Doug Thompson: Is Bush Out of Control?

[paineinthearse]

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7218.shtml

From Capitol Hill Blue

The Rant
Is Bush Out of Control?
By DOUG THOMPSON
Aug 15, 2005, 05:46

Buy beleaguered, overworked White House aides enough drinks and they tell a sordid tale of an administration under siege, beset by bitter staff infighting and led by a man whose mood swings suggest paranoia bordering on schizophrenia. They describe a President whose public persona masks an angry, obscenity-spouting man who berates staff, unleashes tirades against those who disagree with him and ends meetings in the Oval Office with “get out of here!”

In fact, George W. Bush’s mood swings have become so drastic that White House emails often contain “weather reports” to warn of the President’s demeanor. “Calm seas” means Bush is calm while “tornado alert” is a warning that he is pissed at the world. Decreasing job approval ratings and increased criticism within his own party drives the President’s paranoia even higher. Bush, in a meeting with senior advisors, called Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist a “god-damned traitor” for opposing him on stem-cell research. “There’s real concern in the West Wing that the President is losing it,” a high-level aide told me recently.

A year ago, this web site discovered the White House physician prescribed anti-depressants for Bush. The news came after revelations that the President’s wide mood swings led some administration staffers to doubt his sanity. Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the President as a “paranoid meglomaniac” and “untreated alcoholic” whose “lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad” showcase Bush’s instabilities.

“I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did and reading what he wrote and watching him on videotape. I felt he was disturbed,” Dr. Frank said. “He fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated.” Dr. Frank’s conclusions have been praised by other prominent psychiatrists, including Dr. James Grotstein, Professor at UCLA Medical Center, and Dr. Irvin Yalom, MD, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University Medical School.

As a recovering alcoholic (sober 11 years, two months, nine days), I know all too well the symptoms that Dr. Frank describes and, after watching Bush for the past several years, I have to, unfortunately, agree with him. onversations over the last few weeks with longtime friends who work in the Bush White House confirm even more what Dr. Frank says and others have suggested. The President of the United States is out of control. How long can the ship of state continue to sail with a madman at the helm?

[kstewart33]

1. Do us all a favor

Don't post any more pieces from Capitol Hill Blue, okay? It makes great fiction, but it is not real.

[paineinthearse]

2. Sorry, I didn't realize you spoke for "all" nt

[speedoo]

3. The Coward IS a dry drunk.

That's definitely real. And the behavior of dry drunks is consistent with the description in the article.

I'm not a professional, but I have life experience with the issue. So part of the article resonates with me.

[Rude Horner]

4. I know nothing of capitolhillblue

or Doug Thompson, but I don't see what's so hard to believe in this article. In fact, I'd bet quite a bit of money that behind closed doors, Bush is a psychotic. I think we saw a little bit of that in the first debate with Kerry, where he was obviously holding back quite a bit because of the cameras and audience, but I firmly believe that when people cross him or disagree with him, he's not the "aw, schucks" texan that half the population seems to think he is.

[11cents]

5. Whether a particular story is hard to believe or not ....

...the fact is that Capitol Hill Blue prints fiction. For example, once I googled on the name of one of their "sources," someone described as an academic from a particular university, and found that the *only* hits for him were in other Capitol Hill Blue articles. They'd used the same name many times over several years, but if the guy existed at all the only thing he'd ever done was provide quotes for Capitol Hill Blue.

[paineinthearse]

6. Perhaps it contains some fiction, but

I am quite familiar with Dr. Frank's book / theory and judged this to be a well-written opinion piece.

Had I thought it to be fiction, I would have labeled it as such and posted in the lounge, or not at all.

[11cents]

8. Yes, you've heard of Dr. Frank's book

...and note that this CHB article cites the book, but there's no interview with Frank. He's only cited to lend the apparence of support to the made-up "evidence" from CHB's made-up "sources."

[buff2]

7. I agree

Look at how he handles reporters in his little press briefings...He gets so impatient if someone even remotely presses him to clarify an answer. His response is.."LET ME FINISH....just let me finish". The way he says it is so arrogant and rude...like he is the almighty God and you should bow down to him and never ask a follow-up question.That bastard has mental problems because his brain is FRIED from alcohol and drugs.

[DELUSIONAL]

9. This article is more than likely correct

From time to time we have seen tiny glimpses of the nasty mean side of bushie. And if you have read the "Fortunate Son" -- bushie has had mean out of control episodes.

By his own admission bushie is a "former" drunk -- although there are videos of a drunk bush after his claimed date to have stopped drinking.

Bushie's short term memory is all but gone -- he can't answer simple multi-part questions.

There is a reason that bushie only is seen surrounded by hand selected people -- at this point any pushing from an unsympathetic person will send him over the edge.

Although it would have been ideal politically to meet with Cindy Sheehan IMMEDIATELY to defuse the bad press he is now getting -- I feel that he would have had a psychotic break had that meeting taken place.

Bushie is a very primitive individual and he is NOT a leader -- he is a mentored individual and he is only as "good" as his mentor. bushie is has the emotional maturity of a 9 or 10 year old boy -- but since he has the name "bush" -- he assumes a mantel of leadership that he is no-where able to handle.

Bushie is holding a series of masks -- masks that are hiding his true character -- that of a spoiled rotten, self centered (narcissistic) 10 year old -- it is taking a tremendous amount of psychological energy to keep the masks in place during his public appearances.

People who work in close proximity to him will see behind his public image -- and the ones who are honest -- who had an idealized image of him BEFORE they went to work at the White House -- are probably rather sick of the rich frat boy -- so it isn't surprising that they would be talking about what they are seeing.

Bushie cannot keep his mask in place -- and he is probably under heavy medication to make him manageable. WHO is doing the controlling -- and WHO is medicating him?

[11cents]

10. Bush may indeed be bat-sh*t crazy

Anyone who observes him will conclude that he has "issues," to say the least. But relying on CHB's made-up shit with its made-up sources is -- not a good idea. CHB has been running this same "Bush out of control" story for years, BTW. Yes, everything's been about to come crashing down for *years* now. And before that, it was running very similar stories about Clinton. It's not partisan. And it's really just one guy entertaining himself. It's not a news source.

[DELUSIONAL]

11. WE at DU are mature enough to make our own judgments

The CHB article is only stating what has been obvious to nearly everyone DUer who had been watching any film footage of bushie's public appearances.

I'll bet we have a whole lot of psychological and Psychiatric knowledge here at DU -- and most of us would say that what CHB reports has a ring of truth.

It really doesn't take any background in Psychology or whatever to see that the little frat boy is having a hard time in his stolen job -- he can't handle the heat of the real world.

The CHB article could be dead right because -- a broken clock is right twice a day.

I don't believe most of what I read in the US corporate media. AND they sure as hell aren't going to point out that bushie looks awful -- and he is acting like a spoiled brat off camera.

[kstewart33]

12. True, but posting CHB material does not help DU's credibility

as a serious site. You might as well be posting the Onion pieces as breaking news.

Sorry to be harsh, but as a former reporter, it's cringing to see a source that makes The National Enquirer look like The NY Times, get posted at DU.

[wli]

13. as if the NYT has any credibility left

They're pure Pentagon shills.

[seemslikeadream]

14. CHB was credible enough for LBN

and please just speak for yourself.


Bush's Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=602189

[applegrove]

15. Of course he is out of control. He is a puppet. Triangulated & controlled

on many sides by neocons, Rove, & other nefarious types. Why he needs the medication. Why he needs the excessive excercise. He is disjointed & disconnected.