Actually, I think it’d be more newsworthy if the headline were “Bush In Control of Faculties (which he now possesses, as we reported here earlier as breaking news).” Enough fantasy! Here’s the latest scoopy dish from Capitol Hill Blues:
Buy beleaguered, overworked White House aides enough drinks and they tell a sordid tale of an administration under siege, beset by bitter staff infighting and led by a man whose mood swings suggest paranoia bordering on schizophrenia.
They describe a President whose public persona masks an angry, obscenity-spouting man who berates staff, unleashes tirades against those who disagree with him and ends meetings in the Oval Office with “get out of here!”
… George W. Bush’s mood swings have become so drastic that White House emails often contain “weather reports” to warn of the President’s demeanor. “Calm seas” means Bush is calm while “tornado alert” is a warning that he is pissed at the world. […]
“There’s real concern in the West Wing that the President is losing it,” a high-level aide told me …
Thanks to Lisa Pease (Real History Lisa) for sending this to me!
Capitol Hill Blue is a pretty unreliable source. But, like a Bob Woodward book, this sort of thing is so much fun you don’t really care if it’s true.
Yeah! Even if it’s only 50% true, it’s great. Hell, even if it’s only 30% true! :):)
OK. So why is Capital Hill Blue considered unreliable?
Out of the mainstream? Yeah. Tell me. Do you trust the mainstream? I no longer do.
Willing to publish material that shows the Bush administration in really really bad light? Yeah. So? Seems reasonable to me. Conservative and Republicans lie, cheat, steal, and lie about what they do. Is there any evidence to show that they don’t? Publishing material that shows conservative lie, cheat and steal seems to me to be a representation of the truth.
Poorly sourced? I haven’t seen them refer to the Worldwide News yet, or even the Globe. Nor, for that matter have I seen the refer to the Democratic National Committee. They at least refer to licensed professionals.
Do they report damaging leaks from Democrats in the slavish manner Drudge does for conservatives? I haven’t seen that, and Drudge seems to be considered relatively mainstream. In fact, as far as I can see, Capital Hill Blue (CHB) is a lot more reliable than Drudge or Bob Novak. It’s just that CHB is more independent of Democrats or Progressives. They don’t provide an insight into the mechanizations of powerful Democrats as Novak does to conservatives. CHB is apparently more independent and honest. They actually do their own reporting rather than merely reporting leaks from the principles.
I have seen a number of conservatives state that CHB is unreliable. So? Being a conservative is an admission that you are a liar. Why should they be trusted?
So explain to me, what makes Capital Hill Blues so unreliable?
I guess it’s the fact that they run a lot of sensational stories that don’t end up panning out.
I guess it’s the fact that they run a lot of sensational stories that don’t end up panning out.
Oh, I get it! You’re talking about Judy Miller and The New York Times! Hilarious!
Come on, Susan. I think you know that’s a totally unfair comparison.
…unfair to Capitol Hill Blue, obviously.
They ran a very similar ‘Bush is losing it’ story last Autumn, as I recall. Probably written by the same guy.
It’s fun to read, but like you I don’t put too much stock in it.
This is an adminstration that has’t panned out. What is wrong with stories that match that?
The right-wing media are very good at killing stories they don’t like. The mainstram media do not investigte stories that are out on the extremes. However, the Bush adminsitraion is itself out on the exteremes.
Who do you trust? The Bush adminstration? The main straeam median? Or organizations that publish stores that realistically describe what this adninmistration is really doing?
Do you really believe that Bush is sane? Or does a descripton of him as a a grandiose dry drunk who is hocked on fundmentalist religions more closely describe his behavior?
The mainstream media is not going to run stories that support the latter view. If cpital hilll blue runs such stories, how reliable will they be considered?
I trust Capital Hill Blue a lot more than I do the Bush administration.
Maybe he really does need the vacation. (tee hee)
Ehhh.. Capitol Hill Blue was peddling stuff like this two years ago… fun, but I doubt it.
Yes … I remember that too and that they had to retract at least one story. Can’t remember about what now.
But, if you could make up a story like that, what would you write?
