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
76 - Adam Ash
Dave:
I checked "elitism" in my dictionary, because I've learned to question much that comes out of your computer.
Here's what it says:
Elitism:
1.the belief that some people or things are inherently superior to others and deserve preeminence, preferential treatment, or higher awards because of their superiority
2. the belief that government or control should always be in the hands of a small group of privileged, wealthy or intelligent people, or the active promotiuon of such a system
3. government or control by a small, specially qualified or privileged group
I sure as hell don't fall under any of these statements. I don't think I deserve superior treatment at all in any way, or feel or act privileged at all. I slam Bush, for sure, but I don't think that makes me elitist -- I think that makes me anti-elitist.
You, on the other hand, ARE elitist, according to all three definitions. For example, you always seem to be going on about how rich people deserve lower taxes than the rest of us, etc.
I said with the exception of 2 or 3, all the CEO's on the Fortune 500 are Republicans. Then you change the argument and pick a couple of rich people who are Democrats. Well, I could pick rich people who are Republicans, starting with the Wal-Mart family, and let me tell you, my Republican list will be way longer than the Democratic one.
Jeez, you argue like a spoilt child -- er, elitist.
Adam
77 - Zedd
Elitists
I do believe that the Bush's are actually Yale educated Easterners who have a long "aristocratic" lineage going back to English nobility.
Our fearless leader says his favorite pass time is clearing brush as if The Ponderosa was in his veins. However notice that he didn't claim to have a "likin" that takes a lot of expertise, like rustling cattle. Its just clearing brush. You don't need too much training or actual experience to know how to clear brush.
Since I don't have that much property, my hobby is picking up grass clippings.
78 - Adam Ash
Zedd:
Thanks for the grass clippings line. That was pretty damn funny. It's made my day.
79 - troll
Adam - it's worse than your examples...Dave has written that the rich (who 'have the most to loose' whatever that means) should govern the country
and that precisely defines an elitist
80 - Zedd
In some strange and perhaps sick way, I'm think I am going to miss the prez.
Its like we are all in some Madd TV skit or something. Its so funny that you don't laugh. You are just amazed that you are experiencing it.
Seriously, its funny exept for the 100,000+ dead souls which makes it just plain Dali(esque). Real sad, dark, shapeless and distorted; depressing and still fascinating like a horrible wreck.
We will all need therapy after this is all over.
The party faithful republicans, for a disturbing case of denial. And the rest of us for Post Traumatic Stress Dissorder. For now, we are all just coping.
81 - Adam Ash
Zedd:
What a great comment.
You've nailed how it feels to live in America today.
"You are just amazed that you are experiencing it."
Indeed. I feel we're all stuck in a Bush distortion of reality, living inside Bush's butt in a way.
We will all need therapy after all this over, for sure.
Adam
82 - Nancy
The question has been posed repeatedly in this thread how the hell Forrest W. Gump was able to attain the presidency? That's easy: his extremely elitist, extremely wealthy, extremely connected Mummy & Poppy BOUGHT the WH for him, both with money & by calling in favors from their connections on the USSC, who were only too happy to discharge their obligations to Poppy Bush by zeroing out millions of voters' ballots & throwing the election to Junior. That's how.
83 - Nancy
The question has been posed repeatedly in this thread how the hell Forrest W. Gump was able to attain the presidency? That's easy: his extremely elitist, extremely wealthy, extremely connected Mummy & Poppy BOUGHT the WH for him, both with money & by calling in favors from their connections on the USSC, who were only too happy to discharge their obligations to Poppy Bush by zeroing out millions of voters' ballots & throwing the election to Junior. That's how. He didn't NEED any brains to make it to the WH, just as he didn't need any brains to play BMOC in Texas, didn't need any brains to play Owner of several sports teams & corporations that subsequently tanked once he got his hands on them, didn't need any brains to get into an exclusive Rich Boys Social Club & Guard Unit ahead of 60+ other candidates, didn't need any brains to "gradurate" from Yale, etc. etc. etc. If you ARE among the elite, with lots of money & lots of connections, you don't NEED brains or the ability to think or even a connection with reality; you can buy anything you want.
As Gonzo says, nuff said.
