Our President suffers from a dry drunk pathology, which he's passed on to the whole nation.
This past weekend, I caught the last fifteen minutes of what looked like a long interview with President Bush by Bill O’Reilly on Fox.…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - Dave Nalle
You've watched 15 minutes of one interview and gotten this whole delusional fantasy from it. Who's not living in the real world again?
The elitism which drips from your every word is particularly telling. I love the way your 'companion' left the room in disgust because she found Bush's honesty and simplicity 'uncultured'.
This article tells me a lot more about you than it does about Bush, and the picture it paints is of someone who is a sniveling, intolerant elitist. Not very attractive.
As for your predictable knee-jerk hatred of 'frat boys', it's clear you have no idea what you're talking about. First off, Bush was never in a fraternity, although Skull and Bones could be considered a similar type of organization. And the point of all these groups is to teach leadership skills, and that's a good thing. Just about every president we've had has received some training in leadership and management in a fraternal organization, be it a fraternity or a masonic lodge, and they're more effective for it.
What I'd suggest is that you stop scoffing at what you don't understand and don't choose to inform yourself about and perhaps stick to forming opinions based on fact rather than your petty, elitist prejudices.
Dave
27 - Jet in Columbus
He was a cheeleader though Dave and you know what they say about college cheerleaders!
28 - BriMan
Dave-
Adam never said Bush was in a fraternity - he said he acted like the main man in a fraternity.
I understand the analogy because Bush has surrounded himself to a man with people who are agreeable to the point of being overly loyal. In other words, there isnt anyone within his administration acting like a devil's advocate or giving him a sanity check. I personally cant remember a President who did not have someone like that. He is running a fraternity of brothers (and sisters) in the Whitehouse - he never needed to belong to one before for the analogy to hold water.
Done with Dave-now...
"This Imaginary War totally dominates the man, as though that’s what he gains importance from, not from having to solve actual problems like healthcare."
Shrub's presidency was floundering before 911 - he couldnt figure out what to do or how to do it. 911 defines his presidency and the irony is that the worst terrorist attack (non-state sponsored) in world history happened on his watch. And yet some people believe him when he says he is the only fish in the ocean that can keep the sharks away! Sure. That's some good ditch weed he's selling.
Dry drunks can be notorious for NOT attending AA meetings. Besides Bush is a better candidate for NA bein's he was all about the Bolivian marching powder.
Shrub's faith is clearly a political crutch. He is not stupid and he recognizes that w/o faith he personally gets nowhere in politics. This is an age-old method for would-be world leaders. I dont put much stock in it even if its true. Why should I trust him to correctly interpret God's Will when he cant even properly interpret a citizen's poll pre-election? Or Congressional intent? Or the definition of human dignity for that matter?
29 - JustOneMan
Oh Adam....you are so on target...i too long for a President who like most presidents -- are usually honest. It seems like ages ago since William Jefferson Clinton---such an honest and sincere man..as president would address the world on TV...pucker is lower lip, squint his eyes and wag his finger at us telling us ONLY the truth....oh yes I long for that honest man!
30 - JustOneMan
Oh yes Jet I agree...you know what they say about cheerleaders! tee hee...your wit is amazing!
31 - Dave Nalle
What's wrong with male cheerleaders? In high school I got a varsity letter for grabbing cute girls by the ass and lifting them over my head. Are you jealous?
Dave
32 - Adam Ash
Dave,
I can't see where an analysis of how Bush's mind works stamps me as an elitist.
Requiring a modicum of sophistication from a world leader hardly stigmatizes one as an elitist -- more likely, as someone who quite sensibly wants said leader to exhibit some ability to appreciate complexity.
The world is a complex world, and Bush doesn't appreciate complexity, which is one reason we're in the mess we're in.
Your calling me elitist (perhaps the pot calling the kettle?) doesn't change that mess one whit. Do return to your usual reasonable self, Nalle. Quit the name-calling. Conservatives usually go to name-calling when they don't have an argument, like your buddy JustOneMan.
