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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Bush yesterday: It's OK for nations to torture American captives
Posted by Jill | 8:10 AM
Watch this extraordinary exchange between NBC's David Gregory and Captain Codpiece in the Rose Garden yesterday:



A clearer version is hosted at Crooks and Liars, here.

First of all, notice how Bush disguises his lust to have torture codified in law as some sort of moral high ground designed to protect intelligence officers. Note also how Bush once again resorts to "Let me finish" when no one is interrupting him -- indicating that he's still having the responses fed into his ear. Then he undergoes a near-meltdown right in front of the press.

This is a fascinating piece of footage, because this is George W. Bush in a nutshell. First he shows the surface "charm" that presumably has led so much of the press to give him a free pass until recently, with his curiously homoerotic remark to the strapping Gregory that he "looks beautiful today." I don't know a straight guy who says that to another guy, do you? But since this remark occurs when Gregory is in the embarrassing position of being entangled in his own microphone wire, it's designed to gain Bush the upper hand. It doesn't last long, however, and the longer Bush's incoherent response goes on, the more clear it is that he's becoming unhinged, the mask starts to drop, and we begin to see the gargoyle that lurks behind the towel-snapping mask.

Now check out this footage from the same news conference at Crooks and Liars. It looks like his prompting isn't working quite right, as he cocks his head and hesitates at certain points. And if you don't get a cold and nasty chill up your spine when he jokes about the press calling the NSA wiretap program the "illegal surveillance program", followed by his now-infamous Beavis laugh, you aren't paying attention. As John notes at C&L, when Bush uses that laugh, "you know you're on to something."

One of these days, Bush is going to completely melt down on camera. He appears to be near a breakdown right now, as the "successful war presidency" he wanted so badly seems to be collapsing all around him. He's enjoyed having a cowed press that's allowed him to stay in his bubble for five years, and he does not take kindly to being confronted. The more he's confronted, the more he's likely to let the gargoyle out.

Digby has more. And Tristero says no one in the press dares to:

Folks, many people have made the mistake of misunderestimating Bush again and again. He can't be that stupid. He can't be that vindictive or violent. He can't be that immature. He can't be that incapable of remorse or that messianic and delusionally religious.

It's time to face the fact that Bush is all these things and many more. He has been consistent from the earliest days of his regime - consistently incompetent, delusional, and violent. He does not bluff. He does exactly what he wants to do. And there is nothing he wants more right now than to use nukes on Iran. It's not merely because he's a kid with a cool popgun, but one shouldn't misunderestimate his impulsiveness and immaturity. It's also because he, and the other rightwing lunatics genuinely believe that since 1945, liberals have severely crippled America by making such a big deal out of nukes. By all means, check out Curtis Lemay's "America is in Danger" for an historical example (late 60's) of this delusion. How are we crippled? Well, according to them, by refusing to use nukes, America fights bloody prolonged conflicts that are difficult to conclude with decisive victories.

Bush and his pals wants to save America from liberals that will once again deny America a critical victory, crucial to its safety and security. Bush wants to break the nuclear taboo.

[snip]

Okay, enough, I've done my posts on this issue for quite a while. Frankly, it is exhausting to play nuclear Cassandra and terribly painful to watch the same patterns of denial and disbelief play themselves out again. But I also understand how it must sound to the unconvinced among you. It sounds like I've gone overboard, succumbed to the delusional paranoia I'm warning you against. I am quite aware that it really is hard to keep in the forefront of one's mind that Bush and Co. really are nuts enough to use nukes in Iran. And Christ, I hope I'm crazy. But I look back at what he's done over the past five years - one utter catastrophe after another, the unspeakable, pointless violence - and I am very alarmed.

Just do me a favor, okay?

When Bush is out of office, in January 2009, and the nukes haven't fallen (and btw, everyone sane and knowledgeable agrees that none are coming our way from Iran by then) let's laugh together at tristero's ridiculous terror over the essentially harmless, befuddled fake cowboy George W. Bush was. But until then, please humor me and treat Bush as a very serious...concern... and work to put as many legislative and legal restraints on his wanton presidency as we can this fall.


It's still not 100% clear whether Bush is simply the sock puppet for the real lunatics, or if he's a full-pledged member of the wacko club that's currently running the government. And I'm not sure which one is more terrifying. But of this I have no doubt whatsoever: Bush is a man wanting desperately to finally shake himself free of his role as Designated Family Shithead -- and he's realizing, despite his protestations to the contrary, that he's fucked up again. Combine this with what often appears to be a severe sexual confusion, his religious mania, and a lack of curiosity that makes him susceptible to any lunatic notion that plays into his own personal emotional baggage, and we have a very dangerous situation on our hands. Yesterday Bush told us that the terrorists WILL come back. And he's in a position to know. And when they do, how do YOU think he'll respond?
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