84 - Nancy
The question has been posed repeatedly in this thread how the hell Forrest W. Gump was able to attain the presidency? That's easy: his extremely elitist, extremely wealthy, extremely connected Mummy & Poppy BOUGHT the WH for him, both with money & by calling in favors from their connections on the USSC, who were only too happy to discharge their obligations to Poppy Bush by zeroing out millions of voters' ballots & throwing the election to Junior. That's how. He didn't NEED any brains to make it to the WH, just as he didn't need any brains to play BMOC in Texas, didn't need any brains to play Owner of several sports teams & corporations that subsequently tanked once he got his hands on them, didn't need any brains to get into an exclusive Rich Boys Social Club & Guard Unit ahead of 60+ other candidates, didn't need any brains to "gradurate" from Yale, etc. etc. etc. If you ARE among the elite, with lots of money & lots of connections, you don't NEED brains or the ability to think or even a connection with reality; you can buy anything you want.
What always amazes me is that those who adore him & consider him to be one of themselves don't seem to realize that he WASN'T born a backwoods redneck from Texas, but is putting on an act, actually doing an imitation - and a very exaggerated one at that - of what HE thinks a Texas Good Ol' Boy sounds like. His version is not only exaggerated, but downright insulting in its near-mockery & condescention. I've noticed that the more he WANTS to offend or get a rise out of opponents, the more exaggerated his TGOB act gets. It's entirely a put-on. The smirk I always took as a signal that he was saying 'you all are so damn dumb you don't even know I've just put one over on you', so brazen that he congratulates himself on getting away with his insults & performances even as he's speaking them.
Yes indeed, W. is a piece of work, all right, but I doubt if he's as innocent as is being speculated. I think he's just sheer spoiled, selfish, self-centered, and elitist. In fact I KNOW he is, because he himself said baldly only last week that he feels sorry for people who oppose him BECAUSE THEY ARE WRONG. He's right; he's superior; he knows; he's The Decider; everyone else is trash & they're wrong. Period. If you ain't with him, you're against him, and on and on ad nauseam. That there must be some element of psychosis present is indicated by his recent declaration that space is his to restrict from the rest of the world. What next: is he going to pull up a chair on the beach & try to tell the waves not to come in? In his case, the attempt won't even have the same motive as in the original episode; he'll mean it.
Of course, to enforce & support his delusions of grandeur, he's been able to buy himself the services of the very best of the Low, the nadir of the mean-spirited and sociopathic, such as Cheney - a direct Gift from Poppy Bush - and Rove, who likewise worked for Poppy, except that Poppy had the good sense & shred of taste to fire Rove's butt as soon as he found out what Rove truly was like. Cheney, of course, brought with him his own little neocon coterie, all more than willing to lick Georgeboy's gen-yoo-wine Texas boots in order to gain control & impliment their regime, with W. a willing puppet.
This is the sorry state of our union. We're being lead by a shiftless, self-absorbed elitist who's been denied nothing in his entire life, and has had to answer to nobody for anything, no matter how bad his failures, backed by a full chorus of outright psychopathically agressive yes-men, none of whom has had to live or work in the Real World in which bad decisions have to be paid for by themselves instead of others, hence their nonchalance at sending 3,000 US soldiers to death & thinking nothing of keeping them there even if it means another 3,000 - or 30,000 - or 300,000 have to die as well in order to carry out their selfish & perverted private goals. This administration is composed entirely of elitists; they prove it daily by their attitude of righteousness & certainty of superiority to rule.
85 - Nancy
...??????!!!!! What th' hell? Sorry, all. I did NOT press any buttons asking the computer to post whilst I was still composing. Don't know what's going on here. I wonder if my computer was made by Diebold...?
86 - Jon Sobel
Nancy, it was probably your head falling repeatedly onto your keyboard as you staved off the exhaustion that comes from trying to argue with some of the nuttiness that has appeared on this thread.
87 - JustOneMan
Oh Nancy another fantastic post! Your insights are breath taking! But Nancy you and I are of the "same mind" we have the same understanding of Bush and his evil ways..why he tried to get me too,,,but it was the strawberries
Ahh, but the strawberries that's... that's where I had Bush. He laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic... that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and I'd have produced that key if Bush hadn't of pulled the country out of action. I, I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow Americans...
From The Left....JustOneMan
88 - Zedd
Nancy: I think he's just sheer spoiled, selfish, self-centered, and elitist.
I agree with you on this one also. But I have to add, a DUMB one.
