London Sunday Times: "Humiliated" George W. slinks back to Poppy for help

[Bluebear]

The events of last week in America have an almost Shakespearean quality to them. It’s like some ghastly conflation of Richard II’s doom-laden “Down, down, I come” and Richard III’s “winter of our discontent”. Richard II is how Bush would like the world to see him — a king of noble motives brought low by injustice and fate. Richard III is . . . well, ask Karl Rove, the hunch in W’s back.

At the centre of this epic psycho-political drama is a royal family of sorts in a war for survival: the Bush dynasty, a story of a father and his son, their tortured relationship and what they have had to do to survive.

Last week George W Bush was forced back — once again — to the protective arms of his father. They call the first President Bush “Poppy” in the family, and it captures both the authority and the slight daffiness of the 41st president. His first son always lived in his shadow — both deeply admiring him and deeply resenting him, the way dauphins often do their monarchs...

Last week the dream collapsed in the sands of Anbar and the voting booths of the Midwest. The first son, who always wanted to make a name for himself, to escape the suffocating legacy of a presidential father, was forced by the American people to go back to Poppy.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2449573,00.html

[LeftCoast]

1. The British press can be brutal

:evilgrin:

[Bluebear]

7. Puts our press to shame! nt

[Ms. Clio]

9. It is our press -- it's by Andrew Sullivan

on edit, I would add that it's sprinkled with his signature delusions.

[MADem]

55. Well, he is American by WAY of the UK. And he is, indeed, still crazy

We should never forget that Andrew was "for this war before he was agin' it." And he was one of the last to wake up and smell the damn coffee!!!!

...Scowcroft was Condoleezza Rice’s mentor. He was part of the Bush famiglia, governed by the clan’s code of omerta. For him to be disloyal in public was a warning shot from the old man. But the son didn’t listen. Too many of us were deaf.

There is another irony. Poppy was prudent but not bold. W was bold but not prudent. If Poppy had been as bold as his son back in 1990 and had actually invaded Iraq, the coalition would indeed have been greeted as liberators in Baghdad. There would even have been enough troops to succeed in an occupation. The anti-American suspicions that the Shi’ites retained from their bitter experience of being abandoned in 1991 and the rapid deterioration in Iraq’s civil society during the sanctions regime of the 1990s might never have come about. ...

[IWantAChange]

53. Hello? Andrew Sullivan - American - Republican Blogger and

frequent guest on Politically Incorrect with Mahr. Pandering to Bush senior and the old guard rather than the voice of America being expressed at incompetence and failure.

[Bluebear]

60. Yes, been pointed out. Thanks!

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

2. Scathing!

Frankly, I find the entire article hilarious... But that's just me!

[Christa]

3. It's a beautiful thing

:evilgrin:

[texpatriot2004]

4. That's right, run on home little Georgie nm

[Raine]

5. Haw haw haw

:rofl: if Georgie wasn't such an evil asshole I could've felt sorry for him but....I DON'T! :evilgrin:

[EFerrari]

6. Busted!

:evilgrin:

[DURHAM D]

8. WOW - the Brits do this multi-generational monarch

watching so much better than we do. Thanks for posting.

[moodforaday]

10. Way to talk about cold-blooded murderers

I mean, come ON!!

The ironies are painful. If the father had been more like the son in 1990 the world might now be a very different place. And if the son had been more like the father in 2003, had responded to obvious errors and brought sufficient allies and troops to the task, he might have succeeded as well.

The *ironies* are painful? How about all the killing perpetrated by both Bushes is painful? How about CIA's subverting of several South American democracies painful? How about befriending America's enemies by the saudinista James Baker painful? Noooo, the *ironies* are painful. And succeeded - in what? In killing more Iraqis? In making Iraq safe for Bechtel and Carlyle? Is this Andrew Sullivan speaking, or is it Woodward, the tried and trusted court whitewasher to BFEE?

