Comments on: Insulation in High Places

Insulation in High Places

digaman — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:40:44 -0800

Bush in the Bubble. Newsweek's analysis of the man who is possibly "the most isolated president in modern history."

By: edgeways

edgeways — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:50:35 -0800

hmmm, it's awfuly MSNBCy around here tonight. Is this a repeater service MAtt installed to make $? I may concur with the article but two single link newfilters, from the same source even, is a little weak.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:54:54 -0800

'This is why [Bush] dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts,' Bartlett went on to say. '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.' — "Without a Doubt", Ron Suskind

By: geekyguy

geekyguy — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:22:39 -0800

For those that don't read to page five of the linked article.

Lately, however, Bush has been inviting congressmen up to the family residence at the White House to drink sodas and snack on peanuts or cookies. Bush talks, then encourages feedback, good and bad. "He's very engaged," says Rep. Peter King, Republican of New York.

This at least is an encouraging sign.

By: ontic

ontic — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:28:16 -0800

I'm not a big fan of the guy, but since he has roughly 294 million more people around than there were in 1776 I'm guessing he isn't the most isolated in history.

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:28:54 -0800

This isn't an encouraging sign: Bush was not clueless, says an aide, but pushing his historic mission. It'll be historic all right.

By: Hands of Manos

Hands of Manos — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:32:55 -0800

Bush is on no mission from God, he's using God to accomplish his mission

By: Peter H

Peter H — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:37:18 -0800

From the article He has a tight circle of trust Actually, his record as shown, I'd say his circle is pretty fucked through and loose... rim job! er,... shot. rim shot.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:38:26 -0800

but(t) pushing his historic mission. Another joke!

By: Peter H

Peter H — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:39:39 -0800

he's using God to accomplish his mission So he's clearly in a missionary position. Okay, I'll stop now. But what material!

By: trondant

trondant — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:44:08 -0800

This at least is an encouraging sign Bush putting on an orange jumpsuit and surrendering to the Hague would be an encouraging sign.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:56:22 -0800

Lately, however, Bush has been inviting congressmen up to the family residence at the White House to drink sodas and snack on peanuts or cookies. Bush talks, then encourages feedback, good and bad. "He's very engaged," says Rep. Peter King, Republican of New York. Seriously, you go to visit the President of the United States and all you get is "soda and peanuts"? Fuck that noise.

By: Miko

Miko — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:59:26 -0800

Lately, however, Bush has been inviting congressmen up to the family residence at the White House to drink sodas and snack on peanuts or cookies. And then they go to the rec room and play 45s and talk about what girls they like and how they should start a band.

By: iron chef morimoto

iron chef morimoto — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:02:08 -0800

Presumably he was more fun when he was still drinking.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:02:20 -0800

drink sodas and snack on peanuts or cookies Obviously you don't know the code if you're turning that shit down.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:02:38 -0800

"Soda and peanuts" is just top secret, need-to-know code for "tranny prosties and dirty coke". We're talking the Beltway, remember.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:03:34 -0800

j-j-j-j-inx

By: Rothko

Rothko — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:04:33 -0800

Damn.

By: digaman

digaman — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:06:41 -0800

When peanuts are replaced by pretzels, the terrorists win.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:07:35 -0800

In the Bush White House, disagreement is often equated with disloyalty. This pretty much sums up the Bush presidency. Your with him or against him. Most polarizing president ever. %50 see at as strength of conviction, and %50 see it as stubborn idiocy. He has long been mothered by strong women, including his mother and wife. A foreign diplomat who declined to be identified was startled when Secretary of State Rice warned him not to lay bad news on the president. "Don't upset him," she said." [obvious]

By: digaman

digaman — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:25:31 -0800

In subtle ways, Bush does not encourage truth-telling or at least a full exploration of all that could go wrong. A former senior member of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad occasionally observed Bush on videoconferences with his top advisers. "The president would ask the generals, 'Do you have what you need to complete the mission?' as opposed to saying, 'Tell me, General, what do you need to win?' which would have opened up a whole new set of conversations," says this official, who did not want to be identified discussing high-level meetings. The official says that the way Bush phrased his questions, as well as his obvious lack of interest in long, detailed discussions, had a chilling effect. "It just prevented the discussion from heading in a direction that would open up a possibility that we need more troops," says the official.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:30:23 -0800

