Like father, like son By Sidney Blumenthal

[kpete]

Like father, like son
Bush's cranky, feeble defense of the Iraq war at Monday's press conference echoed his father's political meltdown.

By Sidney Blumenthal

..................

President Bush's staggering mismanagement of the Iraqi occupation, making the old colonial "savage wars of peace" appear by comparison as case studies for modern business schools of benign competence, has until recently served his purpose of seeming to defy the elements of chaos he himself has aroused. By stringing every threat together into an immense plot that justifies a global war on terrorism, however, he has ultimately made himself hostage to any part of the convoluted story line that goes haywire.

Because Bush has told the public that Iraq is central to the war on terror, the worse things go in Iraq, the more the public thinks the war on terror is going badly. Asked at his press conference what invading Iraq had to do with Sept. 11, Bush seemed so dumbfounded that at first he answered directly. "Nothing," he said, before sliding into a falsely aggrieved self-defense -- "except for it's part of -- and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack."

.............

Perhaps Bush's bizarre summer reading, according to his press office, of Albert Camus' "The Stranger" is responsible for his mélange of absurdities, appeal to an existential threat, and erratic point of view, veering from aggressor to passive observer. Would a staff aide have the audacity to suggest that he read B.H. Liddell Hart's military classic, "Strategy"? "Self-exhaustion in war," wrote Liddell Hart, "has killed more States than any foreign assailant." It was a lesson in restraint the father understood when he stopped short of Baghdad.



more (short ad first)at:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/08/24/bush/

[gulliver]

1. Bush doesn't even have the intellect to wish he were half ...

... the man his father is. And his father is an ass. There are no words in the English language to express the smallness of Junior. His character is a freakish epsilon, infinitessimal but with a black-hole massive negative magnitude.

On edit: It's a good article, BTW, but I found myself thinking there is also a "like mother, like son" story to be told.

[bananarepublican]

2. "Because Bush has told the public that Iraq is central to the war on...

...terror(WOT? my insertion), the worse things go in Iraq, the more the public thinks the war on terror is going badly."

This seems to be a key point. Democrats could use this by asking every right-wing-pundit-interviewer they come across, "So do you think Iraq is the central front on the war on terror?". Pundit replies, "Absolutely!". Democrat then asks, "So how is Iraq going?".

In almost all cases I would expect said right-wing-pundit-interviewer to uncontrollably spew forth psycho-babble until a commercial break came to his/her rescue.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Goddamn.

Sid Blumenthal certainly does carve Our Celestial Dear Leader up with ease, facility, style, flare, finesse, elan, savior faire, brio and amazing regularity.

Man has da' Chimp's number down cold.

[badgerpup]

4. I wish, oh I do so wish...

...that people BESIDES my lovely DU brethern and sistren understood that it is not possible to wage a war on an abstract concept.

According to my Random House Webster's College Dictionary....

Terror noun 1. intense, sharp, overmastering fear.
2. a person or thing that causes such fear.*
3. violence or threats of violence used as coercion or intimidation
4. informal a person or thing that is especially annoying or unpleasant.

*some historical figures, like Genghis Khan, Ivan the Terrible...or historical periods, like a plague, or The Terror that Paris experienced "apres moi".

[NJCher]

5. visualizing is easy

Love Sid's articles. Some good descriptive adjectives:

"....staggering mismanagement."


"centrifugal forces...father's presidency."





Cher