[barbtries]

48. yeah. not

to mention the implication that poppy knew iraq was a disaster waiting to happen but - you know, he wanted to let his little boy test his wings! he loves his son, and he is loyal, too loyal to even offer a word of unsolicited advice.

now the death toll for americans is nearly as high as the death toll of 911. and from what i understand iraqis have succumbed to the tune of - i read different numbers, but minimally 100,000, possibly as many as 650,000.

but you know it just wouldn't do to confront the boy. it was his first try running the most powerful nation in the world and ----eh. you get the drift. all bullshit. i'm way past the point of believing that any one of the bushes gives a rat's ass for any life other than his or her own. if in fact mommy and poppy had reservations it could only have come couched in terms that express all they give a rat's ass about. money, power, politics. i guess they know now that all those dead bodies actually do constitute a political mistake. a mistake for THEM, mind you. all that matters.

goodgawd they disgust and infuriate me.

[lady lib]

11. This is fascinating reading.

So Churchill once called Iraq the "ungrateful volcano." Hmmm. I'm guessing we can add that little quote to the pile of stuff that W didn't know before sending our troops.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

12. There are many dysfunctional families out there.

Most of them end up creating some degree of harm to society. This is just on a much grander scale. Lucky us. :hurts:

[femrap]

63. Jeb can never be allowed to rule. EVER. nt

These super-rich families are products of way too much inbreeding, IMHO.

[Olney Blue]

13. The dynamics between father and son are chilling.

[calimary]

14. True, and the rest of us are trapped in their miserable psychodrama.

Just fabulous... :eyes:

[sarge43]

15. I wouldn't say the Bush pack is worthy of Shakespeare, but

Eugene O'Neill or Arthur Miller could have done a number on them.

And I don't think there's any love in that bunch; as with everyone else, they merely use one another.

[Bluebear]

16. Here now! Bush read "three Shakespeares".

Remember?

[sarge43]

17. Cliff Notes or the Illustrated Classics comic books? n/t

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

33. The little booklets that come with Shakespeare fishing reels...

... eom.

[soothsayer]

23. maybe Ibsen?

[Leopolds Ghost]

28. Is she the one who did "Rhinoceros"? n/t

[KitSileya]

35. Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is the Norwegian playwright

who wrote A Doll's House (feminism in China is called Noraism after the heroine of the play,) A People's Enemy (about standing up for the truth, even tho' familial and commercial interests are heavily invested in the lie, and mass opinion opposes him,) Ghosts (about hereditary venereal disease,) and The Wild Duck, among others. The latter is perhaps the most apt - "If you take a person's 'life lie' from him, you also take away his life's happiness." In other words, the "life lie" is the delusions people believe in to make reality bearable, and its fatal effects.

[Hardrada]

25. Or Jean-Paul Sartre

Dirty Hands, No Exit, etc.

[charlyvi]

26. More Tennesse Williams-like.

Very intense, dark and twisted.

[shrub chipper]

41. and Babs

as Big Daddy

[charlyvi]

58. Bwahahahahaha! n/t

[Leopolds Ghost]

27. No, William Faulkner! n/t

[charlyvi]

59. Who brings us full circle to Shakespeare.....

It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury;
Signifying nothing.


Kind of fitting, huh?

[civildisoBDence]

61. DUHbya/Benjy will be watching the clock for two years now

slowly, slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y ticking away the hours.

Poor little fella, he deserves what Christmas got at the end of "Light In August" (aka "Bobbittization").

Newsprism

[Generic Brad]

18. Poppy's not going to live forever

If he expired who would bail Jr out?

[truedelphi]

21. But I thought vampires did possess immortality?

[Chomp]

19. Father-son psychodrama played out as

bloody global conflict. These people are just too odious for words.

Still, bump for a good piece YET AGAIN from Andrew Sullivan, an honourable conservative in the current climate.

[Diane R]

20. One of the best articles I've ever read. Highly recommended.

[shance]

22. Why was Bush Sr. meeting with the Bin Ladens on Sept. 10th, 2001?

and Bush Jr. was no where to be found, certainly not in Washington as his own father apparently was.

However, now George Bush Jr. seems to be the engineer and the scapegoat of it all?

Seemingly by his family no less, even when its pretty apparent now he knew so little.

Seems interesting, in light of so many obvious discrepencies.

