Blumenthal: Retreat into a substitute reality

[kskiska]

By touching on Bush's ambivalent relations with his father, Kerry exposed his delusions about Iraq

(snip)

In the split TV screen, how Bush felt was written all over his face. His grimaces exposed his irritation and anger at being challenged. Lacking intellectual stamina and repeating points as though on a feedback loop, he tried to close argument by assertion. With no one interrupting him, he protested, "Let me finish" - a phrase he occasionally deploys to great effect before the cowed White House press corps.

(snip)

Kerry's analysis of Bush's "colossal error of judgment" in Iraq was systematic, factual and historical. The coup de grace was the citation of the president's father's actions in the Gulf war. "You know," said Kerry, "the president's father did not go into Iraq, into Baghdad, beyond Basra. And the reason he didn't is, he said - he wrote in his book - because there was no viable exit strategy. And he said our troops would be occupiers in a bitterly hostile land. That's exactly where we find ourselves today." With that, Kerry touched on Bush's most ambivalent relationship, the father he recently called "the wrong father," compared to the "Higher Father".

In flustered response, Bush simply insisted on his authority. "I just know how this world works ... there must be certainty from the US president." He reverted to his claim that September 11 justified the invasion of Iraq because "the enemy" - Saddam Hussein - "attacked us." A stunned but swift-footed Kerry observed: "The president just said something extraordinarily revealing and frankly very important ... he just said, 'The enemy attacked us'. Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us." In his effort to banish all doubt, Bush had retreated into a substitute reality, a delusional version of Iraq, ultimately faith-based.

Bush's attack lines on Kerry did not describe the surprising man standing opposite him. They had been effective last week, but were suddenly shopworn. But Bush couldn't adjust. The greater his frustration in the debate, the more frequently he spoke of his difficulties in coping with "my job." Ten times he spoke of his "hard work": listening to intelligence briefings, talking to allies, having to comfort a bereaved mother whose son was killed in Iraq.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/comment/story/0,14259,1318185,00.html

[ClintonTyree]

1. The "hard work" thing..............

should be used in some way in the campaign, and soon. How many vacations has the Moron in Chief had since his Presidency began. Exactly how much time has Dumbya SPENT in Washington? Hard work.....this is an alien subject to anyone Bush.

[smiley_glad_hands]

2. Great Analysis. eom

[jbfam4]

3. he spoke of his difficulties in coping with "my job."

This job is way to hard for Bush. He needs a four year vacation.

[diabhal]

4. Blumenthal in the UK

Blumenthal also did the post-match analysis for the BBC over here in the UK. The most striking thing he said was that Bush had simply consolidated his core supporters while Kerry had made a play for the middle ground. I found that very heartening. I doubt any (genuine) undecideds were persuaded by Bush's performance but they may have been by Kerry.