Living The American Dream

May 16, 2003 5:25 AM

Living The American Dream
Bush gave his speech Monday at a company in Albuquerque called MCT Industries. “We’re standing in the midst of what we call the American dream,” he said. MCT is privately owned by the family of Ted Martinez, who founded it on a shoestring in 1973 and is now a wealthy VIP who hangs around with politicians. “The Martinez family is living that dream,” Bush said.

A familiar dream for Bush. Just ask the folks in Arlington, Texas about a certain stadium. Getting rich from special considerations and the taxpayer's money. And doing it during the times of those onerous tax burdens he would relieve all such dreamers of.
posted by nofundy (28 comments total)

"The Martinez family is living that dream," Bush said.

the martinez employees, however, the ones actually making that dream a reality, aren't quite so fortunate. aren't they the ones whose working hours have been cancelled without pay, to be made up on saturday, all so shrub can laud the fucking bosses? what an arrogant prick duhbya is.
posted by quonsar at 5:38 AM on May 16, 2003

Here is the obligatory Slate article relating.
posted by Dr_Octavius at 5:43 AM on May 16, 2003

obligatory? relating? it's word for word the same article. wtf?
posted by quonsar at 5:51 AM on May 16, 2003

Quon: Reading the article is so passe
posted by Space Coyote at 6:07 AM on May 16, 2003

The MetaFilter front page: Your one-stop source for nofundy's opinion of George Bush.
posted by pardonyou? at 6:34 AM on May 16, 2003

You don't have to click.
posted by Space Coyote at 6:35 AM on May 16, 2003

yeah, usually i take a pass on that, but you know, anything that bashes bush is gold to me! i had high hopes for Dr_Octavius link providing more yummy bush-bashin' grist for my mill, and i'm sooooo disappointed. :-)
posted by quonsar at 6:35 AM on May 16, 2003

nofundy,

If you hate Uhmurka so much, why don't you move to Iraqistan?
posted by drstrangelove at 6:43 AM on May 16, 2003

MeFi user's daily routine:

7:00 wake up, realize you were dreaming and Ralph Nader isn't actually the president.
7:15 try to stop sobbing
7:30 stare at a picture of george w bush, summoning all your hatred, try to ignite the picture with your mind energy.
7:45 hit refresh on MetaFilter for 8 hours waiting for further reasons to hate the president.
posted by Space Coyote at 6:44 AM on May 16, 2003

Way to go , Space Coyote-- you have successfully derailed a thread about the duplicity of an Administration that holds up a successful 'small' business that relies on tax revenue as an example of the kinds of businesses that need taxes to be cut in order to succeed, and have turned it into an ad hominem attack on quonsar.

Good job.
posted by Cerebus at 6:51 AM on May 16, 2003

See, if you took nofundy's link, and added a link to quonsar's story about Martinez's employees, then you might have a good front page post. But just posting a link then using it as a springboard for yet another personal rant about Bush (for the millionth time) is lame.

I'm not even a Bush supporter. It's just that I get it already: Nofundy. Doesn't. Like. George. Bush.
posted by pardonyou? at 6:52 AM on May 16, 2003

Nothing quite like the sound of an axe grinding at 9 in the morning...
posted by internal at 7:12 AM on May 16, 2003

You make it sound so personal pardonyou?. It's not GWB but rather what he represents that I despise. Your whining is much worse than my postings. Don't like my posts? Then stay off the threads and maybe I'll go away.

And it's not a "personal rant."

It's a link to what should be an important issue to American citizens (at least the ones who care and want to be well informed when they vote.)

Does pardonyou? have any useful input on the subject matter at hand or just want to bash me in this thread as many times as possible?

And just so this reply to pardonyou? isn't a total waste of I would like to present everyone a glimpse of the future.

Now, what's gonna be up for Friday fun? Anyone got a better glimpse of the future perhaps?
posted by nofundy at 7:20 AM on May 16, 2003

I apologize quonsar. That post was meant as humor (bad humor at that).
posted by Dr_Octavius at 7:33 AM on May 16, 2003

Ohh yeah.. George Bush Sux.
posted by Dr_Octavius at 7:34 AM on May 16, 2003

Don't like my posts? Then stay off the threads and maybe I'll go away.

That's exactly my point. Keep it in the threads and I don't have a problem. Why do you feel the need to repeatedly articulate your personal view on the front page?

Maybe I'm in the minority on this one. But it's just annoying.
posted by pardonyou? at 7:51 AM on May 16, 2003

Dr_Octavius, no apologies are called for, my wtf? should be apologized for because it was so easily misread as a criticism of you, when i was just expressing dissapointment that there wasn't some more juicy anti-bush ammo behind the link.