Here’s my diary My Tinfoil Hat is Hurting My Brain in which I posit that Bush has some brain injury/alteration/defect similar to temporal lobe epilepsy that explains his talking with God.
Our President, Mr. Bush
Who’s brain has turned to Mush
From the beers that he drank
And years high on crank
Now he can’t tell his head from his tush
Don’t feel bad for our idiot prez
Though he seems no smarter than Pez
For his drug addled brain
Causes him no pain
And he just does what “Unka Dick” says
Is W out of control,
With his unconscious bourbon condole?
People call him “Dry Drunk”,
You know, who’da thunk,
There’s a fancy word for the simple term of “ass-hole”?
So you don’t have to click through to my diary, here is the bulk of it:
I just read this interesting article on the Discover Magazine website about the brain chemistry of near death experiences and out-of-body experiences.
What caught my eye was this quote:
As I read this passage, I flashed back to the first Presidential debate between Bush and Kerry last year. Remember, there was all sorts of speculation that W. may have some sort of medical condition? He was lethargic, incoherent, had a glassy look in his eyes, and one corner of his mouth was drooping and collecting spittle. Most people speculated that he was on some sort of sedative, but I remember reading more than one opinion that he was taking an anti-epileptic medication.
I also remember seeing people speculate that epilepsy may explain Bush’s bicycle falls and pretzel choking.
This also caught my eye:
Was Bush’s pretzel incident a near death experience? Nah, his religiosity certainly goes further back than that event. I wonder, did he suffer some other near-death experience around the same time he found Jesus? Nothing that I could find online. Could his previous drug/alcohol use/abuse have caused a similar alteration to his brain wave patterns? That would be a question for the experts, and I am certainly not one.
Yeah, right. What did they retract? And more imprtant, why?
I’m a bit skeptical myself.. but we do know some facts;
We know that Bush has a history of being cruel. Remember Karla Faye Tucker? I live in TX and I totally turned off the man when he gleefully mocked her imminant executions (“please don’t kill me.” he childishly whimpered in mocking tones). Then, there’s the stories of his tortuing animals as a child .. never good from a psychologically frame of view.. and then there’s his habit of giving generalized labels to everyone.. mom for Cindy Sheehan .. instead of takign them time to know the person and show them persoanly respect. We could go on and on.
The point here is that Captial Hill Blue’s piece is so “fun” because we, here at Booman, know there’s a good deal of truth to it.
After living with this chimp since he was governor I have to believe in the piece behind todays “The Rant.” I’ve seen the style and tone of the web paper and I agree that it’s not at all objective. In this case I still think it’s dead on, though.
Oh yes. I simply do not understand how anyone could vote for a man who mocks someone they are having put to death.
(I thought the story was related by a journalist, was this actually televised? That makes it more horrifying, if possible.)
Smells like wishful thinking to me. If you buy beleaguered, overworked White House aides enough drinks, they’ll probably tell you about buggering alien corpses at Area 51, too. Hell, if you buy me enough drinks, I’d tell you about … well, never mind, I really can’t say anything about that.
Buy me a drink?
but what would a recovered alcoholic for eleven years be doing in a bar buying drinks? I still say the assesment of Shrubs is on the mark, though…
I think it’s reaction, to seeing his plans and presidency going down the dumper.
Bush’s father was rather thin-skinned, and there is no reason to think Junior is any different.
Discussions about this or that childhood shortcoming concerning cruelty to animals, or about drug and alcohol problems are pointless.
The point is that Bush is incompetent. He was used like the half-witted brother of the Republican political competitor to Mayor Skeffington, in “The Last Hurrah.”
Iraq is a war of commerce. Regardless of the whining of the New York times and Washington Post editorial pages, Iraq’s main purpose was and still remains commercial. The place is a veritable Klondike for every mercenary, every shifty supply and logistics operator with a scheme, every oil company looking for a quick buck, and every support services tycoon with political connections.
Dubya’s place in this grand show? The talking head that reassures “hix stix” that all is well in the world. Dubya’s job is to schmooze and be convincing. The heavy lifting is done by Cheney, Rove, and the neo-cons.
