I read this article at The New York Times (reg. req’d) on Sunday morning and it upset me so much that I knew I’d have to do a post on it. I showed it to a couple of friends and got similar reactions. Author Robert Draper was given rare access to the president and his inner circle for a book that I can only assume the White House thought would be sympathetic. So then the question becomes are they so out of touch that they think this is a sympathetic characterization?:
(I)n an interview with a book author in the Oval Office one day last December, he daydreamed about the next phase of his life, when his time will be his own.
First, Mr. Bush said, “I’ll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol’ coffers.” With assets that have been estimated as high as nearly $21 million, Mr. Bush added, “I don’t know what my dad gets - it’s more than 50-75″ thousand dollars a speech, and “Clinton’s making a lot of money.”
Then he said, “We’ll have a nice place in Dallas,” where he will be running what he called “a fantastic Freedom Institute” promoting democracy around the world. But he added, “I can just envision getting in the car, getting bored, going down to the ranch.”
or this:
(F)ully aware of his standing in opinion polls, Mr. Bush said his top commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, would perhaps do a better job selling progress to the American people than he could.
The presidency of the United States as a used car dealership. And that’s just in the first six paragraphs. The entire article is filled with contradictory statements by Bush, often made in succession. A major (and rare, if not singular) concession by Bush is buried deep in the article, and thrown out almost as an aside:
Mr. Bush acknowledged one major failing of the early occupation of Iraq when he said of disbanding the Saddam Hussein-era military, “The policy was to keep the army intact; didn’t happen.”
But when Mr. Draper pointed out that Mr. Bush’s former Iraq administrator, L. Paul Bremer III, had gone ahead and forced the army’s dissolution and then asked Mr. Bush how he reacted to that, Mr. Bush said, “Yeah, I can’t remember, I’m sure I said, ‘This is the policy, what happened?’ ” But, he added, “Again, Hadley’s got notes on all of this stuff,” referring to Stephen J. Hadley, his national security adviser.
Given such a violation of policy resulted in untold deaths of American troops and Iraqi civilians and well as make it so much more difficult for his plans to democratize Iraq, is it too much to expect him to remember what happened?
No More Mister Nice Blog and PERRspectives have their own takes on the article as well.
One Trackback To “George W. Bush looks to the future“
it wasn’t the disbanding of the army that resulted in the untold deaths of american troops, it was the entire war in the first place.
What a crass dunce Bush is.
There must be something in the
Roach MotelWhite House kool-aid. Look at all the early-onset Alzheimer’s in that place.won’t he be surprised when he’s looking out of cell window at the hague after he does a stint at GITMO
If he and members of his administration are not immediately tried for war crimes, the Hague will cease to be relevant.
wait…wait…don’t tell me. he’s going to go on vacation first, right?
Don’t ask an obtuse sociopath to exhibit any sense of feeling or understanding at the damage he has inflicted. Bush (a) is wholly unaware, and (b) could give a fuck.
“Then he said, “We’ll have a nice place in Dallas,” where he will be running what he called “a fantastic Freedom Institute” promoting democracy around the world.”
What a total fucktard asshat.
Mr. Bush,
Feel free to step down and take the much needed time off now. Seriously,
we can handle things without you. Just be sure to take Cheney with you.
Bush is a freak. Given how bad the truth about him actually is, this authorized, sanitized biography is as good a picture as Draper can paint without sounding totally ludicrous.
So this isn’t from the Onion?
So this fucking prick sits in his office daydreaming about what kind of money he’s gonna make on the speaking circuit once he’s out of office. Really? I wouldn’t hire this motherfucker to cut the ribbon on a new car dealership. In those passages Bush comes off as bored, lazy bureaucrat. Then again, I understand that was the same attitude he brought to the office when he was elected Governor of Texas (however, his enthusiasm for the job tended to increase when he was signing prisoners’ execution warrants). No wonder Dick Cheney pushed himself into the VP spot. It’s a win/win for him: he gets to call all the shots, and this lazy stooge takes all the heat. From now on, I’m just gonna call chimpy President Idontgiveafuck.
A new poll finds that 71 percent of Israelis believe that the United States should launch a military attack on Iran if diplomatic efforts fail to halt Tehran’s nuclear program. (AP)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860903.html
I wonder how many Israelis would like us to wash their windows and take out their garbage?
