Proof: Bush Ain't Jewish!

There is a well-worn bit of ethnic humor that enumerates the various means by which one can distinguish between Jews and Gentiles. Jews, as the joke says, “never buy retail.” This kind-of sort-of an almost gospel truth about Jewish business practices and shopping habits has a ring of realism to it. Many of our parents and grandparents came from the dire poverty and anti-Semitism of Eastern Europe and even lived through the Great Depression right here in America. They were forced to make do with very little and for the impoverished, every little bit counts a great deal. The fact that we Jews have excelled at doing a great deal without much to start out with shows ingenuity and a determined spirit. As the adage goes, “Poverty breeds ingenuity.”

The joke does imply a cultural cheapness that I’ll admit does border on the absurd, but even if true, does being careful with money really imply a negative? After all, who wants to spend more money than required? Should we simply obey the suggested retail pricing and not haggle with the shopkeeper? Could it hurt to ask for a discount? It makes no sense not to try to bargain for better prices when possible. I don’t know anyone, Jew or Gentile, that feels any guilt over getting a good bargain. In fact, most people brag about it!

All this is likely true unless your name is GW Bush. Recently, the newly-elected Democrats in the House of Representatives passed into law a bill that permits Medicare, and not merely the Veterans Administration, to collectively bargain for discounts on bulk purchases of pharmaceutical drugs. Previously, President Bush signed into law a bill forbidding any collective bargaining with drug companies. This bill (H.R.4) still has to pass the Senate. In the event that H.R. 4 does reach the President’s desk, he has promised to veto it. The estimated $96 billion dollars it will save over the next ten years sounds to me like good enough excuse to strike a deal. Mr. Bush thinks otherwise.

One would think that a super-duper free market supply side sort of guy with an MBA like GW would rush at the opportunity to save the country and senior citizens billions of dollars a year in health costs and taxes, but no. The President and his good friends in the pharma-lobby will hear none of it. Aside from the mega-corporate-welfare that this administration doles out to supporters, the Neo-con ‘freedom’ machine remains determined to bankrupt our social programs at the expense of our seniors. Mr. Bush is redistributing the wealth through legislation, by taking from the poor and middle class and shifting the resources to politically connected mega-corporations. This is what some have called “Socialism for the Rich.” His veto on H.R. 4 will drive home to our seniors what many Americans have suspected about Bush for a long time. He is a heartless prick.

Well, now we have it. A ‘golden’ opportunity to strike a very good deal on behalf of the American people comes along and our President will decide to pass on it. At last, if our joke is any sort of measure, there is now definitive and conclusive proof-positive that the President has no Jewish blood (at least not in his veins.) I would be surprised if he had any human blood at all!

Kol Tuv