It's funny. I never thought much about politics before this presidency (I turned 21 on election day 2000, so I blame youthful indiscretion.) but now when I think about what qualities I'd like to see in a leader and a politician, I seem to admire a willingness to face one's detractors and honestly and openly discuss one's failings publicly. Is that because of this president's refusal to do precisely that? i dunno. but I found this quote in the article to be illuminating, particularly since i've come to have tremendous admiration for lincoln the more I think about him: Clearly, George W. Bush's role model is not his father, who every week would ride down from the White House to the House of Representatives gymnasium, just to hear what fellows like Murtha were saying. Nor is the model John F. Kennedy, who during the Cuban missile crisis reached out to form an "ExCom" of present and past national-security officials, from both parties, to find some way back from the abyss short of war. Nor is it Franklin Roosevelt, who liked to create competition between advisers to find the best solution. Or Abraham Lincoln who, as historian Doris Kearns Goodwin writes in her new book, "Team of Rivals," appointed his political foes to his cabinet. You know a guy is willing to look at himself honestly when he surrounds himself with people who won't beat around the bush or tell him what he wants to hear. This president? not so much.

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:31:58 -0800

Rumor had it last month that things were getting pretty bad:

The sources said Mr. Bush maintains daily contact with only four people: first lady Laura Bush, his mother, Barbara Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes. The sources also say that Mr. Bush has stopped talking with his father, except on family occasions.

Did anyone else ever read Al Franken's 'Why Not Me?', where he gets elected president, sinks into a deep depression and locks himself in his bedroom?

By: I Foody

I Foody — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:35:44 -0800

Bush

By: digaman

digaman — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:36:29 -0800

Bush is doing an excellent job of modeling ways of being an adult that don't work. He's running the whole country the way an abusive alcoholic father runs a house.

By: pruner

pruner — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 23:23:10 -0800

"He's very engaged," says Rep. Peter King, Republican of New York. Rep. Peter King is a major league Bush-hole.

By: scody

scody — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 00:04:26 -0800

I can never quite get over the fact that this is the guy who made my parents enthusiastically desert their lifelong liberalism and join the GOP. It makes me a tiny bit frightened of them, actually.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 00:29:44 -0800

ontic: "since he has roughly 294 million more people around than there were in 1776 I'm guessing he isn't the most isolated in history." The claim is that Bush is "the most isolated president in modern history," not since the beginning of the United States. In any case, even if the comparison were to all presidents, it's the population of his office and his meeting rooms, not the national population, that makes the difference. A leader of 4 million people could still be much less isolated, much more open and engaged, than a leader of 300 million who nonetheless really communicates with only a handful of yesmen.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 01:22:54 -0800

Wow scody. Tell me, are their attitudes towards him the same now, or is this the Crazification Factor at work? In any case, back in the 2000 election I was still searching to cement my rejection of my conservative, hideous Christian private school upbringing, and I have to say that Bush fit the bill quite nicely.

By: acrobat

acrobat — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 02:18:06 -0800

I refuse to be identified for fear of antagonizing the president (he manages to bring the best cowardice out of people).

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 02:37:08 -0800

It's pretty lame to jump in on Bush-bashing threads, but I'll say that as someone outside the US, Bush just doesn't sound like a leader. I don't quite understand how so many people consider him one, and it nags me constantly. Listen to a statesman talk - it doesn't matter who it is, Chirac, Blair, Howard, Sharon, Hu Jintao, Musharraf, Yudhoyono, hell even Castro - and they have something to say. Something that means something. Bush's "speeches" sound like soundbites - advertising soundbites - promoting some ill-defined, unexplained idea without providing any actual information that you want to know. There's only so many times you can say "we will stay the course" before people want to know what course you're following, and how you intend to achieve that.

By: Hogshead

Hogshead — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 03:56:51 -0800

Pracowity: 'The claim is that Bush is "the most isolated president in modern history," not since the beginning of the United States.' For much of the rest of the world, anything since 1776 is modern history.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 04:23:59 -0800

Where's the cover story Metafilter Posters in a Left-Wing, Pacifist Bubble?

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 04:32:20 -0800

Right next to the story, 9/11 blast knocks liberal lawyer, ParisParamus, iinto the conservative abyss.

By: furtive

furtive — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 04:37:58 -0800

PP: That's old news. Did anyone notice the Newsweek cover that goes with the article? It's awesome!