Adam
33 - Nancy
"Honesty" is not synonymous with W. Bush. Whatever else he may be, including "simple", he is not honest & never was. Shoot, the guy lies out of both sides of his mouth, sometimes in the same damned speech, and once or twice in the same damned sentence! Additionally, just because he's oblivious to the mass murder & harm he's created thru false pretenses and lies does not excuse or absolve him from culpability. It may in a court of law, but then no one gives credibility or respect to lawyers, either, precisely because of their penchant for getting off clients guilty as sin on technicalities spun around intent. At the least, most certainly the blood of the American troops who have died in his fake war is on his hands & his head. I can only hope that divine justice will see to it they're on his soul as well when he comes to judgement.
34 - JustOneMan
Oh yes Adam....your are so right! That boorish Dave doesnt undertand our of high level of intellect...his simple mind cannot understand how complex the world really is my good fellow...he is stuck in this neanderthal thinking that there are these terrorists who will do anything to destroy this so-called country of ours! These types cannot even comprehend that all we have to do is all believe that Bush is a moron, blame him for everything wrong and not give him credit for anything going well...Why this ignorant Dave truly beleives that we have virtual no unemployment, stock markets at an all time high and not even one terorists attack since 911 ...my my...they are so cromagnon in their conservative views
From The Left...JustOneMan
35 - Mistress La Spliffe
Interesting article, Adam, and interesting speculations. I love the Hannah Arendt shout-out, something to think on . . . I hope you can seperate the banality of harm from the banality of evil the way you have. For the sake of the United States and its citizens.
I wonder if the gap between the American head of state and the communication of complicated ideas with the citizenry doesn't have something to do with the extension of the celebrity system into the presidency.
The celebrity system has been working in U.S. politics for a long time; it seems to me that the natural conclusion of this is a president like the one you have now who's no more capable of really coherent communication with his electorate than Britney Spears would be.
That is, after enough years of personality politics, a candidate or head of state can be presented to the electorate as a package standing for such-and-such, rather than one who is responsible himself for presenting ideas and actively persuading or engaging with the people through debates, press conferences, or open town hall meetings.
And most people just won't think of deserving better.
36 - Nancy
Interesting postulate, Ms. La Spiffe, and very true. Few public figures in ANY field since the advent of TV have really been themselves instead of prepackaged, slicked-up, highly spun pieces of merchandising to the consuming public, more as if they were some kind of soft drink or car than an actual person with opinions & policies, and most of them seem to go out of their way to avoid having just those very things, lest they lose votes from some segment of the populace. The end result of course is that you get exactly that: a plastic piece of merchadise formulated by a coalition which doesn't necessarily have any kind of policies or agendas other than seizing power & keeping it; a figurehead with little or nothing behind it except the personal ambitions of the puppetmasters who choreographed it in the first place, viz. G. W. Bush.
In light of Adam's article here, I must say Doonesbury certainly hit W's persona on the nailhead when he draws W. as nothing more than a sound bite/asterisk signifying nothing.
37 - Georgio
Adam this may be a little off thread because it is about the speech he made yesterday and not the Fox interview but am I the only one who caught this,,,He said we are going to set BENCHMARKS in Iraq as opposed to time-lines or STAY THE COARSE ,,that was supposed to be the BIG MESSAGE to the American ppl..But then the Iraq President comes on TV and says " NO ONE is going to put benchmarks or tell us what to do WE ARE A SOVEREIGN NATION..and then he added that raid that took place yesterday by the American troops with out my knowledge will not happen again..So my question is this ..didn't the Iraqi Pres just tell the American Pres to GO FUCK YOURSELF.at the very least it tells me that in the end we will have no say as to what Iraq will become and that we have wasted 3000 of our fighting men lives and Billions of our money and we got nothing for it,,
38 - Nancy
Good point, Georgio - and it gave/gives W. the opportunity to say, in turn, go fuck yourself we're leaving you to your own devices then; go ahead - defend yourselves. Of course, he won't, because that would be admitting he was & is & continues to be wrong. Which gets right back to the issue of someone totally out of touch with reality.
