Dumb n dumberer

[Thinkerman]

Hey it made me laugh so i thought i would say it with you guys

 

----------------------------------------------------------

.............................................Dumb and dumberer.......................

 

October 04, 2003

----------------------------------------------------------

Make no mistake, the bloke we see endlessly repeating the same catchphrases, from September 11 to the present, with evaporating conviction, is what he seems to be. The world’s greatest power is led by someone ill equipped to run a doughnut franchise. The thought that this monumental mediocrity is the most powerful man on Earth will reassure Bush’s Christian fundamentalist followers that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is utterly wrong. Descended from apes? The US President hasn’t descended at all.

---------------------------------------------------------

But don’t take my word for it. Read Bush at War, by Bob Woodward. Since setting in train the events that evicted Nixon from the White House, Woodward has been in the business of propping presidents up. Having proved himself a giant killer, Woodward gained not just celebrity status but unprecedented access to Tricky Dicky’s successors, and has used it to extol their political virtues – most recently and most appallingly in Bush at War. Allowed to sit in the Situation Room as the War Against Terror was put together, and the attack on Afghanistan planned, with Iraq waiting in the wings, Woodward was able to chat at length with Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and the President himself. The resulting bestseller was meant to be a morale-booster for the nation. Woodward intended to show the US, and the world, that the White House and the Pentagon were in the hands of a hands-on president with a grasp of all the issues, capable of uniting a frequently divided team and making the wisest possible decisions.

 

Yet Woodward’s efforts, quite inadvertently, are as devastating an indictment of the incumbent as his Washington Post work was of Tricky Dicky. If there were ever a case for impeachment, you’d find it in Bush at War.

 

The fly-on-the-wall accounts of strategic meetings as the US plans (if you can call stumbling around in a fog of confusion and conflicting motives a plan) to punish Afghanistan for the sins of al-Qa’ida couldn’t be more revelatory or depressing. Bush and Co are revealed as blundering incompetents and internecine squabblers, far too concerned with domestic headline-grabbing to be trusted with a major crisis. Woodward might be depicting some tenth-rate manoeuvring in your municipal council.

 

Recent writings on Churchill’s battles with his war cabinet or JFK’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis showed leadership at its best. While the risks were immense, Churchill and Kennedy were up to their respective tasks. Whereas every time Bush appears in Woodward’s text, you’re reminded of the Texan put-down "all Stetson, no cattle". Dubya’s penchant for posturing is paraded, while his limited vocabulary is more than adequate to express the two ideas in his entire cranial capacity. His favourite word is "visceral" – and you get a gut feeling it’s appropriate to someone whose strategic vision can be summed up by "kick *** ". Woodward, as his inept hagiographer, reveals that Bush thoroughly deserves Lyndon Johnson’s cruel description of Gerald Ford: "He’s so dumb, he can’t fart and walk at the same time." You get the feeling Bush is the political and intellectual reincarnation of Dan Quayle. On a bad day. With wind assistance.

 

There must be some clever people in the administration. One may disagree with the political analysis of a Paul Wolfowitz, but there’s no denying that he and some of his neo-Con mates are bright as buttons.

 

It’s not so much that Bush is mad or mendacious. The problem is that he’s dull-witted and easily manipulated. Trying to prove that the commander-in-chief is in command, Woodward instead provides a portrait of a puppet, a photo-op president, whose grasp of history, of geopolitical strategy, even of geography, is on a par with Homer Simpson’s.

 

You sense the man-as-puppet in his television appearances, when he’s as wooden as Pinocchio, though fortunately his nose doesn’t lengthen along with his fabrications. Bush is never convincing – but more significantly, he’s never convinced. When he lands on an aircraft carrier in a pilot’s costume, attempting to embody both civilian leader and military hero, he looks self-parodic. But even in less theatrical settings he looks implausible, incapable of filling his own shoes. The poor bloke is badly miscast – as uneasy as a young actor who knows he’s failing an audition. (At least Ronald Reagan could act.)

 

There are, of course, his worrying references to God, to the power of prayer, to Evil. Change God to Allah and Bush’s rhetorical style recalls that of bin Laden. Bush isn’t helped by the fact that Woodward is an appalling writer – unless he has recast himself as a subversive, a satirist like Garry Trudeau whose Doonesbury strip in this newspaper offers the most cogent analysis of US politics you’ll find. Perhaps, after all, Woodward is still in the business of regime change. Perhaps he’s still trying to bring down appalling presidents, but is just using a different approach.

 

Read Bush at War as a matter of urgency. Look for it on remainder tables everywhere. You’ll first feel disbelief, then despair, then a sort of slow-motion panic – as you realise why Washington is being as successful in the War Against Terror as previous administrations were in the War Against Drugs. Bush and the boys couldn’t raffle the proverbial duck in a country pub. Though John Howard would do his best to help. By buying all the tickets.

 

 

back PRINT-FRIENDLY VERSION EMAIL THIS STORY

[Xafsa]

Originally posted by Shujui-1:

The world’s greatest power is led by someone ill equipped to run a doughnut franchise. The thought that this monumental mediocrity is the most powerful man on Earth will reassure Bush’s Christian fundamentalist followers that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is utterly wrong. Descended from apes? The US President hasn’t descended at all.

lol Thats harsh! but true.

[Rahima]

[Gabbal]

It’s not so much that Bush is mad or mendacious. The problem is that he’s dull-witted and easily manipulated. Trying to prove that the commander-in-chief is in command, Woodward instead provides a portrait of a puppet, a photo-op president, whose grasp of history, of geopolitical strategy, even of geography, is on a par with Homer Simpson’s.

[Macalin]

His favourite word is "visceral" – and you get a gut feeling it’s appropriate to someone whose strategic vision can be summed up by "kick *** ". Woodward, as his inept hagiographer, reveals that Bush thoroughly deserves Lyndon Johnson’s cruel description of Gerald Ford: "He’s so dumb, he can’t fart and walk at the same time." You get the feeling Bush is the political and intellectual reincarnation of Dan Quayle. On a bad day. With wind assistance

--------------I watched his(woodward's) interview when he wrote the book and i couldnt be more shocked and awed at the legnth he was tryin to make bush look smart!

[Liqaye]

it would be funny if it werent for the people suffering from this mans idiocy :mad:

[nuune]

what about the people who follow this crazy guy,are they not like him,though most of them are against him,but why are they watching when he is doing craap stuffs

[Blessed]

Read Bush at War as a matter of urgency. Look for it on remainder tables everywhere. You’ll first feel disbelief, then despair, then a sort of slow-motion panic – as you realise why Washington is being as successful in the War Against Terror as previous administrations were in the War Against Drugs. Bush and the boys couldn’t raffle the proverbial duck in a country pub. Though John Howard would do his best to help. By buying all the tickets.

Heehehehehe! This is a sick joke walahi.