It's a nice thought... Reagan got out of Iran Contra because people
percieved him as an "endearingly doddering, if nothing-between-the
ears, sort of president," - "Poor dear, there's nothing between his
ears" Margaret Thatcher said about him in 1988, and Caligula won't
because he's "a strutting punk with a murderous streak whose fratboy
smirk has lost its charm."
Nice turn of phrase. Hope it's true.
November 29, 2005
"Who Will Rid Me of My Meddlesome Cabinet?"
Bush the Dupe?
By GARY LEUPP
I read in the Drudge Report that Bush "has become isolated and feels
betrayed by key officials." Maybe Cheney and his neocon protégés are
really in the dog house these days. The report asserts that "Mr. Bush
maintains daily contact with only four people: first lady Laura Bush,
his mother, Barbara Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes."
I read too on Capitol Hill Blue news service that presidential aides
have become increasingly concerned about Bush's "short temper and
tirades," directed especially at anyone who questions his war and his
honesty. But he's also been exploding in cabinet meetings at his
subordinates. Angry at his enemies, angry at his friends, he may be
under stress and returning to his youthful habits. Check out this
video clip (http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/11/13.html#a5842) of
his appearance at Jerry Kilgore's campaign rally in Virginia awhile
back.
No further comment on that clip, but I'm just wondering. Might the
president be feeling so messed up on account of him feeling himself,
you know----duped? Big time?
The president is of course not the most intelligent man to ever occupy
the Oval Office. In debates or news conferences, in any unrehearsed
unscripted situation, he is inarticulate, repetitious, incoherent,
unfocused, lost, fourth-grade, apparently brain-fried. He famously
avoids reading newspapers, has a poor memory for details, is unable to
grasp nuance, mistrusts science and embraces religious fundamentalism.
On the other hand, he is surrounded by people who are highly
intelligent and sophisticated, and he has been uncommonly dependent
upon them---especially Cheney and his neocon Machiavellian amoral
warmongering staff.
Quite likely, the latter think of Bush the way Margaret Thatcher
thought about Ronald Reagan. ("Poor dear," she remarked in 1988,
"there's nothing between his ears.") But just as Thatcher found in the
Gipper a staunch friend and ally, Bush's advisors may see in Dubya the
perfect front man for their world-changing agenda. He doesn't know
much about foreign countries, won't ask many questions, loves Israel
as a matter of principle, thinks its existence fulfills Bible
prophecy. The perfect patsy to get to say, "I know Ariel Sharon is a
man of peace," "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities
of uranium from Africa," "Iraq has also provided al-Qaeda with
chemical and biological weapons training," "We found the weapons of
mass destruction. We found biological laboratories" and other such
suckered nonsense.
But now, the majority of Americans think Bush's dishonest. 58% of
those polled question his integrity. Maybe that explains the reported
rages in cabinet meetings. Of course it's possible that Bush was in on
the lies all along, as I've pretty much assumed to date. But maybe
not. Maybe he really believed what he was told to say by trusted staff
members, and has only gradually come to ask, "How'd they dare make me
say all that bullshit, that makes me look like a liar?"
Cheney is out lecturing reliable neocon-friendly audiences that it's
"dishonest and reprehensible" for anyone to suggest that any member
the Bush administration "purposely misled the American people" before
the war. It's a perfectly natural self-defense mechanism for the vice
president---whom only 29% of Americans think honest at this point
because he himself indeed purposely mislead the American people before
the war---to bark in that fashion. Meanwhile, wouldn't it be nice for
Bush to have the following conversation with his trusted spouse?
Laura: I was at the library today, reading this book about Leo Strauss.
Dubya: Who's that?
Laura: He's a philosopher who had an impact on Wolfowitz, Libby,
Feith, Perle, Wurmserthose guys.
Dubya: Ok.
Laura: He divides society into three groups. The wise, the gentlemen,
and the masses. He thinks most people are pretty dumb and need the
wise to lead them.
Dubya: Well that makes sense.
Laura: The Wolfowitz-Perle guys think they're the wise ones. And they
think you're a gentleman.
Dubya: I won't argue with that.
Laura: And the function of the gentleman is to convince the masses to
support the decisions of the wise.
Dubya (exploding): Goddam it, look, nobody had to persuade me to go to
war on Iraq! I wanted to myself!
