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This page contains all of the posts and discussion on MemeStreams referencing the following web page: MSNBC - About last night. You can find discussions on MemeStreams as you surf the web, even if you aren't a MemeStreams member, using the Threads Bookmarklet.
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MSNBC - About last night
by Decius at 12:01 am EDT, May 26, 2004 |
] In press conferences, TV ads, and interviews this year,
] President Bush has manifested a series of
] psychopathologies: an abstract notion of reality,
] confidence unhinged from facts and circumstances, and a
] conception of credibility that requires no correspondence
] to the external world. Tonight, as he vowed to stay the
] course in Iraq, Bush demonstrated another mental defect:
] incomprehension of his role in history as a fallible
] human agent. Absent such comprehension, Bush can't fix
] his mistakes in Iraq because he can't see how or even
] that”he screwed up. Thats pretty much how I feel about the present spin work that Bush is engaged in. The situation in Iraq is fucked up. I want to see changes on the ground. Spin doctoring doesn't influence me. But the American people's attention span is about 1 week long, so I'm sure this thrust will improve his numbers domestically. It would be really neat if he could change the perceptions in the minds of people actually in Iraq, but that remains to be seen. I told someone a few days ago that I wish that I could fast forward three or four months. The uncertainty right now is unbearable. It will either completely improve in that timeframe, or we'll have completely lost control. Either way, we'll know whats up. |
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MSNBC - About last night
by Jeremy at 1:43 am EDT, May 26, 2004 |
Decius wrote:
]] Tonight, as he vowed to stay the
]] course in Iraq, Bush demonstrated another mental defect:
]] incomprehension of his role in history as a fallible
]] human agent. Absent such comprehension, Bush can't fix
]] his mistakes in Iraq because he can't see how or even
]] that he screwed up.
]
] That's pretty much how I feel about the present spin work that
] Bush is engaged in. The situation in Iraq is fucked up. I want
] to see changes on the ground. Spin doctoring doesn't influence
] me. Bush's unwillingness to reflect on the past, either distant or recent, is a serious flaw. It is even more troublesome that despite having smart, thoughtful people on his team -- I'm thinking mainly of Rumsfeld, Powell, and Rice -- he seems largely unable or unwilling to integrate their arguments into his worldview. He seems to have adopted neither Powell's caution nor his care, neither Rumsfeld's constant questioning of assumptions nor his ongoing analysis of alternatives, neither Rice's depth of expertise nor her clarity. Last Friday, Bob Woodward was on Charlie Rose for the hour. If you didn't catch it at the time, it is very worthwhile. You can listen in streaming RealAudio at http://media5.bloomberg.com:443/cgi-bin/getavfile.cgi?A=22235869 Bob says something to the effect that Bush is not really thinking about or planning to run "against" John Kerry this fall. Rather, Bush is running against himself, or, more specifically, against his performance in Iraq and the global war on terror. Extrapolating from this viewpoint, it's possible that Bush will either decline to debate Kerry at all, or will go for the absolute minimum level of engagement -- perhaps a single hour-long debate in late September, for example. Bush will focus on foreign policy and national security; Kerry, about domestic issues -- health care and the economy. Mostly, they will just talk past each other. |
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MSNBC - About last night
by w1ld at 11:05 pm EDT, May 25, 2004 |
] In press conferences, TV ads, and interviews this year,
] President Bush has manifested a series of
] psychopathologies: an abstract notion of reality,
] confidence unhinged from facts and circumstances, and a
] conception of credibility that requires no correspondence
] to the external world. Tonight, as he vowed to stay the
] course in Iraq, Bush demonstrated another mental defect:
] incomprehension of his role in history as a fallible
] human agent. Absent such comprehension, Bush can't fix
] his mistakes in Iraq because he can't see how or even
] that”he screwed up.
]
] Here's how Bush, in his speech this evening, described
] Iraq's place in history: Very good read as to the perception of Bush and his policies. |
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