39 - JustOneMan
Oh you go girlfriend! Nancy you are so clear in your assessment...we on the Left say to the Iraqi people...Go fend for yourself! If it means the killing of thousands of innocent people and the destruction of your fledgling democracy so be it! As long as we can use it to get Bush to admitting that he was,is & continues to be wrong!
From The Left...JustOneMan
40 - Lee Richards
# 26--Dave: Fact or fantasy: Bush has for many months and on multiple occasions articulated his Iraq policy as "stay the course". Now he says "we've never been stay the course". Who, indeed, is not living in the real world?
41 - Georgio
JOM..I'm so glad you had the good sence to come over to the left but why do you still sound like a fanatical right winger ..You will have to start sounding intelligent and reasonable if you want to be one of us.
42 - gonzo marx
the whole "stay the course" bit is just too much....
Bush had mentioned "stay the course" over 40 times in broadcast speeches/press conferences
yet now it's "we've never been about "stay the course"...echoed by shill Tony Snow...then Snow comes out and claims only 8 mentions
so it appears WH staffers either can't count and don't save W's speeches
or...
somebody is..:::gasp::: fibbing
Excelsior?
43 - JustOneMan
Georgio - thanks for the welcome...I just have to take my time maybe start smoking large quantities if pot, switch to a Vegan diet while I wear my leather jacket shoes and belt, maybe some xtc on weekends, by a prius and fly on my private Jet, go to a couple of PETA rallies while I take my anti-depressant medication that has been developed via animal testing and ill be there I am sure!
From the Left---JustOneMan
44 - Adam Ash
Isn't it bizarre how the Bush lot think they can get away with anything -- like nobody notices if they say "stay the course" a gazillion times and then claim they've never been about it?
Nobody in my lifetime was this bizarre in high office. It really boggles the mind. They can't even take responsibilkity for their own phrases. Talk about being out of touch -- they're out of touch with themselves. If everything they say wasn't what they meant, what do they mean? Ever?
What planet are they on? It's beyond lying and dishonesty -- we may have to coin a new word, that may not exist in the English language. What do you call what they're doing? Fibbing doesn't cover it. It's some kind of dreaming, some kind of drifting out of sight, some kind of cosmic oblivion. We need a new word. Anybody got a suggestion?
Adam
45 - JustOneMan
Oh Adam....pure genius...why do we all get together and blog and shout at the same time...
"Liar, Liar Pants On Fire!!"
Wow wouldnt that raise the level of discourse in this country!
From The Left....JustOneMan
46 - Georgio
Adam our new member JOM has got the answer the word is LIAR ..I am tired of politicians using terms like MISLED or not telling the truth..Kerry is finally using the word to describe Bush and he calls him a LIAR ..if only he would have said it sooner..he does not FIB or mislead us HE LIES call him what he is A LIAR..
47 - Asdam Ash
JOM
In comment 45, you get quite funny. Thanks. Once in a blue moon, you hit the spot, but there's an awful amount of waste along the way.
Maybe you could guest blog on my blog. Just click on the URL next to my name and leave a comment.
Adam
48 - Dave Nalle
JoM. Sarcasm becomes you. You should stick with it.
Dave
49 - Jon Sobel
I like the way Dave Nalle drops in and accuses the author, who is merely passing on some impressions and ideas, of "elitism," which everyone knows has become a right-wing code word for someone who actually thinks. This article tells me a lot more about you than it does about Bush, and the picture it paints is of someone who is a sniveling, intolerant elitist. Not very attractive. That kind of ad hominem attack isn't like you, Dave. And you don't even attempt to back up your accusation. Is Adam "elitist" because he points out what everyone in America knows, that Bush is "unsophisticated?" If not, then what did you mean?
50 - JustOneMan
Jon..you tell him how dare Dave...that illiterate low life defending that knuckle dragging president of his! We on the left are so much more aware of who is and isnt intelligent...why just the other day I was watching the evening Liberal "Gospel Reading and News" by that genius Jon Stewart as I was reading for the 5th time Al Frankens wonderful literature "Lies And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them"...oh my he is up there with Shakespeare!
