2013/04/28

Watch: The Daily Show Takes on the Bush Library,

and disaster-piece Theater. On last night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart and senior correspondent Al Madrigal took on the newly unveiled, George W. Bush Presidential Library. The team took particular shots at Decision Points Theater, the absurd exhibit, where museum patrons get a chance to relive some of Dubya's most controversial moments in his shoes. But any Bush library is going to have to grapple with some of the damaging decisions made by this administration, Iraq, Katrina, the financial crisis, hopefully the Bush center has found away to explore these issues, that are both informative and objective, Stewart said, before introducing what he calls Disaster-piece Theater. Jon then turned to senior correspondent Al Madrigal, who reported live from the library, wielding a George W. Bush Steak on a Stick. Decision Points theater: amazing. I aced it by the way, Madrigal said. Invade Iraq? Yes. Rescue New Orleans? No. Bail out Wall Street? Pass the checkbook. Jon, curious, asked, Knowing what we know now, why did you choose yes on invading Iraq? Well, Madrigal replied. The choices were: A, Leave a mad man in power, that will destroy civilization or B, be a little bitch, Madrigal said, further explaining that those who choose B face a video of Bush, telling users they made the wrong decision. You're making that up right? Stewart checked. No, that's actually what happens at the George W Bush museum, Madrigal said, reflecting a very sad reality. Luckily for presidential enthusiasts, similar exhibits exist in other libraries, Madrigal explained. There is a decision points room at the Clinton presidential library, Actually it's just a crotch level hole in the wall. A decade after President George W Bush ordered the unprovoked invasion of Iraq, one of the enduring mysteries has been why. There was the rationale, sold to a frightened American people in 2002 to 2003, that Saddam Hussein was plotting to attack them with Weapons of Mass Destruction, but no one in power believed that. There have been other, more plausible explanations. George Bush the younger, wanted to avenge a perceived slight to George Bush the elder, while also outdoing his father as a war president. Vice President Dick Cheney had his eye on Iraq's oil wealth, and the Republican Party saw an opportunity to create its permanent majority behind a glorious victory in the Middle East. Though George W Bush's defenders vigorously denied being motivated by such crass thinking, those rationales do seem closer to the truth. However, there was another driving force behind the desire to conquer Iraq: The neoconservative belief that the conquest would be a first step toward installing compliant pro US regimes throughout the Middle East, and letting Israel dictate final peace terms to its neighbors.   

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