Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Worse Than You Think...
Joan Walsh is one of Salon's best writers, and she does a great job in her latest cover article. But she misses one point for lack of cynicism--which just so happens to be the specialty of the house around here.
The key to understanding a man like George Bush--and what he meant by his seemingly impolitic remarks--is to realize that he doesn't give a s*** about Cindy Sheehan, her dead son, anyone else's dead kid, or, in fact, any U.S. soldier anywhere. He really doesn't.
If he did, he wouldn't have sent them to Iraq.
The reason his remark seemed odd to Walsh is that he wasn't trying to make sense--he wasn't even speaking to her. He was making a joke for the likes of Scooter and Rummy.
Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but it felt to me as if with Bush's latest remarks about Sheehan over the weekend, the clownish lightweight his critics know and despise was beginning to shine through for all to see. If you haven't already, take a moment to ponder what he told Cox News about why he could find time for a bike ride on Saturday but not to meet with Sheehan:Perhaps Walsh didn't attend prep school, which would explain her failure to recognize rich-kid obnoxiousness when she sees it. Bush wasn't being tone-deaf, he was being an a-hole. He was speaking not to the nation or to Cindy Sheehan, but directly to his buddies, saying, "Yeah, I'd like to meet with her but I have to go ride my bike."
"I think it's important for me to be thoughtful and sensitive to those who have got something to say. But I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life ... I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy. And part of my being is to be outside exercising. So I'm mindful of what goes on around me. On the other hand, I'm also mindful that I've got a life to live and will do so."
You don't have to be Cindy Sheehan to think that yammering on about "staying healthy" and living a "balanced life" while so many are suffering and dying in Iraq is unthinkably cruel, as well as unbelievably politically tone deaf. When I read Bush's quote -- I read it over and over -- I found myself wondering not just about his character but about his fundamental emotional health. It's as if he's confessing he couldn't stay "balanced" if he had to confront Sheehan's grief, and even worse, her questions about why her son died.
The key to understanding a man like George Bush--and what he meant by his seemingly impolitic remarks--is to realize that he doesn't give a s*** about Cindy Sheehan, her dead son, anyone else's dead kid, or, in fact, any U.S. soldier anywhere. He really doesn't.
If he did, he wouldn't have sent them to Iraq.
The reason his remark seemed odd to Walsh is that he wasn't trying to make sense--he wasn't even speaking to her. He was making a joke for the likes of Scooter and Rummy.
