Bush Is Not In Reality, Lost in Religious Idealism, Like Ali Khamenei
Wolf Blitzer had Seymour Hersh on this morning, here is the transcript, and all I can say is, this nation is being run by a madman!
BLITZER: In this new article you have in The New Yorker, you also write this about the president: " 'The
president is more determined than ever to stay the course,' the former
defense official said. 'He doesn't feel any pain. Bush is a believer in
the adage, "People may suffer and die, but the Church advances." ' He
said that the president had become more detached, leaving more issues
to Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney. 'They keep him in the gray
world of religious idealism, where he wants to be anyway,' the former
defense official said."
Could you be more specific on this former defense official?
HERSH: Sure, in this day and age, Wolf. No. I mean, that's -- we're having a war over sourcing right now.
BLITZER: But this is someone who had day to day or contact, direct contact with the president?
HERSH: Suffice to say this, that this president in private, at Camp David with his friends, the people that I'm sure call him George,
is very serene about the war. He's upbeat. He thinks that he's going to
be judged, maybe not in five years or ten years, maybe in 20 years.
He's committed to the course. He believes in democracy.
HERSH:
He believes that he's doing the right thing, and he's not going to stop
until he gets -- either until he's out of office, or he falls apart, or
he wins.
BLITZER: But this has become, your suggesting, a religious thing for him?
HERSH:
Some people think it is. Other people think he's absolutely committed,
as I say, to the idea of democracy. He's been sold on this notion.
He's
a utopian, you could say, in a world where maybe he doesn't have all
the facts and all the information he needs and isn't able to change.
I'll tell you, the people that talk to me now are essentially frightened because they're not sure how you get to this guy.
-snip-
BLITZER: Here's what you write. You write, "Current and former military and intelligence officials have told me that the
president remains convinced that it is his personal mission to bring
democracy to Iraq, and that he is impervious to political pressure,
even from fellow Republicans. They also say that he disparages any
information that conflicts with his view of how the war is proceeding."
Those are incredibly strong words, that the president basically doesn't want to hear alternative analysis of what is going on.
HERSH:
You know, Wolf, there is people I've been talking to -- I've been a
critic of the war very early in the New Yorker, and there were people
talking to me in the last few months that have talked to me for four
years that are suddenly saying something much more alarming.
They're beginning to talk about some of the things the president said
to him about his feelings about manifest destiny, about a higher
calling that he was talking about three, four years ago.
I
don't want to sound like I'm off the wall here. But the issue is, is
this president going to be capable of responding to reality? Is he
going to be able -- is he going to be capable if he going to get a bad
assessment, is he going to accept it as a bad assessment or is he
simply going to see it as something else that is just a little bit in
the way as he marches on in his crusade that may not be judged for 10
or 20 years.
A telling phrase
HERSH: He believes that he's doing the right thing, andhe's not going to stop until he gets -- either until he's out of office, or he falls apart, or he wins. What are the odds that the missing word there is "impeached"?
either until he's out of office, or he falls apart, or he wins. I'm rooting for Falls Apart and soon!
This latest bit from Sy Hersh seems to reinforce other
stories we've heard about Pres. Bush's isolation from the rest of the
administration. From the Newsweek's article in the middle of the
Katrina crisis, where Andy Card and others were afraid to confront
Pres. Bush to recent reports that he only talks to Laura Bush et al.
The more and more I hear about Pres. Bush lately, the more I wonder if
he's going to have a mental breakdown or something. This is simply too
frightening for words to think that no one can tell the "leader of the
free world" that we might have to nip the "freedom is on the march" in
Iraq and the Middle East in the bud. We live in scary times. I hope
that the defense official that Sy Hersh talked to was exaggerating or
something. That would be much more comforting than seeing "The Madness
of King George" play out in modern times. Scary stuff indeed!!
This just in!!!!
John Warner (Armed Services Chair) is publicly
pleading for Bush to go before the American people in a "fireside chat"
format, to explain what the hell is going on in Iraq. Talk about
synchronicity: a real-time news item that highlights this diary's
thrust, that Bush is hyper-insulated, even to the point that leaders of
his own party must resort to desperate public pleadings to get his
attention on matters of grave concern.
Not only are the wheels off this juggernaught, the undercarriage has been shredded and the oil pan is on fire.
My take on all this is that we have three years to watch Bushco
systematically gut the entire foundations of modern conservativism
through the rot of Republican corruption, ineptitude, deceit and
mismanagement.
We are
watching our enemy implode. Because this man represents far more of a
threat to this country and its values than al Qaeda. Sit back and get out the popcorn.