Such an unsophisticated lot these Republicans!
From The Left...JustOneMan
51 - Georgio
Oh my God..the LIARS are back already ...Read my comment on #38...Now Tony Snow said that the PM of Iraq did not say what he said even though I saw and heard him say it on TV..Snow now says his comment was lost in transmission and taken out of context ,,LIARS
52 - Mark Schannon
I'm with Jon on this one. Adam wasn't pretending to do the authoritative psychological analysis of the Bushman, he was raising questions and offering potential rationales for Bush's bizarre behavior.
As for JOM, he just rearranges the same words over and over again to attack his phantoms, so I suppose we should tolerate it in the hopes that he gets so confused, he forgets where BC is.
But I'd expect you to be more specific in your criticisms, Dave. I don't know how much of Adam's speculations are true--I do know that he got me thinking about Bushie's behavior in a different way--and that's a good thing.
In Jameson Veritas
53 - Dave Nalle
Jon, this article made me even more physically ill than Adam's usual writings. It's creepy and unwholesome and horribly bigoted. My issue is not with his repetition of the usual ridiculous talking points about Bush, but with his disdain with any part of our culture which doesn't fit into his east coast leftist elite viewpoint of the world. I grew up in that culture and was lucky enough to move out into the world and into the rest of the country and have my horizons expanded. It depresses me to see someone who is still steeped in that bigotry and totally unaware of how mindlessly intolerant he is.
I try scrupulously to avoid saying that anyone who lives here 'hates america', but Adam has convinced me that he hates most Americans and their values, and that adds up to very much the same thing.
Read this paragraph again:
Bush was a gulf away from them because of one big quality, or lack thereof: he came across as utterly unsophisticated. He was to a different manor " nay, universe " born. So much so, he bordered on the simple-minded. He conversed on the level of a high-school C student. My companion was so disgusted by what she called this “low-end” quality that she left the room.
If you can read that and not find the condescension built into it repulsive, then perhaps you're drinking from the same well of loathing as Adam is.
All I can say is that if the choice is between the sneering leftist elitism displayed in the article and Bush's 'unsophisticated' facade, then I'll have to live with the idiotic war and lack of progress on cutting pork, and see what we can do about them in the next two years.
Dave
54 - Jon Sobel
If you can read that and not find the condescension built into it repulsive, then perhaps you're drinking from the same well of loathing as Adam is.
No wells of loathing need be invoked, just a recognition of different perspectives. What's "elitism" to some is merely the exercise of critical thinking. If I'm an elitist because I'd prefer a President who can think and speak like an educated American, than I'm proud to be an elitist.
55 - Mistress La Spliffe
That's not just condescension. There's a real question, inherent in the 'came across.' Adam points out soon after what sort of family Bush came from, and it's certainly not a family that's representative of average Americans, nor one that shares their values.
Or do you consider "Bush's 'unsophisticated' facade" representative of average Americans? That they enjoy being misled about their president's character? Who's condescending now?
And in terms of a great demonstration of mindless intolerance, nice one on suggesting you'd rather live with an idiotic war - one in which your countrymen die - and egregious pork barrel politics than the heartfelt, if "creepy" musings of Americans who disagree with you.
56 - Jon Sobel
I mean, "then I'm proud..."
57 - Lee Richards
Dave, How about addressing the substance of the post, if you can, rather than getting in such a twist over the style that offends your populist sensibilities. If your conscience, principles, integrity and loyalty to country allow you to continue to accept docilely an idiotic war, wasting your tax dollars on pork and debt, sleeping with Falwell and Robertson, and blithely ignoring neocon expansionism of government bureacracy and power over you, then by all means support the Buffoon-in-Chief.
58 - RedTard
Bush must have something going for him if he drives the leftist nuts to this level of hatred. It must really piss off Adam and his ilk that this unsophisticated idiot has outsmarted them at every turn, from Yale scores to being reelected president.
BTW, that shit about how listening to the president made your pansy elitist ass so ill you had to leave the room is hilarious. Keep informing the masses how out of touch you are from reality. I'll do my part by posting and keeping this garbage at the top of the heap.
