(NEW YORK) (September 9, 2006) New York City has been under attack this week, not by "Islamofascists" but by craven politicians seeking to drain every drop of profit from the fifth anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy. Strangely, all of this political exploitation and legerdemain seems to be having a counterproductive impact: polls reflect that an increasing number of people suspect the U. S. government of complicity in the attacks on 9/1l.

I find all of this disgusting.

And now the Clown Prince of the War on Terror himself, George W. Bush, is pitching up at Ground Zero to put on his own portrayal of atonement and vengeance. Bush hopes to revive his presidency—once again—by passing himself off as the avatar of attacks on terrorists, fundamentalists and enemies of civilization. I doubt he will succeed.

I did not lose a relative on 9/11. But I lost a lot. I was there.

And I also lost someone 35 years ago that I will be remembering on October 8th. It's a loss that is never far from my memory. The last thing I would want is this parade of cheap politicians, Bush praying, Clinton haranguing, Pataki promising, showing up to grieve with me. What can one make of a society where these interlopers will be usurping grief and loss for their own campaign carnival on 9/11?

The past week has been a sickening display of American democracy at its worst, or best, depending on your point of view. Consider:

First we had the Clown Prince Coat Holder of 9/11, the disgraced Governor George Pataki, appearing to marvel at the new construction plans for rebuilding at the World Trade Center.

Let's start with the obvious: Pataki is a joke and failure and laughingstock in New York. But, perhaps, after witnessing the extraordinary success of George Bush as a politician, Pataki is pursuing a Bush-like course—he's running for president!

The Clown Prince of New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin, was

pilloried for saying the World Trade Center is a "hole in the ground." Well, guess what? It's a hole in the ground. Pataki has done nothing to exert leadership to reconstruct the destroyed complex. Now, days/hours ahead of the fifth anniversary carnival, Pataki and "landlord" Larry Silverstein appear with drawings and models of a rebuilt WTC area. Perfect timing. But it's still a hole in the ground.

Consider: Bill Clinton weeping and whining because an ABC movie Sunday portrays him as distracted by the backlash from his shameless sexual exploits. How can he deny it? Clinton's subalterns are "shocked, shocked" to learn that they are being held responsible for the escape of Osama Bin Laden after he had launched numerous attacks on the United States. Well, who is responsible?

Consider: Hillary Clinton pitched up at a House of Representatives hearing in Lower Manhattan this week to accuse the federal government of "deliberately misleading people" and promising to implement "a system, to care for every single person who was affected by 9/11." That sure sounds like Hillary's Clintoncare rebuilt; we were all affected by 9/11! Presto: We're all covered. National health care courtesy of Hillary and 9/11.

Consider: George Bush is showing up in New York to pray at St. Paul's Chapel. Karl Rove and his hatchet men have enlisted the Episcopal Church in their slash-and-burn political attacks. Maybe Bush will suggest that if we don’t attack in Baghdad the terrorists will attack St. Paul's Chapel. It is a cheap spectacle, cheapened inexorably and inevitably by the pious nonsense that Bush will be pushing during his whistle-stop appearance in Lower Manhattan.

Bush won’t be attacking Democrats directly. No, that would

be "political." He will merely be claiming he has led the "recovery" (hole in the ground?) and is leading the "War on Terror" that only he and his Republofascists are capable of leading. Come to think of it, maybe Bush belongs with Episcopalians: he was baptized in (and abandoned) the Episcopal Church. And, truly, he is a Holy Terror. But only as a Clown Prince.

 True leadership would have meant rebuilding the Twin Towers and fast. The building plans that were already available could have been updated as the site was being cleared. By May 2002 construction could have resumed and today we could be celebrating the completion of reconstruction, not a "hole in the ground."

On the other hand, a lot of Americans are suckers for Bush's kind of circus-cum-comedy routine. Maybe he'll fool them once again. Maybe there's no hole in the ground. Maybe I'm just seeing one where none exists. Go figure.

Ah, democracy.

Rebuild the Twin Towers and get on with it.