Cerebrus, i don't see the ad hominem here. My take on Space Coyotes comments: in the first he was riffing on a remark i made elsewhere about my not reading a link before posting. in the second he reminds pardonyou that he doesnt have to click if the thread upsets his stomach. the third i took as a wry parody of (me?) a lot of mefi users. i could be wrong, maybe he hates me!
posted by quonsar at 7:57 AM on May 16, 2003

in the second he reminds pardonyou that he doesnt have to click if the thread upsets his stomach.

Again, that was exactly my point. It's not the thread, it's the front page post. In fact, in this case, the thread has been fine -- I thought your observation about the MCT employees in particular was good, quonsar.
posted by pardonyou? at 8:06 AM on May 16, 2003

If Bush ever did press conferences, which he refuses to do, maybe someone could ask him:

"To help individual citizens, why not raise the minimum wage?"
posted by The Jesse Helms at 9:04 AM on May 16, 2003

Michael Kinsley covers this topic very well today.

I would have linked it in the FPP had I known earlier.

Not that doing so would assuage pardonyou?'s offended sensibilities.

Perhaps the fact a professional journalist covered the story in the same light as I attempted to justifies my feeling this is an important trend and story?

But anyway, here's a much better explanation of the situation than I could ever provide. LINK
posted by nofundy at 9:32 AM on May 16, 2003

OK, OK, just a joke to intimate some people fail to read the links and discuss the stories....
posted by nofundy at 9:34 AM on May 16, 2003

Do us all a favor, nofundy, and quit playing the damn victim. Get your own site and quit using MeFi's front page as your personal rant zone. Perhaps if you participated in other threads or posted links concerning subjects other than "conservatives~bad", you might be taken seriously.
posted by BlueTrain at 9:42 AM on May 16, 2003

quit playing the damn victim

WTF are you talking about?

I do participate.
If your jaundiced view sees my posts as conservatives~bad then perhaps it is you who has a problem.
Don't want to discuss bread-and-butter conservative issues perhaps?
When was the last time you contributed anything at all to the discourse of the community?
Bite me!
posted by nofundy at 9:55 AM on May 16, 2003

Way to go , Space Coyote-- you have successfully derailed a thread about the duplicity of an Administration that holds up a successful 'small' business that relies on tax revenue as an example of the kinds of businesses that need taxes to be cut in order to succeed, and have turned it into an ad hominem attack on quonsar.

Good job.

I guess I forgot to add the sarcasm tag.. Quansor of course being my personal hero, I was derailing any derail attempts, if that makes sense.
posted by Space Coyote at 10:08 AM on May 16, 2003

AWwwww.....I wanted to bash the president! All you guys are doing is arguing!

The myth of small business is one of the more ridiculous bipartisan superstitions that influence government policy. Small businesses, by their nature, come and go. They create more jobs than big businesses and wipe out more jobs, too. Any small-business owner burdened by high taxes is, by definition, more affluent than the typical big-business owner, who is an ordinary working American with an interest in a retirement fund. Small businesses are swell. But special favors for small business make no sense in terms of either fairness or prosperity.

I didn't understand this paragraph at all. The writer seems to imply (well he actually just says it) that a "small-business owner" is more affluent then a big business owner. It's like saying the guy who runs the Quik-e-Mart makes more money then the schmuck who runs Nextel. I understand he's trying to set up a rhetorical structure by puncturing the "myth of small business."

I guess my involvement in small businesses has lead me to believe that such businesses do deserve certain tax breaks and assistance. (maybe more on that later.)

MCT on the other hand, is not a small business. It isn't small in resources, income, number of employees, or as we can see, political influence. To use companies like MCT as an example of small business is terribly cynical and short sighted. Most small businesses are eaten alive by government subsidized big businesses like MCT.

Smoke and mirrors. Bush is lying and so is Slate (or MSNBC or whatever-the-fuck.)

PS: Bush sucks.
posted by elwoodwiles at 1:07 PM on May 16, 2003

juicy anti-bush ammo
posted by elwoodwiles at 1:26 PM on May 16, 2003

I didn't understand this paragraph at all. The writer seems to imply (well he actually just says it) that a "small-business owner" is more affluent then a big business owner.

I initially did a double-take on that line too, but I think it's saying that, since larger businesses tend to be publicly traded, most of their "owners" are just middle-class salary-earners with money invested in retirement funds.
posted by kickingtheground at 2:40 PM on May 16, 2003

nofundy is the only fundy I know.
posted by Bag Man at 8:30 AM on May 17, 2003