Time magazine columnist Joe Klein goes all psychoanalytical on George W. Bush over the Mark Foley mess, contrasting the White House’s heartfelt defense of House Speaker Dennis Hastert to the way it dumped then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott overboard in 2002. The difference, Klein opines, is that Lott was disloyal to Bush’s dad on taxes and that Hastert has been a good soldier for this Bush administration. “George W. Bush prizes loyalty over competence or accountability,” Klein writes.
As for why Bush II refuses to get rid of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — that’s when the “family psychodrama” gets really weird. Rumsfeld and Bush I were longtime rivals, and the son wanted to prove the father wrong, Klein suggests. “It’s a perfect Freudian boggle: if he dumps Rumsfeld, isn’t George W. Bush tacitly admitting that his dad was right about a lot of other things too, like choosing not to overthrow Saddam Hussein in 1991?”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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25 Comments
We should do away with father-son presidencies, and husband-wife presidencies as well. The rule should be, one traitor per family.
V.L.R.B!!
Oedi-Bush Rex! What’s next, Barbara marries W? (Then again, which Barbara?) — Just being sarcastic.
Anyway, isn’t this symptomatic of a dynastical absolute monarchy?
Drug-abusing children are even worse than the usual father-son rivalries. In the latter situation son usually wants to build upon father’s accomplishments; in the former he rejects them.
Everything that has come out so far point in the direction of faher-son presidency. I remember the current Bush saying in the fall of 2002 of Saddam, “this man tried to kill my father” it’s vengeance all over. Now two nations and the whole world is now looking for a resolve. This should be a eye opener for all us.
Bush 1 knew that invasion/occupation would be a disaster like this:
Study: 655,000 Iraqis die because of warMALCOLM RITTERAssociated PressNEW YORK – A controversial new study contends nearly 655,000 Iraqis have died because of the war, suggesting a far higher death toll than other estimates.
The timing of the survey’s release, just a few weeks before the U.S. congressional elections, led one expert to call it “politics.”
In the new study, researchers attempt to calculate how many more Iraqis have died since March 2003 than one would expect without the war. Their conclusion, based on interviews of households and not a body count, is that about 600,000 died from violence, mostly gunfire. They also found a small increase in deaths from other causes like heart disease and cancer.
“Deaths are occurring in Iraq now at a rate more than three times that from before the invasion of March 2003,” Dr. Gilbert Burnham, lead author of the study, said in a statement.
The study by Burnham, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and others is to be published Thursday on the Web site of The Lancet, a medical journal.
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/breaking_news/15727783.htm
But the crack-head had to defy his Daddy.
and this …
Mortar causes Baghdad base fireThe explosions were seen for miles around the cityThe US military has said that a huge fire at an army base’s ammunitions store in the Iraqi capital was caused by a mortar fired by insurgents.The fire, which set off a series of blasts and explosions at the base, caused no casualties or injuries.
The BBC’s Andrew North, in Baghdad, said the explosions started at about 2300 (2100 BST) on Tuesday night.
Blasts from the base, in the city’s south, were heard for miles. The fire continued to burn through the night.
“Intelligence indicates that civilians aligned with a militia organisation were responsible for last night’s mortar attack,” Base spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Withington said.
Earlier, an insurgent group had posted a statement on the internet, claiming responsibility for the attack.
The US military spokesman said that all troops and workers on the base had been safely evacuated to bomb shelters to protect them from the blasts.
He said no-one had been injured in the explosions.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry said the blasts had shaken three neighbourhoods close to the base in the southern district of Doura.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In another thread it was noted that old ammo dumps were looted while we did zero to prevent that from happening. Maybe we should have at least blown them up rather than delivering the weapons to the insurgents.
From the Klein article:”The hilarious part is everyone in Washington now believes that the only way Bush will change course on Iraq is if Jimmy Baker’s [bipartisan] commission shows him the way out,” a prominent Republican told me. Former Secretary of State Baker was Bush the Elder’s longtime consigliere. This is a family psychodrama for the ages.********************************************************************
Baker is a very powerful, behind the scenes, operator. Jimmy “what did the president know, and when did he know it” Baker’s recent accomplishments include:1) Defending GWBush in Florida in 2000 – helping to insure the state went to GW.2) Legally representing the Saudis so that 9/11 families couldn’t make civil claims against them.3) Insuring that Iraq oil would be under the control of Saudi Arabia via OPEC, rather than developed by free-market types that Grover Norquist was wanting to see. (Those Repubs who have the money and power, are ALL FOR free market ideas – not!)
You can bet when Jimmy Baker (long time friend of GHWBush) shows up, your average American is going to get screwed. I used to have a deep respect for Nancy Landen Kassebaum — up until the point she married that snake – Baker.
