Bush's Banned Interview: An Insight Into Insanity
While surfing the net on 'Stumble', I came across an interview with President Bush on Irish television that caused a bit of a storm in 2004. The interview conducted by the tenacious Carol Coleman of Radio Television Ireland was not aired on American television, and Bush's press officers apparently complained vociferously about the rigorous questioning.
The video shows Bush at the absolute peak of his arrogance -- convinced of his own rhetoric about Iraq, flooded with confidence from international subservience to American power, and high off a crushing military victory that reinforced his childish fantasies of American power and preeminence.
The problem was, Coleman was having none of it, and what transpired was a unique insight into the warped brain of the least respected and most hated president in the history of the United States.
"Mr. President," asked the stone faced Coleman. "You're going to arrive in Ireland in about 24 hours' time, and no doubt you will be welcomed by our political leaders. Unfortunately, the majority of our public do not welcome your visit because they're angry over Iraq, they're angry over Abu Ghraib. Are you bothered by what Irish people think?"
Other than stutter, the president managed only to answer in vacant homilies about 'the great values of our country.'
"We are a compassionate country," he asserted. "We're a strong country, and we'll defend ourselves -- but we help people."
And that was about the depth of his explanation for the invasion of Iraq. Supremely satisfied with his own answers, Bush expected Coleman to be bowled over with his 'good ol' plain speakin' English', but Coleman, not infected with the American media's insatiable appetite to service power, had other ideas.
She continued to grill Bush about the rising violence in Iraq, increased world wide threat of terrorism, and failure to find the weapons of mass destruction. Flustered and unaccustomed to serious challenges to his power, Bush displayed flashes of anger, and an increased reliance on catch phrases to argue the unarguable.
"These people are willing to kill innocent people," he answered testily in response to questioning about the Iraqi death toll. "They're willing to slaughter innocent people to stop the advance of freedom. And so the free world has to make a choice: Do we cower in the face of terror, or do we lead in the face of terror?"
Coleman cut through the simplistic slogans about evil doers and freedom loving Americans and continued to ask Bush serious questions about the illegal war he had just launched. It fast became evident that this was a man who really had no idea what he was doing -- someone so removed from reality that he failed to even understand what he was being asked.
The world in Bush's mind exists of good and evil, right and wrong, and America and everyone else. He could not fathom anyone disagreeing with his nobility, and simply refused to acknowledge that a different account of reality existed.
The interview took place almost four years ago, but is the perfect illustration of a man elected purely on name recognition, dirty money, and no discernible talent. Four years ago, there were still enough Americans who believed Bush's infantile bluster was charming and direct. Now, even Republicans do not waste their time with him, quietly wishing he would disappear and stop embarrassing their party.
The interview with Coleman should go down on record as definitive proof of Bush's utter incompetence, a priceless picture of a madman who had no business occupying the highest office of the land.
Watch below:
Ben Cohen is the editor of www.thedailybanter.com and a contributing writer to www.espn.com and Boxing Monthly Magazine. He can be reached at thedailybanter@gmail.com
Follow Ben Cohen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thedailybanter
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Bush has no talent for improvisation and was clearly uncomfortable whenever the interviewer interrupted him because he gone completely off-topic. But while I do believe Bush has genuine mental health issues, in this case Bush looks a child who did not do his homework trying to bluff his teacher.
Bush has no talent for improvisation
Puppets rarely do. Also see under John McCain
Did anyone notice when he said, "the US Security Council."
the deluded are at the mercy of the delusion.
I see the stupidity, ego and ignorance; those traits are clear enough. But insanity? Nah. He may be sociopathic but I question whether sociopaths are insane. I am more inclined to think he's socially retarded.
i agree. he's just a rather normal american male. it's not his fault that he's president. give the guy a break. he'll be gone soon enough. i'll miss his dopey look though. maybe he could get a job running a Caddy Shack at the local muni.
I agree. I don't think Bush is technically "insane" but he definitely has "some issues"!
In 2004, when Bush was asked about Kenneth Lay, Bush stormed off the podium and screamed to his aides: “Keep those muthaf*ers away from me,” and then “If you can’t, I’ll find someone who can.”
Other aides report that the President goes from quoting the Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against the media, Democrats and others that he classifies as "enemies of the state."
Psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book "Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President" diagnosed the President as a “paranoid megalomaniac” and “untreated alcoholic” whose “lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad” showcase Bush’s instabilities.
It is rumored that Bush is being treated with anti-depressants, however, angry outbursts, stating they are doing God’s work, and systematic attacks on perceived enemies are not symptoms of clinical depression. Bush is displaying symptoms of schizophrenia and paranoid delusions.
In the last days of Hitler, he too saw enemies everywhere, honestly believed he was doing God’s will, summarily expelled those who were critical of his decisions, and held close those who shared his psychosis.
http://eng
http://www
Bush and most Americans labor under the illusion that the rest of the world sees America as a beacon on the hill. While most people do admire many things about America, they also have a clear eyed understanding of America's many flaws. Electing Bush twice has severely damaged the global respect for American intelligence. The CIA has committed atrocities in the name of the US government that would make most Americans wretch if they bothered to pay attention. The war against Iraq had no justification outside Neocon imaginations, and it revolted most of our allies.
