Our Man in the BugHouse: He Just Made Me More Nervous Than Ever

Worst president ever? Ahhh, those were the days. I'm already nostalgic for them.

For yesterday Mr. Bush's press conference made even that appellation seem rather comforting. For yesterday he departed the presidential-ranking territory of Buchanan, Grant and Harding and carved out a new cellar of decidedly sui-generis dimensions. For yesterday he transcended mere incompetence -- that pedestrian quality of beatable "worse-ness" -- and displayed a collection of deficiencies one would normally see only within the confines of a secure and padded institution.

We didn't think things could get worse. That seemed impossible. But every time we think that, sure enough, things get worse and the sucker punch gets poised. Yesterday was a splendid example.

What was that? It sure wasn't a "news" conference. It went far beyond spin -- even laughably outrageous Beltway spin -- and swiftly entered the spooky arena of downright derangement. It was, indeed, like a national diagnostic session, with President Curveball himself on the couch and behind the podium. I have never, never seen anything like it.

There he stood, facing an avalanche of status-quo obliteration, and pretended -- or rather honestly believed? -- that nothing had changed. Nothing at all. There he stood, grimacing and wincing and twitching, and swore that, in fact, he had been vindicated. The deranged bastard had me paralyzed with fear. It was like watching the disintegrating Captain Queeg on the witness stand -- only this commander has his unsteady finger on the nuclear button.

"Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon," said Bush, shifting effortlessly from the familiar "since" to the new product of "if"; again, as though nothing had changed. "What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear weapons program?"

Well, let's think. Maybe they could say that, you know, like they've been saying since 2003 and have now been proven genuine; like Saddam Hussein repeatedly said before we spent 4000 lives and a couple trillion dollars to prove him correct; and like the International Atomic Energy Agency could regularly verify if only we would talk and trade rather than threaten and withhold.

His other musings were no less demented or utterly disconnected, which some mental health professionals, if bribed enough, I suppose, might label as merely severely revisionist. Such as his claim that our relations with Iran in 2002 were "hopeful" -- as opposed to the later dark days of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reign -- forgetting, suppressing, or completely blocking from memory that that was the year he slapped on Iran the moniker of its "axis of evil" membership.

Senator Chuck Hagel, in reaction to the intelligence community's startling clarity that has only befogged Mr. Bush even more, declared that now is perhaps the time for talks with Iran since, as the New York Times paraphrased and quoted, "Iran’s government may be more rational than the one that Mr. Bush said in August had threatened to put the entire region 'under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.'"

Of course Iran is more rational -- certainly more so than the one portrayed by the irrational Mr. Bush. But here's what really worries.

The Times further reports, as is the consensus view among virtually all foreign policy mavens outside the twisted confines of the White BugHouse, that "For now at least, the main argument for a military conflict with Iran ... is off the table for the foreseeable future." Yet it's Mr. Bush who makes the "main argument," and yesterday he stood right there -- right there before the world -- and declared there was no substantive change in the basis for that argument. So how could it be "off the table"? -- and especially since he further and explicitly declared it isn't?

In fact, given Mr. Bush's most unsettling display of incontrovertible instability yesterday, the situation is more worrisome now than ever. For years we have witnessed his absolute, prep-boy intolerance for behavioral correction and his messianic determination to do, simply, whatever he thinks God wants him to do. Yesterday only publicly affirmed that his condition has passed the exceedingly frustrating stage and has entered, perhaps, Twenty-fifth Amendment territory.

He affirmed, in short, that he's exceedingly bonkers, and is skating on the very edge of a destructive mental collapse. This we are expected to find reassuring?

Comments

[Rich Miles]

"...Twenty-fifth Amendment territory."

Oh dear god no. Not President Cheney.

If you think we're f**ked now, just wait till that sinks in for a few weeks.

He'll have the nukes a-flyin' all over the world. That man (Cheney) is so filled with hatred and 35-year-old frustrations that nothing short of 8-figure megadeath will calm him down.

