Perhaps Bush is cleverer than I gave him credit - it sounds like he's doing a fine job bringing the classical strategy of 'bread and circuses' into the 21st Century.
In order to appease the populace, Roman emperors would periodically hand out food, and have spectacular games in the Coliseum in which hundreds of slaves would die in combat and by being mauled by animals.
Bush, on the other hand, gives a huge tax cut (mostly to the rich this time) and is planning to start a spectacular war (in the sense of a media spectacle - the Romans also used this, with constant victory parades and games celebrating their conquests) in which thousands of foreigners (Iraqis as it happens) will die in combat and by being hit by cluster bombs.
Originally posted by AcolyteOne would hope so.
Perhaps Bush is cleverer than I gave him credit....
I know President Bush is MUCH more clever than I have ever given him credit for. Of course, to put that in perspective, Boo the Cat, Sleepy the Iquana, and Buddy the Angelfish are all much more clever than I've ever given Bush credit for being. Hmm, come to think of it, Jose the Aloe Vera Plant is about as clever as...well, you know the litany.
Of course President Bush is more entertaining than Jose or Buddy, though not nearly as entertaing as Boo. Boo provides hours of entertainment, centered mainly around the fact that his feline self image is of a much slimmer, svelt, and coordinated cat than the minature harp seal he has actually grown/bloated into. Of course, Bushes own self image delusion is also entertaining, namely the one where he tries to look and sound like, and may even believe that he is, a Dignified Statesman, and indeed when he does this he looks and acts EXACTLY like I would expect some frat boy trying to look and act like a Dignified Statesman would look and act.
Now between George the President and Sleepy the Iguana, it's a close call. Their behaviors are suprisingly similar, especially that zen look they get, the one that you can never decide if it's utter blankness or the deepest profundity. Sleepy gets that look, the one where you think for a moment that he knows the secrets of the universe, and locked within his reptillian brain (Sleepy's not George's) is the key to life, the universe, and everything. And then you realize maybe that's just the look of a critter that's trying to remember which leg to move forward next (yup, still talking about the Iguana, mostly). And I often get the same type of feeling watching George on a podium, that maybe just maybe, when he gets that deep stare going, the one where he focuses on a spot just in front of his face, where you are almost absolutely, but not quite, certain that his eyes are in fact certainly not crossing, at that moment, you think maybe he truly knows the answer the the Ultimate Question; whether Bud light tastes great or is less filling.....
But I digress...
Michael,
Loyal American. And registered Republican.
There's an old saying I made up sometime shortly after Mr. Bush was given the keys to the White House. "If you hear it's an 'unconfirmed report', then the news made it up. If you hear it's a 'confirmed report', then the government made it up".
Personally, I truly believe that the Bush administration really does know what they're doing. Really - I wouldn't trust any of these people to walk my dog if they were doing it under constant surveillance. However, I do trust them to run the country well, and to keep me in good polyeurethane products, until they leave office. Not that I believe anything they tell me; but I am sure they are using the truth well, whatever that happens to be.
CHODE CODE ROAD TOAD ABODE LOAD MOWED SEWED SOWED GOAD FLOWED NODE KNOWED LODE SNOWED BLOWED OWED ODE NEMATODE
CHODEL GODEL - CHODODENDRON - CHODES SCHOLAR - CHONOBO
-DeSpite