The world sees America as the largest, richest and most successful democracy in history, but one that refuses to provide healthcare to all its citizens, that allows atrociously high levels of violent crimes to flourish in its own cities, that is making college educations unaffordable, and that is allowing its own currency to depreciate to nothing because of its inability to balance the national budget.
For Bush to brush off Abu Ghraib with platitudes about American exceptionalism makes Irish, Canadian, French, Italian, British, Russian, Mexican, Japanese, and Indian eyes roll in disgust.
AGREED! We might have been able to overcome the world's disdain by getting rid of these pathetic monsters, but we RE-ELECTED them. Now we don't even attempt to hold them to account, so the world (rightfully) will probably continue to look down on us. Just look at the number of Democratic Senators who voted for Bush's Iraq adventure -- including most of those running for the nomination! There are tons of people who STILL think we should be in Iraq.
About 1/4 of us still believe he's doing a good job, and many who don't aren't mad about the Iraq war, they're mad about gas prices. This nation has succumbed to ignorance and Limbaugh-fed hatreds and prejudice, and the world recognizes it.
You two are depressing me.
Axel...as a world-weary globe trekker...
14th & U!
Poor little Georgie, he just can't make it on his own! Shouldn't be surprised with his simplistic answers to tough questions. This guy failed at every business he started (with daddy's money) so why would it be any different now. Let's face it, the man is just a little rich kid playing in the big league which is way over his head.
4:00 into the interview ...."Peopl
When did two way conversations become anathema with this guy. Oh, I bet he would allow a reporter to clarify a question if it was fawning and complementary. I hope that bush's future is full of interruptions by journalists who wont take evasions for answers.
What an embarrassment of an interview. And what an embarrassment for the whole world to put up with him and Cheney
not a very smart or articulate individual
Wasn't My Pet Goat a school library book? But I'm still amazed he has two books let alone a library at his home in Texas.
It would be one thing if Bush were just a beligerent religious fanatic--whether we are destined to hell or not until we profess faith in the fanatic's one true God is still an open question, no matter what the fanatic may insist. But Bush has sent hundreds and thousands to a living hell already, and much of the whole nation is still incapable of questioning his unerlying premise.
The interviewer here questioned him only to witness the sharpening of his arrow of rhetoric-- tipped with a deadly poison-- paralyzing her intelligent inquiry... Bush here is a study of an absolute monarch, claiming an unassailable moral argument, and wielding deadly military force to back it up.
His arguments continue to stun, smite, or dumbfound us. We are left no wiser nor more prosperous through our association with such a character.
It is Saturday afternoon in this place. I am listening to Pres Bush and I really did not think that he did so bad in this interview. Shows you what I know! But, I appreciated the fact that he kept asking to be allowed to finish his response to her questions. We are in Iraq, whether we agree completely or not. I think that he has a clue. His time has come and gone. It is time to move on the next President and I don't need to degrade this one to achieve that objective.
In spite of the fact that so many people of both parties are really waiting for him to fade out of sight, he's still inexplicably drawing us toward war with Iran, using exactly the same unsupported, empty claims that he used to draw us into war with Iraq.
George W. Bush must be held up for what he is, to be thoroughly discredited, before we are fooled by his sick mockery of leadership a second time. George W. Bush isn't out of office yet, and he can still do a lot of damage if left unchecked.
Agreed, but if America doesn't understand what a catastrophe this President was, then the nation will elect him all over again -- in the person of another President who is just as simplistic in thought, ignorant, misguided, ill-informed and arrogant, with the same objective of drawing America into armed conflict in the Middle East. I do not believe an analysis of Bush's legacy is tantamount to denigration. It is just good sense.
And yes,he did do badly in the interview.
Some commenters are finding nothing wrong with Bosh in this interview.
I respectfully disagree. It's been a long 8 years, and it's possible people have forgotten what "presidential" sounds like. Both the content AND style of Bosh's answers sound about as presidential as some guy trying to sell a new brand of superglue to a small-town hardware store.
I've had high school teachers that sounded more intelligent and presidential every day of their lives.
It's sickening. I want a president who's WAY smarter than me, and that ain't all that hard to do.
Wow, had to watch that twice. He really has no clue. Nice to see a journalist asking direct questions and not being intimidated by "His Presidency".
Yes, but it is a tragedy to see that in 2004 it took a foreign journalist to ask such questions, because American journalists just wouldn't do their jobs.
Ben, your interpretation of the interview is really what's bizarre here. I watched the interview and I thought it was ordinary, other than the fact that this woman was a pit bull that wouldn't let go. I found her line of questioning truly absurd, perhaps she made a name for herself. "I saw four soldiers dead on TV!" what kind of question is that? My response, "Yeah! That sucks alright! Any other questions?!", her question's about god were made in a mocking fashion.
The interview was ordinary for Bushie, he always sounds like an unprepared sixth grader. The job of the media is to be a pit bull, and to hold the elected officials to account. It is not the right of a president to be fawned over like has happened in the US for the last 7 years. When those on the far right realize that this is what selecting a child of privilege who has failed at every job he has held has done to the US I hope they have the decency to be ashamed. Those of us who travel outside the US and see how the view of America has changed by citizens of other countries don't find his childish behavior cute at all. Your support for this arrogant willful child is what is truely bizarre.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
