Oh My Dear God

[filkertom]

Okay, look. It's no secret how I feel about Dubya. But... watch this video. Just watch it.

For the first time, I feel sorry for him.

Comments

[devospice.livejournal.com]

It may sound cruel but all I can think of is "This is your brain" (clip of 10 years ago) "This is your brain on drugs" (clip of now).

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Oh, I thought youd seen that one before. Yes, I think we ought to have some pity for the man.

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw that clip a while back. Frightening, ain't it?

-=ShoEboX=-

[ericcoleman]

I feel sorry for the people whose lives he has destroyed ...

[partiallyclips.livejournal.com]

Agreed. There's not enough pity in me to cover the casualties that his crazy, arrogant, idiotic, "God speaks to me" bullshit has caused. How could I possibly have any left over for the man himself?

If anything, I'm angry at the possibility of his mind slowly deteriorating. I want him lucid, so he can someday be tried for his crimes under international law. No Pinochet defense for him, please. Somebody pump his whackass brain full of stem cells.

[ericcoleman]

Somebody pump his whackass brain full of stem cells.

But ... that would be breaking the law

oh ... right ... never mind

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I'd settle for him to be tried under US law. Glenn Greenwald recently noted that with the domestic wiretapping program being ruled illegal, Bush is open to at least 30 felony charges (per Jonathan Turley, law professor at Georgetown U).

But an international court would be fine, if that's the only one with the stones to try him.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

And the irony is that the republicans are all in favor of executing the mentally handicapped ;-)

[gan-chan.livejournal.com]

Somebody pump his whackass brain full of stem cells.

Seems to me like that'd be throwing good money after bad.

[ladyotterfae.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing that. I had long suspected as much, but since I avoid listening to him speak like the plague, I hadn't the evidence to back the hunch up.

*idly wonders what his B-12 levels are like*

Handlers

[purplemoonwoman.livejournal.com]

He has handlers who stay in power as long as he does. They don't give a damn about this individual person named George Bush. They want that power structure that is lining their pockets.

I think that Bush means well. I just also happen to think he's crazy.

[mirinaya.livejournal.com]

I can't really feel sorry for him, mostly due to the fact that he's keeping himself in a position of power. If he had even a shred of honor or concern for the people he supposedly represents, he'd have withdrawn - I don't see how he *can't* know he's got problems. He long ago reached my 'okay, dumba**, you're doing it to yourself, no sympathy' point. Any 'normal' person would have been quietly shipped off to relatives or a nursing home by now, not still embarrassing the nation this way... :-/
Definitely agree on the 'brain on drugs' point, though. Maybe someday, when the blight has been removed, this video will be used instead of the old fried egg.

[ginevra007.livejournal.com]

Silkandstalking made a good point. His handlers don't care about him, or it would seem the country, as long as they get to keep their own power. I've often joked, it's not Bush, its who's running him today. Watching that viedo made me think of Ragen. From talking to friends and relatives who live in TX, he sounds like a man who did have it together and was a caring person.....at one point. though its sad to see a man deteriorate like that, its sadder that the country has to pay the price for it.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Part of me feels sorry for him but it's a small part of me. He's ruined so many things I can only see this as his karma catching up with him.

On a semi-related note - someone once told me that the office of the president literally almost kills people because of the stress. She even pointed out that most of the presidents look "melted" after two terms. I can't really disagree with that...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I remember a political cartoon showing Presidents before and after. Nixon before, alert and focused... Nixon after, hunkered and jowly. Ford before, robust and tall... Ford after, sunken and sallow. Carter before, bright and perky... Carter after, shriveled and bitter. The joke was Reagan before, who looked as bad as or worse than the previous three "after"s.

And I guess I do have to say, in response to all of the people who don't feel very sorry for the guy, and who lament his many victims... this is not me going, "Gosh, something's happened to him, maybe it's not all his fault". No, it is all his fault. He has apparently been vile and incompetent his entire life, and his insane actions and policies have killed literally countless people. And I hope he pays severely for his many crimes against humanity. But, seeing this video, I can't help but feel a flicker of pity for the poor shmuck, and wonder if whatever's happened to him affects his self-awareness: Does he know how much he's lost? And does it matter to him?

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

I've been pitying him for a while now, and this just validates it. No-one, no-one, deserves to suffer slow mental degeneration, I don't care what they've done or who they are. It's the cruellest death the universe can hand out, not only for the sufferer (and I know that oftentimes they aren't aware it's happening, and I still say it's cruel) but for everyone around them.

And it may be a result of his drinking or his drug use, it probably is, but I can't help wondering if it's been helped along a bit. You know. To keep him tractable.

I hate what he's done, and I despise what he stands for, but I pity him and I wish him a clean death before the decay becomes complete.

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

The video is actually quite old (and I don't mean the 10 year old part of it). After seeing it the first time about a year ago, shortly after the Hurricane Katrina Debacle (not to be confused with the disaster that triggered the debacle off), I wrote this.

The "elephant in the living room" that people tip-toe around is that George W. Bush is suffering from pre-senile dementia, a long-term effect of his heavy drinking when he was an active alcoholic. He is still an alcoholic; and being (reputedly) now dry doesn't help, as the damage is done.

Nor does being dry treate the personality problems he suffers due to alcoholism.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Nor does being dry treat the personality disorders he probably suffered from even before he became an alcoholic. Juan Cole has an interesting discussion today: http://www.juancole.com/2006/08/bushs-arab-dream-palace-is-it.html

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

Yes. Other than pointing out that Alcoholism is a condition that exists whether or not the individual is drinking or not (or has ever drunk a drop), I quite agree.

