Bush, so obsessed with his "legacy", he's having tea parties to schmooze "One at a time or in small groups, he summons leading authors, historians, philosophers and theologians to the White House to join him in the search. Over sodas and sparkling water, he asks his questions: What is the nature of good and evil in the post-Sept. 11 world? What lessons does history have for a president facing the turmoil I'm facing? How will history judge what we've done? Why does the rest of the world seem to hate America? Or is it just me they hate?" (article By Peter Baker, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, July 2, 2007; A01).
I find this just unbelievable!! How big is the man's ego??? He and his henchmen ran the republican party like a disciplined machine so it was easy to sell the war he & Cheney planned long ahead of time to start war in Iraq, pressing even the most moderate in the party to support this blood bath, (probably against their better judgment).... There is a difference between a statesman and a bully and the president who never had negative consequences for any of his his bullying, lying and illegal behavior in the past, was a bully. He and his team of home grown groupies from Texas, took advantage of the tradegy of September 11 and put together a brilliant scheme to get the press on board to support his "bait and switch".. and abandon Afghanistan and march into Iraq to claim himself the great American hero (of course no one mentions that when the strongest and most powerful country in the world bombs with "shock and Awe" against a defenseless country... it's called a massacre.) How did this president pull this off?? By giving the press a personal stake in this war, bonding a relationship with the soldiers by "embedding" these journalists in with army & marine units... right there in the sand with the soldiers, basically making the press part of the war, giving them a sense of the impenetrable bond soldiers carry for each other. it was nothing less than brilliant. As Bush amassed more and more power, the press in his pocket, a well disciplined congress and senate and taking the lessons from Vietnam to brand any Democrat who dared to question this war and immediately brand them a traitor. The truth became burdensome and the born again Christian who quit drinking and went through the normal stages of one giving up an addiction... with the completely exaggerated importance of himself turned into a crazy belief that God had somehow put him here to start this war. When a country in agony after Sept 11 heard Bush promise to find the perpetrator and bring him to justice, we all got behind the symbol of our country, our president. With the high of alcohol gone from his life, Bush substituted the alcohol high for the high one experiences with power. Surrounded by yes men and women, nothing he said or did questioned, no matter how idiotic or stupid, he was the decider and was never put through the traditional customs and laws that balance our powers.
The incompetence of this man along with the paranoid and violent fantasies of Cheney and his little army of neo cons, all this lead to the perfect storm. The abuse of power went on and on and on until finally the press started listening to the people, who were not absolutely comitted to this war... it was never a popular war.
After bush lost control the "message" from the White House, after the truth finally found its way to the surface... the whole lie that started this debacle in Iraq became obvious, Bush along with his shrinking home grown Texas Groupies he surrounded himself with, made the mistake of believing their own propaganda. Bush has had to turn the Iraq war into a religious crusade, it was put on his shoulders by god and Bush must believe this crap.... it protects his ego he must adamontly refuse to contemplate or even look at the fact that the war with Iraq is a complete catastrophe. Bush is completely incapable of looking honestly at this mess... this violent mess that started with little white lies told because the neo-cons "knew better than the American people", they could fudge the facts because the American people couldn't understand completely that God put bush on earth at this time to fight this war. For Mr. Bush to take an honest look at Iraq, is impossible... as long as there are democrats or cowards or turn coat republicans he can blame, then he will. Mr. Bush will continue having these tea parties, questioning those who study history, philosophy and the law... bush will meet with them, drink tea or soda with them and hope that in some way he will convince them that he, President George W. Bush, is the victim. Laura believes it... she had the gall to say, "no one suffers from this war more than the president". Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.