With the death of Terri Schiavo, President Bush said, "The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak."

How about his tax cuts for the rich coupled with slashing non-defense budget programs for those in need? How about his "reforming" environmental laws to better "protect" the general public? How about his mocking a woman before putting her to death?

GW's entire "essence" is about further stacking the deck in favor of the rich & powerful (i.e. the strong) at the expense of the "weak." The hypocrisy is, as usual, breathtakingly astonishing.

Thomas Frank (What's the Matter with Kansas? author) is right when he surmises that the GOP (Karl Rove) uses morality and culture issues to manipulate and incite working-class Christian voters, motivating them to head to the polls, all the while allowing the GOP to take care of those they truly care about: the wealthy. It can't get anymore transparent and I've given up trying to figure out what's wrong with these people who side with politicians who in reality are not looking out for them.