There are some people who will never admit they are wrong. Even if you have photographic evidence they will still cling to innocence. Thus are the ignorant third of America, the 30% who still believe in George W. Bush
I'm fascinated by them. I wonder who they are and what they are drinking. It's almost like I've heard they're story before.
Some of us have not learned from history. Some of us are doomed to repeat it. Much like Ground Hog Day, the Bushies are nearly religious about ignoring history, facts, and the writting on the wall
Let's start with history....
In November 1978 a well-meaning Christian cult leader named Jim Jones led his followers into a mass suicide. He had been viewed as a charismatic, compassionate, and God fearing leader even as news reports exposed his illegal and immoral personal behavior. Jones had failed in business, but he won followers through his fiery personality.
In February of 1993 a militant Christian cult leader named David Koresh led his followers into a suicidal stand off with the bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco. He had convinced his people that he was the reincarnation of King David, and, as such, he deserved their ultimate loyalty, even until the very deadly end. Koresh had failed to make it in the entertainment business, but he won followers at the point of a gun.
In 1997 a misguided Christian cult leader named Marshall Applewhite led his Heaven's Gate cult into a mass suicide timed with the return of the Hale-Comet. Though he was the son of a Presbyterian minister, and he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, his moral failings derailed his ambitions.
In 2001 a well-meaning, militant, misguided Christian cult leader named George W. Bush set America on a destructive path. George failed in most things in life, but he gained followers by using little more than personality (a lot of money didn't hurt).
Unlike the Flavor-Aid drinkers who perished under Jones, or the gun toting sex freaks who burned to death under Koresh, or the castrated a-sexuals in Nikes who went for a permanent sleep at the request of Applewhite, America still has a chance to outlive the Christian cult leader who desperately wants to take us home - in a bad way.
But lets not talk about George. He is temporary. We need to talk about those unfortunate souls who continue to support and defend this indefensible president, as if their very being depends on his absolute righteousness. They find fault in all who have the temerity to accurately point out George's numerous disabilities. If you ask them (which is like asking candy about sugar) George is God and God does not make mistakes.
Though the entire world is now aware that America's current president is a man better suited for any pursuit that requires no thinking, leading, or speaking of sentences, there are still a cultish contingent of perfectly brainwashed followers who cannot see the Flavor-Aid.
They are the dangerous 1/3 of the America. Polls show them to be eternally resistant to reality. In spite of information to the contrary they believe what most of America does not - Bush is good for us.
The majority of Americans now see that the war in Iraq was a stupid diversion from any justifiable objective. The majority of Americans see that George has put us on the "wrong track."
Bush's approval rating is far below those registered by three of the past four two-term presidents in February of their sixth year: Dwight Eisenhower (64 percent), Ronald Reagan (63.5 percent) and Bill Clinton (57 percent). Only Nixon, at 27.5 percent in February 1974 -- six months before he resigned -- was less popular than Bush is now. - Mercury News
It is hard to decide what our first clue was when you consider he has failed as our budget manager, failed to detect 9/11, failed to capture Bin Laden, failed to make any gains in any notable area of presidential responsibility, and more recently, failed to get water trucks into a major urban disaster area after Katrina.
But, if you listen to the bloggers, they seem incapable of seeing incompetence. In fact, they have gone full force into the apologists business (having left the "stay the course" business America is so sick of).
On Bush being the biggest spending president ever, something conservatives normally would take a president to task for, here is one blogger's apology:
Lower spending is a conservative issue that sounds good in the broad sense but very, very difficult to implement. Each Senator has a pet issue or program, plus there is an institutional bias towards more spending to help with re-elections. There is a school of thought that we can grow the economy fast enough to marginalize the spending increases. If we remove the prescription drug program you can see how Bush could have been using that plan. Reagan was a firm believer that fiscal growth is superior to spending cuts.
It's not Bush's fault. It's the senators, mostly republicans, who have insatiable appetite for pork. What this apology misses is Bush's unused veto muscle.
On whether or not the Iraq war is a success, something righties had claimed with plenty of fist shaking before the potential for civil war surfaced, here is the new apology from Powerline:
In truth, we likely won't know whether the Iraq war was a success or a failure, a good idea or a bad idea, for another twenty or thirty years, when the consequences of the effort not only in Iraq, but throughout the region, become clear. For now, we can only guess. But my guess is that our effort in Iraq will succeed, and that that conflict will eventually come to be seen as an important step in the vital process of bringing reform to the Arab world, and thereby defusing the threat of Islamic terrorism.
Before it was all roses and war porn, and only the so-called mainstream media couldn't see the great success. Now, well, we just can't tell. Our 60 day cake walk into a nation hungry for our "liberation" theories has become a 4 year exercise in the Crate & Barrel break-it-take-it policy. Wasn't the mission accomplished some time ago?
To cover Bush's dazzling lack of presidential leadership after Katrina destroyed New Orleans, Ben Stein apologizes this way:
George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.
