He’s still in the bunker

May 31, 2007

From late April:

[S]ome big money players up from Texas recently paid a visit to their friend in the White House. The story goes that they got out exactly one question, and the rest of the meeting consisted of The President in an extended whine, a rant, actually, about no one understands him, the critics are all messed up, if only people would see what he’s doing things would be OK…etc., etc.

This is called a “bunker mentality” and it’s not attractive when a friend does it. When the friend is the President of the United States, it can be downright dangerous. Apparently the Texas friends were suitably appalled, hence the story now in circulation.

From late May:

[B]y all reports, President Bush is more convinced than ever of his righteousness.

Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated “I am the president!” He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.”

To reiterate a point I raised a month ago, the president has apparently reached full self-pity mode. If Bush really has taken to thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeating “I am the president!” then he’s pretty far gone.

This is not at all encouraging. In fact, if Bush starts wondering what he can do to prove everyone wrong about his greatness, this kind of thinking could get scary.

Look for him to appoint a horse senator any day now…

  • Wow…there’s self-pity, and then there is full-blown crazy. Iraq’s been set up, alright, but I don’t think the end result is going to be anything that resembles Bush’s vision of our country’s destiny – unless our destiny is to eventually resemble the aftermath of Armageddon.

    “Wild-eyed” is not a term I want associated with any president, and if this is what it has come to, we are in a lot worse trouble than any of us thought.

    And, I’m not at the “could get scary” stage – I’m at the “already too scary for me” stage.

  • Wow. Just, wow. And this is our leader for the next year and more.

    I’ve often heard him described as a ‘child.’ This post solidifies that view, I think, at least for me. Like you, I shudder when contemplating what this ‘man’ will do in the time he has left to make him feel as if others respected him to the level he thinks they should.

  • With any luck, he’ll try and prove his greatness by wandering off into the desert for a few years like Moses.

  • So to prove how great and righteous he is, the leader of the free world impersonated a gorilla?

    I … uh … not even sure what to type about that.

  • On a strictly human level, you can understand why Bush is freaking out.

    His whole life, he’s been a colossal fuckup. Everything–everything–he ever did, he messed up, and was bailed out, and failed upward.

    This time, there’s nobody to bail him out, and nowhere to fail upward towards. He’s trapped with his own mistakes. The tragedy, of course, is that to a lesser (someone like me, sitting at home mildly upset about the whole thing) or greater (GIs on patrol in Baghdad, Iraqis generally, whoever dies from infected meat, etc) extent, we’re all trapped with him.

  • “Our country’s destiny” — One day, perhaps W will share his vision with the American people….

    “If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.”
    John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 – 2006)

  • ***He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.” ***

    Dems need to be literally bitch-slapping the GOP side of the Senate with this one. The man, if already not insane, is on the edge of an abyss—and he will drag America into that abyss, as a self-envisioned penance for the nation not embracing his messianic greatness.

    Another possible angle on this is that Bu$h has convinced himself to hop onto the trail to martyrdom. the only real difference is that his “suicide vest” is the entire United States of America….

  • This post is a joke, right?

    Oh, it isn’t?

    The only reason I’ve been watching Bush’s pressers for the last few years is to see if this is when he FINALLY goes over the edge and starts raving like a maniac. I want to be able to say that I saw it live.

  • This IS scary. Every passing day this man is left in office is another day we gamble with the fate of our Democracy. Congress is the only means to stop him and they just ignore the danger. Does Bush have to rape Pelosi on the House floor before they will act. What does it take to get a sense of urgency around these compromising under achievers. What are they so afraid of? Bush pounding on his chest about being the president is insanity especially mixed with drugs. I suspected all along that he was trying to make it nearly impossible to leave Iraq and he can accomplish that by attacking Iran.
    Please somebody stop him. Quit standing around with your mouths gaping and your thumb up your ass and do something congress.
    I write my Senator McCaskill over and over about impeaching Bush/Cheney before its too late and she keeps sending back a form email about about how it would take up all their time and energy and they wouldn’t be able to legislate on the other important issues. I keep telling her this is the MOST important issue and should take all their time and energy if necessary to get it done as these guys are destroying our country. She says it would not be successful anyway and I say BULL. Once the investigation starts it would be like a flood of information and people testifying who are too afraid to right now because congress is failing to stop him. The corruption is everywhere and impeachment, no matter what it looks like now, can only be successful.
    Right now impeachment would just put Bush in handcuffs which is less embarrassing than having to put him a straight jacket (disguised as a flack jacket). Keep writing your representatives because this IS the most important issue. Everything else is resolvable.

  • Oh please let there be a video of one of these breakdowns. Nothing leads the news like “President Bush cracked today and CNN was there. If you have small children we suggest you ask them to leave the room.

