PLEASE read this article and pass it along! Please! I'm begging here

[Bluebear]

Please, if you read nothing else, read this, print it, email to "undecideds", it is a NYT article about how religiously delusional * has become. Maybe toss in that he refuses to take a physical... Article says "he didn't always talk this way".



===

In the Oval Office in December 2002, the president met with a few ranking senators and members of the House, both Republicans and Democrats. In those days, there were high hopes that the United States-sponsored ''road map'' for the Israelis and Palestinians would be a pathway to peace, and the discussion that wintry day was, in part, about countries providing peacekeeping forces in the region. The problem, everyone agreed, was that a number of European countries, like France and Germany, had armies that were not trusted by either the Israelis or Palestinians. One congressman -- the Hungarian-born Tom Lantos, a Democrat from California and the only Holocaust survivor in Congress -- mentioned that the Scandinavian countries were viewed more positively. Lantos went on to describe for the president how the Swedish Army might be an ideal candidate to anchor a small peacekeeping force on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sweden has a well-trained force of about 25,000. The president looked at him appraisingly, several people in the room recall.

''I don't know why you're talking about Sweden,'' Bush said. ''They're the neutral one. They don't have an army.''

Lantos paused, a little shocked, and offered a gentlemanly reply: ''Mr. President, you may have thought that I said Switzerland. They're the ones that are historically neutral, without an army.'' Then Lantos mentioned, in a gracious aside, that the Swiss do have a tough national guard to protect the country in the event of invasion.

Bush held to his view. ''No, no, it's Sweden that has no army.''

The room went silent, until someone changed the subject.

A few weeks later, members of Congress and their spouses gathered with administration officials and other dignitaries for the White House Christmas party. The president saw Lantos and grabbed him by the shoulder. ''You were right,'' he said, with bonhomie. ''Sweden does have an army.''

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html?oref=login&pagewanted=all&position&oref=regi

[NMDemDist2]

1. arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

:argh: he is such a freaking idiot

[FightingIrish]

4. When did he get promoted to idiot?

[SammyWinstonJack]

20. Heehee

:evilgrin:

[Kire]

2. as a swedish american, I say...

fuck this guy, he's too stupid for words

[dogtag]

6. Hej, Kire!

Cowboysaren = idiot!

[Bluebear]

14. Sverige!

[SoCalDemocrat]

3. File this as Bush Idiot moment #3208437

Nothing new. The man is truly an imbecile.

[The Wielding Truth]

5. Imagine this guys finger on the button!

[skygazer]

7. Excellent article

I found it on another thread and printed it out. The more that comes out about the man, the more he frightens me. He is so totally out of touch with reality, it's incomprehensible that anyone could want him in office. What the hell has our country come to when people support a man like this?

[Bluebear]

8. He really thinks he is holy or something

This is why he consults his "higher Father" and not his Poppy over matters of war.

[newscaster]

17. For those who have not.....

Read the entire article. Its scary and gives you a really good insight into what Bush is about.

[Lorien]

9. I told some people about this one today

they were agast. By the end of our conversation, they had decided to volunteer for the Kerry campaign!

[Bluebear]

12. Way to go!

[SammyWinstonJack]

21. Yeah, if people only knew the real bush*

A lot more would be volunteering for Kerry, I suspect.

[trueblew]

10. GW: The Original Slacker

[crispini]

11. Aiyo!

I can't believe I just read this. It just makes me ill to my stomach. I will save this and print it and read it again and again and it will energize me each time I feel tired over the next few days.

I am so, so sorry that we only have a few days left and I only did canvassing for 4 hours today. I could have done more. Tomorrow I will canvass or phonebank for at least 6 hours. PROMISE.

[otohara]

13. Sweden, Switzerland, all the same to *

one of those S countries.

Excellent article

[MADem]

34. Well, cut the moron some slack

...all them old Yur-a-peein' countries that start with S look alike!

[Pithy Cherub]

15. sorry,

I had to laugh first. Now if he could just take a basic geography test to see if he could distinguish between the two. The fact that NO ONE on his staff corrected him is a deep lesson in groupthink run amok!

[shelley806]

16. I weep at his idiocy

Some old Bushisms that I had copied......grin and bear it?
I can't bear it any longer. Canada is looking so welcome to me.