So, Dubya is losing it? How could he not? He was and is in over his head, and worse, he’s trying to be “in charge” now.
I think Bush could be “replaced” if he trifles with the neo-con plans very much. I have said for years that the Secret Service must have a hard time protecting Bush for he is truly surrounded by wolves with very sharp teeth and minds far quicker than Bush’s.
Lord help Junior if old man Bush kicks the bucket. Fear of the old man’s network of reprisal is likely the only thing keeping Junior from a complete ass whipping from several groups, the most dangerous being the neo-cons.
Commerce is right.
Much as I am outraged about it over here in Europe, I think the US taxpayers have a right to be more upset. It’s their money that’s being redistributed to Haliburton et al.
Nevermind Capital Hill Blues. Of course he is out of control, just like his accolyte who mowed down those crosses. If Bush isn’t out of control, then what else do we call Iraq? It’s sure not evidence of sanity. It doesn’t take a psychiatrist or columnist to tell me the man runs on anger/vengeance/sadism and has ever since his childhood. It’s all over his face, body language, history, current actions. Stick dynamite down the throats of frogs and watch them explode? That’s what future serial killers do, not future presidents. Or so we always hoped. We are led by a lunatic. And having been a dry drunk myself, I can only say, god help us.
Stick dynamite down the throats of frogs and watch them explode?
Did he really do that? What a scumbag. No wonder he grew up to have no respect for human life.
According to a Kristoff column in the NYT, he did do it. Here’s the first link I found on google just now.
LINK:
Oh, please. I did some cruel things to frogs and such when I was a kid, and while I’m not the most mentally-balanced individual in the neighborhood, I didn’t grow up to be a sociopath, either.
Don’t take this stuff so seriously. Some of you sound a little like Dr. Frist making a diagnosis from a videotape.
Regardless of whether Capitol Hill Blues has this story correct or not, the fact remains that for a number of years now, George W. Bush has shown many of the personality characteristics associated with Dry Drunk Syndrome. He may not have touched any alcohol since his 40th birthday, but psychologically, he’s still just as addicted to the juice as he used to be.
The president’s mood swings have been fairly well-documented in the past, and he’s certainly known for having a temper. The scariest thing, though, is to consider what happens if the Dear Leader does in fact “lose it”. If the past 4 1/2 years have shown him relatively in control, do we really want to risk seeing the alternative?
You’re absolutely right! Bush exhibits virtually all the symptoms of dry drunk syndrome.
And now all his control mechanisms are failing. He’s used his (supposed) religiosity as an anger management program, but even the false sanctimony he demonstrates can no longer fend off an ever more insistent reality, a reality he’s been able to pretty successfully keep at bay for the last 4 years.
Also, as far as his handlers are concerned, he’s pretty much expendable now. They don’t need to spend so much time coaching him to make him look and sound good since they don’t need to run him for re-election again. Also, I’m sure many of his White house gang are already spending a significant amount of time preparing their exit from this regime into cushy jobs in the private sector, so I’m sure George is beginning to feel that his “friends” (hahaha) are abandonng him.
I’m sure he’ll have an emotional breakdown before his term is over. Whether it happens publicly or not remains to be seen. In the meantime, I suspect he’ll continue to become less and less visible as the months go by.
And just for fun. . .you can think of his astrological sign of cancer. . .those who have done no real work on their innerselves to improve. . .moodiest, most selfish damn folks I’ve ever known. I am not saying everyone that was born in that sign. . .I am saying often those who have done nothing to work on self improvement and reach out to the “higher” aspects of the sign. Add to that Dry Drunk. . .and you see a real piece of work in front of you.
*Strictly for entertainment purposes. . .(so don’t get all serious on me thinking this means anything)
then again then there is those of us like moi, 3 july that is I think on the other end of the spectrum….:o) I can not stand bush with all my most inner most fiber of being who I am. I think this is why I do not watck the new anymore. every day now for going on 5 years now, his puss has been on the tube every day in one fashion of the other…I can’t stand the sound of his voice. I can’t stand anything around his life period……and that is not for fun.