Other than that, a very well-thought out piece. Thanks for this and all you do on this site.

[Digg It]

It a fact, and it has been known for years, that Bush is a nut case. Of course the drugs did further damage. It is time for the Congress to make a change, for the good of this great country and the world. Bush and Cheney are both seriously demented.

[Pat W]

So WHAT is stopping the House of Representatives from bringing impeachment of Cheney to a vote? ANYTHING to take up the time and distract these dangerous lunatics from following through with the bombing of Iran. I do not believe that Bush is organized enough to do the worst on his own. Rove's gone. After his outsider proclamation about the push for attacking Iraq and the insiders' responses, that's for sure. Cheney must go NOW. He has so little support that I think a Republican base would melt in the Senate once the voluminous evidence is presented. That leads inexorably back to Bush. Whether they get to impeach him or not, the remaining props would be knocked out from under that little fruitcake.

[Rattler]

You have to remember that Bush has his lying zionist filth constantly whispering in his hear that Iran is a threat. The problem is he's too stupid to check the facts himself.

[NCBlueneck]

The thought of "President Cheney" fills me with horror and revulsion too. But with Nancy "all smoking guns are off the table" Pelosi running cover for the Bushies, it's all pie-in-the-sky anyways...

[chabuka]

Why do people opposed to impeaching the nut in the White House, always try to win their arguement by reminding us that Cheney would be the President....? There is already articles of impeachment against V.P. Cheney...languishing away in the DOJ committee..John Conyers has been threatened by Pelosi and Reid (they say they will remove him if he takes impeachment to the next level) impeach Cheney first or impeach them together, the people can do this, it is our Constitutional right!...except that Congress is protecting these Bat-Sh*t crazies.... so impeach Congress

[madmatthew]

I think the reason Congress isn't impeaching is that the Bushies have told them that if they do, the Bushies will just declare martial law.

[Clemsy]

Bush is like a loose tooth that just won't come out. Always there, when I wake in the morning, when I go to bed at night.

Will no one rid me of this meddlesome tooth?

[Pat W]

Well now, threatening the declaration of martial law is just about as criminal an operation as it could be. So, if Cheney isn't impeached, then they will simply delay declaring martial law a few months until an opening presents itself. Recall how Guiliani tried to remain NYC mayor a few months after 9/11?Declaring martial law requires that the military goes along with it. I don't think they would. I would be more concerned, if I were Pelosi and Reid, of being assassinated as was attempted on the Democratic leadership of the Senate in 2001 using anthrax mailings when they tried to examine the Patriot Act. I knew a postal worker who saw two co-workers die of that anthrax which the FBI pinned down to the Fort Dietrich, MD Army Lab. I recall talking to a secretary in Senator Mikulski's Baltimore office in November. The entire Democratic leadership was paralyzed through February, when they finally got their offices back. No access to their computers, files, mail, nothing. That's why the Republicans were able to ramrod the Patriot Act with overt violations of four parts of our Bill of Rights. When they tried to get last minute legal advice over at the Supreme Court, a trace of the anthrax was suddenly discovered in the basement, shutting the entire building down. What other threats are there? What about the Democratic Party's refusal to verify the facts about the stolen elections? Conyers documented the part about Ohio and wrote a report. Some have gone to prison there. But it was far wider spread, exit polls showing the glaring computer fraud in some key states particularly where there was no independent paper trail. The Democratic Party leaders know a lot and fear alot. I think it would be far better to get it out in the open and go on frontal attack. Will it mean assasinations, complete takeover? Or will we have more assassinations (accidents like Wellstone) and slow motion takeover anyway the way it has happened before in other nations such as Germany?

[Robert]

I think Bush is following his god. It's just not the God I know.

