Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered by Bush (BBBBB)

While I am not exactly sure about the relevancy of the "bewitched" part of the title, I am comfortable with the "bothered and bewildered" nomenclature in describing my feelings about the "Bush Presidency," and what has happened to our country during his "administration."

America is in a great big mess in almost every aspect of our society, and has been put there by a dysfunctional President and his incredible team of sycophants.

I was encouraged to write this by a friend who is upset with Justice Clarence Thomas and his inadequacies that were shown in his horrid appearance on 60 Minutes.

Quoting from a New York Times editorial:

"The problem with Justice Thomas's book, "My Grandfather's Son," is that it nurses bitter grudges and throws brickbats at organizations and people who opposed his nomination and might well appear before the court. Some of his targets, like Senator Joseph Biden and Yale Law School, he mentions by name. Others, like the American Civil Liberties Union, are not attacked as directly, but it is not hard to connect the dots."

We deserve more and better then we are getting from a Supreme Court Justice. Who among us believes that he is from among "the best and brightest?"

I have worked in corporations for 50 years. I have been a victim of BBBBB type of managements for most of the time I have worked in a corporate environment. Sadly, the operative words that could describe the managements of many companies were "rampant duplicity, general cronyism, and broad spectrum ineptness (DIC)."

I am unable to find words to describe how screwed up everything is starting with the horrid wars we are in that appear to have no end to them, and the attack on our constitution by the President and his people.

Terror, Terror, terror, and then more terror, followed by we and only we will protect you.

Moving along, I continue to love the expression "no one died because Clinton lied," and I tried to create a new one concerning GWB, and his Father, and regrettably I have failed, and I therefore solicit suggestions from anyone who has an Idea in this area.

I also would like to compile "The George W. Bush Hall of Fame for Incompetents" that would include some "legacy" players from his Fathers administration.

I also solicit nominations from everyone, and will begin with a couple of my own. I will broaden the membership to include those who knew better, yet went along with the program anyway.

I would nominate Colin Powell for inclusion at the very top of a special list of those who knew better, yet were complicit with the President in taking us into this war and allowing it to continue. He could have been a hero to America and the world by opposing the forces that wanted us to go to war, and instead of doing that, he joined with the bad guys to sell the war. From my own insignificant business life, I do understand how difficult it is to speak truth to power if you wish to continue having the power that "they" have given you.

Before we begin the other list, in a special category where he sits head and shoulders above all others, we have Vice President Cheney. While he might be brilliant, his evil machinations and outright lying have set new standards for Executive Branch duplicity, Ineptness, and cronyism, (DIC), as well as being responsible for a few assorted Constitutional violations. He also appears to be the most responsible person for taking us into this horrid war in Iraq. He is a winner (or loser,) however you view it, in every category.

As I start the remainder of the list, I nominate Alberto Gonzales, who ranks near or at the top in DIC. Not many can excel in all three categories, yet "Berto" excels in all of them. Will we ever know what evil stuff he has been involved in while purportedly serving America?

Please help mankind by adding people's names to this list and please remember to include whether they are being nominated for duplicity, ineptness, or cronyism, or "all of the above."

Because you are all probably dying to know, here are some of the lyrics for the Rodgers and Hart song: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.

I'm wild again, beguiled again,
A simpering, whimpering child again,
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I.
Couldn't sleep and wouldn't sleep,
When love came and told me I shouldn't sleep,
(or: Until I could sleep where I shouldn't sleep,
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I.
Lost my heart, but what of it?
He is cold, I agree

He can laugh, but I love it,
Although the laugh's on me.
I'll sing to him, each spring to him,
And long for the day when I'll cling to him,
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I

Norman Horowitz
A simpering, whimpering child again

Comments

[Twichell]

Now that "incompetence" has been clarified (cough), "cronyism" finally peeks with shiny eyes like a pet rat from our owners' collective "bosom."

Really, this category might be quite easy to "clarify". I suppose I'm suggesting that contact and relation *at all* might be used as a base criterion. I seem to think that the "ultimate reason" for the existence of such a "tool" or "instrument" is important to be considered here: to compare different politicians--*not* as if to "judge their merit" on some shadowy (some might say "shady") basis, but as if to simply allow a "way of thinking" about politicians hence politics *in general.*

Now that structure has been imposed upon chaos, I'll try one of MY all time faves (Lickert scale, 1 to 3, 1 being the least, 3 the most)...

H.Kissinger: DIC factor? 3 on "duplicity." A no brainer. ("knock knock knock? Henry? It's 2007! You can come out now!" Plus his rather interesting obsession with a certain French cleric...) 'Fraid, though, only a 2 out of 3 in the incompetence area; he managed to persuade President Nixon that "China could and should be opened." Of course "chance happens"; but Dr.K saw an "opportunity" and jst couldn't say "no", with the usual more or less random results. The tragedies of Chile and Southeast Asia just didn't show enough solid incompetence to make up for this glaringly historical success. Which is a bit of a shame, because he gets a 3 for cronyism, too! (If he hadn't declined to "serve" on the 9-11 committee? Still a 3, for "serving" Dr.Rice so loyally.)