Whether it is Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) or Alcoholism, or an intertwining of the two diseases, or yet another with consistent symptoms, there is (and has been for a number of years) a problem with George W. Bush's mental health.

There is, and has been, something very wrong.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Caligula was crazy and probably didn't realize the harm he was doing as well. He wasn't the Roman I felt sorry for...

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

Caligula had the good graces to get himself ganked after four years, at least...

[gan-chan.livejournal.com]

Though a Caligula comparison would fit with that joke Laura Bush told about him trying to milk a bull...

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

Evidence has been mounting recently that he's losing his mind, yes. I'm sure you caught the story about how Bush is frustrated that the Iraqi people aren't more grateful to the Americans for liberating them. And that, for me, is one of the clearer signs that Bush has actually lost his grip on reality.

Believing ahead of time that Americans would be greeted as liberators is one thing. It showed a remarkable lack of foresight and understanding of the problems, dynamics, and culture of the region, but that's about it.

But now, after the past three years have unfolded, still being upset that the Iraqis aren't grateful?

He's broken, guys. Like I've said here before, he is an average man in an extraordinary job, and the job broke him.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

It's Ronald Reagan all over again.

I'll feel sorry for him when he no longer has power over my life, the future of my country and the fate of millions of people around the world.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Reagan had the decency to retire from public life.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

A couple of possible alternative explanations come to mind.

(1) His speaking style has changed as a deliberate tactic to make him seem more accessible, folksy, human, etc.

(2) He knows that he's made some real screw-ups and that things are generally not going well, and he's nervous and stressed out on a continuing basis. The job of President is probably pretty stressful at the best of times; knowing that (a) things are going badly and (b) half the country really, really doesn't like or trust you--even beyond the usual partisanship--must make it worse.

If you feel like being really conspiracy-theoretic, then we also have this possibility:

(3) His handlers are telling him to act like this so that he can be thrown to the dogs if that becomes necessary for them to maintain power.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

Or they're doing it to him. You know. To keep him tractable.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

It's official. He was running on blow.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

The man "won" the 2000 Election on a platform of "aw, shucks." The bulk of the media gave him a pass on a lot of things for which they crucified Al Gore (often things Al Gore didn't even SAY, but that's another issue entirely.) He and his team portrayed him as the slightly bumbling, "I don't know much about all that intellectual stuff" guy that you couldn't REALLY criticize or hold accountable, 'cause he just wasn't quite as smart as that snob Gore.

Ever make something up and then buy into it? Call in sick when you weren't, but start to actually feel the symptoms you're pretending to have?

Maybe you can talk yourself stupid.

[ionicaq.livejournal.com]

If he was the man today that he was 10 years ago I don't think we'd be having half the problems we are.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

No, we'd have the same problems. Bush has _always_ been incompetent, _always_ irresponsible, _always_ rewarding croneys with other people's money and _always_ arrogant. Just look how he stole land for that baseball scam, or his oil business, or his college years, or how he was in office before the presidency. The man has always been a loser who falls upwards due to his powerful father and his father's croneys.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Sorry for him? Not now, not ever. There are a small handful of personal tragedies for which I might feel a pang of sympathy for him, but I will never, ever feel sorry for this arrogant, self-serving, hypocritical, lying little punk.

I prefer to think that he's merely stupid, because I want him to grow old and watch history judge him for the evil man he is, and understand that he's going to be remembered as an evil man, as a crook, as a liar, and as a fraud. I want him to live a long life suffering under that cloud as partial recompense for all the lives he's destroyed through ignorance, carelessness, disinterest and/or bigotry.

Sorry for him? Not a chance.

[deadpool247.livejournal.com]

That was both funny and sad.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

I should feel more sympathy for the man. I really should.

Mental degeneration is a scary thing. Flowers for Algernon is the most frightening story I've ever read. My grandfather recently passed away, but before the end, he had gone (to use the clinical term) absolutely batshit; nothing like the proud, fiesty old man I remember.

So I should feel more sympathy for Bush.

But I find myself, instead, thinking something nasty and vengeful:
"The bastard's lucky. He doesn't actually live in the mess he's created."

Remember the day we found out about Reagan's Alzheimers? A collective chill went through the nation, as suddenly all the jokes made during his presidency didn't seem quite so funny anymore.

In time, the same thing will happen with Bush.

But for today, and I'm not proud of this, I can find no pity for him.

Frightened by hood ornaments...

[min0taur.livejournal.com]

We've seen this before. Reagan showed clear signs of senile dementia even toward the end of his first term. As if his most famous offhand comment caught by an open microphone ("We've just outlawed the Soviet Union. We start bombing in five minutes" -- promptly dismissed as a Funny Presidential Joke) were not evidence enough. He very likely had it coming on throughout "his" (his handlers') second term. At one point, a British commentator -- responding to a journalist's remark about the so-called "figurehead" nature of the British constitutional monarchy -- replied, "At least we have a figurehead -- you guys have a hood ornament." Reagan started or condoned a lot of the ugly processes that continued under Bush the First, were briefly and partially interrupted under Clinton, and then reapplied with greater ferocity under Bush the Second. Speaking as one who has a parent with Alzheimer's, I could feel some limited compassion for Reagan after he was safely out of office and could be simply a human being again, rather than a conduit for too much bad history. Although senile dementia is a terrible way to die, and I would not wish it on anyone, I am glad he is now dead -- and I hope Bush leaves office peaceably before he manages to cripple the Constitution. If the American experiment can survive the damage that Reagan and his ideological descendants have done, and someday heals enough to actually *become* the benign global influence we try to tell the world we are, then the experiment may yet succeed. But as with the Reagan era, we have to survive the grotesqueries of this regime first.