As for being spoiled, selfish and self centered, my friends in TX who have worked in law firms that have had dealings with the Bushes say just that. From the time he was in his late twenties when his dad was trying to get him into the business, he would request a document at the last minute that would have the entire law firm staying in way after hours then he'd come in several hours late, in his convertable while every one had been waiting for him to come in to evaluate then sign off on the document so that they could all go home. He would swing in all hyped, frat like and self important like a rich snot, treat the front office ladies like crap, spin in without even looking at the document, sign and leave..... Like the entire thing was just an extension of an ongoing party that he was at, yet people had been there till the wee hours of the night having to make arragements for their kids care, etc but he had no sensativity. It was his world with his rules. Not an ounce of gratitude. Perhaps he had to "giddy up and mosey (in his convertable) on back to the ranch to clear sum brush".
Or perhaps this is when he was drinking heavily....
89 - Zedd
Dave sez: Because of the overwhelming arrogance and attitude of unmerited superiority which they assume when they look down on lesser beings?
So there are such creatures as lessor beings within the human family? Would that be an elitist view or is this you using irony again??
90 - JustOneMan
Zedd..oh how right you are ....I have a few stories myself about this little rich kid...like the time he was driving home from a party and ran off the road into the water and left a women there to drown...walked back to the party and had a couple of Chivas Regals and didnt tell the police till the next day...the nerve of them...
Why cant they be more like our party's royal family the Kennedy's
From The Left....JustOneMan
91 - Dave Nalle
Zedd, that would be me explaining how an elitist views the proletariat. See Adam's definition posted earlier and then compare the 1st entry in that definition with his statements. Then you'll have both a definition and a matching example.
Dave
92 - Martin Lav
"If Bush were machine gunning nuns from a window in the White House, 30% of the public would believe they were terrorists and if he screwed pigs on the lawn of the White House, they'd believe he was practicing a newly discovered Christian sacrament."
Geoff the blogger
93 - Martin Lav
The author touched on a very key point here that has nothing to do with elitism or the silver spoon in his mouth, it is his "dry drunk syndrome". It is well documented that typcical
"1 steppers" (becoming born again) as AA members typically call them, exhibit many of the characteristics of our President. The AA 12 step program has 12 steps that are designed to allow the alcholic to live life on life's terms without the aid of alcohol.
The typical 1 stepper approach does not provide these tools and therefore the untreated, non-drinking alcoholic continues to exhibit many of the signs listed below:
- grandiose
- impatience
- abrasive, short
- stubborn, unwilling to change course
- frustration with things not going there way
The typical un-treated alcoholic would much prefer to be right than happy. The opposite of someone that shows acceptance and tranquility.
94 - JustOneMan
Oh martin so true! No if he were gunning down Rabbis or Mullahs we would know they were terrorist! He would declare a national holday and I am sure our Dems in congress and the senate would support him on that! After all we all know that Israel was behind 911!
From The Left...JustOneMan
95 - Zedd
JustOneMan:
I appreciate everyone's views especially because it allows me the privilege of getting a sense of what my world is like and how different people interpret things.
However I just wonder if your goal is to be an agitator. I'm guessing because you know that you will be out smarted if you actually express then argue for your own views.
I actually suspect that you don't really have any views other than those that have been reformulated by the spin doctors to those in our population that haven't mastered the art of reasoning or just haven't been exposed to a wide enough variety of thought enough to have real opinions.
Your comments smack on paranoia. None of your ideas about dems or liberals EXIST. They were just made up by really powerful people who wanted to fool you into voting a certain way so that they can remain rich, because they think we who are not to the manner born, are fools and really quite irrelevant. Rush is another pawn. The spin experts who work for the elite, understood Rush's profile. Ever wonder why they didn't anoint a Harvard grad as THE spokes person for right wing views. They know that he was a wanna be and that he NEEDED to be in the loop, he needed to feel like somebody and that he didn't have the reasoning skills to see what they were doing (using him). He was just glad to be in the loop.
I don't vote just democrat. I am not a joiner. I listen to the candidates ideas; their solutions... not emotional banter, you know.. Flag blah blah blah, sports analogies blah blah, God bless America (not everyone else... what a joke) blah blah blah... Basically what statements like that mean is NOTHING. When they do that they are just filling in time so that you think that they said something. How does a flag fix ANYTHING, feed ANYONE, pay anyone’s BILLS, and secure ANYONE?? Off course it doesn't. They know that but they also know that certain people will get distracted by a discussion on a flag and feel as if they (the candidate) said something profound and that they are capable to hold an important office (after all they love the flag.. What??). It’s not as if there is one flag and it is holy and is revered for its powers. There are millions of them, most of them made in China. The flag is just an idea. It’s not a real thing but that is how they get people like you. They are fully aware of what they are doing too (they are Ivy League grads).
