+ Turks

I listen to The Young Turks most mornings via my iTunes. There is a talk radio category and within that a Progressive Talk online feed that run many liberal talk show hosts from around the country. Unfortunately, what I get to listen to is from the day before, but the topic is still very fresh and topical. Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike are the hosts and they are intelligent folks who seem to give a damn about our country and how it's being run into the ground.

The web site has a forum for devoted fans, Cenk has a blog of sorts and writes articles, links to good articles and audio clips of guests. This is an article written by Cenk Uygur:

Here are some questions President Bush must answer:

Did you plan to have an enormous insurgency in Iraq?  Did you plan to have an insurgency that would launch 50 attacks a day against targets all over Iraq and, by your own administration�s admission, be in control of 20 to 30 Iraqi cities?  If you didn�t plan for the insurgency, who is responsible inside the administration and what have you done about it?

Did you plan for a record $422 billion deficit?  If you didn�t plan for it, who is responsible and what have you done about it?

Did you plan to lose over 800,000 jobs on your watch?  Did you plan to lose 1.6 million private sector jobs and 2.7 million manufacturing jobs in the four years you were in charge?  If you didn�t plan for it, who is responsible and what have you done about it?

Did you plan to have healthcare costs rise by 64% on your watch?  Did you plan for 5.2 million Americans to lose their health coverage on your watch?  If you didn�t plan for it, who is responsible and what have you done about it?

Did you plan to have North Korea build 4 to 8 nuclear bombs on your watch?  If you didn�t plan for it, who is responsible and what have you done about it?

Did you plan to invade a country that had no weapons of mass destruction and no links to 9/11?  If you didn�t plan for it, who is responsible and what have you done about it?

Did you plan to lose the cooperation of most of our trusted allied in NATO?  If you didn�t plan for it, who is responsible and what have you done about it?

Did you plan to have America�s great name tainted in a torture scandal that involved 294 separate cases of abuse and over 30 deaths?  If you didn�t plan for it, who is responsible and what have you done about it?

This administration will not take responsibility for anything.  It�s never their fault � it�s either Clinton, or bad intelligence, or stubborn allies, or a recession or in the case of the torture scandal � it�s the troops.

Well, Mr. President in case you weren'�t aware, you are the Commander in Chief.  The troops follow your orders.  The intelligence community follows your orders (by the way, 85% of the intelligence budget is controlled by Don Rumsfeld, but has he taken any responsibility for the enormous mistakes in intelligence?)  Our commanders in the field follow your orders.  Our diplomats follow your orders.  You control fiscal and economic policy for the United States of America.  You are the leader of the free world.  You are the most powerful man on earth � yet you�re responsible for nothing?

Republicans claim to be the party of personal responsibility.  If that is true, they should take responsibility for their record.  But the fact is this administration cannot run on its record, because its record is abysmal. 

How can anyone in good conscience vote for the President before he answers these vital questions about his record?  If you are a Republican, and you still claim to believe in personal responsibility, shouldn�t you demand that your president give you adequate answers to these very simple questions?