59 - RedTard
"ignoring neocon expansionism of government bureacracy and power over you"
Taking of money through taxes = power over you. Democrats promise higher taxes which means more government power. The lost ability to have phone sex with someone in Torra Borra without worrying about being listened to is insignificant compared to the loss of property rights. Most of the leftist talking point 'rights' are theoretical bullshit with either zero or a tiny handful of victims.
The real lost property rights effect thousands or millions and are easily verifiable. The Kelo vs New London decision being the most recent. Left leaning groups also fight property owners for rent control, to stop land use on environmental grounds, and for additional government intrusion into areas of the free market for 'our own good'.
60 - Bill B
The whole stay the course thing is pretty bizarre. It's either a calculated attempt to snuggle up to the 'benchmark' (see timeline/cut & run) thing as if it were where they were purposefully heading all along, or the leader of the free world is seriously nuts.
The first really requires some heavy duty intellectual calisthenics (not to mention amnesia), the second is just plain scary.
I tend to think the first but the problem is that there has been so much that our pres has uttered that, while not directly pointing to the nuts angle, definitely points toward the detached somewhat simplistic and superficial and yes unsophisticated, that it's only a stones throw to psychotic.
Now I don't believe that but who knows.
Even if it is the first, exactly how stupid do they think we are?
He's strayed so far from the ranch that if he were to come right out and say
he'd probably get a 20 point approval jump because people would finally see that he'd drank some reality koolaid.
That's how far he and his yes men cabal have drifted.
I thought your article was interesting Adam.
I think Dave may be spearheading a new vein of pc; You're an America hating, elitist, east coast, pinko if you dare call a spade a spade. I do think the quote he cited was an example of you putting forth a strong opinion, but it was tasteful.
I should note I've seen this ridiculousness before.
You're an elitist and intolerant if you exhibit any disgust with the narrow, intolerant, exclusive *values* of the religious right.
Frankly I'm sick of it.
61 - Adam Ash
I always find it bizarre when people who have more money than me call me elitist.
With the exception of one or two CEOs, all the Fortune 500 CEO's are Republicans. How the hell can Republicans call Democrats elitist?
I'm sure Nalle makes more money than me and probably has shares and extra capital socked away. Me, I'm struggling from month to month, but I'm the goddam elitist.
Listen, I can't afford to be elitist. I can't see plays, they're out of my range. I get my books from the library. Sometimes I'm so broke I take my last twenty bucks and buy tuna in cans so I know I can eat a can of tuna a day for the next 13 days, and not starve.
Me elitist? Nalle, you've got to be kidding. I've never seen the inside of an opera house or hung out in a five-star gourmet restaurant in my life. Such elite things are beyond my humble existence.
You're the elitist. Your smug, personal, ad hominem, and uncalled-for attack on me proves it. I don't have the elitism to call anyone out of the blue "a sniveling, intolerant elitist."
But you sure do. I bet, if we took a BC poll, and used this particular discussion as evidence, most BCers would agree with me.
Adam
62 - Lee Richards
Red: I couldn't agree more that the power to tax is the power to destroy. So, would you like to talk about the billions of our tax (and borrowed) dollars wasted on an "idiotic" war, and grabbed for pork by the Bush neocon 'left-wingers'?
63 - JustOneMan
Adam how right you are! How dare these people who make more money than you! These elitist probably didnt even smoke pot excessively, had the nerve to work and study hard, even show up for work on time an sober! How pathetic they are as they saved their money invested wisely and purchased a nice house! While the rest of us liberals sit here at the bus stop reading our library books as we go down town to score some crack and cheap beer!
This just proves how out of touch these damn Republicans are!
From The Left....JustOneMan
64 - BriMan
JOM-
Thanks for the masquerade - it confirms the right's acceptance of straw men with forked tongues. Entertaining to be sure, vacuous to be certain, mind-numbingly idiotic as the cherry on top. You need a hobby - something that will grow glial cells or extra layers of epidermis.