Laura: Yes dear, I know you did. But these wise guys used what Strauss
called "noble lies."
Dubya: Whadya mean?
Laura: Well, they think that if you said the truth---that we want to
invade Iraq because of the oil, and for bases, and to make it a friend
of Israel---people wouldn't agree with it. So instead, they said Iraq
might stage a nuclear attack on New York, and they got you to say
things about Niger uranium and centrifuges and mobile labs that just
weren't true. So most people supported the war.
Dubya: Dick let them make me say that?
Laura: Yes, dear. Remember when you started saying that there was no
evidence for a connection between bin Laden and Saddam?
Dubya: Yes.
Laura: But Dick kept saying it was true?
Dubya: I didn't notice.
Laura: Well he's been repeating the same thing over and over again. He
thinks it's completely right to say whatever it takes to get people to
want to conquer the Middle East.
Dubya: So now people think I'm a liar.
Laura: Yes, dear. As these investigations move forward I'm just afraid
more and more folks might think that way.
Dubya: What can I do?
[Indeed, how does he get out of this mess? I think of Ronald Reagan,
who finessed his way out of the Iran-Contra scandal by explaining that
he wasn't a hands-on manager but rather delegated responsibility to
trusted subordinates who let him down. Many believed and forgave him.
But he was for many an endearingly doddering, if nothing-between-the
ears, sort of president, and this one's a strutting punk with a
murderous streak whose fratboy smirk has lost its charm. And an
arms-for-hostages deal is nothing next to a bloody unwinnable war
based on lies.]
Laura: You could give a speech, and confess the truth, say you made a
mistake because of bad advice.
Dubya: But they're all in on it! All of them used me, made fun of me!
Cheney, Rumsfeld, Libby, Wolfowitz, Feith
Laura: They abused your trust, yes.
Dubya: Damn them all! Who can I trust?
In this coterie of women around the lonely president, Rice holds the
greatest power. While a team-player, willing to use the "mushroom
cloud" imagery concocted by the White House Iraq Group in September
2002 and to promote the centrifuges lie at the same time, Rice is not
a neocon ideologue. She may wish to rein the crazies in. She's stated
specifically that the U.S. seeks "policy change" rather than "regime
change" in Syria, and that she will hold John Bolton, neocon
ambassador to the UN and big-time disseminator of disinformation, "on
a short leash."
Maybe she and the other ladies should do the same for Dubya. Handcuff
him to the bed for a few days, for godsakes. Tell people he's choked
on a pretzel, fainted again, and needs rest. Do NOT let Dick Cheney
near him, lest he curse the man out so that the veep in turn lashes
out wildly at Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy again. Do NOT let Rev.
Franklin Graham in the room, lest he be shocked at Dubya's slurred and
ungodlike speech. Do NOT let Patrick Fitzgerald get anywhere near the
man until the wild glint disappears from his eyes, the impish grin
disappears from his lips, the tell-tale tongue-in-jowl dry-mouth
symptoms fade and he's ready to identify just one teeny-tiny mistake
he's made in his presidency. Bring in almost Supreme Court justice
Harriet Miers, and station her at the bedside, repeating, "You're not
a dupe, not a dupe, not a dupe. You're the most brilliant man I've
ever met!" He'll like that.
But what if he was used, unwittingly, his callous cruel arrogant
nature exploited by those who really are Evil Incarnate, and who are
going to make him go down in the "History" he alternately validates
and despises as the worst and stupidest president ever? How painful
for the spoiled brat, who as Texas governor mocked a born-again
Christian death-row inmate, pursing his lips to the camera in mock
desperation cracking that she'd pleaded, "Please, don't kill me!"
before he happily decreed her death. How painful for a child of
privilege accustomed to abusing everybody else to wake up and discover
he's been had by people far more aware and intelligent than him.
Isolated and betrayed, this most powerful of men. May he withdraw
further into himself, and those divine voices in his head telling him
"Smite! Smite!" as out in the real world the crimes of his
administration become more and more clear.
Gary Leupp is Professor of History at Tufts University, and Adjunct
Professor of Comparative Religion. He is the author of Servants,
Shophands and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan; Male
Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan; and
Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women,
1543-1900. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch's merciless
chronicle of the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, Imperial
Crusades.
He can be reached at: gleupp@granite.tufts.edu
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