And One Last Politikal Post For The Day

Dear Bush Supporters,

I see you standing on the bridge over I-405 between exits 20 and 18 many mornings. There are anywhere from four to ten of you, and you've got some pretty snappy looking signs that say "We Support Our Troops and President Bush," or simply, "We Support Our Troops." I applaud your right to express your point of view, and for taking full advantage of the freedoms of speech our forefathers bequeathed to us. I have taken part in the same freedom various mornings, either with my middle finger or, if traffic is slow enough, by voicing my opinion loudly using my hands as a megaphone.

But I want to point something out to you. You and everyone else with the "We Support Our Troops" bumper stickers.

President Bush is not a troop. He never was a troop. He pretended to be a troop once, but was AWOL from the National Guard for weeks at a time while he was developing a strong addiction to alcohol and that white dust from Colombia. But frankly, that's the closest Bush has come to being a troop.

Troops stand out in the desert getting shot at. They overthrew the Taliban, probably the closest thing the 21st Century has seen to a religio-fascist government thusfar. The entire world applauded them for that, because let's face it, no one liked the Taliban. Troops overthrew Saddam Hussien, too: an action that, despite its motivations, rid the world of a tinpot dictator likely responsible for genocide.

Troops are my friends from high school and college. They are kids who didn't have scholarships or who didn't necessarily fit into higher education, so they signed up for a hitch in the Army, the Marines, or another branch of our Armed Forces. When they did so, they trusted that the Commander in Chief - not himself a troop - would only use their training responsibly. They expected a certain degree of empathy for them, and both of those things have been violated.

There is a former troop who works in my office, and he is appalled at not only the administration that has misled and taken advantage of the troops, he'll actively correct anyone who dares to lump Bush in the same category as our troops.

Therefore, my fellow citizens of the Northwest, I ask that you keep in mind that when you're asking me to support our troops, I'm 100% behind you. Like I said, I know some of those guys.

But keep this in mind:

President Bush is not a troop.