February 10, 2006
The Emperor Has No Brain Cells
Dan Froomkin over at washington post.com in his wonderful blog/column "White House Briefing" pointed out a National Catholic Reporter editorial, in which an outsider attended the Bush speech at Kansas State, listened to his words carefully, and then examined how the speech was covered in the press.
The editorialist writes: "One . . . comes away with the impression that the national media, for all the disparaging remarks tossed its way by this administration, is considerate to a fault. Comparing the sound bites and the quoted portions in news stories to what we heard and to the actual transcript posted on the White House Web site, it is clear that the president was the beneficiary of some very generous spirits. The press constructs a far more cogent argument on the president's behalf out of discrete passages than anyone could manufacture from the whole speech itself.
It is difficult to imagine that a presidency so closely guarded and protective of image could come up with nothing better. The speech jerks, in a syntactical and grammatical mishmash, from topic to topic. It engages in flights of imagination to make its case without regard for fundamental corrections that have already occurred to the record or for the deep questions posed about central tenets of this administration's policies by Republicans and Democrats alike."
Here's the full text of the speech, if you can bear it. It's so shockingly inept that one wonders why the White House published it at all. The folks over there could use some editorial help . A snippet follows, so you can get the jist:
"A shining example History has shown that democracies yield the peace. Europe is free, whole, and at peace because the nations are democratic. That wasn't always the case, obviously, in the 1900s. Two major wars were fought where a lot of Americans died, and yet systems and forms of government changed. And now Europe is completely different, in terms of security and peace. The Far East -- I just mentioned the Japanese example. And that's what the enemy understands, and that's why they're so brutal and relentless. They understand the march of peace will be contagious. Part of my decision-making process is my firm belief in the natural rights of men and women; my belief that deep in everybody's soul is the desire to live free. I believe there's an Almighty, and I believe the Almighty's great gift to each man and woman in this world is the desire to be free. This isn't America's gift to the world, it is a universal gift to the world, and people want to be free. (Applause.)
Bush went on like this for two hours. Froomkin asks "How can a president of the United States talk for almost two hours, unscripted, and be so fundamentally unrevealing?" and, I might add, so shockingly inarticulate in such a bizarre way.
Once again it makes one wonder if we are we looking at Korasakoff's Syndrome? Confabulation, inability to see that anything is wrong with your mental function, etc. Oh it just couldn't be! Jack Abramoff says that Bush "has one of the best memories of any of the politicians I have ever met". Maybe he has a confabulation advisor ?
It must have taken some mental ability to compile this a list of programs to be cut or killed.
Photo note: Ah, yet another metaphorophoto -- a shriveled rosehip barely grasping the thorny issues in front of a faded flag. Shriveled would be my best guess about what Bush's brain would look like if he had a little spectography
Posted by Dakota at February 10, 2006 08:18 PM