[Psyop Samurai]

65. shhhhhhh.....

quick!... look over there...

;)

[grasswire]

24. I dislike this narrative immensely

It dishonestly paints Poppy as a person of virtue and merit.

We all know that is not the truth. It's a myth.

Andrew Sullivan? You're off on another venture into storyland. Deceived and delusional.

[anitar1]

31. I noticed that . Poppy was as odious as *.

Talk about arrogant. Poppy was so full of himself. I could hardly stand to see his face or hear his voice. It was obvious to me where Shrub's manner of contempt came from, that is for all of us peons. Both have the attitude.

[malaise]

36. Bingo n/t

[NJCher]

39. How naive is Sullivan?

Sullivan seems to have no clue that these wars the bushes start are more connected to a pilfering of the U.S. treasury than to a political aim.

He makes Poppy sound like a legitimate political figure when in fact he's just another stooge, like his son. Perhaps he plays a president better on TV but they're both tools.

How can he be so naive?




Cher

[UCLA Dem]

29. Disturbing and fascinating...explains so much.

[silverweb]

30. There's your "legacy," george!

Think Poppy might come visit you in the Hague -- or are you also counting on him to spirit you off to a luxurious but secure family compound in Paraguay for the rest of your miserable existence?

If only we could laugh at you without also having to cry for the massive death and destruction you and your entire rotten family have caused.

The Bush Legacy -- never to be lived down, forgotten, or forgiven.

[TheBaldyMan]

32. Sullivan is wrong about the first Gulf War

Poppy didn't go for regime change for very good reasons; fundamentalism was already a toxic miasma pervading the Muslim world, they didn't have a UN mandate and the Iraqis hadn't had 10 years of sanctions to eat away their capacity for a fight. It would have been a fool's errand & everybody knew this at the time.

The Gulf war had very limited aims, achieved them and the coalition went no further.

[Up2Late]

34. Oh Boo F*cking Hoo!

Are they trying to make us feel sorry for monkey boy, or is it just me who gets that from this Rupert Murdock owned rag? :nopity:

[cornermouse]

37. I think Poppy should have started Junior out on a smaller scale

and bought him a laudromat, car wash, or card shop instead of a whatever it was that he bought for him.

[ClintonTyree]

40. A 7-11 or a Burger King franchise..........

From Maureen Dowd in Wednesday's NYT, "Poppy Bush and James Baker gave Sonny the presidency to play with and he broke it. So now they’re taking it back".
Sullivan is not the only one to notice this dynamic within the family. The Bush's treat the world like it's their own little game of "Risk", pushing around plastic pieces representing entire armies and countries, seeing who can out maneuver the other and win the game. However, this is REAL life (something the Bush family is unacquainted with) where people DIE and entire countries are plunged into eternal turmoil because of their "moves" in their little game. The Bush's can merely pack up the pieces and put the board game away when they've tired of playing, but the real life carnage and death left in the wake of their little "game" remains for decades, perhaps forever, and becomes someone else's problem to straighten out. The Bush's have finished playing.
There will never be another Bush in the White House. The American people have grown tired of being pawns in their little games. An entire Corps of Psychiatrists could spend a lifetime trying to analyze and treat the Bush family for their myriad psychological disorders. We should relegate them to the deepest, dankest corner of American history, never to be resurrected again but never to be forgotten either. Our country can never be allowed to be manipulated by such a family again. Let them be a constant reminder of what can happen if a single American "royal" family is allowed too much power over the affairs of State.

[cornermouse]

42. Agreed.

With the exception of the 7-11 or Burger King. I don't think he should have spent even that much.

[Vidar]

38. Interesting stuff. Recommended.

[Vinca]

43. Somewhere there's a psychiatrist who could get rich off the Bush family. nt

[neilepi]

44. Outstanding article.

Journalism to be proud of. It's the first time that I've heard anyone articulate the ironies about the situations between the two men and the two wars.

Perhaps my "Family Business" t-shirt and coffee mug design
is really quite apt.