By: ibmcginty

ibmcginty — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 04:47:04 -0800

The president may be emerging from his bubble, a bit-- he took unscripted questions in Philadelphia the other day, and submitted to an interview from Brian Williams. I was interested to see what people had to say at the Philly event, so I read the WH transcript. Someone asked "why you and others in your administration invoke 9/11 as justification for the invasion of Iraq." He explained, in part, "I mean, there was a serious international effort to say to Saddam Hussein, you're a threat. And the 9/11 attacks extenuated that threat, as far as I -- concerned." What do you think the president thinks that "extenuated" means? And has this gotten any coverage anywhere? Metafilter Posters in a Left-Wing, Pacifist Bubble Wow, that's... almost... a joke. I'm all for jokes about the echo chamber here, but...

By: dances_with_sneetches

dances_with_sneetches — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 05:04:09 -0800

At least Bush knows it wasn't the Moops who invaded Spain in the 8th century. Or does he?

By: clevershark

clevershark — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 05:10:04 -0800

Where's the cover story Metafilter Posters in a Left-Wing, Pacifist Bubble? That's some impressive one-handed typing there. Watch out for the keyboard, that's a bitch to clean up.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 06:08:29 -0800

Fuckin' Moops. We'll get you bastards!

By: Talez

Talez — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 06:41:30 -0800

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 07:02:07 -0800

pp had a point, although he skewed it by using us as a target ... it's obvious to me that this kind of leadership and this lackof consideration of contrary people and facts is spreading ... it's not just bush who's isolating himself ... a lot of corporate heads, politicians, pundits and even ordinary people are removed from the world at large ... the president has the power to actually enforce the idea that no one should confront him with an idea he doesn't like ... others, who actually have to be around such things, are expert at giving people blank looks, nodding sagely, replying with a bunch of feel-good double speak and then doing exactly what they were doing before it's not just bush's problem ... it's a spreading style of management

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 07:37:30 -0800

Maureen Dowd today: W. Won't Read This --... "I'm very aware of what's going on." He swiftly contradicted himself by admitting that "this is the first time I'm seeing this magazine" - his version of his dad's Newsweek "Wimp Factor" cover - and that he doesn't read newsmagazines. ...

By: fandango_matt

fandango_matt — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 08:33:52 -0800

Apparently Bush just made a speech in which he took responsibility for the decision to go to war based on flawed intelligence.

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 08:34:03 -0800

Bush has been inviting congressmen up to the family residence at the White House to drink sodas and snack on peanuts or cookies. I'm with the rest of the world in thinking that soda is a very childish drink. Adults drink coffee, tea, and alcohol. And also peanuts? Whoo-hoo knock me out with your hospitality, big boy. Can you imagine the President of France offering his guests peanuts and soda? As a side note, there was an article in The Washington Post (not on-line, sorry) about The Great Wing-Ding Coup--a revolt against the chicken wings (and other foods) served on State Department planes. One of my favorite quotes from the article was about another item of food: "The burrito, it almost took me down." Air Force Two also hosted the infamous "all-pork tour of Asia" with a Muslim and an observant Jew on board. On one leg, pork was featured in all three meals --including both bacon and sausage for breakfast.

By: digaman

digaman — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 08:50:26 -0800

Metafilter Posters in a Left-Wing, Pacifist Bubble Oh my God -- Paris Paramus is right. Unfortunately, my friends serving in Iraq now agree with my dim, deluded view of the war, the White House, and the future of Iraq, which they predict will devolve into civil war. Oh no, I just realized: I must have convinced them of these pinko illusions with my emails! Paris Paramus, I should have listened to you and our commander-in-chief all along. Then I'd see that if we stay the course, the path to Total Victory is clear. In the meantime, I'd better get a divorce from my gay husband. I've been destroying marriage, just by making him coffee in the morning! Whew. It really has been all a bad dream, and I was the one who was dreaming. Where's that Diebold voting machine? I want to vote GOP twice before I fall asleep again.

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 08:54:59 -0800

Speaking of Diebold...

By: Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 11:11:57 -0800

I'm with the rest of the world in thinking that soda is a very childish drink. Adults drink coffee, tea, and alcohol. I drink soda, though I prefer juice. Though in the Navy, I just could never get the hang of coffee (which puts me in a 1% minority I think), and alcohol isn't always appropriate as an offering. I do like tea, but it's been awhile since I've had a decent cup. Although there are many things to attack about the president, I don't think the choice to offer soda is one of them. Just say'n.

By: bardic

bardic — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 11:41:25 -0800

He wouldn't tell Brian Williams what he was getting Laura for Xmas. That, friends, is hard-hitting journalism.