Adam-
Dave is not an elitist - he is even worse - an apologist for the elitists. If you steal the language of the left, you are smarter than they are - that's his MO.
The RW has been so wrong so often that they have lost the ability to properly determine the right course of action. We can see that in Shrub's (downplayed to be sure) reactionist rhetoric of late - the deep state of denial, the continuing use of the boogieman under the bed, denying the denial, revising the history of their own making, talking accountability while passing the buck, and my favorite rationalization of all - the WMDs are there - we just havent found them yet! These people are consummate victims of their own groupthink - willing reality to bend to their perspective. It is kinda sad is what it is. Their actions have had serious consequences for all of us to be sure but I really feel sorry for them that they are so "out -of -the- loop" of what people think about what they are doing - not just domestically but all over the world.
Time to let the apologists take over the thread again.
65 - RogerMDillon
"Wow wouldnt that raise the level of discourse in this country!"
Right. Because you have done so much towards that pursuit.
66 - Dave Nalle
I always find it bizarre when people who have more money than me call me elitist.
You make the mistake of confusing elitism with wealth. There's not an automatic connection there. Plenty of people have worked hard and become wealthy and still retain ties to their roots and retain respect for other people. And there are plenty of others who aren't wealthy who are arrogant enough to think that their intellect or their particular set of beliefs or where they live of their lifestyle make them better than others.
It's not a matter of wealth at all, it's all about whether you think you're inherently superior to others. Hell, I know some people who think that the fact that they have not pursued wealth makes them superior to the wealthy.
With the exception of one or two CEOs, all the Fortune 500 CEO's are Republicans.
Let's see a source for that. Last I checked the wealthiest people in America are overwhelmingly democrats.
Here's a list of the top 10 with their political affiliation:
Bill Gates - Independent/Democrat
Warren Buffett - Democrat
Sheldon Adelson - Republican
Larry Ellison - Democrat
Paul G. Allen - Democrat
Most of these guys donate money to both political parties, but those identified here as Republican or Democrat gave overwhelmingly to the indicated party. Gates and Buffett make very few political contributions and gates splits his fairly evenly despite being nominally a democrat.
How the hell can Republicans call Democrats elitist?
Because of the overwhelming arrogance and attitude of unmerited superiority which they assume when they look down on lesser beings?
I'm sure Nalle makes more money than me and probably has shares and extra capital socked away. Me, I'm struggling from month to month, but I'm the goddam elitist.
Isn't it ironic. A good example of how elitism has little to do with money.
Me elitist? Nalle, you've got to be kidding. I've never seen the inside of an opera house or hung out in a five-star gourmet restaurant in my life. Such elite things are beyond my humble existence.
Those are all just material things. They don't define elitism in any way. They are just stuff you can buy.
Dave
67 - gonzo marx
anybody else find it Ironic that Dave is tossing around the whole "elitist" thing...
when his own blog is titled "the Elitist Pig"
mebbe it's just me...
heh
Excelsior?
68 - Dave Nalle
It's called intentional irony, gonzo.
Dave
69 - gonzo marx
but i do so love the graphic, Dave
we'll have to get you a nice powdered Whig fer Xmas
heh
Excelsior?
70 - Zedd
I have spent many of commutes after listening to one of his speeches on the radio, consumed with the very question that you have addressed. HOW??
I think that it is impossible for a man who thinks to be able to decipher what goes on in a simple mind. I think that you may have over "thunk" it because you think.
I truly believe that our President is just a simple minded man. You’ve met them. You start a conversation with them and you think that it is going to go somewhere but all you get are a revolving turnstile of weak proverbs most of whom barely relate to the topic at hand. You end up giving up trying to have a real conversation and end up nodding, feeling a real liking to them and somehow admiring them for being so simple and yet being so ernest. These men, often very nice and likeable, have developed a coping mechanism. Not really understanding the world, they have learned that people are impressed by sayings, aphorisms, maxim, dictums, truisms or clichés; especially if they are stated as if they are based on a larger truth which we all acknowledge (which they have no real grasp of either).