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“Is it too much to ask him to remember what happened?”- It is not hyperbole to suggest that all the excessive drinking of alcohol done by this war criminal when he was younger has caught up with him. It would also not be too surprising if the best way that he has to cope with all the problems that have enveloped him today is to still seek refuge in a bottle. But that will not provide an answer to the many problems that this country is faced with, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
ashabot @ 10:
Remember, this was an (allegedly) ex drug addict/alcoholic who, in his forties, still couldn’t figure out what he wanted to do with his life. If people (not the hardcore 28% biblethumping closet cases)had known his true story, I don’t think even life long Republicans would have voted for this freak. He remind them too much of their own drug/alcohol addled, underachieving, fuckup sons.
If there is any justice in the world, Bush’s post-presidency speaking engagements will be confined to testimony at the Hague.
Why is it seem that only history will punish Busy and Cheney? How unjust and dejecting.
mystic @ 13:
Well, you are already paying for them to enjoy universal healthcare and a generous welfare system.
But when Mr. Draper pointed out that Mr. Bush’s former Iraq administrator, L. Paul Bremer III, had gone ahead and forced the army’s dissolution and then asked Mr. Bush how he reacted to that, Mr. Bush said, “Yeah, I can’t remember, I’m sure I said, ‘This is the policy, what happened?’ ” But, he added, “Again, Hadley’s got notes on all of this stuff,” referring to Stephen J. Hadley, his national security adviser.
I wouldn’t count on that. Hadley is the dingleberry that “forgot” that it was in doubt and left the yelowcake uranium part in the State of the Union despite the CIA warnings the claim was false and unsubstantied.
Mr. Hadley told reporters at an unusual 90-minute briefing that he had
apologized to Mr. Bush for the failure, which he blamed on a lapse of memory.
“I should have recalled at the time of the speech that there was
controversy associated with the uranium issue,” Mr. Hadley said.
After initially denying that the White House received the warning, Mr.
Hadley admitted that a White House inquiry has discovered he received
two memos and a phone call from Mr. Tenet in October raising objections.
http://www.theage.com.au/artic.....37079.html
First, Mr. Bush said, “I’ll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol’ coffers.”
There you have it. The guy with the nuk-ular launch codes is none other than Boss Hog. This is both shameful and hilarious at the same time.
The only positive thing I can think of about Mr. Bush is what an embarrassment he must be to his mother.
Bush could make a great stand up comedian with his unconscious self-humiliation, he really does not know he is a comic and that is even greater humor.
The whole idea of the International Court in the Hague is that it can apprehend war criminals. So if you’re going to commit war crimes, all you have to do is resign your membership and go ahead and commit a holocaust, knowing you have immunity. Wierd.
And the people who will pay to hear him speak are who?
There is a special condo being built in hell for him.
Why on earth would anyone pay that kind of money for Bush to speak? He’s not good at it. At all.
It’s almost as if English isn’t his first language…
So Bush visits Iraq today so that the not so bright in America don’t hear about the British getting out of Basra which has been handed over to somebody, but not the
This demystifies Bush - understanding what we’re actually dealing with is helpful when you consider the remarkably surreal things he says. It helps to understand the real deficiencies in the mentality and personality of a psychopath and why they’re so dangerous.
How we protect ourselves from him and others like him is another problem ~~
What is a Psychopath?
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How about rummys firing done by show of hands? Thats a decider for ya?
This is the three stooges with enough money to have good PR guys. They’re incompetent empty suits. Their policies are bankrupt, and could never stand scrutiny. He’s vain enough to think that someone could write a book to revise the disaster of his presidency.
We were all looking for insight to the diabolical minds that have been behind this evil doing, and what we get is Curly, Larry and Moe without the humor.
*As to the anecdote about dissolving the Iraqi army, if the policy was not to disband, dont you think a phone call to Bremer by the decider would have undone that pretty quickly??
Renee in Ohio @ 25:
Renee, have you seen this?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pw4Bhmm22xo
“So then the question becomes are they so out of touch that they think this is a sympathetic characterization?” —-> A: Most likely.
In his “fantastic Freedom Institute”, I hope he includes the price of freedom: Torture, Abu Grhaib, Gunatanamo, the destruction of a nation, and the list goes on far too long. Feel free to add your own. I certainly won’t be visiting anything Bush creates.
As typically Republican, he’s already forcasting how much he can make on speaking engagements– PROFIT (from destruction). I’d pay him to stay out of my town.
Seriously how many people outside of that loyal 28% would pay hard earned money to hear Bush speak?
He is a beaten man and the worst President in our Nations history. The only contribution he will offer to history
in the future is revisionist obfuscation in non-linear, convoluted, gobbletygoop.