[Zee]

"lying zionist filth"

Worry about your own nuttiness, Rat.
Anyone who bandies the term "zion" is a tool of the holocaust-denying Jews-secretly-run-the-world conspiracy nuts. Your level? Iran's holocaust-denying president who also uses the term. Half dozen one, half dozen the other. You have nothing over Bush to be pointing fingers.

As far as Bush's being bonkers. No one could ever have mistaken his slurring, his slumping, his twitching, grinning and clumsiness for anything other than retardation. Everyone...everyone should be rubbing that into the Ruin-America Republicans' faces. And the mediawhores. Starting with Oprah "it all comes down to likability" Winfrey. Someone should shove a mic in her face and ask how she could make that mistake. Ditto, Richard Cohen, Maureen Dowd and all the other mediawhores who had no business spinning the idiot son as anything other than an obvious disaster-in-the-making.

[Amerikagulag]

The only REAL terrorist is in the White House.

Kucinich '08
it's the only REAL American choice

[Don Robertson, The American Philosopher]

----- Rejoice! Bush to Liberate American Housing from the Debacle! -----

This Administration has made an incredible miscalculation.

It's either that or they have been thinking so much further ahead in the game than I, that I just don't have a clue.

What the Administration has missed in their bizarre calculations is that Bush & Co. have gone so far overboard like the Boy Who Cried Wolf into unbelievability, not just by me, and not just by you, but by virtually everyone in the country and worldwide, that none believes a word they utter.

It's been well more than a year since I noticed no matter what the Adminstration stated was true, or necessary, or whatever, everyone simply took what they said, and took it to mean the truth is exactly the opposite.

Iran is an excellent example.

No one needed this new intelligence estimate to know this was true about Iran. All anyone needed to hear was what the Administration was saying to know Iran was not in the A-bomb business.

And right now the President is pushing a 5 year freeze on housing loan rates... OMFG!

Well folks, we all know from experience, if there is anything that WON'T work, this Administration will be the first to come before the media foot in mouth with it.

Here's the problem:

The Fed, the bankers, the realtors, the insurance companies, and all the Home Depots and Lowes in the country ran up the price of housing almost tenfold, when the cost of financing all the new housing debt was added in. They all thought they were gonna get rich, and some did too in a thieving sort of way.

And now, the bubble having come entirely unseamed, the Administration comes out with a solution crafted to sink a gaff into debtor-homeowners that they would wrythe with the rest of their sorry lives.

He wants to freeze interest rates on home loans for five years, no doubt in a voluntary way not to put any undue strain upon any of the greedy bankers who underwrote all these impossibly leveraged and impossibly priced houses.

The truth is, foreclosures NOW are more widely happening because those who got sucker-punched have come to their senses about the price they paid.

Having seen what happened to their neighbors who ended up destitute and homeless, those now smarter by the sorry experience of others are simply bailing out BEFORE the vampire loans they took out sucks their financial blood completely dry.

They weren't just cheated by the terms of the loan. That crumbling shack with the mold in every closet, the paint peeling off, the cellar flooding, on the postage stamp lot with the property taxes that equal the rent these homeowners used to pay are simply now being appraised right next door at 20-40% less than what they otherwise still owe on their mortgage. They are so far behind the eight ball in the American dream it has become a leghold nightmare.

So, the smart ones are packing up their things and giving back to the bank the house that isn't worth anywhere near what they were told it was worth when they signed on the dotted line on that piece of paper placed before them just the other side of the blade of the financial guillotine they put their head and half their torso into.

You cannot blame them for getting into the place and saying, "Hey! Wait a second!"

So let the banks have it back. You'll buy one for ten cents on the dollar soon enough.

A lot of these banks can't possibly survive after this debacle anyway. They just got too greedy, and, they deserve to fail.

GWB & Co. has just given them a good, Heave ho!

Look out for your own!

Don Robertson, The American Philosopher

[Alan Cabal]

"Lying Zionist filth" seems like a pretty fair description of the terrorists who have hijacked the American Ship Of State. I can't wait for the new Nuremberg trials. We owe the Nazis an apology, or a lot of hangings, and I am disinclined to apologize to a Nazi...

