American Broadside

Hoisted on His Own Petard

I'm big on patterns. It seems to me that our lives are full of subtle and
not so subtle patterns, trends, tendencies, what have you.

I look at the world with an historian's eye: seeing events and people as
bound up in web of cause and effect both present and past.

In my personal life I use a simple test to determine if something is worth
paying attention to blowing off as trivial and not worth my time or
concentration: "Will anybody remember it in 10, 25 or 50 years?"

If it may still be around in 10 years, I watch it with curiosity and see if
it signals a trend towards something that is more important.

If I think an event will still be talked about as significant in 25 years I take note.

If I think an event will still have people's attention in 50 years, I pay attention and take it seriously.

Needless to say Kobe, make overs, botox, and local murders, car crashes, etc. don't make the cut. In fact, about 95% of the crap shoveled at us on television, radio, and the newspapers doesn't come close.

With such a ruthless filtering process, a person might think that I have a fairly empty head: uncluttered by the the hurricane of garbage that swirls around us. To a degree they would be correct, though I prefer to think of
my head as uncluttered, not empty.

A couple of days ago, the Usurper President made a statement that, on the face of it would fail my 10/25/50 test. Just one more gaff on his Long Trail of Jeers. And if taken as another Bushism it would.

However, I think it is much more than that. I think it is the classic Freudian slip, the escape of truth from the dark prison of the Usurper's duplicitous mind.

Initially, Becky and I missed it completely, until a friend of ours in the UK mentioned it in one of her email. Then, it was reported in The Guardian, "President Bush offered up a new entry for his catalog of
``Bushisms'' on Thursday, declaring that his administration will ``never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people.''

" Bush misspoke as he delivered a speech at the signing ceremony for a $417 billion defense spending bill.

``Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we,'' Bush said. ``They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.''

"No one in Bush's audience of military brass or Pentagon chiefs reacted"

For once, I couldn't agree more with the Wannabe President.

I combine this statement with the 7 minutes he sat reading My Pet Goat to children while the Twin Towers collapse and a myriad of other statements and actions and I see a very clear pattern. I remember in Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11, there was an excerpt of a speech at a dinner of the wealthy when Bush said (this may not be exact, but close), "Some call you the wealthy elite. But I call you my political base."

I see a failed Texas oilman, uneducated despite four years at Yale, and lacking the mental capacity to deal with the complexity of the modern world. I see a wealthy elitist selling out his country for the enrichment
of his class.

Harsh, yes. But then I didn't say, ``They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.''

I believe him.

posted by Les @ 6:32 PM