Escape from Emotional Terrorism: The Bush Years

Bush and his minions were pros at whipping up emotional terrorism for the last eight years. They understood the American and global psyche. They knew how to craft words that would stir controversy, acrimony and discontent. Masters of distraction, they kept the world off center for eight years creating a reign of emotional terrorism: war, nuclear weapons, economic collapse.

When people are constantly on edge, they are distracted. Actions are driven by emotion; not reason or thought. It is a type of psychological warfare which has been extraordinarily successful as they wrecked havoc over the last nine months from Afghanistan to Iraq to a housing meltdown, the mortgage crisis and the collapse of Wall Street.

Aha, their last gift as they head for their bunkers is the controversy in Gaza between the Israelis and Palestinians. Let's face it. They couldn't invade Iran in September though they were drooling over themselves to do it. The economic stability of the world as we know it was eroding under their feet. Slipping and sliding, they were worried about the money, and you never put it at risk. So, they waited and delivered a few good punches on the way out the door.

Get that Governor Richardson guy, he's onto us. Estrange him from the President Elect -- wrong he walked away with dignity and class. Whoops, we can't touch Hillary now. She's been bullet proofed after her trials by fire. And go figure her nasty husband former President Clinton opened his books and complied with the Obama Administration's dictum. There were few opportunities for this group to strike. Biden's a family man. Napolitano is as straight and all business as they come. Oops, maybe we can get the nominee for the Treasury. Drat that wouldn't work and they knew it. He's just too boringly clean. Iraq and Afghanistan were already in play. Someone else got to India and Mumbai. Aha! There is always the Middle East just ripe for the picking. Stir up the soup, blame the Israelis, and ignite Hamas; and the world cracks open just enough to disrupt and distract. Riots emerge, anti-Semitism bubbles up, and confusion reigns.

Emotions again run close to the surface. And another successful skirmish in psychological warfare is accomplished. It's a job well done. And if merciful, it is the last Easter egg from Bush as emotional terrorism continues to wash over the world. Lives have been lost, families destroyed, and unrest prevails. Purposefully, Obama has just one more thing on his plate to deal with instead of attending to the homeland, the Recession and ushering in the global New Economy.

Surprise or divine intervention, they didn't count on the "miracle" in New York City this week. They didn't count on the resiliency of everyday people as a jet came down and stayed afloat while ferries were commandeered and tugboats sent to rescue all the passengers from the icy water of the Hudson River. This was a world stage. New Yorkers worked their butts off. People were resilient. A miracle had occurred and there was reason to believe again in hope.

Obama with his eyes wide open is walking through a mind field as he enters his Presidency. He knows that he must be extra vigilant. He remembers the Clinton years as the traps were set every day for the President, his wife and his team to create emotional upheaval and distractions. Perhaps that's why Speaker Pelosi wants to open the investigations of Bush and his cronies. Maybe we have finally learned the lessons from the Masters of distraction and emotional terrorism. Only time will tell.

Comments

[hmargret]

True, the GOP neo-cons worked emotional terrorism on us all. But the Dems in congress and the senate didn't organize either. Obama is a miracle of the people. The Democratic party can't take credit for his rise. They could only acknowlege and cooperate with his talent and action.

Pelosi better stay on track prosecuting Bush. He's a criminal.
Hopefully we have all learned a lesson that denial leads to loss of power. We denied that Bush and co. were as evil as they were.....a­nd look how much power they took.

[JoeSausage]

It's a bit like the Wizard of Oz. A bizarre circus of distractions along the yellow brick road. And "Pay no attention to the men behind the curtain, lining their pockets and the pockets of their friends." It'll go down as the largest money grab in the history of the world, facilitated by color coded terrorist alerts, C.I.A. outings, the Harriet Meyers red herring, unnecessary wars and a complicit press. For starters.

[realpolitic]

Conservatives used even the economic crisis to get the TARP bailout passed which included almost no mechanisms for accountability and oversight. Now it is universally derided as being a handout to big finance with little help to Mainstreet. Why do conservatives like to govern behind closed doors with policies where they ask us to trust them and then continually fail that public trust? The party that scorns government always desires to govern behind closed doors outside the light of day.

[michellekraus]

This administration were warriors of psychological warfare always keeping people spinning and reacting -- even our Congressional members. It is why Obama's even tempered approach may be purposeful as we enter this new time. Not all Conservatives are emotional junkies.

[realpolitic]

Exactly right, Michelle! You notice when Bush ran the second time the terror alert level kept going up. This time when Bush was not running, they left it alone. Conservatives do not mind using public fear to fuel their ambitions to hold office and conduct policy.

[DuganS1]

If it wasn't for the TARP, our financial system would have collapsed and unemployment would be much higher right now than otherwise. Saving our financial system has been priority one since the September and will remain priority one under the Obama administration. The problem we face today is that too many American's don't understand what is happening and how incredibly important saving the financial system is. Many conservative Republicans and some left wing Democrats have launched a propaganda attack campaign vs the bailouts, trying to take advantage of the lack of knowledge of ordinary Americans to these issues; but to the credit of the majority of congressmen, they have placed what is right ahead of what is popular by the ignorant masses.

[michellekraus]

Now you understand that emotional terrorism comes in many shapes and sizes and is propaganda. Our problem is that we often get it from both directions.

[realpolitic]

Hello Dugan! Somehow I thought you would be philosophically opposed to the TARP bailout given your free market pricipals. Anyway, I too thought the TARP bailout was critical after the financial implosion mainly caused by the loosening of regulations over the years. I was speaking of the way Bush and conservatives used the dilemma to try to pass legislation that assured unaccountability. The original proposal submitted by the Treasury Department included this language: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." How undemocratic and indefensible can such sweeping legislation be constructed? We are told to hand over $700 billion to the Treasury Secretary, with an administration whose handling of funds has been poor to say the least, and his unilateral decisions are said to be "non-reviewable" by even the courts or administrative agencies. Your kidding!

Fortunately, Congress, as you know, changed the legislation, but not radically enough to create mechanisms to insure the banks would lend the money they were receiving from the taxpaers. As you know, much of these TARP funds were used for executive bonuses, increased dividends for stockholders, and some purchases of other companies.