Does W actually believe his own crap?

[ZombieNixon]

Who thinks that W believes his own lies or does he lack the mental capacity to realize what he is saying?

[skylarmae]

1. he's just a bad actor - he knows exactly what he's saying

[Bluebear]

2. That's the heart of the matter. Totally deluded.

Delusions of granduer.

[da_chimperor]

3. It's doublethink n/t

[ZombieNixon]

5. Any relation to Orwellian doublespeak?

n/t

[da_chimperor]

8. Eh, perhaphs you mean newspeak? n/t

[LibeMatt]

4. Is that what he's listening to now?

B-)

[ZombieNixon]

7. Welcome to DU, LibeMatt

From a guy who hasn't been here much longer than you! :-)

[cheshire]

6. The ? is does he know what the hell he says?

[bigpathpaul]

9. He's a danger to himslef, but mostly the country, Hammer it home!

I hope I'm not being too repetitive, but I think the concept of Bush as an incompetent leader needs to be hammered home over and over. In what will probably turn out to be the most watched debate, everyone in America who watched, saw that * is incompetent, incoherent and doesn't appear to really give a crap.

That image of the man is now planted in the minds of Americans. I'm guessing that even people who had decided on voting for * are now open to re-considering. If we hammer home that idea that the man should have inspired confidence, should have made us feel safer, but did the complete opposite, then anything that happens in the next four weeks will have less of an impact.

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[ZombieNixon]

13. Oh, yes, definately

Remember his advice after 9/11?

"Go shopping." Real inspiring.

[enough]

10. Nothing is real to W except himself.

He neither belives nor disbelieves what he says. The real world simply does not exist for him, and therefore the whole idea of words either being "true" to reality, or "not true" is of no importance for him.

I honestly believe that reality in the sense most people think of it is of no interest to him. Are people being killed? Are people out of work? Are people without decent health care or decent education? Is the environment dying? When he says, "who cares," or "what's the difference," he means it. Facts are of interest only when they can be used for his purposes, or get in the way. And he counts on others to tell him what his real-world "purposes" are. He is so enmeshed in himself that he doesn't even know that.

Lewis Lapham called it "the fog of self" (in talking about Bush).

[punpirate]

11. Taking into account...

... some of the things one of Bush's former instructors at Harvard has said, Bush's view of the issues is profoundly reactionary and rigid. My best guess is that he truly believes what he says--he simply has no intellectual framework or facts on which to hang his beliefs. They simply exist to him.

When challenged on those beliefs, he has nothing underpinning them. That's why we see the endless repetition of stock phrases, which are, in effect, his description of his beliefs. There's nothing underlying them because he's accepted them on faith. They are not intellectually derived.

Cheers.

[demigoddess]

12. he believes what he says because he has never had very deep thoughts

and has never been exposed to anyone but rich people and never been given any REAL work his whole life. Great argument for letting your kids fail once in a while. Also he has the idea all he has to do is open his mouth with "you are safer with me" and we will all be just bowled over with his powers to persuade.