Warning: This post is in bad taste

On August 5, 2002, pResident George aWol Bush said the following to families, friends, rescuers and others gathered to celebrate the rescue of nine coal miners in Pennsylvania:

The spirit of America can best be seen with the families who are here. A strong America is America based upon strong families. A strong future for our country depends upon the strength of our family -- husband loving wife and wife loving husband, husband and wife dedicating themselves to their children. The spirit of America was represented as family members, wives and sons and daughters and moms and dads prayed for the safety of their loved one. They spent hours worrying about the lives of somebody they called, loved one. And out of this near tragedy comes the living example of the importance of family.

It was my honor to meet the family members here today. I appreciate and I know your dads and your husbands appreciate much more than me the fact that you -- the energy you spent on seeing that they came out of that hole alive was an important part of rallying the -- rallying the country.

And that's another part of the spirit of America I want to herald, and that is the prayers that were said by thousands of your citizens -- I mean, people from all walks of life. They didn't say, I'm a Republican, therefore, I get to pray; or I'm a Democrat, I pray. I don't care about either of them, I pray. Everybody prayed. A lot of people -- if I say everybody, I don't know if everybody prayed. I can tell you, a lot prayed. A lot prayed for your safety, a lot prayed for your families. A lot pled to an almighty God that you were rescued. And thank God the prayers were answered.

So what might the BS-er-in-chief say after the tragedy in West Virginia?

I've noted that there has been strong family support for the miners, and still they died. Most of you have been praying for their safety; still they died. Some of you are Democrats, others Republicans, a few are probably even bright enough to know that neither party represents po' folk like you in any way. But still, you prayed to God that your loved ones be saved, and you now know what the answer was.

Actually, I just talk about God to distract you from the fact that the miners in Pennsylvania lived, and the ones here died, not because of family or prayers or the American spirit (well, maybe a bit of the American spirit). They died or nearly died because criminal capitalists cut costs and ignored safety. They died because a rapacious American economy demands cheap fuel, regardless of how many people it kills or how much damage it does to the environment through pollution and global warming.

Of course, that is what an honest president would say, and we haven't had one of those for a very long time, if ever. If aWol were consistent with his 2002 remarks, I guess he'd say something more like this:

What sort of adulterous godless childbeaters are you West Virginians anyway? Your men obviously died because you don't believe in God or family or the American spirit. 9/11. And may God bless America.

The WSWS has some choice remarks about this tragedy, and the role the Bush administration actually played in it. The WSWS similary reviewed the causes of the near tragedy in Pennsylvania back in 2002.