It seems to escape those weary thought-leaders of the blame-bush-last coalition that having to apologize and defend him constantly, having to lie and wordsmith to prove competence, should in itself indicate an issue.
Even solid republicans are splitting:
"This President has a political tin ear," says Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman, normally one of Bush's strongest supporters. "He needs to shake up his staff and those around him."
"The White House has been non-responsive and arrogant," admits South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham, who adds that he and fellow Republicans "put up with it when things are going well" but says "problems rear their heads when things are not going well." - Capitol Hill Blue
The problem with the remaining 33% who still ride with George, the cult of Bushie, is that they have unknowingly removed any definition of incompetence from public use. By setting the bar of presidential leadership so low they have ruined every concept of accountability and moral authority.
I dare you to name a single thing Bush has deliberately done right. Only the cult could.
He cut their taxes (without cutting spending which is not really cutting taxes because someone has to pick up the difference).
Those conservatives who sincerely believe that government needs to spend less--a small but important Republican constituency--are furious at Bush right now because he's increasing domestic discretionary spending more rapidly than Bill Clinton did. During his two terms in office, Clinton increased domestic discretionary spending by 10 percent. Bush, in not quite one full presidential term, has already increased domestic discretionary spending by 25 percent. - Slate
He talked about security (without actually securing the boarders or improving inspections of containers entering America).
WASHINGTON - Lapses by private port operators, shipping lines or truck drivers could allow terrorists to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States, according to a government review of security at American seaports.
The $75 million, three-year study by the Homeland Security Department included inspections at a New Jersey cargo terminal involved in the dispute over a Dubai company's now-abandoned bid to take over significant operations at six major U.S. ports.
The previously undisclosed results from the study found that cargo containers can be opened secretly during shipment to add or remove items without alerting U.S. authorities, according to government documents marked "sensitive security information" and obtained by The Associated Press. - Portsmouth Herald
He fought a war against terror, even though terror is a concept and as such one cannot realisticly conduct a war against it. Immigration, failed. World diplomacy, failed. Environment, failed. Education, failed. Smaller government, failed. Disaster relief, failed.
Only the freaky cult cannot see what the majority of Americans and the world see.
We are a country with buyer's remorse, most of us anyway.
So, when you see polls saying that a third of us still support the president, you might be wondering what keeps them faithful. It might be helpful if we look at the characteristics of cult indroctrination.
Mind Control (undue influence)
Manipulation by the use of coercive persuasion or behavior modification techniques without informed consent.
Number one tactic of the Karl Rovian play book is to use language and fear to manipulate the press and Americans. Do you remember a not so subtle suggestion that if Americans voted for John Kerry the terrorists would surely attack us again? Fear is a great coercive factor, so much so that you can shred the constitution and fundamentally change the liberties of a people, without resistance, if they are frightened enough to think it is necessary for their safety.
Charismatic Leadership - Claiming divinity or special knowledge and demanding unquestioning obedience with power and privilege.
This one is easy. All you need is a few tele-christians to use their air time as commercials for your ordination, and for the condemnation of all who oppose you. Per James Dobson & Co: A vote for Bush is a vote for God's chosen leader, a vote for anyone else is a vote for eternal hellfire. You are not truly cultish until you believe God had a hand in narrowly electing George.
Deception - Recruiting and fundraising with hidden objectives and without full disclosure.
Ahem. Jack Abramhoff. Tom Delay. Bill Frist. Karl Rove. Dick Cheney. Enough said.
Totalitarian World View - Also known as the "we/they" syndrome, effecting dependence, promoting goals of the group over the individual and approving unethical behavior while claiming goodness.
Well, that's also pretty easy: You're either for us or against us. You're either for this war or you're traitor. You either believe like we do or you're the lowest form of human being. Whatever we do is ordained by God; Putting men into an ass pile is not abuse, it is akin to college hazing; Suspending Habeas Corpus is not a breach of fundamental American principles, it is good because we say so; Spying on Americans isn't something guards of our Republic would have fried Bill Clinton for, it is an acceptable breach of freedom within the perogative of the presidency - as long as Bush is president.
Yes my friends, the Cult of Bushie is dangerous. They will leave us with a country that is less free, less respected, less solvent, and less American. Even though they are a minority of our population they have access to all media, something that allows them to push their minority agenda on all of us.
When you bump into your next Bush supporter, one of those crazy eyed Flavor-Aid drinkers who can ramble off all the talking points and slogans (cut-n-run, blame-america-first, flip-flopper, mainstream media, liberal media, etc.) realize what you're dealing with. As many families have discovered over the years, cult members are hard to bring back to reality.
Jim Jones followers stuck with him until the very end. David Koresh followers went out with their leader in a blaze of infamy. Marshall Applewhite followers took the deep sleep just as their leader instructed.
The cult of Bush demands the same irrational loyalty of its members. Don't think for a minute you can recover them easily. They are hopeless like their leader.