Getting to Know You, Georgie

Okay. First things first.

I've read the Denver Post's endorsement of Dumbya this past Sunday about four times and still find the piece a curious hodgepodge of non-sequiturs; a litany of Dumbya's failures but, hey, let's vote for him anyway. What the Post's editorialists tell us is that "...it isn't sensible to assess the state of our union in easily definable ways. Ours is an era in which security matters most, and national security is the preeminent duty of the next president."

Now, wait a minute. In one breath you're telling us that it's really stupid to try to assess problems and issues through reasonable analysis -- "...easily definable ways...," and then, in that curious second breath, you're telling us that you've easily defined that "...national security is the preeminent duty of the next president."

The editorial is a litany (look at it for yourself) of Dumbya's failures. Yet, the editorialists at the Post rely upon that fear factor; that soccer-mom-protecting-her-child's-peanut-butter-and-jam-sandwich-from-being-laced-with-ricin-by-some-Islamic-fundamentalist-with-a-towel-on-his-head-and-an-AK47-strapped-to-his-back mentality to justify their endorsement. Oh, how clever Karl Rove has been. Feed the fear and it will feed thee.

I don't get it. But, then, the Post's editorial reminded me that that the editorialist doesn't have to depend upon fact for what they say, just opinion; just what they think might be truthful, not necessarily what is truthful. Such is the sublime temerity of the editorialist whose insulated interaction with the world occurs through paper and ink, and, of course, editorial board meetings.

God bless the editorialists. They keep us reminded that the pursuit of truth is something we're responsible for because they sure as hell aren't going to do it.

Now, as to truth.

An incredible article in the New York Times Magazine by Ron Suskind who was the senior national-affairs reporter for The Wall Street Journal from 1993 to 2000, has, for me, provided a glimpse of Dumbya and his minions that explains a lot about who these people are; these intellectually blind and deaf scrappers who, in a thousand years, would never understand John Kerry's observation from the first presidential debate: "...you can be certain and wrong."

Ron Suskind tells us that, in a conversation with Bruce Bartlett, "...a domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and a treasury official for the first President Bush...," that Dumbya possesses and preaches "...this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do. ...This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them..." [The emphasis is mine.] "...He truly believes he's on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence. But, you can't run the world on faith."

Suskind notes in the article Dumbya's repeated use of the word Crusade -- and all of its natural connotations -- to describe his war on terror. Jihad. Crusade. Pretty much the same thing, don't you think?

The Suskind article goes on for fourteen pages. But, it is fascinating and revealing. Here's several other quotes from the article:

"...A writ of infallibility..." permeates the White House staff with respect to their leader. "Bush's intolerance of doubters has, if anything, increased."

Indeed, Suskind quotes from a former supporter and friend of Georgie, Jim Wallis of the Sojourners -- a faith-based group -- as describing Dumbya as, "...a messianic American Calvinist. He doesn't want to hear from anyone who doubts him."

Suskind writes that Bush "...has created the faith-based presidency. The faith based presidency is a with-us-or-against-us model that has been enormously effective at, among other things, keeping the workings and temperament of the Bush White House a kind of state secret. ...This is one key feature of the faith-based presidency: open dialogure, based on facts, is not seen as something of inherent value. It may, in fact, create doubt, which undercuts faith."

An observation from Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, remarks that, Bush "...is plenty smart enough to do the job. It's his lack of curiosity about complex issues which troubles me."

Probably the most frightening information -- for me, at least -- that Suskind imparts is what he believes "...gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency."

Suskind had a conversation with a Bush senior advisor in which, "The aide said that guys like me were in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' I [Suskind] nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"

Finally, the Suskind article hit the key to what I've been wondering about and suspecting for a long, long time.

Mark McKinnon, a senior media advisor to Bush, challenged Suskind with: "You think he's a idiot, don't' you?"

Suskind replied, "No."

McKinnon jumped in: "No, you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read The New York Times or Washing Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it's good for us. Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!"

Suskind noted that McKinnon's final "you" was, of course, the "...entire reality-based community."

Well, I have gone on. But, I do believe I am beginning to get it; beginning to understand the mentality not only of Dumbya but of his minions as well. The only truth they understand, cling to, worship, revere, is that Dumbya's certainty makes him right; all the time, without exception, because that certainty comes from God. And, certainly, if God is charting the course, then the course is true.

And now, Lord, we've come full circle: "This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. ...they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them..."

Be afraid. Be very afraid.