[Scarlett]

Believe it or not, I fear a President Cheney less than Bush. Cheney is already President. Bush just puts a "folksy" (or idiotic or insane or whatever) face to it. Bush is not now nor has he ever been in control. I'd be surprised if he even knew his name half of the time (since clearly he is no longer a "recovering" alcholic -- if he ever was one).

While many people still tend to like Bush (God only knows how) and tend to blame everything on his idiocy and incompetence (which would be a good argument if he actually did anything) -- Cheney is probably less popular than Satan himself (although there is reason to believe he may actually BE Satan). And while he is certainly no evil genius (evil, yes -- genius, no), people wouldn't be able to stick their hands in the sand and pretend that there are limits to his stupidity and that surely rational people will step in and stop him (as they do with Bush).

But if the idea of President Cheney is too scary, we merely start impeachment with him and then move to Bush. Although, Bush could always appoint even scarier people as Vice President -- such as Chertoff, Wolfowitz, Joe Lieberman, Newt Gingrich ...

Sadly, taking out both Bush and Cheney would leave us with President "impeachment is off the table" Pelosi, so I'm not sure there is any way to "win". We could just keep impeaching until we get simply a mildly corrupted official instead of the complete total sellouts that we have to choose from now.

[Mike]

I'm still wondering if this will stop anything. Bush and Cheney received the 9/11 commission report and ignored the findings, if anything they did the opposite. They did the opposite when confronted with the findings of the Iraq Study Group's report and the reports from his own scientists on Global Warming.

He ignored his own energy department after they released a report that claimed that energy prices would actually increase in the long and short term if his energy bill was passed and it did. Who is to say that they wont ignore this report and "bring it on" anyway?

[Frank]

An excellent piece..

For the world to see, certification of a man as being totally mad was realized at that press conference. What hath the supreme court wroth??

[john smith]

i am astounded that the masses of citizens of the united states of america are allowing this mari antonette class of people...this pusudo aristocracy, to so thoroughly trampel it underfoot!this entire class of people need to have their grip on the nation's wealth, and power severly, and permeantly broken.

[Carole]

I agree with the writer of this article. Bush is insane and must be removed from office. This man is far more dangerous to this country than even those of us who believed he was a pure menace can now believe.

[john smith]

i am astounded that the masses of citizens of the united states of america are allowing this marie antonette class of people...this pusudo aristocracy, to so thoroughly trampel it underfoot!this entire class of people need to have their grip on the nation's wealth, and power severly, and permenantly broken.

[Washington Jefferson Adams]

The most important thing to remember is this; The NIE wasn't published it was leaked. I had been blocked by Cheney for a few months, because he did not want it published, somehow it got out. I pitty the poor bastard when he gets caught.

[Lexpac]

God's blessings have not lately fallen upon America. You have succumbed to the dictatorship of a no neck, mouth breathing, knuckle dragging monster. His characteristics drawn from the whole spectrum of the animal kingdom. -The gait and countenance of an ape. The morals and cunning of a rat. The charm and intelligence of an amoeba.

Not bad for a mere puppet eh?

Lexpac

[Josh]

What's the point in coming to this site when comments are knocked-off soon after they are posted.

Time to let folks know carpenters is a neo-con flash in the pan.

[John H]

> -The gait and countenance of an
> ape. The morals and cunning of
> a rat. The charm and
> intelligence of an amoeba.

The only argument I have with that statement is it is an insult to apes and rats. I do not know about the intelligence or charm of amoebas.

Apes and rats are perfectly suited to the life they lead. Bush and Cheney are not suited for civilized society, let alone the White House.

[lexpac]

I quote from the transcript of the press conference. An answer about Columbia and the FTA.