If you think Jim Baker gives a crap about bipartisan solutions in Iraq because of a sense of civic duty you are deluding yourself. He is there because the Iraq war and the ongoing instabiliy it could mean for the region and the big oil business interests. Baker is a tool for, and he is one of, the wealthy oil elite.
He is an enemy of the common man. But, he is the favorite Bush family fixer of problems and inconveniences.
Daddy trying to bail out wayward Junior – AGAIN!
Nancy Kassebaum married Howard Baker, former Sen. Baker R-TN that is. Sen. Baker’s seat was won by the Democrats on his retirement (Sen. Albert Gore, D-TN; 1986).
James Baker is not nor has never been married to former Sen. Kassebaum, R-KS.
ever been
I apologize, I got the two Bakers confused. I apologize even more to Nancy Kassebaum.
Howard Baker is the “What did the president (Nixon) know and when did he know it?” fame? Correct?
And wasn’t James Baker the Secretary of State or similar position for GHW Bush during the first gulf war?
Yes
On this discussion board, I was thinking of the right Baker. Here is my question and answer from Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post:
Wichita, Kan.: This is from a recent Joe Klein, Time Magazine column: “The hilarious part is everyone in Washington now believes that the only way Bush will change course on Iraq is if Jimmy Baker’s -bipartisan commission shows him the way out,” a prominent Republican told me. Former Secretary of State Baker was Bush the Elder’s longtime consigliere. This is a family psychodrama for the ages.”
It has seemed to me that James Baker has been the Bush family “fix-it man” for some time. He helped with Florida in 2000, He influenced how oil will be sold in Iraq, etc. We don’t know if George W. Bush is going to be open to the Baker commission recommendations, but one has to wonder if the commission’s establishment is a sign from the Bush family (daddy and/or son) that they privately think that things are not going so “swimmingly” in Iraq. Your thoughts?
Dan Froomkin: Somehow I missed that Joe Klein piece. But here is it.
Like a lot of us here in Washington, I am VERY CURIOUS about what Baker is working on, and about whether this will be a lifeline for Bush. I’m intrigued that Baker’s not going to say anything definitive until after the election — but I’m not sure what that means. I’m also not at all sure that Bush will listen to him. He does have a record of waving off signs from daddy.
This also from Froomkin’s discussion board. I think this poster sounds like some people we know:
Bush Bad, Bush Bad, Bush Bad!: Having established my right to be here, can I ask a question?
Watching the Dems, and the people who post to this chat, do you and yours ever feel like a little kid, just swinging wildly and hoping to land a fist, while Rove and Bush hold you back with their hand on your head?
‘Cuz that’s what it looks like from here outside the BosNYWashChiSF Zones of Frustration.
Dan Froomkin: A little, yeah.
Stupid People should not breed.
The Baker Commission will give some ideas and advise. What’s wrong with that?
We shall see hotlick. As for “What’s wrong with that” – consider that BushDaBum was given plenty of ideas and advice BEFORE he screwed this up.
That was then, this is now. You libs are falling all over yourselves calling for change, new ideas, blah blah blah, but when that might happen, you keep falling all over yourselves. Mostly you just fall.
“ypuou libs” – typical BushBot talk. You know that your guy has been an abject failure and you cannot defend him. So, you lash out with name-calling and non sequiters.
I hope Baker manages to (a) find a decent path and (b) pound it into Bush’s coke-addled head. I’m just not holding my breath for anything good from your bunch of losers.
The fact that you think being called a “lib” is name calling may say more about you than me. I don’t think being called aconserve is insulting.You are the one who wrote-BushBot,coke-addled and loser so who is the one calling names. You’re better than this, Ben.
Well hotlick, you used the term (particularly the abbreviated version) in the same manner as Rush. As for my retorts – face it, Bush is batting zero on this mess. And there IS a reason for that. He was told again and again that his path would lead to disaster. Yeah, “That was then, this is now blah blah blah blah.” Problem is, Bush is still Bush. There is no reason to believe that he has changed and change is what is needed.
As for “Mostly you just fall” that is an apt description of Bush’s success rate in Iraq.
Good one, Ben
And they say tone can’t be conveyed in words, but everyone who knows a tiny bit about politics knows that the terms “you libs” and “you liberals” are both used in a derogatory manner.
Try again, hotlick. Maybe leave off the “you?” Otherwise, “we libs” will have to resort to the “you repukes” term. ;)
Hmmm, the controversial election happened awhile back… Get over it?
This blogs sounds like a re-invention of the term invention. I wonder if Rhonda is one of those people that break the speed limit by 20 miles an hour while talking on her cellphone then blame Republicans for everything that is wrong when she gets a ticket.
Gosh, people bashing is so easy, it requires no thinking! One just puts a few derogatory lines about someone and Ouila, all is well.
Yeah okay, now where did I place the substance of this post.