Even Through Beer Goggles, Bush Doesn't Look Good

Writer Mike Palacek brings his anti-GOP crusade to Cleveland Drinking Liberally’s weekly meeting tonight. The local left-wing group says it promotes “democracy one pint at a time.” The Iowa-based Palacek raises a glass or two to the day when George Bush and Karl Rove are kicked out of Washington. “Somebody needs to punch those two in the nose,” says the author of The American Dream. “They smirk while others die, and they are getting away with murder.”

Palacek’s novel is set in America’s heartland, where a small town comes together to protest the war. To mark the start of his book tour last month, Palacek mailed a tax form to the I.R.S. with a big black X on it -- a “symbolic action for all of Bush’s lies,” he says. He likens the current administration to a fairy tale that hoodwinks misguided Americans. “[Washington] keeps the truth locked away, marked to be opened after we are all dead,” he says. “They strike out the rest with a black magic marker.” In addition to puzzling proclamations, Palacek is well-known for his outspokenness. In the 1980s, he was imprisoned five times for protests at a Nebraska Air Force base. In 2000, he unsuccessfully ran for Congress on an anti-military, pro-immigration platform. He’s now devoted to full-time Bush-bashing. Say Palacek: “There are many of us who want their children to grow up in a world not perverted by the mind of Karl Rove.”
Sun., April 29, 6 p.m.