So why am I ranting...
You seem like a really earnest, committed and salt of the earth sort of guy but I don't know if you know just how small, used, unintelligent and brainwashed you sound. I don't know if you notice that most people sort of play around with you like a cat with a toy mouse on a stick. If there is no fascinating dialogue they sort of lightly swat at you...
You can certainly keep up with what you do but you really sound uneducated. These people just smirk at you. I wasn't going to reply to you because I thought that you weren't worth it because of your seemingly low aptitude but I had to straighten myself out and realize that we are all in this together. The politicians work for us. I need not roll my eyes at your posts and not say anything to you. If you don't get the big picture, it’s really up to another fellow American to clue you in.
We all on this blog have a lot more in common than most politicians... Get clued in fellow.
I hope you really understand the motivation of my post. I realize that I will come across as being arrogant and that is not my intension.
96 - JustOneMan
Oh Zedd thank-you for your constructive critisisms. You are slowly becoming my Left Wing Idol! [Personal attack deleted] Why your words of encouragement only prove to me that I have made the right choice in switching sides...
Oh and thank-you for enlightening me that my left wing buddies in here are playing with me like a cat with a toy mouse....gee your are really smart! Does that mean I have to stop shitting in their food and water bowls?
Zedd thank you for your help you have proven once again that the left wing dumbs are so much smarter than us fools who wasted our time getting our MBA when we should have been listening to music and doing ETC!
From the left....JustOneMan
97 - JustOneMan
And Zedd arrogant no way!
98 - Zedd
JOM et all:
I did come off a bit arrogant didn't I.
I've often wondered what they do to students in the Business schools of America. How is it that so many of their graduates come out as if they did not have a comprehensive college education?
Perhaps they treat the liberal arts as a tolerated nuisance. I remember just how arrogant and yet thick the business students were when I was in school. In that sort of jock, high school quarterbacks way. They would take a Philosophy class thinking that it was going to be a breeze. They would waist class time arguing with the professor over meaningless points, totally missing the purpose of the exercise. They would brag about being "A types" and "bottom liners". About how they just wanted to get to the point. Not grasping the Socratic process. They'd interrupt saying "so what’s the answer?" looking board and impatient. If they were business majors who were evangelicals... oh boy.
This was in the early 90s when talk radio was in its hay day and Liberal Arts was thought to be the next thing to communism; liberal elitist brainwashing camps.
The students from the Science departments were fully engaged but many of the business students rolled their eyes through entire experience.
So without an APRECIATION for history, political science, anthropology, sociology, and philosophy how does one feel knowledgeable about social phenomenon. How do they feel competent about the mechanics of political systems if they have a disdain for the knowledge of the mechanism...
These groups especially in my neck of the woods where BUSINESS is king, view capitalism, entrepreneurialism, and all that is corporate as HOLY. That which pertains to humanity and culture is most interesting if it is carved in an emotional package, wrapped around an iconic image of some sort. However if it is dealt with straight forward with causality in the equation, it is evil, liberal and deserves to be ridiculed, ala Rush, JOM, O'Reilly and the Fox gang.
I never understood it.
But again it may have been the era in which I went to University or it may just be my neck of the woods, where we wish we could live the movie Wall Street.
99 - Jet in Columbus
Zedd, expressing yourself intelligently and from the heart is not arrogance, it's integrity.
100 - nugget
Zedd said:
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).
This is funny because it's only half true. Growing up in the deep south, I was immersed in this type of convoluted social line of defense. Some of these men are in fact simple-minded. Others are not, but remain slyly apathetic to a theatrical "thinker's" obvious judgement. This way your presumption of their idiocy is a playing card in their hand, not yours. I'm reminded of a girl I knew that had a fantastic voice. On top of being shy, humble, and staunchly conservative, she never cared about the glory. Unfortunately, no one will ever experience her charisma, stage presence, and sheer talent. The woman sounds like Kathleen Battle for crissakes. If push came to shove, and she HAD to sing to live, I'm sure she would as a consequence put many stars to shame. Unfortunately for the art world, she'll remain your average American Jane. She'll count your bills as a bank teller, sell Mary Kay products, and go home to her husband at the end of the day.