"It's your money. You paid for it."-LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

"I don't want nations feeling like that they can bully ourselves and our allies. I want to have a ballistic defense system so that we can make the world more peaceful, and at the same time I want to reduce our own nuclear capacities to the level commiserate with keeping the peace."-Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 23, 2000

( On the Lewinsky scandal,) "That's a chapter, the last chapter of the 20th, 20th, the 21st century that most of us would rather forget. The last chapter of the 20th century. This is the first chapter of the 21st century." Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000

"It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."-Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

"We want our teachers to be trained so they can meet the obligations, their obligations as teachers. We want them to know how to teach the science of reading. In order to make sure there's not this kind of federal cufflink." Fritsche Middle School, Milwaukee, Mar 30, 2000

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it." Reuters, May 5, 2000

"I think we agree, the past is over." On his meeting with John McCain, Dallas Morning News, May 10, 2000

"Laura and I really don't realize how bright our children is sometimes until we get an objective analysis." Meet the Press, April 15, 2000

"There needs to be debates, like we're going through. There needs to be town hall meetings. There needs to be travel. This is a huge country." Larry King Live, Dec. 16, 1999

"Actually, I -this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I like it. When I'm talking about -- when I'm talking about myself, and when he's talking about myself, all of us are talking about me." Hardball, MSNBC, May 31, 2000

"I was raised in the West. The west of Texas. It's pretty close to California. In more ways than Washington, D.C., is close to California." Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2000

"The fact that he relies on facts -- says things that are not factual -- are going to undermine his campaign." New York Times, March 4, 2000

"It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in nature." Los Angeles, Feb. 23, 2000

"I understand small business growth. I was one." New York Daily News, Feb. 19, 2000

"The senator has got to understand if he's going to have he can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the low road." To reporters in Florence, SC, Feb. 17, 2000

"If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign." Hilton Head SC Feb 16, 2000

"How do you know if you don't measure if you have a system that simply suckles kids through?" Explaining the need for educational accountability, Beaufort, S.C., Feb. 16, 2000

"We ought to make the pie higher." South Carolina Republican Debate, Feb. 15, 2000

"I've changed my style somewhat, as you know. I'm less I pontificate less, although it may be hard to tell it from this show. And I'm more interacting with people." Meet The Press, Feb 13, 2000

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." Feb 18, 2001 For those who haven't yet noticed that he wasn't kidding,
click on &
http://falloutshelternews.com/BushHitlerLinks.html




"I think we need not only to eliminate the toll booth to the middle class, I think we should knock down the toll booth." Nashua, N.H., as quoted by Gail Collins, New York Times Feb. 1, 2000.

"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case." Pella, Iowa, quote San Antonio Express News Jan. 30, 2000.

"Will the highways on the Internet become more few?" Concord, N.H., Jan. 29, 2000.

"This is Preservation Month. I appreciate preservation. It's what you do when you run for president. You gotta preserve." Speaking during Perseverance Month" at Fairgrounds Elementary School Nashua, N.H. As quoted in Los Angeles Times, Jan. 28, 2000.

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." Greater Nashua NH Chamber of Commerce Jan. 27, 2000.

"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." At a South Carolina oyster roast, as quoted in the Financial Times, Jan. 14, 2000.

"We must all hear the universal call to like your neighbor just like you like to be liked yourself." At a South Carolina oyster roast, as quoted in the Financial Times, Jan. 14, 2000.

"Keep good relations with the Grecians." Quoted in the Economist, June 12, 1999

"The important question is, How many hands have I shaked?" Answering a question about why he hasn't spent more time in New Hampshire, In the New York Times, Oct. 23, 1999

"More and more of our imports are coming from overseas". Washington Post October 1, 2000.

and lastly. . . "I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle the job is underestimating." U.S. News & World Report, April 3, 2000.

[RafterMan]

18. Terrifying

I could only get half way through.

[SpiralHawk]

19. He forgot Poland

Poland either has or hasn't an army.

[CBHagman]

22. The more I read, the more troubled I was.

My first thought was that it was another recounting of the famous George W. Bush incuriosity. It's something infinitely worse.

I've been telling myself that if Bush wins a second term, he will believe himself a god. The article more than supplies evidence of his arrogance, selfishness, and short-sightedness.