He’s learned a few tricks. I think those same tricks worked for him in his frat-like social environment. They worked for him certainly after 911 when everyone was looking for the next best slogan to “heal” the nation. When the war started, all hell broke loose with those tiny chunks of cleverness!
Listening to his speeches, the use of these slogans is used to replace content. “Stay the course” IS the speech; so is “cut and run”, “axis of evil”, “evil doers”….. What confirms my suspicion is how he will pause after dropping one of these “nuggets” and look up real proudly bouncing up and down a little and smirking at the audience as if to check for their level of impressed-ness.
I don’t even believe that he understands “faith”. I think he knows that it is something good that people say you are supposed to do if you are good too.
I think that he is a simple minded man who has been placed in a very powerful position and he is just doing what he has always done, WING IT.
Reagan used them too......
So did Forest Gump......
71 - Zedd
Dave: "east coast leftist elite viewpoint of the world"
Where I'm from they just call it..... THINKING and I'm not from the east coast.
Incase you weren't aware, that phrase was made up by spin doctors for simple minded people to use, to refer to anyone who thinks and whos ideas they don't agree with. It is a well thought out phrase and it was deceminated with thought and precission. Like a missle it made its target to your brain and now you spit it out as if it was your own and you have an entire philosophy behind it... You were fed it subtlely, so that that the real elite may gain power over you, run your country, send our boys and young ladies to be killed all so they can get another notch on their belts (nothing more). If you can pry your mind from the blarring of their bull (no pun intended) horn, chose your most original thoughts.
72 - Bill B
You nailed it here Zedd
also here
It's one way they energize their base. "Hey, they're laughing at you! You gonna just sit there!"
73 - STM
Gonzo Marx said: "a nice powdered Whig fer Xmas."
Are we sending Dave to the British Parliament? He'd love it there. More hot air than the hand-dryer in a public-bar dunny.
74 - Eleanor
Zedd said - "You've met them. You start a conversation with them and you think that it is going to go somewhere but all you get are a revolving turnstile of weak proverbs most of whom barely relate to the topic at hand. You end up giving up trying to have a real conversation and end up nodding, feeling a real liking to them and somehow admiring them for being so simple and yet being so ernest. These men, often very nice and likeable, have developed a coping mechanism. Not really understanding the world, they have learned that people are impressed by sayings, aphorisms, maxim, dictums, truisms or clichés; especially if they are stated as if they are based on a larger truth which we all acknowledge (which they have no real grasp of either)."
This same description could be applied to any high functioning Aspergers individual. Not really understanding the world, they compensate by using the strategies you mention. Learning how to impress with sayings and aphorisms is just classic Aspergers.
When Aspergers' people get into government you can guess what happens: over-regulation - love for rules and procedures, obsession with targets, "straight line thinking" - focusing specifically on one or two main problems, lots of nominalisations and misunderstood figurative language, taking enormous often dangerous risks, lack of empathy, naivety, difficulty seeing from other peoples perspective and difficulty separating fact from fiction which leads to a reputation of being a liar.
All these Aspergers traits will naturally influence the resulting policies and political decisions.
Chaos ensues...
75 - Zedd
Eleanor:
Strangely enough I actually considered Aspergers among many other alternatives to try and understand this current phenomenon that we've come to know as leadership.
The one thing is that he is too animated. I have people who I am close to who have Aspergers and they tend to be Mr. Spock like and they tend to be inquisitive. Our fearless leader seems to not want to be bothered with "learnin".
Perhaps if we all put our minds to it we will come up with something. Thanks to Adam for getting us talking about it out loud instead of wrecking our brains in private or whispering at dinner parties with people who we really trust.
I had given up and just concluded that he is just simple minded. I often imagine his parents cringing, even wincing during his speeches. I think that sometimes they must just crack up and high five each other thinking "who would ever think that THAT one would ever be president".
I cant listen to his speeches. I end up flushed so bad until I get light headed. The cringe factor is way too high. After the comical element (which is priceless amusement!) wears off it gets too be too much. I feel too embarrassed for him.