Hear! Hear! I had my mother, father and big brother all born in the sign of cancer. . .so I know what truly great folks they are and can be…not one of them ever showed me anything that looks anything at all like Bush’s behavior.
Glad you weren’t offended. . .I was just poking some fun.
…but it has seemed to me that since not long after the last election, whenever I hear him defending anything — anything! — it’s in that enraged, defensive, “If I yell it loud enough that makes it true” voice that emerged in the Kerry debates.
When I heard him using that voice while “speaking” in favor of highway construction — to Caterpillar factory workers — I thought, Oh, boy…
If true, these characterizations show a President who knows he is being handled and can’t get a straight answer from anyone. He is now at the receiving end of the kind of subterfuge that got him into office.
Bad enough he has to make real decisions now. He may have to fire someone. But what for? Incompetence? Treason? Where is the “personal disloyalty” option? That’s the only reason he knows. Surely, someone must be guilty of it.
Throughout the rise of the Private Right, there has been an unhealthy degree of interest in topics like “successor government” and “emergency powers” and the grounds for removing a President for mental incapacity. Don’t buy it.
The right just wants a new lease on stolen property.
Cheney, Rove and Andrew Card have kept the imbecile Bush on a need to know basis since the very beginning. Now that they don’t need to run him for re-election they’ve started to abandon him emotionally, and since he is a dry drunk this throws him off balance even more than he is usually.
Added to this is the fact that he’s been the president for so long now that he actually believes he’s the one who’s been coming up with the grand ideas and making the important decisions himself. Of course this is nonsense, the kind of delusion typical of people who’ve come to believe in their own infallibility. The problem now for Bush though is that he is trying to assert himself and make big decisions now and the 3 stooges (Cheney, Rove, Card), won’t let him. Hence he’s frustrated, and as a dry drunk, frustration translates immediately into irrational and disproportionate anger.
I wonder if his sleep is disturbed yet?
The timeframe is shorter, and the stakes are bigger, for these pirates, who think of themselves as the smart exploiters of Watergate, vultures of presidential carcass.
“If true, these characterizations show a President who knows he is being handled and can’t get a straight answer from anyone. He is now at the receiving end of the kind of subterfuge that got him into office”
Now that does make sense…
I think there has been evidence of this for some time, including odd occurrences during the debates last year which led some to believe that Bush was drugged up and/or wired. I honestly don’t think the man has the intestinal fortitude nor the mental capacity to make it through the next 3-plus years with his mind fully intact. I’ve said it before but I think we’ll see Bush talking to Checkers in the Oval Office before this horrific term comes to an end.
Hey!!
I talk to my dog all the time!!!!!!
😉
yeah, but you don’t talk to Nixon’s old dog, do you?
(although if you do, that’s some pretty potent psychic ability)
laughs well, no I don’t do that ^_^
I suspect the difference is that your dog – a splendid animal I’m sure – does not answer. 🙂
“I’m rot a rook.”
Cindy Sheehan reported his behavior as bizarre when he spoke with her about her son. So have some other families. Often in his public statements and appearances he acts nuts, which everyone except the press reports.
Whatever his problems are, it’s obvious that the Department of the Presidency won’t let him go around unchaperoned. They never let him speak to audiences that might include nonsupporters, they don’t let the press interrogate him, and for the same reasons they’re not going to let him talk with Cindy Sheehan again. She knows the score and she’s reported it in public. No matter how much it costs them to stonewall her, it’ll cost them more for her to report on a 2nd meeting.
But I predict that there’s no potential improvement for the country with a Bush abdication because Cheney has always been the Acting Chair of the Department of the Presidency. My money’s betting that what’s most “losing it” is the Department itself. Bush’s emotional state probably just reflects the stress of being a mail clerk posing as mouthpiece for the planet’s superpower, whose working leadership doesn’t know how to run it and can’t tell him how to face the world.
Remember the debate where he said it was hard work loving a dead soldiers wife or something very similar? The man is a walking Freudian slip.
I’m all for promoting and raising questions about the President’s sanity in public debate.