I do not think that whoever wins the presidency this time out will get a prize. No, the problems confronting the U.S. are very grim indeed, and a few of them -- the high level of the debt and deficits, the housing bubble, the aging population, etc. -- cannot be dealt with by merely signing a bill for another tax cut. Matters like the Iraq war abroad and continuing threats at home cannot be strutted away after making a few speeches.

Bush will indeed pay for his sins, somehow or another, but the worst of it is that people are already paying for his sins.

What is truly sad about the article is that it depicts degree to which perfectly well-meaning people mistake Bush's stances on gays, for instance, for some kind of divinely inspired stance. Meanwhile the guy is filling his own pockets and those of the wealthiest among us, and the pious Missourian goes home thinking voting for Bush was somehow enacting the will of God. This is beyond sad. Stopping gay marriage is not going to send one man back to work, or deliver health care for one pregnant woman, or prevent a terrorist attack.

Forrest Church, Senator Frank Church's son, once pointed out that Jesus spoke of assisting the poor, visiting those in prison, etc., in his words in Matthew concerning the final judgment. Jesus did not, Church said, say one would be judged by how openly one disapproved of gays and so forth.

Well, as you might expect, an angry man called in and informed Church that he was speaking demonic words.

Such is the state of things. GOD HELP US ALL.

[Bluebear]

24. Well put CBH.

Stunning.

[MO_Dem]

23. I guess Bush the Stupid

just figured they were all part of "old Europe" and it didn't matter anyhow!

[grasswire]

25. two most frightening things in this article

1. As Suskind says, the fate of the world rests on what Bush THINKS GOD IS TELLING HIM.

2. The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''

[Bluebear]

27. "We're an empire now!" :shudder:

[Shopaholic]

26. That scared the shit out of me--

I mean I know he's bonkers but damn--this is the guy who has his finger on the trigger which could nuke us all to kingdom come? And I quote:

"This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them. This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts. . . he truly believes he's on a mission from God."

[Bundbuster]

28. Does it get any scarier than this?

As plastic_turkeys says, forward thus article far and wide.

[Bundbuster]

29. Kick the bastid's ass

[Greylyn58]

30. He's Crazy...

and he scares the Hell out of me! That was a scary read!! He will destroy this country if he gets another term.

:wow:

[Bundbuster]

31. Could you handle 4 years of this?

[dmr]

32. This is an excellent article

The article's beginning is an attention grabber:

Bruce Bartlett, a domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and a treasury official for the first President Bush, told me recently that ''if Bush wins, there will be a civil war in the Republican Party starting on Nov. 3.'' The nature of that conflict, as Bartlett sees it? Essentially, the same as the one raging across much of the world: a battle between modernists and fundamentalists, pragmatists and true believers, reason and religion.

''Just in the past few months,'' Bartlett said, ''I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do.'' Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush's governance, went on to say: ''This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them. . . .

''This is why he 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.'' Bartlett paused, then said, ''But you can't run the world on faith.''

more at link ...

I hope more take the time to read it, even though it is long. If you haven't read Ron Suskind's "The Price of Loyalty", it is a must read. Just reading about former Secretary of Treasury's account of this administration kept me up at night just thinking about the predictment SCOTUS put us all in.

Thanks for the link to this NYTimes article. :)

[Kimber Scott]

33. I'm afraid, if he's (s)elected again, our country will not survive intact.

But, I believe, if it's between us and him, he will have to go. He cannot do this to us and to the rest of the world. IF he does "win," it will be up to the Congress to save us. They and the media have sold this nation up the river. They will have to redeem themselves, or we are doomed as a nation.

[Scairp]

35. This is confirmation of my worst fears

I printed this out, all 14 pages of it, and read every word. This is spelling out just exactly what I had suspected, but didn't completely believe. I thought the conspiratorial, paranoid, Shrub-hating part of my brain had cooked this up and it really wasn't as bad as all that. Wrongo. Very chilling stuff. If this administration is elected for another four years, none of our lives will ever be the same, and I don't mean that in a good way.

[Guaranteed]

36. This is one of the most fascinating articles I've read in a long time.

That's really something. This guy put a lot of work into this.

Definitely read it, folks.