Bush bash

The president took some well-earned time off last week. Driving the world's largest economy into the ground and getting its armed forces bogged down in a foreign quagmire — complete with fresh body bags almost daily — is enough to tire even the hardiest brush-clearin' good ol’ boy. So it's only natural that the prez would do what many of us do to relax: He had a few close friends over to the homestead for a little barbecue.

But you know how it goes these days. With nit-pickers around every corner, the most powerful man on the planet can't even fire up the grill without a heap of criticism landing on his well-coiffed noggin. In this case it was one of the Bushman's fellow Texans, a do-gooder named Tom "Smitty" Smith, doing the griping.

"This is a sad day for our democracy," drawled Smith, standing in front of an inflatable White House. "President Bush is holding a barbecue for about 350 of his closest friends. But while these executives and corporate lobbyists are chowing down on barbecue and whispering in the president's ear, average Americans are getting their goose cooked by Bush's radical agenda."

Smith, you should know, is director of the Texas office of Public Citizen, a watchdog outfit formed many moons ago by Ralph Nader. Seems ol’ Smitty's a mite peeved that our head Busheroo figures to raise $200 million for a primary campaign in which he has no opponent.

"You can go down the list and see that virtually every one of Bush's policies help the rich people who are hobnobbing with him today. And what do the people get? We get Enronned."

To find out just how well the wheels of Bush's campaign are getting greased, and who exactly is doing the lubing, visit the Web site www.whitehouseforsale.org.