[illinoisprogressive]

45. Jr. Should have lived an independent life

Rather than follow his dad's life, Jr. should have looked for an independent life like becoming an insurance salesman, rodeo rider, whatever. Instead he stayed stuck in teenage years of alternately hating and loving dad.
Everything Jr. did was a failure to be bailed out by dad. Maybe if he lived a life independent of following dad he may have found success and saved the world 6 years of hell.
Maureen Dowd has an excellent article along the line of your article.

[Black Adder]

46. Chickenhawks going home to roost?

[Jack_Dawson]

47. It's JUST NOW starting to sink in

I'm so proud of my fellow Americans! And it's been a long, long time since I could lay claim to such a notion.

:toast:

[ramblin_dave]

49. Toles: Daddy gives W a thumpin'

[acmavm]

50. A lot of this article is just plain ridiculous. I doubt seriously that

Poopy could have maintained control over the Iraqis as easily as this article wants everyone to believe. Remember, this was AFTER the take over of the embassy in Iran and Islam and the Mullahs were feeling their oats. He certainly could have gone into Baghdad, he just knew that he wouldn't be able to hold onto the country, that sooner or later after eliminating Saddam the US itself would find itself at odds with the various factions. They wanted liberation, not occupation. Even with the possibility of control of the second largest oil fields in the world dangling in front of his eyes, Poopy and his bunch knew damn well that holding onto the country would be more trouble and costlier than it was worth. And they didn't make that decision from a humanitarian viewpoint. They made it from a business viewpoint. If it costs more than you make, it's a BAD investment.

And as for any decency in that family, it is totally non-existent. Trying to make a couple of ghouls who go golfing the day their daughter is buried sound normal is to deny the reality of the basic nature of those people. Talking about not normal, and then trying to make it sound like it's due to circumstances beyond their control. Bullshit. Grandpappy made the conscious decision to bankroll the Nazis. Poopy made the conscious decision to get his hands dirty in all kinds of CIA dirty tricks. That article makes it sound like Rumsfeld held a gun to his head and made him take the position as Director of the CIA. Bullshit. It was a position that Poopy used to his advantage, never doubt that for a minute. My own father always said the no one who ever ran an intelligence service should be allowed to run for the Presidency. He was right.

This article would have some merit if it didn't try to whitewash that family, their motives and actions, and the horrific effect they have had on this country.

[ignatius 2]

51. What a wierd person Bush really is. First he acts all manly and macho

with his mission accomplished and bring 'em in dead or alive act. Then he hides behind mom and Laura's skirts and now he brings in Poppy's henchmen to once again try to bail out his sorry,pathetic ass.

He is a psychologist's wet dream!

[IWantAChange]

52. A historic 'turn' occurred on Tuesday - the curtain is down and the Mommy's boy

has been exposed. The press was more emboldened in their questioning of the President and the spinal infusion into the Democratic Party may signal that Democracy and the Constitution aren't a thing of the past. Fear-mongering is over and Hope is back in vogue - thank you America for coming back to your senses.

[pberq]

54. Great article!

[elehhhhna]

56. What's GW really up to? The answer's here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2694674&mesg_id=2694674

[robbedvoter]

57. Isn't times.UK a Murdoch paper? "Humiliated" can't read this often

enough...

[cassiepriam]

62. Do any of these idiots think about saving America, or Iraq?

Or just their own skins?

[othermeans]

64. I think its more soap opera than Shakespeare Rove illegitimate, Grandma Bush

Playing gold on the day of her daughter's funeral and the two Georges...well I won't go into that

His (Rove) parents' marriage had ended on his nineteenth birthday-Christmas Day, 1969-when his father walked out. Then, shortly afterward, Rove received a second and more unexpected blow. In Illinois, he had dinner with an aunt and uncle, and, during a discussion of his parents divorce negotiations, they casually mentioned that the man he thought of as his father actually wasn't. "I literally, I think, dropped my soda," Rove told me, in one of three long interviews we had in his office in the West Wing of the White House. In a family of five siblings, he and an older brother were the children of another man, whose connection to his mother had been kept secret, at her insistence, all the time he'd been growing up

http://www.bnfp.org/neighborhood/Lemann_Rove_NYM.htm