"H. Kissinger's DIC index? 8 out of 9!" (So a "test drive" shows something of its possible features...)

[Twichell]

(To continue...) The jurisprudential and, of course, political value of something like a "DIC index" seems like a very good idea to me. When (not if) Bush 43 et al. are brought to justice, evidence will be as plentiful as its organization sparse.

"Inept" to me suggests "aptitude" in turn implying "talent," which ultimately implies both "popularity" and "cash flow" (to my "ear"). Too, it's a word which has no obvious "opposite," as do "inability" and "incompetence."

And "inability" seems to suffer from the same circular connection with "that which it might attempt to distinguish among" (or associate): what points might be on an axis of "inability"? How does "inability seperate itself from "ability"? Compare our owners' precious imaginary "merit": a mandatory popularity contest *judged by dead people.* (Phht.)

So, "competence" would seem at least to offer a reference point for our owners' "objectivity": how well (or badly) does "the record" of a politician *compete* with other similar records. "Moore's Law" of electronic miniturization began as an off-hand comment, the briefest of references. Same with the highly fruitful metaphor "Turing machine." "Think about it", Professor-Sergeant(?) Horowitz.

The criteria defining these axes to some degree (a large one) would imply a method for selecting and excluding "some parts but not others" of politicians' records. With criterion broad enough yet oddly clear enough to encompass a long and otherwise somewhat puzzling list of names ("The" Quayle?)?

Next up... whoa. Now that "incompetence" seems "just as" preferable as "ineptness", the former seems to desire a bit more attention to clarify "it"... ))((And I'm adding a few extra curvy-brackets so the universe doesn't implode or something.

[DemandTruth]

Henry Kissinger.

He went from advising one endless, pointless war to secretly advising another.

Other DICs: every single Republican in this country who would rather believe what their party says, no matter HOW untrue, over the truth of their own lying eyes, ears, intuition, hearts, and souls.

Every Republican who still supports this war-monger president and his war-monger party because just like football, the idea is to Win At All Costs. To BEAT DOWN the other team. You see it all over the country now. The Regressive Right Repubicans ATTACK TO DESTROY anything that BushCo and FOX Noise Propaganda doesn't agree with.

Scary and sickening DICs, all.

[Twichell]

Duplicity, Inability (Incompetence?), "Croneyism"--... "by noshabkemming's toothy fingers", clarifying a DIC factor for our owners' amusement may well be "an incredibly stupid act on somebody's part" that at the same time seems to be (in a sense) "absolutely required." (Who could *possibly* forget "Animal House"... "you f**ced up! you trusted us!"... our owners' jokes are SO, SO funny. "It's funny because it's true!")

Duplicity. Somewhere on a spectrum between "ambiguity" and "deceit". 'Deceit' seems to share with it a difference of "intention". So "at first blush" some aspect of "durability" immediately comes into view. "Ambiguity" seems less durable, less long-lasting than "duplicity". (Poof! There and gone, like an oddly emphasized spoken syllable delivered with narrowed eyes (toying with helping "our owners' creation" of something new! objective! fun!)

And on the other hand, "deceit" might by a point on a spectrum more toward increasing rather than decreasing durability ("more" time-binding or time-bound). Deceit may in principle be "shown", "verified", "proven", or at least sturdily and unambiguosly "investigated", "questioned" in some sense more easily than duplicity. Still, the "legitimacy" of such questioning--while and as it occurs--to some degree makes distinguishing "duplicity" from "deceit... ambiguous, oddly enough. Funny how that "works"!

[SirReal1]

Norm,

The list is just too long to really consider. Right off the top of my head I come up with more names than HuffPo will let me write. This needs to be an unlimited blog.
Delay
Abramoff
Wolfowitcz
Perle
Rumsfeld
Boehner
Frist
Kristol
Norquist
Quayle
Harris
Duncan
Martinez
Coulter
Miers
Will
Novak
God, the list is endless! I like the DIC conotation, but there MUST be something that starts with "K" that could be tacked on.

[avergejoe]

Why go after the puppets?
And let the puppeteers to hide from view?

Expose them - then you will have a post!

[medon]

IMO GWB is on meds to calm the symptoms of his admitted untreated alcoholism and these can do STRANGE things. This was Nixon's problem and why he went totally BF

Liberty requires eternal vigilance and the US body politic has been asleep for years. This thing is going to end VERY badly - where the US concentrates - in the pocketbook. It's a replay of the fall of the Roamn Empire - China will get tired of supporting [by not buying US Treasury bonds] our almost 200 military bases worldwide. Why are we still in Japan, Germany?