“I was bored in the summer of 2001 so I headed off to the ranch for a few months. When i got back to ‘work’ they made me go read to some children. That bored me so bad i drifted off. Someone whispered something in my ear that coincided with a dream i was having so I took the time to let the dream play out. When I woke up I realized my life might be in danger. While the boredom was gone it occured to me (or someone) that it might be a good idea to get me onboard Air Force One and fly well away from any possible targets (*my minions*)…ah, I mean Al Qaeda might attack.
“For a while this solved my boredom problem because I was able to concoct various ways of diminishing the Constitution and keeping me safe from democracy. I also had a pre-emptive war on Iraq to sell and a war in progress in Afghanistan.
“The problem is the news out of Iraq is the same every day. Very boring. So you can just imagine how excited I am about our upcoming war with Iran. I am thinking about calling it ‘Operation Pretzel Logic’ because if the people of the United States buys this one then I can do pretty much whatever I want.”
Isn’t all politics pretty much used car salesmanship? If they can’t sell their ideas and get people to vote for them, they’re not going to win. We all know they’re lying when we elect them.
I still say it’s Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome with Bush though. Not just funny speech patterns.
Nicole Belle @ 29:
Amazing…This guy can Talk…WTF happened……ahhhhh…I know…….Alshiemers…or bi-polar..or something like that….I don’t think he’ll be getting any BIG money for speaking…..WHY?
Renee in Ohio @ 25:
Where did I hear someone say that Bush speaks like we’re 5 year olds, slow and deliberate, because that is how his handlers have to give the words to him?
Don’t write him off so soon. Iran martial law, no elections.
Why would he to to all the trouble of removing habeus corpus unless he intended to use that situation?
xargaw @ 21:
Who gives a damn about that feted womb? Between the two of them - they are about the most amoral pair of irretrievably soulless “humans” on the whole planet. And I think I’m being generous - please - someone rephrase that one for me . . . .
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xargaw @ 21:
No, too be embarassed, you have to have the capacity for feeling shame. Babs Bush is everybit the sociopath her fuckup son is. Embarassed? Shit, she’s gonna go to her grave railing against all the godless liberals who were out to make her little darling look bad. I’d almost swear they based the Angela Lansbury character in “The Manchurian Candidate” on Babs Bush.
You know that old shack down at Crawford…That’s going to be his library
xargaw @ 21:
To be embarrased you need humility. His mother has none. In fact, she has none of the qualities one would like in a mother. For instance, the day after her daughter died - the day after, for crissake - she and “41″ went golfing. Golfing! She is devoid of all humanity. Her son, Mr. Idon’tgiveafuck, is just like her.
Erroll @ 14:
In general, I don’t like to second-guess people’s sobriety (anymore than I like to play the ‘Have You Been Saaaaaaved?’ game), but I have the impression that Mr. Bush’s sobriety was built on a sham. He didn’t find Christ; he cut a deal so his marriage wouldn’t go down the tubes, and the Lord got nothing.
It is my understanding that sobriety requires being honest with oneself, and honesty isn’t exactly George’s strong suit. The image of the good and godly man who talks to God and cries on His Shoulder must remain suspect in the light of Bush’s continued and evident failings of character. It’s not about perfection, but there has to be a visible effort somewhere.
[I’d almost swear they based the Angela Lansbury character in “The Manchurian Candidate” on Babs Bush.]
Bingo.
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gene214 @ 38:
You know…..I knew there was something there I just couldn’t put my finger on……you hit the nail SQUARELY ON THE HEAD…….
I don’t think I’d seen that exact video, Nicole, but I saw something similar. I think it was used to make a case for some sort of brain damage.
I think he’s probably just in over his head, given that he’s absurdly underqualified for his current position.
What else wuld anyone expect from such an idiot? And as far as Isreal goes, screw them. They are way more trouble than they are worth….
Jo @ 40:
Babs Bush is the classic blueblood patrician mother - cold, detached, ruthlessly ambitious -like a character of of a Shakesperian play. That’s why when 41 was President and the media was trying to pass her off as some kind of cookie-baking grandmother type, my first reaction was “Who the fuck are they trying to fool?”
Isreal’s democracy didn’t ’spread’ shit in the middle east except war. What makes anyone think a democratic Iraq would?
I hate to say it, but here’s goes: who cares? And I mean that as a legitimate question- who cares? if Americans- on the whole- have proved anything over the last 6 and a half years, it’s that by and large they DO NOT CARE about what it is that Bush has done and continues to do. If you want to keep running thread after thread outlining the outrageous/criminal/treasonous/incompetent actions put forth by Bush- by all means, continue. Person