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A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
About Me :
I'm a grownup nerd living in the Boston burbs. I write computer programs for a living and plays for fun.
I'm married to a wonderful woman, and we share a nice little house with our daughter and our cats.
I'm a humanist, a technologist, an artist, and an idealist. I believe in reason, freedom, love, equality,
and democracy. (Did I mention that I'm
an idealist? I did, OK.)
I'm also a pragmatist and an empiricist. I reject ideology and dogma, especially when they conflict with
practical facts (i.e., pretty much always). I particularly hate willful ignorance, which tends to go hand-in-hand
with ideology and dogma.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Friday, October 01, 2004
George W. Bubble Boy
George W. Bush put on such a dismal performance in last night's debate, I was at a real loss for an explanation. Was he tired? Was he stressed out? Did he not bother to prepare? He was on-message ("9/11 - no mixed signals - I know how the world works"), but there wasn't much conviction to what he had to say, and he said it over and over again. He seemed visibly lost at a couple of moments in the debate, struggling to remember his lines. At other times he looked smug, smirking his famous smirk, and all in all acting as though the debate was nothing more than a waste of his valuable time. Where was George W. Bush, the straight-talkin' guy who was supposed to wipe the floor with John Kerry? Where was George W. Bush, the mighty leader who was going to deliver the knockout blow, on the topic he controls -- foreign policy -- and put Kerry away once and for all?
The answer, of course, is just that that George W. Bush doesn't exist outside the Republican media machine. And to make sure you don't know that, they keep the real George W. Bush inside an impenetrable, hermetically-sealed bubble.
For the past four years, access to Bush has been meticulously managed. Press conferences -- when they occur -- are occasions for softball questions by friendly reporters, and reporters who don't play ball are frozen out. Bush campaign events are scripted even for the participants, who must sign loyalty oaths before being permitted in, and where security toughs ensure that even then, they may be ejected for not displaying the proper level of deference. Once in, they participate in call-and-response with the president, in a grotesque parody of a leader addressing the citizens he serves. Every time he makes a speech, of course, he's not speaking his own words: he's just reading talking points off a teleprompter. So the impression that has been conjured is that of an infallible and wildly popular leader. Facts -- like the insane rush to a disastrous war in the Middle East -- almost don't matter, as long as the Republicans can control the impressions.
But last night, for the first time in four years, we saw Bush by himself, without a script, without having the questions beforehand, without being able to memorize his pat answers beforehand, without a teleprompter or a bud in his ear (as far as we know), and without a cheering audience to back him up.
And you know, maybe this morning it looks like keeping Bush isolated in a bubble wasn't such a good idea after all.
I think he's gone soft from all the cushy treatment. When you don't have to work for the applause, when you don't have to have the right answers because they'll be given to you, when you don't even have to think for yourself -- how can you not lose your edge when that happens?
It's no secret that Bush never had much use for doing real work in the first place. Once relieved of any need to perform in public, he lost the ability, and it showed last night.
George W. Bush is a Bubble Boy. Once he's outside the bubble, he can't defend himself. Maybe they should have inoculated him first -- or maybe they shouldn't have isolated him from the world in the first place.
0 comments
George W. Bush put on such a dismal performance in last night's debate, I was at a real loss for an explanation. Was he tired? Was he stressed out? Did he not bother to prepare? He was on-message ("9/11 - no mixed signals - I know how the world works"), but there wasn't much conviction to what he had to say, and he said it over and over again. He seemed visibly lost at a couple of moments in the debate, struggling to remember his lines. At other times he looked smug, smirking his famous smirk, and all in all acting as though the debate was nothing more than a waste of his valuable time. Where was George W. Bush, the straight-talkin' guy who was supposed to wipe the floor with John Kerry? Where was George W. Bush, the mighty leader who was going to deliver the knockout blow, on the topic he controls -- foreign policy -- and put Kerry away once and for all?
The answer, of course, is just that that George W. Bush doesn't exist outside the Republican media machine. And to make sure you don't know that, they keep the real George W. Bush inside an impenetrable, hermetically-sealed bubble.
For the past four years, access to Bush has been meticulously managed. Press conferences -- when they occur -- are occasions for softball questions by friendly reporters, and reporters who don't play ball are frozen out. Bush campaign events are scripted even for the participants, who must sign loyalty oaths before being permitted in, and where security toughs ensure that even then, they may be ejected for not displaying the proper level of deference. Once in, they participate in call-and-response with the president, in a grotesque parody of a leader addressing the citizens he serves. Every time he makes a speech, of course, he's not speaking his own words: he's just reading talking points off a teleprompter. So the impression that has been conjured is that of an infallible and wildly popular leader. Facts -- like the insane rush to a disastrous war in the Middle East -- almost don't matter, as long as the Republicans can control the impressions.
But last night, for the first time in four years, we saw Bush by himself, without a script, without having the questions beforehand, without being able to memorize his pat answers beforehand, without a teleprompter or a bud in his ear (as far as we know), and without a cheering audience to back him up.
And you know, maybe this morning it looks like keeping Bush isolated in a bubble wasn't such a good idea after all.
I think he's gone soft from all the cushy treatment. When you don't have to work for the applause, when you don't have to have the right answers because they'll be given to you, when you don't even have to think for yourself -- how can you not lose your edge when that happens?
It's no secret that Bush never had much use for doing real work in the first place. Once relieved of any need to perform in public, he lost the ability, and it showed last night.
George W. Bush is a Bubble Boy. Once he's outside the bubble, he can't defend himself. Maybe they should have inoculated him first -- or maybe they shouldn't have isolated him from the world in the first place.
