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Deconstructing W
DECONSTRUCTING W....Howard Fineman on Hardball yesterday:
George Bush has never accepted the proposition that the world is complicated.
Me in the Washington Monthly three years ago:
I've long viewed George Bush as a temperamental conservative, the kind of guy you meet in a bar who slams down his drink and asks belligerently, "You know what this country needs?" — and then proceeds to tell you.
I think we're both saying about the same thing. But I was more colorful! In any case, I think this is about the closest I've ever come to describing Bush's essential character. Just thought I'd share.
UPDATE: Matt Yglesias thinks I'm being unfair to drunk guys in bars. Maybe so!
He's a criminal. Let's keep the focus on holding him accountable for what he's done.
Just because he's a criminal doesn't mean he isn't a moron too.
George Bush is a rightwing cheerleader. His 0nly opinion is that the Republican right is his home team and the Democratic left is the opposing team.
Bush's essential character? He's a towel-snappin' jet jockey with a privileged upbringing.
Likewise John McCain.
I refuse to waste a second probing the depths of his reptile soul. More important by far to learn how something so small rose so high and how keep it from happening again.
Expect to see a bunch of stories from the likes of Frank Bruni about the really weird stuff they didn't report for various reasons--except for the real reason: they didn't want to dispute the narrative.
Doing so would mean getting off the bus and plane, and missing out on the catered buffet, and having to walk around hot dusty places asking questions of unfriendly people, and who wants to do that?
You should have deconstructed the bastard years ago. Plenty of bloggers and commenters would have helped you toss the parts back into Mt. Doom.
He's a towel-snappin' jet jockey with a privileged upbringing.
Squick! That made me think of this one:
swaggering, overbearing, tin-plated, dictator with delusions of godhood. ...
Terrible, just terrible.
I don't think there is evidence that Bush is the sort of guy who slams his drink down and tells you what this country needs.
I think it's more like what Gary Sugar said above:
Bush is a rightwing cheerleader. His 0nly opinion is that the Republican right is his home team and the Democratic left is the opposing team.
He's a team player. He's not the one that develops the team plan -- he just pushes it along. Everything he did he was told to do by someone else.
Whether he's being manipulated or not, this guy believes he's the decider. Whether he really believes he has a direct line to god we'll find out.
One only has to go back to Reagan to know how much the press can protect the presidential office line on guff concerning the president: no hair dye, smart, awake, alert, engaged, knowledgeable, etc., etc. There probably wasn't much to tell about GHW, and they didn't hide much with Clinton.
When they turn around in a few years and start telling the truth about W, just remember to give them a big raspberry in chorus!
The press don't tell us the truth because they believe we're not asking them to.
That's why they still talk to Kristol and the whole PNACnut/repugnut panoply. Or any other non-news nut.
And like wot Paradis says!
Come on Kev...your not trying to take credit for politely calling "W" a f^(%ing dumb @$$. I was calling him a freakin dumb @$$ back in 2000. You dont hear me tootin' my horn....you and howard fineman...geesh
I don't think you have to make analogies with Bush. He is a typical rich kid, somewhat neglected, in the shadow of a famous daddy, not having to make any great effort because of his privileged background, which becomes habitual. A regular guy Yale frat boy learning to drink and carouse, which later gets out of hand. Living in the Bible belt, drying out means being born again and getting introduced to Evangelical notions such as Israel has a covenant with God. Irresponsibility is a characteristic of all alcoholic personalities, and he seems to think money grows on trees since he always had family wealth and Saudi connections to back him, which is probably why he became the King of Spenders as president.
The only trait that is difficult to account for is his distaste for American freedom and bully boy aggression toward the rest of the world. I guess that's just innate evil he was born with.
Kevin wrote: "I've long viewed George Bush as a temperamental conservative ..."
I've long viewed George Bush as a career white collar crook who poses as a "conservative" in order to gain positions of power from which he can enrich himself and his cronies and financial backers at the expense of the public.
And I've long been disappointed at "liberal" commenters who have been bamboozled by Bush's fake, phony, scripted, trumped-up, teleprompted, focus-group-tested, corporate-sponsored "neoconservative" pseudo-ideology and sit around, distracted, scratching their heads, trying to figure out what his intentionally incoherent BS is all about, while Bush and his gang of thieves-disguised-as-ideologues plundered and looted the country.
Luther,
In my experience the distaste . . . and bully boy aggression are after-effects of the booze.
I've seen this stuff more that I care to. The target of the distaste usually makes no sense, except it is usually whatever is keeping the guy from having more booze.
Bully boy belligerence and overall orneriness are pretty classic results of an alcohol-warped mind.
So yeah, add this to your already excellent analysis and I think it is spot on.
The reason why Bush's personality is so hard for folks to define is they don't or can't acknowledge that Bush is simply the end product of the revolution in American social behavior.
George W. Bush is not a nice person. Nice, in this instance, has nothing to do with morally good. It has to do with things like being polite, courteous and respectful of others. It has to do with recognizing other folks as your equals and treating them accordingly.
Bush can certainly be charming when he wants to be, but it's only because he wants to be. He can also call you a "major league asshole" and feel no different than if he complimented you.
Bill Clinton was/is the exact same way and it's because that's how society has trained them to think and behave. They are the product of the "Me Generation" and can't relate to the world except as its center.
Some folks might not like the comparison because they think Clinton did good things and Bush bad, and Clinton certainly did good things. But the most important thing to Clinton wasn't that good things be done, it was that Bill Clinton do those good things.
Mike
lUTHEr: I am only aware of
two WARE OF two "liberal commentators; jpon stewart and steven colbert. Please post the names of at leasat two others. Don't list Chris Mathews, he is a situational which callsinto question his liberalism or the quality of his Catholic education.
MBunge,
Pish tush. That is old-fashioned thinking which gets us nowhere. It is mostly about biology and genetics and little about society.
I know you'd like to think this is a character thing and we need to 'train' people a certain way but that is besides the point.
Yes, we need to train our children a certain way, but after that biology, reality and society take over.
Bush is a dry-drunk. Clinton is not. Most likely Clinton is an ENTJ, like Teddy Roosevelt, who's own daughter said "He wants to be the bride at every wedding and the deceased at every funeral." They both had great power and one was terrible, the other, not bad, not bad at all.
Luther: Can I clarify my last post now? I can't wait until I learn how to type.
I am only aware of two "liberal" commentators; Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert. Please post the names of at least two other "liberal" commentators. Don't name Craig Mathews. He is a situational ethicist which calls into question either his liberalism or the quality of his Catholic education.
In response to Pig above, why can't he be both? A criminal moron. Being stupid is no defense to a criminal act.
Anyone who attended college in the 60s and 70s recognizes Bush for the drunken frat boy he is and always will be.
They lie, they cheat, they pool their money to buy test answers, and still make C's. Then folks who graduate with honors end up working for them.
The problem is that too many in our society wish to emulate the cocky, closed-minded, herd mentality of his personality and mind set.
Not sure that this is really
Not sure that this is really the best example of a lie? Misrepresentation perhaps, but based just on the Tapper article, not a totally unjustified one
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