It will be mercilessly shot down by the Private Right of course, but it would begin to plant a little seed in everyone’s mind. One day Bush will escape his minders and lose it in public, and then those seeds will shoot up into the light.
And hopefully “The Button” will be no where near hre when he losses it.
I’ve actually seen wingnuts argue that women shouldn’t be president because they might launch nukes in a fit of PMS. Seems like Bush is a higher risk than any woman I’ve known.
And hopefully “The Button” will be nowhere near him when he loses it.
LMAO!
If I may generalise wildly in the opposite direction: any woman who manages to be elected president will likely have passed the menopause and will thus be more testosteroney (the real SF treat) than at any point in her life.
The world survived Nixon (insane) and Reagan (barely there). I’m sure we can survive a president who menstruates; more importantly, a president who has given birth.
(Yes, I’m a guy. Obviously I’m just trying to get laid.)
a goodly portion of the country is just like him – vindictive, cruel, sadistic and paranoid. And those of us who aren’t cruel, vindictive and sadistic are all becoming paranoid!
He appears tormented to me-out of his depth-well hell,he was born out of his depth, but scrabbling frantically to keep his head above water.He knows he is a tool and always has been,but until recently he thought he was the mechanic,when all he ever was,was the screwdriver.
That bucketful of silver spoons isn’t helping with the swimming …
wasn’t there an article exactly like this, complete with 100% anonymous sources, in Capitol Hill Blues last summer?
here
“Bush’s Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides”
by Dough Thompson
June 4, 2004
“President George W. Bush’s increasingly erratic behavior and wide mood swings has the halls of the West Wing buzzing lately as aides privately express growing concern over their leader’s state of mind.”
etc etc
The rest is the same, including the <s>televangelist</s> teledoctor who diagnoses via TV
Here is a link that sums up Doug Thompson’s POV.
Now, now… we don’t want Frist diagnosing Terri Schaivo from a video and we don’t want anyone who never met Casey Sheehan telling his mother how to honor his memory. We have to practice what we preach.
We’ll just have be satisfied with what we know for sure: that Bush is the ANTICHRIST surrounded by the spawn of hell, all of them bearing the mark of the beast.
ROTFLMO…thanks legadillo! I needed a good laugh this afternoon.
Why do i keep thinking of ‘crippled inside’?
Although I do believe Bush may be taking Prozac and he indeed seems unbalanced, lets not forget thet the doctor cited by Capitol Hill used the Bill Frist method of diagnostic: watching Bush on TV. He has never met with Bush.
Since I don’t believe watching someone on TV is a good diagnostic method I don’t believe his conclusions come from his professional expertise but from his personal dislike of Bush and it should not be regarded as “expert opinion”.
President Bush is our President. He represents us. He is America. To quiestion his sanity is to question the sanity of all Americans. To say that the President is disturbed is to imply a much greater disturbance. It is to imply that the American people are disturbed. It is the American people who elected George Bush president. How is it possible for over two hundred men women and children to be disturbed?
It’s all President Bushes fault is that whay you are saying? It’s just him and not US.
Well I for one am not sick and tired of taking anti depressants, viagra, alcholol and ice cream. I like that stuff and so does our President. I’m not crazy. i’m not. I am an American and I support our troops, America is the greatest nation on Earht with the most advanced military in the History of Mankind and I’m proud of that. Thought I am a Democrat, I support our President in time of War. Besides Joe Biden and Hilliary say we can win this thing in Iraq if we just send more troops. I agree with them. President Bush is not being agressive enough . Now what’s crazy about my way of thinking? That’s the way the Democrats think. I feel good about America and I feel good about ME. ….Especially after a good cup of coffee, some steriods and a can of Old Milwaukee.
Some validation for this can be found in his degenerating appearance. He seems to age about a year a month these days, with a tortured look a lot of the time. Bush may not make it until 2009.
Good point. I remember a pictorial on Blair some months ago which showed how he had changed since he was elected. Not pretty.
(Of course Blair has been in office for longer than Bush, and the US president is very wisely limited to two terms.)