The scene in F9-11 where Bush talks about his dog digging in the dirt..

[lostnfound]

He seemed to be happy there, comfortable. Not comfortable with the press, of course. But I saw a glimpse of a George W. that might have been comfortable with himself. He is a simple man who has been way,way,WAY overpromoted while struggling to live up to his father's image. Almost all men have a strong desire for their father's approval. Would George Sr. have loved his son if he had grown up to be a truck driver? Ever encourage him to find his own unique talents or interests?

George has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons at his disposal -- but it took a generation and tens of thousands of people to build them, and generations to create the corrupt political system that would put them in the hands of such a man. He is not the root cause, only a convenient puppet for disparate evils.

F9-11 is showing us a simple man who is fractured and splayed, whose character fault lines coincide with cataclysmic faults in the world at large. To be in his shoes..alternately puffed up beyond all reality and reviled as 'more hated than Stalin'? It must be hell on earth when reality seeps in. Does he have the mental power or the guts to chuck them all out -- Cheney, Rice, Rummy, Ashcroft -- and replace them with people of integrity? Of course not.

(Here's a plan, George: don't resign. Ask for Cheney's resignation, and appoint some decent, sane, intelligent person as the new VP. THEN resign.)

His administration is 'a miserable failure' and his actions have been irresponsible. Like a drunk driver. The Supreme Court, the corporations, the inert masses handed him the keys to the car. Enormous power amplified his weaknesses. But hating George Bush as a person is counterproductive. Firstly, in talking to his wavering supporters. Sometimes a cold slap on the face can wake someone up, but mostly it turns people off. Better to wake them with a firm hand on the shoulder. "No, your candidate is not evil, but he's a rather simple guy and a bit lazy, and he is being used. He's used by the very, very rich, and by crazy ideologues, to further their own interests, at great risk to us all."

Secondly, in focusing our attention on a person instead of on the problem. If we think our job is all done when George gets replaced by John, we haven't understood the problem. For example, above all else, George is The Corporate Candidate. He is also the Candidate of the Uninformed, the Disinformed, and the Uninvolved.

Too bad that Wealth is All That Matters in Texas, or George might have had a happy life as a truffle-finder.

[DeadHead67]

1. Amen !

[necso]

2. Very nice post....

but "W" is a manipulator and a poser from way back, who has used the crazies at least as much as much as he has been used by them. From choosing to portray himself as a "Texas Cowboy", using connections to avoid service in Vietnam, and laughing at the people that he has put to death, "W" has shown a pattern of "acting" that labels him as a "new conservative", long before the term became popular.

Moreover, he is indeed an evil man... deliberately and consciously evil. And while this is a hard message to sell to his supporters, leaving the door open to "ridding himself of bad influences" only increases the chance that he will find some way to stay in office --- which is simply intolerable. For only by rooting such men out of politics is there any hope for a return to respectful political discourse.

'W' is a "neo", and we must grant no mercy in word or deed to men of this ilk, men who are easy to identify by their acts -- the acts of entirely self interested pricks and assholes.

[wickerwoman]

3. I agree that "Bush is evil" is a tough sell

and we should pitch it a little lower for converts, but he _is_ in fact an evil man.

A simple, lazy man would not gloat about torturing and assasinating people the way GWB has in his State of the Union speeches. A simple, lazy man would not have mocked Karla Fay Tucker's last words. A simple, lazy man would not have told a reporter to go fuck himself in front of his wife and young son.

He's a bully who appeals to the inner-bully of many, many Americans. It's one thing to be unengaged and lazy and another thing to mock and bully those who aren't.

Fuck the truffle-finder. We've gone way too far.

[lostnfound]

4. I love your sig line.

Your points are well-taken.