President George W. Bush, Before delivering his final

State of the Union report to the Congress, January 28.

La Jornada, Mexico

Bush's REAL State of the Union …

"This financial-corporate elite is my base. They are few in number, but have all the money in the world. That is why I remain unconcerned that tonight my approval rating stands at only 34 percent."

By Alejandro Nadal

Translated By Paula van de Werken

January 30, 2008

Mexico - La Jornada - Original Article (Spanish)

George W. Bush has delivered his eighth and final Presidential report to Congress. It was surprising to see the number of interruptions for applause during the speech. And it seemed that Bush was a decent orator, capable of stringing together ideas and completing a sentence. Without a doubt, technology can perform miracles: The teleprompter gave that impression. But, unfortunately, they still don't provide subtitles in Spanish. So in order to fill the gap, we offer this uncensored translation of his report.

"Honorable Congress of the Union: This is my last report as President of this great nation. I deeply regret that I must deliver it when things are not well. The American economy remains the world's largest, but growth has slowed. We are moving toward a recession that will have negative consequences for our friends in the financial and banking sectors. But they know that we are exerting ourselves to quickly get them out of trouble. I have asked Ben Bernake to look into the matter, and since then the Fed has been working aggressively to rescue them.

This financial-corporate elite is my base. They are few in number, but have all the money in the world. That is why I remain unconcerned that tonight my approval rating stands at only 34 percent. In addition, I'm not perturbed because I'm on my way out, since I have achieved almost everything Dick Cheney and his cabal has proposed. And the rest [of the people] can be assured: From this rostrum I can say that I harbor no grudges against that evil mob of ingrates that disapproves of my administration.

As evidence of this, I am sending Congress a package of tax incentives worth $150 billion. As always, it's a pinch of oxygen for the hard-hit middle class and of great benefit to the wealthy. We expect tremendous results from this package: It will serve to mitigate the recession we are entering, and most importantly, it will deny ammunition to the Democratic candidates during this election.

Some people might wonder what ever happened to the war against terrorism. Let me inform them about our achievements. Let's begin with Afghanistan. That country has reclaimed its place in the global economy and today, thanks to their comparative good fortune, it is now the leading opium producer in the world. Moreover, the Taliban are now more popular now than when they were in power and the border with Pakistan is increasingly unstable, which gives us the perfect excuse to perpetuate our presence in the region.

In Iraq, we are winning the war. And if not, we are at least buying time. Our casualties have been reduced by our new strategy: we have paid off the Sunni tribes that were attacking us before, turning them into militias that work for us. Some think this strategy may unleash a major bloodbath. True, it's a time bomb, but by the time it explodes, we will already have achieved our goal.

What other achievements have we had? Just take a look at the Democrats gathered here tonight. I have already cured them of their grumbling about imposing a timetable on the Pentagon to withdraw our troops from Iraq. Today, all of them are singing the same song about the war in that country: Victory must be achieved with honor and dignity.

And following the cunning attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we credited a single person. But now, six years later, there are many people who doubt the official version of events on September 11. This is a skepticism that goes beyond our borders.

It's true that many talented scientists and independent American engineers have shown that the official version has more holes than a strainer. But I sleep well at night knowing that history will never believe them. Our lies about 9/11 are iron-clad: if any of them are criticized, people immediately ask if they really think there was a conspiracy by those in power. And as this seems unimaginable, our critics are confounded.  You see, we write history and they don't. I offer special recognition to Vice President Cheney and his team for engineering work so well-planned that even the psychotic Goebbels  would be envious.

There is another source of pride tonight. Together, Congress and the Executive have succeeded in achieving a new record: the number of interruptions by applause. That record was last set by [Mexican] President Diaz Ordaz in 1966. Today we have managed to break that record. The applause that I have received is clear testimony to the decline of the political class in this great country.

In conclusion, I want to send a message to our soldiers in the line of fire: don't lose heart. It's true that life in Iraq is a nightmare for the inhabitants of that country, but in this way they will learn what it takes to transition to democracy. To our military, I invite them to consider the paradoxes of history. We have more weapons but less security. Tomorrow at dawn in the desert sands, I ask them to think about the last days of my discredited presidency. Above all, they should remember that their sacrifice is not for nothing, because it has served to lengthen the death throes of our Empire.

May God bless you."

CLICK HERE FOR SPANISH VERSION

[WORLDMEETS.US Posted February 1, 2008]