Reading The Pictures: An Arbus-Like End To George Bush, Comforter Of Man

As the end approaches, "W" is regressing more-and-more into a familiar cocoon, seeking out the military -- both masses of young conscripts paid to pay respect, as well as those either dumbstruck or simply struck -- for hearty cheer and farewell.

The pictures from Tuesday's jaunt to West Point are startlingly, if unsurprisingly revealing when you separate the non-posed, non-thoroughly staged photo-ops (1, 2) from those in which the former Yale cheerleader enters the picture (more the source of freakish attraction himself, really) and, acting more their age (and sticking closest to the females), commands some cheap giggles.

Yet, far more grotesque (and stolen, in fact), is Dubya's embrace of the severely injured Iraq war veteran. (If you follow "The BAG," you'd remember this.)

Highlighting the self-appointed comforter-in-Chief's propensity for the kiss, the man famous for never reflecting and never looking back perpetrates this bitter act of false intimacy on two discernibly-transformed, all-too-young Iraq veterans at the White House just after helicoptering in from the Military Academy.

It was always my feeling this mission would end in disgrace, but now I see I'm wrong. Exceeding that, George Bush is fully landing in perversity.

For more visual politics, visit BAGnewsNotes.com (and BAGnewsNotes @Twitter).

(images: Larry Downing/Reuters. caption: U.S. President George W. Bush (C) visits with two U.S. Marines wounded during a suicide bomber attack in Iraq after arriving back at the White House in Washington, December 9, 2008. From left are Patrick Paul Pittman Sr., his son, Lance Corporal Patrick Paul Pittman, Jr. of Savannah, Georgia, Bush, Lance Corporal Marc Olson of Coal City, Illinois, and his mother, Pinky Kloski.)

Comments

[tbone99]

Its not enough these poor people lost their body parts & family members, they must now endure being fondled as a part of a photo op by the man responsible for their agony .

Talk about hubris!

[Carsy]

Bush really hasn't aged much in the last 8 yrs. He either has great genetics or no conscience.

[tbone99]

I think no conscience is part of his genetic inheritence.

Remember how his father abandoned thousands of Kurds to death by poison gas after encouraging them to rise up against Saddam and then not providing the U.S.support he promised.?

[zeotrope]

If you compare Bush pictures from eight years ago to todays you will see he has aged a great deal.

[BillMelater]

Do you think George Bush might ever attend one of the funerals?

So what do young men have to return home to? Not just our wounded, but the able bodied young men as well?

They return home to no job. If they can get a job, they can't earn enough to eat like they used to.

They return home to their families of which most are probably close to being broke, if not already broke. Their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and wives all now living in poverty from paycheck to paycheck.

And I hate to say it. But this is what they fought for. They fought for the Republicans to be able to economically rape and pillage their family and their country while they were gone.

Welcome home, welcome home.

[Deadmoose]

Haven't these young people been thru enough? I would rather be k-is-sed by a s-kun-k.

[greymen]

Actually, skunks are humble, sweet creatures who only expel their putrescence when they are attacked.

[microcosm]

The news media failed to check abuses of power in proper proportion. A strong democracy needs a strong press. It is democracy's strongest check on power, constitutionally empowered to represent the people's inquiry into government workings.

A Florida Appeals court ruled, deciding in Fox's favor, there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization.
The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdock, successfully argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves. That 2003 ruling still haunts us today. The news media should have caught much of what is presently unraveling the fabric of our country.

Sign the FCC News Quality Rating System petition at http://FixNewsNow.org

[JEP57]

It's funny how Bush is criticized for visiting wounded soldiers as a cynical stunt. But if he didn't visit wounded soldiers, he would be criticized as not caring. You can't have it both ways.

[disgusted48]

most of these soldiers would not have been wounded if bush did not go to war in Iraq based on a lie. some of us have a problem with that. especially those of us who are military families.

[live-aloha]

When he goes and does his visit and has his picture taken with a guy who has his whole body burned to a crisp and holds up a t-shirt for the photo....sick. He should be on his knees begging for forgiveness. Just my opinion.

[BillMelater]

This is all just to have photos to line his library with. The last couple months he has been working very hard on having a good respectable honorable legacy. It's just too bad he didn't work on that legacy at all during the previous 8 years.

[ignorantwillyharper]

If he did get on his knees and beg for forgivness, he'd just be talking to himself. In his mind he is G-d.
I just pray, when he returns to Crawford and goes into town, they lynch the SOB.

[Deadmoose]

Yeah man I want some of that!!!!

[ProsperosMagic]

Jep, sir, you seem prone to black and white thinking; it is Bush's ceaselessly fleshed out (personality disordered) context that continues to build his miserable legacy. He is not sincere. This display is completely self-serving. Again, look at some context in the article.

[BillMelater]

The problem is that he hasn't done it in 8 years. But now he just has to get a photo op for that legacy of his.

[Bendersky]

Those soldiers look remarkably "unproud" to be the recipients of this patronizing gesture. George Bush does not care about the vets he sent to Iraq, about the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed or the American people. I'm sorry--but you are not heroes. You were pawns used in a much bigger game and that is a g*ddamn travesty.

[biabouman41]

Has he morphed into Kim Jong Il or Sadam Hussein? Remember the Sadam kiss of that 7 year old hostage before the first Iraq invasion? In order to diminish their isolation failed dictators always revert to the military to assuage their feelings of guilt. Pathetic.

[TRYKER]

Bush should be assigned to live with and tend the wounded soldiers he sent to war.
What a despicable destroyer...of bodies, treasuries, morals, countries and honor.

[Clayton139]

You are so Right !!! - Bush has destroyed this Country - Cheney and Rove too !!!

[dessertsfirst]

Absolutely!

[kimleehan]

Well maybe now he can finally have that little sit down with Cindy Sheehan and explaine why her son had to give up his life in Iraq. Its three years late but better late than never.

[marlovian]

At the end of his term, the only places LBJ could publicly visit were military bases. Once again we witness the disgrace and hypocrisy with which politicians routinely abuse our soldiers.

[ThinkCreeps]

Horrible man. Begone!

[democracy7]

The Judas kiss in reverse. Pathetic.

[landoffools]

War hero's like Mr. Bush always seek out their kind in moments of anguish !

Mission Accomplished !

[todayslies]

The BAG is a cool website--thanks for your efforts.