[knowhelpnow]

You will have to go back 50 years to see how this all happened.
Read Naomi Wolf and you will get a good idea.

[Twichell]

Our owners' precious "free market" is gone, or never was, or something. Instead, capitalism seems to be "taking root" even more firmly, and openly nurturing, harvesting, and feeding upon human life. Literally in some cases? We. Just. Don't. Know.

[Colmore]

Add: Mitch McConnell, cheerleader for Bush. Might as well add most of the GOP. They were all gung-ho for anything Bush and Cheney wanted, and gave them the green light. Surely they had to know what was ahead, but did not care. Karl had told them that there would be a republican majority for the long term, and they believed him. Since Karl is such a "brain" that was understandable(!!!) Sometimes I think Rove started the rumors about him being smart, and Bush's brain himself. He is one egotistical little troll.

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

Theme of Bush Era: Be Afraid; Be VERY Afraid.

[PADDYWHACK]

Last night I happened on Glenn Beck's show where he was discussing the need to destroy Iran with some Right wing Christian nut.It was all based on the bible where he claimed Iran and China were specifically named as part of Armageddon.China was going to march a 2m. man army up the Euphrates to seize the oil and threaten Israel.It's terrifying to think that this is Bush's power base and his logic is similarly bible based.Cheney is the main player of course and Bush the befuddled frontman.It's too much like Nostradamus where you can insert any country or character to fit the interpretation.We were once looked on as the most rational and advanced of nations now we just wait around until this nightmare is over powerless to stop the next military disaster afflicted with a castrated opposition to boot.Mad king Ludwig comes to mind but he left some nice castles with the bankruptcy what do we get.

[STC]

We could have had a Nobel Peace Prize winner instead of the War President, but surely Justice Thomas doesn't own any of that. Oh wait...

[realpolitic]

Condoleezza Rice certainly deserves mention for duplicity (lying about Saddam's weaponry), ineptness (poor job as NSA), and cronyism (was supposed to tutor Bush about world affairs prior to his run for president- either she was poor teacher or, more likely, he an indifferent student). With her intelligence it would seem she would be an asset to an administration, but she is too the ideological thinker and believer that ends justify means. Most in this administration seem morally bankrupt in one way or another. How do seemingly otherwise intelligent people fall under the sycophantic spell of an uninspiring Everyman like Bush?

PS. Rice also makes the most vapid comparisons, as when she compares the situation in present day Iraq to that of the rebuilding of Germany and Japan after WW11. That war ended with a formal surrender, no lives were lost afterward, each country had a largely homogeneous population, etc. The situations are not comparable.

[foofighter]

"I'll sing to him, each spring to him,
And long for the day when I'll cling to him,
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I"

But the original lines were:
"I'll sing to him
Each spring to him
And worship the trousers that cling to him
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I"

Yech!!!

"Pal Joey" was a heel, Dubya is much worse.

[JohnCitizen]

THE PRESIDENT"S MIND IS MISSING!

WE GET THE GOVERNMENT WE DESERVE¦ and, boy, we have really been getting it for the last 6 years! Truth, values, competence and results no longer matter in America.

THE PROBLEM: this President is not a rational thinker. His mind accepts information from only two sources: faith and experience. Because Bush is not rational (strictly empirical and subjective), objective facts and evidence such as the recent National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) that found the Iraq war has created more jihadists and terrorists and made America less safe are meaningless to this anachronistic man of several millennia ago. The reality of Iraq is what he thinks it is from the beautiful White House, and so our country and our precious soldiers are in for much more of this endless strategic disaster.

GOOD NEWS though... God is speaking directly to George Bush (again) and telling him to go to war with Iran. This new war should go as well as the Iraq war (our President"s last guidance from a higher authority, another Father than Bush41) and further help over one billion Muslims in their decision to fight America in a mutual holy war. The Crusades of long ago are living history in the Middle East, and Muslims are already primed for another war with Christian invaders. Our bring-it-on cowboy President is only rekindling and fueling this centuries-old fire.

Of course, TALKING WITH ADVERSARIES (instead of war) requires rational thought; hence with Bush, American diplomacy is an oxymoron. It will never happen! If past is prelude, Bush diplomacy with Iran will be perfunctory and rigged; our mentally unbalanced, messianic President needs to provoke a war, AND HE WILL FIND A WAY!

WITHOUT RATIONAL THINKING, bumping into reality is always a shock! FUTURE SHOCK: roiled Pakistan is just one assassin bullet away from going under. When the President finally increases the level of hatred against the United States to where it engulfs Pakistan, then we face nuclear terror, and Biblical Armageddon becomes real and a self-fulfilling prophecy. Oh, the joy, the Rapture!