The Cheerleader at Annapolis: Somebody Should Tell Bush He Lost Iraq

[seafan]

The Cheerleader at Annapolis

By MIKE WHITNEY

It's pathetic to see the world's most powerful man, shunted into prearranged venues so he can pitch his snake-oil to college aged boys. That said, Bush's appearance today at the Naval Academy has got to be a new low for the White House public relations team. Apparently the only people buying the huckster-in-chief's bedraggled vision of a democratic Iraq are rosy-cheeked young men who dream of battlefields instead of girlfriends.

....

Bush loves the applause. He luxuriates in the warm glow of human affection. In many ways he is the consummate politician feeding his fragile ego with the ephemeral praise of complete strangers. Too bad, his only springboard to fame has been as bullhorn for right-wing fanatics and war-mongers. Now, he finds himself toddling on a narrower and narrower ledge, peering down into the abyss of defeat and disgrace.

....

Who could have dreamed that events would overtake Bush so quickly? A hawkish congressman takes the floor of the House and whispers "Withdrawal" and suddenly the whole neocon master-plan begins to unravel like a ball-o-yarn skittering across the kitchen floor.

The Bush team knows they're losing ground; and fast. That's why they dispatched poor Rummy to 4 TV talk shows on one morning alone. That must be some kind of record. Rumsfeld was reduced to rehashing the same lame gibberish the administration has been slinging for years, only this time, no one is buying. The air is hissssing out of the tire; the momentum has shifted. The country is tired of Bush, tired of war, and tired of Iraq.

Bush-fatigue has set in like an oily pall hanging over the nation.

....

http://counterpunch.org/whitney11302005.html

[Drum]

1. with all of the set-dressing and poseur moments these days,

Bush is practically making Michael Moore's movies for him...all MM has to do is edit!

[Cha]

9. bush makes it so easy

for Documentarist Extraordinaire Michael Moore!

[chat_noir]

12. liveoaktx could give MM a run for his money

check out this video compilation

http://www.canofun.com/blog/videos/bushpressconfdec205.wmv

http://www.canofun.com/blog/default.asp

[Neil Lisst]

2. Absolutely correct!

Team Bush has carried The Emperor's New Clothes to a level far beyond the fable. He cannot function before American crowds that are not fawning, largely gullible subordinates.

[DrDan]

3. I wish he wouldn't mince words and would tell us how

he really feels!

[Webster Green]

4. Great article!

Thanx for posting it!

[Zeke]

5. SEYMOUR HERSH...

And what'r s really wierd:
Bush actually believes things
in Iraq are going great, that
America is winning, his policies
are correct, etc.

Hersh's recent article basically
says: Bush is insane, lost in
his religious-fervor-la-la-land,
and won't hear bad news, won't hear
it.

[Hissyspit]

6. Why does Rumsfeld even have a job? Even his general was calling

him on his bullshit yesterday, albeit indirectly. Well, actually not so indirectly. Nominated, by the way.

[seafan]

7. "Iraq is over; we lost. Someone had better tell Bush."

This is Bush's "Victory Strategy"; stacking one deception on top of another like cord-wood and hoping the wary public will believe it; hoping they'll approve another zillion dollars for earth-poisoning ordinance; hoping they'll send another 2,000 sons and daughters into the Iraqi meat-grinder; hoping they'll sign off on the genocidal attack on Iraqi civilians.

....

All around him a palpable sense of desperation is setting in. Cheney and Rove are already manning the bunkers for next tsunami of bad news. Still, Bush is sent on his fool's errand; trying to appear popular in the last remaining bastion, where support is reflexive and perfunctory.

The war in Iraq is lost. John Murtha said it best:

"Oil production and energy production are below pre-war levels. Our reconstruction efforts have been crippled by the security situation. Only $9 billion of the $18 billion appropriated for reconstruction has been spent. Unemployment remains at about 60 percent. Clean water is scarce. Only $500 million of the $2.2 billion appropriated for water projects has been spent. And most importantly, insurgent incidents have increased from about 150 per week to over 700 in the last year. Instead of attacks going down over time and with the addition of more troops, attacks have grown dramatically. Since the revelations at Abu Ghraib, American casualties have doubled. An annual State Department report in 2004 indicated a sharp increase in global terrorism."

[Cha]

8. Mike Whitney has written down

so articulately what many of us are exasperately thinking about bush's rah rahs..

Nancy Pelosi said on Jon Stewart last night that the banners were behind bush to remind him of why he was there.

[cliss]

10. Well, Bush better enjoy that adulation and clapping...

because the Other Reality is quickly catching up with him. I think he realizes that now, that no matter how many "canned" audiences he pulls together, no matter how much hugging, tears of joy, and support he gets, it's all going down the toilet for Bush.

This is probably what a drug addict feels like: as friends and family start to get pissed about the addict's behavior, the addict gets more and more satisfaction and pleasure from the highs.

As the rest of the world starts to become more troublesome, those special moments with his "fix" start to feel better and better.....

[classysassy]

11. Bush the false speaker

we can't afford to close any more military bases,the unelected fraud want have any place to go and tell his lies in front of a captive audience.