But by all reports, President Bush is more utterly convinced than ever of his righteousness.
Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "I am the president!" He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of "our country's destiny."
I think somebody needs to find Henry Kissinger and have a moment of White House prayer. Or something.
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Alicia,
Twice on one thread you have alluded to 41 (crying and realizing what a disaster his son's presidency is).
I remember reading about his tears when speaking about his son Jeb, and also an earlier incident with 43 crying (I think it was in the context of people saying hurtful things about 43). Maybe you have examples you can cite about him expressing disappointment, grief, realization his son is doing a terrible job, etc. If so, I would really like to see the source of this information. My guess, however, is that you are projecting your opinion of 43 onto his father. Am I wrong?
cs, of course, you might be right and this might only be projection on my part. I believe I saw an allusion to this incident on a TV news story and did not do any further research on the internet.
I just personally found it revealing, and in my opinion, it speaks volumes. For the record, however, I like Bush 41 (but not Barbara) and I have never been a huge fan of Bush 43, but I don't hate him either.
My own personal opinion is that he had no business running for President because he simply isn't up to the job. But I don't think he is a "facist" or "evil" or some of the other things that he is called by people on the Left.
To the extent that 41's son was supposed to carry on his legacy, I believe he has failed spectacularly. Of course, 43 and his team seem to have made it their overriding mission precisely to *undo* all of 41's legacy.
Rod, the fact that Geyer is hostile to Israel makes her views on the Middle East at least somewhat suspect. No, I'm not calling her an anti-Semite. But people who are hostile toward Israel are less likely to see Islam as a legitimate threat (cf, Pat Buchanan). Some, like Buchanan, will support the Arabs precisely because they provide a counterweight to the Israelis. As far as this business about Bush and this "crack-up," is concerned, what is the source for this? CPA is dead-on; one doesn't have to be a Bush synchophant to dispute the credibility of such a report. Now, let me address three comments from her May 31 column: The president says that Iraq is the proving ground, the place where we are fighting the terrorists "so we don't have to fight them at home." In short, Iraq is our Kentucky, Missouri and Montana -- only half a world away. But this is ridiculous. What Geyer and Rod fail to understand or remember is that one of the rationales for fighting terrorism in Iraq was to use Iraq to lure "mosquitoes" into the "swamp," then "drain" it. Would we have been able to kill monsters like Zarqawi otherwise? Far from defeating this putative "terrorism" in the deserts of the Middle East, our presence is eagerly feeding it.
Miss Geyer, do you know that Iraqis themselves are fighting al-Qaeda; would they have done so without an American presence, let alone w/o the toppling of a dictator who nurtured terrorists like Abu Nidal and paid the families of Palestinian suicide bombers $25,000? Every American there is an inspiration, every day, for new insurgents -- and now they are spreading from their convenient "home" in Iraq across the Middle East. And they wouldn't have been otherwise, Miss Geyer? Or are you blissfully unaware of the jihadists mandate to kill innocents for the Greater Glory of Allah? I suppose you are; the victims of Beslan, Bali, Madrid, London and Istanbul had nothing to do with the American presence in Iraq! Rod, if you can't do any better than regurgitate this drivel in support for your position, then perhaps your position is not worthy of support?
Recently, I watched the "Band of Brothers" episode in which members of Easy Company discovered a Nazi concentration camp. After seeing the horrors of this place where people were tortured to death, one of the GIs storms into a bakery in the nearby town and begins taking the bread to feed the starving prisoners.
The well-fed baker loudly objects to his property being seized. The enraged soldier sticks his .45 in the man's face and calls him a "Nazi pig."
The baker whines, "Keine Nazi! Keine Nazi! (Not Nazi! Not Nazi!)" The GI disgustedly notes that every German he meets as the Third Reich crumbles was never a Nazi.
Someone had cheered on the early blitzkrieg and savored those pyrrhic victories. Someone continued to fuel the war machine long after it became obvious that the nation was wasting itself on an ill-conceived and poorly run war.
My father, who was in the 4th Armored Division, which liberated Ohrdruf, the first camp discovered by Americans, heard similar protestations from the Germans who lived near the camp, but somehow never knew what was happening there.
As I hear and read more and more pundits jumping Bush's sinking ship, I hear echoes of that baker. The conservative movement in America is going to have to express some humility and repentance if it hopes to regain any credibility with the millions who have been alienated by the arrogance, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy of the leaders it anointed.
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