Reply #29: He's a manipulator and incurious. [View All]

[CBHagman]

It's not that he's stupid. I don't know what his IQ is or what genuine skills he has. I seriously doubt he ever had to develop any skills besides a memory for grudges, shmoozing, and manipulating. It's not as though he ever had to worry about his future.

He has a trait I've also seen in a co-worker of mine who takes knee-jerk right-wing stances on most things: he simply lacks intellectual curiosity. I honestly don't believe he'd care if he saw nothing but Kennebunkport and Crawford, plus the occasional golf course or ballpark, for the rest of his life. Have you ever heard of him taking an interest in paintings, films, theater, a range of sports, music, or novels? Have you ever heard of him really listening to people with different viewpoints? Yeah, I know that he claims to be bipartisan and patient and a listener. It's all bunk. He just wants yes-men and women, the compliant wife, the defeated enemy, the affront paid back.

He's manipulative and actually appears to be good at picking out the sore spots of others and exploiting them. He's also given to projecting his own sins onto others (i.e., trying to paint John Kerry as dismissive of our allies). He generally delegates the dirty deeds, though, so the lapdog press generally buys the myth of Bush as a nice, affable guy.