their funds cut by you-know-who as well). And the examples go on and on and on.
Don't just throw Bush out because his administration is a bloodthirsty relic from the cold war with a 19th century mindset. Throw the bums out because of their utter lack of taste and class.
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