By Scott C. Smith
Despite the fact that George W. Bush is 57 years old, and surrounded by many members of his father's former administration and other intelligent folks, people are still protective of little Georgie.
His father, former President George H.W. Bush, went on the defensive on March 30, at a speech to the National Petrochemical and Refiners' Association. An emotional Bush criticized the media for its coverage of his son. "(the coverage) is something short of fair and balanced," Bush whined. Short of fair and balanced? Apparently Poppie Bush is living in la-la land, as young Georgie has received extremely fair media coverage. I suspect Bush Jr. is not exposed to any criticism. As George W. Bush said on Sept. 21, 2003, from Jacob Weisberg's Bushisms, "I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves."
As far as Iraq goes, George Sr. appears to be as clueless of the reality of that quagmire as his son. "Iraq is moving forward in hope and not sliding back into despair and terrorism," he told the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. Yes, aside from the recent terrorist attacks against U.S. forces in Fallujah, which have resulted in almost 100 deaths, the situation in Iraq is one of progress"towards anarchy.
Bush Jr. seems hopelessly out of the loop. How else to explain his "joke" last month at the Washington D.C. Correspondent's dinner, which featured slides of Bush look around his office saying "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere." I mean, someone on his staff told him it would be funny. Was Bush even aware that troops were dying in Iraq?
Sean Hannity is another Bush defender. Sean appears to be intelligent. Yet, even as the death count rises in Iraq, and the economy in the United States struggles, Hannity will defend his man to the bitter end. On a recent Hannity and Colmes, guest John Dean appeared to talk about his book, Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush.
Hannity was incredulous: "You (Dean) said 'Worse Than Watergate' - I thought it was Bill Clinton lying under oath"" Yes, Sean, lying about an affair is much worse than lying about, say, a country possessing huge stockpiles of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and then sending a military to find the weapons, not finding them, and having over 600 of those soldiers be killed.
Hannity frequently makes reference to "Bush haters" which appear to include anyone that is in the least bit critical of George W. Bush. Hannity is always quick to defend his man, and will employ the famous blame Clinton tactic when all else fails. Bush truly is the Teflon president.
Bill Clinton, on the other hand, spent eight years under attack with only a handful of supporters defending him. And no, I'm not counting Roger Clinton. Whether it was the Clinton Chronicles, a video "expose" of Clinton featuring all manner of conspiracy theories and outright lies about Bill Clinton peddled by Jerry Falwell, to women like Paula Jones telling people like Sean Hannity that Clinton was a rapist.
When the United States bombed Iraq in 1998, right-wingers were quick to say that the bombing was a "wag the dog" scenario, to distract the country's attention away from the Monica Lewinsky scandal. And many conservatives actually believed it. Today, if anyone suggests that 9/11 could have been prevented or that the Administration lied about Iraq WMDs, that person is quickly branded a Bush-hater.
Bush has always enjoyed a life where there were no consequences for his actions, a life where he excelled despite obstacles like not being qualified for the job. When he took the Texas Air National Guard aptitude test, and scored 25 out of 100, instead of being rejected, he was vaulted ahead of more qualified candidates. Bush himself even bragged of his poor academic standing in college.
No matter what decision he makes, no matter how many people end up dead in Iraq, no matter how many jobs are shipped off to India, someone will always be around to protect George W. Bush from the truth. Although, I have to wonder who is going to tell him the bad news come November, with the election of John Kerry?
I'm hoping it's Al Gore.
About the author: Scott C. Smith scott(at)scottcsmith.net is a freelance writer from Beaverton, Oregon. Scott writes for his web magazine, What's In Scott's Head, and his column appears regularly at the Democratic Underground and The Smirking Chimp web sites.
