BUSH: THE STONE-COLD FANATIC
Before the president delivered his sunny-side up speech on Iraq yesterday, a senior White House official offered a preview:
"With this speech the president says 'let me tell you why I'm so positive.'" Hearing that, I expected the speech to be one of the shortest on record: "I'm so positive because I'm a stone-cold fanatic. And God bless America."
It was nearly three years ago that I offered the only possible explanation for the ever-widening chasm between what the White House claims is true and what is actually true: we are being governed by a gang of out and out fanatics.
As I put it in a May 2003 column, just weeks after the president's upbeat -- and wildly inaccurate -- Mission Accomplished moment:
The defining trait of the fanatic -- be it a Marxist, a fascist, or, gulp, a Wolfowitz -- is the utter refusal to allow anything as piddling as evidence to get in the way of an unshakable belief.
Bush and his fellow fanatics are the political equivalent of those yogis who can hold their breath and go without air for hours. Such is their mental control, they can go without truth for, well, years. Because, in their minds, they're always right. Oopso facto.
This idea formed the basis for my last book, Fanatics and Fools (the Fools being the enablers in the Democratic Party).
And Bush and Cheney's statements around the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq have only reinforced my diagnosis: this administration is teeming with zealots for whom evidence is little more than an obstacle on their chosen course.
This evidence-be-damned fanaticism has been front and center as the White House tries to put a positive spin on what the president called "the beginning of the liberation of Iraq." Which is kind of like saying that my wedding was the beginning of my divorce.
As promised, the president did indeed use today's speech to explain his seemingly delusional optimism on Iraq.
But instead of opting for my direct, one-line explanation, the president offered a very long story about the city of Tal Afar -- which he called "a concrete example of progress in Iraq."
Trouble is, after going on and on and on about the significance of Tal Afar, he then turned around and admitted it really wasn't much of an example at all:
"I wish I could tell you that the progress made in Tal Afar is the same in every part of Iraq. It is not."
So it turns out that Tal Afar is not an example but an anomaly.
But why quibble over details? The president admitted "the situation on the ground remains tense" but refused to backtrack from his Sunday claim: "I'm encouraged by the progress."
Nothing like 15 more bodies being discovered around the capital to give these guys a confidence boost. [Arianna Huffington]
BUSH WHISTLES IN THE DARK OF IRAQ
As the war in Iraq enters its fourth year, George W. Bush has again insisted that progress in the country is being made. In his latest speech, the US President sought to rally support for his policies in the face of historically low public approval ratings.
Here's a brief extract from yet another bullshit speech he gave in Ohio yesterday:
I believe that as Iraqis continue to see the benefits of liberty, they will gain confidence in their future. And they will work to ensure that common purpose trumps narrow sectarianism.
And by standing with them in their hour of need, we're going to help the Iraqis build a strong democracy that will be an inspiration throughout the Middle East, a democracy that will be a partner in the global war against the terrorists.
Demonstrators outside the Pentagon in Washington tried to deliver a coffin representing the casualties caused by the war to officials inside. A recent poll showed 65 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with Bush's handling of the conflict.
The majority fear the country is heading towards civil war. Bush's speech coincided with a particularly bloody day in Iraq yesterday.30 people died in separate attacks while at least 35 were injured.
BUSH NEEDS A LONG VACATION...SAY THREE YEARS?
Bush's speech was like looking for sunshine in a cave, and as usual, was widely out of step with what Americans know in their guts. According to an AP-Ipsos poll, more than three-quarters of the public "thinks it's likely that Iraq is headed toward civil war."
Bush recognized his own oblivion from the American street:
Others look at the violence they see each night on their television screens and they wonder how I can remain so optimistic about the prospects of success in Iraq. They wonder what I see that they don't.
What he is saying is that he knows something we don't. Yeah, to us ignoramuses munching on the 24-hour news cycle, it looks like they fuccked up.
But Bush really knows everything is perfectly under control. Because, after all, he's got intel, man. And they know where a stable Iraq lies, buried right next to the WMD's, baby.
Sen. Joe Biden, one of the few politicians who seem to actually read the news, blamed "the dangerous incompetence of this administration" for an "increasingly dismal" Iraq.
Ouch. That's so much worse than regular incompetence. For example, when I try to fix something around my apartment, atleast it doesn't cause a civil war.
Will Bush ever cease being the perpetual cheerleader? Congress needs to send him on a permanent vacation. Crawford's bushes could use some competent trimming. [Kabobfest]