I'm also reminded of a furniture salesman that hated conversations that stretched beyond a paragraph. He loved spouting off such truisms, only he was very funny, and more intelligent than he led on. In the end I understood that he wanted such thoughts to remain private. That's very much how the deep South copes with divisive rhetoric. They just wear some pretense on their shoulder to get along, not necessarily to avoid truth. It works both ways, I reckon.
Albeit, I'd be careful (Zedd) how sure you are that some men are "simple."
101 - Al Barger
I started to type up a comment here, and it turned into a stand-alone column, Double Secret Bush Agent Adam Ash and the Banality of Moonbats
102 - Zedd
Nugget:
Please don't misunderstand me. First I have to make it known that I am not ridiculing anyone. And from my personal experience, there is a difference between the two types of people that we describe. The people you describe are people that I have also known ,even uncles of mine. They actually posses a great deal of wisdom and in the few words that they utter they can convey a lot. You are right, they tend to slyly spit out something here and there but you can detect that they are a lot wiser then they let on. They are just shy. And don't want to be bothered. Like you said, there is a lot of humar in their statements. Not the yuck yuck kind but subtle often teasing that sometimes takes you a second to get.
I got it..... JEDD CLAMPIT. Off course not as back woods but you get the picture. Wise with very little said.
I wouldn't put GW in that category. I dont think he's sly, shy or creative. I think he's just winging it. I think he doesn't know that he shouldn't put himself in these positions. I mean he was CEO, Govenor then President. (????) Its Forrest Gump all over again. He's just chuckling and sloganeiring his way through.
This is just my sense.
103 - nugget
Zedd: That's more clear, and I agree.
104 - Zedd
Al I didn't follow your remarks.
You don't like the prez and the republicans because they have not lead the country well but you hate the demz because if they had a chance to rule you think they might to worse?
Why do you think that?? I missed that in the peice.
Also you think that Adam is a double agent, posing as a dem to raise up the rep base.
WOW this base seems to need a lot of stimulation. Everything is being done to wake them up, most of it involves tricking them it seems (or just lies). They must be really reluctant to vote or just not wanting to vote for the available candidates if it takes such extreme efforts where like Fouste you sell your soul to the devil just to get them up and to the polls.
Its reassuring however to know that republicans know that they are being blatantly tricked and lied to by their leaders in order to get them to vote for them. For so long I thought ..... "they cant see it?" Wheeeew. So you do see it and you dont care, atleast they are not dems, right?
105 - Dave Nalle
I think Al's quandry is wondering why people like Adam say such blatantly idiotic things which make them and their cause look ridiculous and benefit their political enemies when they could just shut up and let the GOP destroy itself without their ham-handed intervention.
Dave
106 - Zedd
Dave
Why should Demz be scared to speak their minds because the Republicans may get mad and decide to vote? I've heard the Fox dumbells (sorry but it is sooooo true) say this over and over. Is this another rep strategy of "if you say it often enough it becomes reality"? Its silly.
Look the base is already going to vote.
A person like Adam WILL attract the disenchanted Republican. Those are your swing votes. Worry about them. Young urban professionals are who you need to coddle. Even they are sick of your BASE. They think they are a bunch of kooks.
Have you ever thought that Adam may be envibing the demz. There is so much that Liberals have felt like they couldn't say in these past years. Reading Adam is like getting a cool and refreshing drink of water. He is is great because he goes further than most people would dare go. He is comical and brilliant. He doesn't take himself too seriously which makes him that much more interesting, smart and apealing.
Demz and swinging Repz have been saying "What the????" regarding Bush since he took office. Adam went there and did a detailed analysis while making us laugh the entire time. It's priceless and it gave so many of us, as you can tell from the comments, a chance to exhale.
Just an unrelated thought.....
Why do Fox reporters always look disshevled like they have been running from the cops and just stopped into the studio to make a quick report. Not only them but Rumsfeld, and Bolton. Lets not forget that guy who was originally nominated for homeland security tsar. Whats with the pervert creep look. Brit Hume looks drunk, we know what O'Reilly's been doing. They look like they are living heavily in SIN.. is it just me??? Maybe.. Like John Stossel of ABC. Keep your eyes peeled on that one. Thats not going to end well. They'll find a Laosian midget tied up in his basement in compromising pictures with a duck.
107 - Adam Ash
Zedd:
Thanks for your kind words. We do what we can.