  • WARNING: Mixing the kool-aid can be dangerous to your mental health. Symptoms include delusions of grandeur, stubbornness, arrogance and puffed up chest. Symptoms may be accompanied by feelings of isolation and decreasing popularity. Severe cases of verbal miscues and shit-eating grin have been known to occur. One in 10 kool-aid mixers showed signs of aggressive behavior and persecution complex. Do not attempt to make major decisions or meet with foreign dignitaries after mixing kool-aid. If symptoms persist, contact your psychiatrist at once. Clearing brush has been known to reduce symptoms in rare cases.

  • Bush cannot escape his destiny.

    WARNING: viewing the above link helps the terrorists and could put you on a Homeland Security watch list….you have been duly warned. (You cannot escape your destiny, either).

  • Even in the past few years I used to read about him shaking his fist–I’ve never seen anyone actually do that in real life. Not even kids. Just cartoon characters.

  • ***He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.” ***

    Bush met with Dobson recently and ever since Dobson has been ranting about the evils of Iran and how they need to be destroyed.

    Congress is walking around with blinders on because all that is left for Bush to do is wear a sign around his neck saying “I’m going to attack Iran”. Everything else is in place……
    War ships in the Persian Gulf
    Troop strength to capacity in Iraq
    War czar for the ‘new’ war
    FEMA camps operational for dissenters
    A blank check from congress
    And a power hungry “ruler” who feels he is controlling the “destiny” of America.

    Congress has no excuse for not stopping this but they are running out of time. Many predict war with Iran before Sept.

  • We can be understanding and we can be humorous and we can act concerned, BUT ~

    WHEN HE THINKS THAT HIS TIME IN OFFICE IS TOO SHORT FOR IMPEACHMENT HE’S GOING TO NUKE IRAN and then write himself a pardon.

    While the Democratic Congress dabbles in Political Theatre and folds up like a cheap suit.

  • This is really scary. Our only hope is that Congress will stop him, either by cutting off his war money or by impeaching him.

    And I’m not optimistic about either one.

  • Me Tarzan!

    Clearly, he’s gone to full George of the Bungle mode. I don’t buy that it’s full-blown crazy. It’s just a philosophy others explained to him, filtered through his limited communication organs.

    Reagan tried to spend us into massive debt so any successor would be restricted in efforts to expand social programs and would have to put more focus on deficit reduction, thereby achieving a conservative economic goal.

    Bush, similarly, is trying to lock us into a Middle East imperialist frame that seeks economic stability through increasing control of energy resources. The man can’t explain his real purpose, just as Reagan couldn’t. But unlike Reagan, he also lacks the capacity to provide a faux rationale without sounding like a moron.

    So rather than Nixon Lite, we’ve got Reagan Lite, a president whose policies are proscribed by his handlers, not by his neuroses. The underlying ideology is the same, and even many of the handlers are the same: we’re the 600-lb gorilla who will set the global agenda and we’ll find ways to maintain that agenda by creating complexities that political opponents can’t easily undo.

    Additionally, media consolidation permits the application of ongoing pressure so any Dem successor is so consistently rocked back on his/her heels in defensive mode that he/she can never gain a foothold towards a proactive agenda. They are kept in reactive mode, as Clinton was, and the aims of their ideology never gets undone.

    That’s how I view Bush: a useful tool. He’s crazy… like a fox.

  • […] nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated “I am the president!

    And here was I, thinking he was a Chimp-in-Chief, while, all this time, he’s a gorilla!

    I do wish the journos at the pressers had enough gumption to push him that last bit he needs to go over the edge. Shouldn’t take much, now. And it would answer, nicely, the problem of impeaching him. No fuss, no muss, lead him off in a straight jacket, saying “there, there”, in soothing tones…

  • Has he started to talk to the pictures on the walls yet? Or does he just rip them off the wall and throw them at people?

  • Actually Bush is rather remarkable. He’s living proof that the “Inverse Peter Principle” (one rises to their level of incompetence and gets stuck there) doesn’t work. He’s been incompetent at everything he attempted and yet has made it to the presidency. If he’s “made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny”” he may very well attack Iran to ensure that legacy.
    Gee maybe he was chosen by God—and God is really Satan 😉

  • Next up – a betting pool or “futures market” on if/when he’ll go off the deep end in front of a camera.

    Almost always, no matter how reprehensible a person’s actions, I’m able to find some compassion for them, on the assumption that they suffer as much if not more than those they’ve harmed. But haven’t been able to muster up the least bit of such feeling for Chimpy.

    And as if the chest-thumping didn’t give us enough to be scared of – don’t forget, if he’s impeached or the 25th Amendment kicks in, we get months and months of Shooter openly in charge.

  • I AM the president.
    I AM the president.
    I AM the PRESIDENT!
    Absolutely we’re winning!
    Bring ’em on!
    This presidency, especially the plans for Iraq, bear a strong resemblance to that thing from the Oprah show. What was it? Oh yeah, The Secret. Bush is on the Secret strategy.

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