"It would be an insult to a friend. It would send a contradictory message to a country led by a very strong leader, who is working hard to deal with some very difficult problems, one of which is armed gangs of people that are ruthless and brutal -- people who just kidnap innocent people for the sake of achieving political objectives."

What about your brutal armed gangs of kidnappers Mr President? Or are those the ones to which you were referring?

Lexpac

[IronMan]

What those people who see things so clearly fail to understand is the incredible apathy of the populace. The GOP understands it, as do the Dems. Politicians in the highest offices in the land understand all too well that public clamoring fades away, especially without a media-driven effort to hold feet to the fire.
To those who see clearly, what this administration has done to our nation and our image around the world will take decades to rectify. Unique and grotesque subversions of The Constitution, heretofore not even contemplated by any American, are explained away. Time passes, the page is turned, and the citizenry forgets.

I'd wonder if we are truly anything approaching the republic our forefathers devised. It would seem to me that the grand facade has most Americans fooled, but the actions of our leadership seems to bank on the viability of the shell game.

[ForKucinich]

http://www.lahaine.org/petras/b2-img/petras_iran.pdf

The military brass led by Admiral Fallon are refusing to take orders from foreign agents (israel) who control US president

James Petras: US Military versus Israel Firsters

http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=ethnic_judaism&Number=295916430#Post295916430
We should be able to have both an independent de-colonized and democratic America, military or a corrupt colonized electoral system – what should be done?

The ideal solution would be a revitalized civil society including secularist citizens, nonfundamentalist Muslims and Christians, and non-Zionist Jews, organized in an anti-war, anticolonial movement and political parties allied with patriotic officers to ‘re-found the republic’. The purpose would be to establish a republic to ‘defend the heartland’ from fires, floods, economic pillage, terrorists, ecological predators and foreign agents acting on behalf of alien regimes.

Can it happen? We shall see. What is becoming clear however is that the anti-colonial imperative is growing stronger by the day, if it doesn’t come from below, it may have to come from above.

[beamer]

laugh clown,laugh...this is an incredibly large,elaborate practical joke....right??..

[Donnat]

All this WWIII talk is to get Americans comfortable with a full scale invasion of every oil-rich middle eastern country. Bush and his handlers realize the 'Vietnam' approach isn't going to cut it with the ME, they're too tough.

Although, how he's going to launch WWIII without a draft is beyond me. Maybe Blackwater is going to have a giant job fair after Christmas.

And it doesn't hurt that throwing around terms like "world war" might make undecideds choose a man over a 'weak' woman candidate.

There's always a political motive, even when Bush is incoherent, probably especially when he's incoherent.

[carolyn]

Talk about certifiably nuts. Am I the only one wondering why he kept talking about a trade agreement with Columbia, when the one under consideration in the Senate at the time was the one with Peru? Where was the brilliant media on that one? Huh??

[Philadelphia Steve]

IMO, President Bush isneither delusional or stupid. He mearly does not care what he says, or if it even makes sense.

Why should he?

He can count on almost total Republican loyalty in Congress to protect him.

He can count on the Conservative media to tell America how brilliant he really is.

He can count on a lazy and spineless mainstream media to forget all about this story in 24 hours.

and

He can count on the 100% fealty of the remaining "Loyal Bushies" to carry out his wishes, no matter what.

So, why should President Bush care one bit if anything he says is the truth, or even makes sense? He is completely immune from consequences, and he knows it.

[meow]

I'm not so trusting of this sudden reversal of intel regarding Iran. Total reversal from the report in July? What happened in 4 months to cause this? If you read the actual report, it seems more like Iran is not currently constructing a nuclear weapon, but all of the pieces are still on the table, and they continue to enrich uranium to weapons grade. France, Germany and Russia are skeptical of this report.
Simce when do we believe any single piece of intel as gospel? How come we can jeer at the intel that led us into Iraq, but trust this one--just because we want it to be true? Isn't that what the Bush administration did? How about confirmation, before we all jump for joy.