You've set me thinking: maybe I could turn my anti-Bush pieces into a one-man show. Make people laugh themselves into some enlightenment. Could be a lot of fun.
Adam
108 - JustOneMan
Oh Jet how right you are! In fact you have become the Poster Boy of Left Wing Integrity that has motivated me to switch parties...thank you emlightening me.
The more I embrace my new left wing Dmocractic party I am begining feel....feel...well so much better and smarter than anyone on the right! Before I use to struggle with using reality and facts to justify my beliefs. Now that I am on the left facts and reality no longer matter! Gee why did I wait so long!
From The Left....JustOneMan
109 - Christopher Rose
JustOneMan, much as I endorse your new role as joker of the week, as a long frustrated observer of the incredibly and increasingly insular American political scene, I must take a slight exception to your point - it's a long time since either of your leading parties had any meaningful relationship with reality or facts, to the entire planet's loss.
110 - JustOneMan
Chris???? Now I am really confused...didnt our party rally around that great american president reagardless of the fact that he looked all of the world in the eyes or that he, while under oath also lied...or the fact that we believe that somebody voted for something before they voted against it...or we democrats call Jimmy Carter one of Americas greatest presidents, or as the stock market booms, unemployment is at zero, minority home ownership is at an historic high and oil prices plummet we - "the democrats" are told by our leadership to scream the sky os falling the sky is falling"
Please help me understand what I am to believe in...
From The Left....JustOneMan
111 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I've been reading the comments here along with the article. I remember back to 2000 reading Bush's bio and finding out that he had tried to quit cold turkey from drugs.
I had gone to a few AA meetings as well as meetings from another anonymity group that is quite similar. I have a working knowledge of the twelve step program.
After watching him a few times in 2000 both before and after his election, the conclusion dry drunk came through loud and clear. The fact that he ran several businesses into the ground and barely knew squat about anything told me the guy wasn't smart enough to be president.
And Dave, I have conducted quite a few job interviews and you get a very clear picture of a person in one minute.
112 - JustOneMan
Ruvy...Its always grand to hear from you our "Left Wing Prophet". Yes, you are credit to our party! And dont forget to maik your ballot!
Ruvy, pray tell, based upon your extensive interviewing experiece I am sure you may be aware and may even have first hand experience of Israeli standards and protocols of interviewing towel boys at Gay Bath Houses and for public urinal clean up so please go on...what else can you tell "just by looking" at Bush!
WOW! I am even more amazed that we on the left are not only of superior intellect but have super powers such as yours?
From The Left...JustOneMan
113 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
JOM,
The act gets old. Real fast. Try sitting yourself down, opening up a word document and writing real satire, if that is what you really want to do. It don't mattter to me what side you take. If it disgusts me, believe me, I'll let you know. And I'll also let you know if I like it. Otherwise, stick to the (un)real deal - or is it diehl?
114 - Al Barger
Dave Nalle summarizes the point of my response nicely in comment 105. That Mr Ash thinks folks might "laugh their way to enlightenment" by reading cheap anti-intellectual nonsense like this "banality of harm" column is indicative of why the Democrats are in such trouble.
A few moonbats might look at stuff like this and laugh, but it's not because it's funny or witty, joyful or at all insightful. It won't be pleasure or real enjoyment, but the bitter satisfaction of shared hatred.
Meanwhile, even most people who don't much care for the president would look at this shallow smugness and hatefulness and avert their eyes. Yuck. If voters look at it as a choice between bumbling Republicans versus the likes of Adam Ash and the Daily Kos, even a lot of nominal Democrats will hold their noses and pull the Republican lever. That's a big part of the reason these schmucks have held on to Congress as long as they have.
Zedd, do please note that I am not a Republican. I am a Libertarian. I have run for office repeatedly against Republicans. Specifically, I have never, ever voted for anyone named Bush.
115 - JustOneMan
Ruvy...thank you for your kind words..again the intellect on the left is so overwhelming...its nice to know how to treat a fellow lefty! WOW!
From The Left...JustOneMane
116 - Zedd
Al
Libertarians I get. However not of the G. Gordon Liddy variety.... Too angry and don't know when to compromise and look at the big picture.
117 - Al Barger
Yes Zedd, I'm hip to "don't know when to compromise." I've probably erred a bit on the side of being too strident at times. Plus, I will admit to liking G Gordon Liddy.
Some of our people can go a little overboard. Ideology can trip you right up- even if it's a good idea. Dogma is dangerous, like the Kevin Smith movie.
I try to be as careful as possible to check my ideological expectations against observed facts on the ground- but then you also have to be real careful about not torturing reason to make the facts fit the ideological model.
118 - Bliffle
"I thought to myself: how can this unsophisticated man come from the Bush family? His father is sophisticated. The family is a blue-blood, Yale-bred, upper-class lot."
I think he's just lazy. IMO, early in life he discovered that he could coast by, even in Yale, because of his family.
119 - Zedd
Al
I am not sure if I have an ideological model. I don't if you've noticed but I haven't spoken much about my ideology.
I am personally vexed by apathy, dogma, and infelxibility. I am invigorrated by nuance; causial processing, refined deductive reasoning, humor, empathy, caused by a respect for the big picture.
Because so many of us today are "locked in" its often assumed when I disagree with an individuals views that I automatically have a dislike for their party. As if their personal opinion about a specific situation, is automatically the opinion of millions who are members of their party. That is just odd to me.
This mode of thinking is most prevelant in the Republican party. When Newt started the "revolution" his intention was to mobilize conservatives and give them as one force. It was during this erra that the "talking points" were established. One message being repeated over and over by everyone in the party so that the party faithful could identify one another by their codes. But moreso, the purpose was to demonize those who held views that fell outside of the established dogma. They used to call that the use propagand to brainwash the masses into unbridled loyalty. We saw it in dictatorships (you are either with us or against us). To Newts credit, he admitted a month or so ago that he never anticipated that things would go so far. He expressed displeasure with the extent of parisanship that is caused by this phenominon.
I guess my ideology would involve something like, smile at people when you catch their eye...
120 - Zedd
Al there are a lot of errors in my last post. More than ussual I didn't feel like editing but I think you get the sense of what I was trying to say. I don't think that I would have caught them because my brain is working rather slowly today. This by no means that I was not commited to responding to you respectfully or commited to my statement. Im just pooped.
121 - Al Barger
Totally cool Zedd. I try not to presume too much about a person's thinking based on one or two points, and I will particularly note not to do so with you. Plus, I'm hip to nuance and ambivalence.
I might suggest gently that Brother Ash seems to be significantly lacking in nuance. Pretty much everyone who is not retarded has some ideological elements- ideas that they believe in. You about have to in trying to make some sense of the world. Some are more subtle and others just a lot more strident than others. I try to be more self-critical and restrained, though all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God.
122 - Martin Lav
Ash makes a very good observation that has nothing to do with intelligence or lack thereof (can any old idiot fly a plane?) and that is the "dry drunk" syndrome.
Ruvy also touches upon it and I think that is the biggest issue with this man.
I know a lot about it and Mr. Bush, though not drinking, needs a drink real bad....
123 - Michael O'Connor
I think what you have written is worthy in this respect: it shows that you are thinking about a very important person and some very important events. I also appreciate you admission that you really have not yet put your finger on the key to understanding the President. I appreciate your humble candor. However, we must also admit that from then on all is to some degree just speculation. (In order to avoid that impression, cite hard evidence to bolster your pronouncements. In some cases I read speculations and prejudices when I was hoping for insight.)
Your comments also remind me of Reagan's biographer, Edmund Morris, who also commented that he never really understood Ronald Reagan. It seems to me that when one is deeply motivated by a very spiritual relationship with God, secularists,New Agers, materialists, liberal theologians, atheists, agnostics, etc., don't have a clue nor are they capable of understanding someone who has been smitten by God. Such commentators focus on the outer appearances, the outer acts, and outer words, the weaknesses and deficiencies, but they fail to understand the deeper meanings and motivations of such men. These erstwhile observers adhere to different principles,different presuppositions, different paradigms from the men they are writing about. To cite Bush as being ideologically motivated without any analysis of one's own bent is, well,a bit disingenuous, a tad bit hypocritical. In spite of that criticism, I found that your comments contained much value. Keep them coming...
124 - Colin Ricketts
David Owen, former-Labour foreign secretary, founder of the British Social Democrat Party (now merged into the Liberal Democrats) and a bit of an international player I think, in the sort of "special envoy to" role, is also pushing a "Bush is mentally ill" theory at the moment.
He was a doctor before his political career, and reckons both Bush and Blair suffer from The Hubris Syndrome, (the title of his book), which he claims is common in powerful people.
Might make a good review/discussion.