Man, when it rains it pours. As if the Bush White House doesn't have enough problems, mostly self-inflicted, to deal with, now comes another one. Former Bush "brain trust" member and chief campaign strategist Matthew Dowd is now saying that his faith in Bush was misplaced:
In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush's leadership.He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a "my way or the highway" mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides.
"I really like him, which is probably why I'm so disappointed in things," he said. He added, "I think he's become more, in my view, secluded and bubbled in."
In speaking out, Mr. Dowd became the first member of Mr. Bush's inner circle to break so publicly with him.
The first, but something tells me not the last. Worst. President. Ever.
"I really like him," says Dowd, and we also read about the man-crush on Dubya both Chris Matthews and Karl Rove have inadvertantly revealed, not to mention the fawning adulation of Dubya's so-called "harem" like Condi and Kathryn Harris for example. Mephistophles is known for being charming, remember? The Devil comes sleek and sly in order to eat naive and unwary souls who are glamorized by his surface charm--- or so Goethe tells us in Faust. And even yet, the victims still excuse Dubya--- they have not fully learned their lesson, the core truth of their unfortunate enslavement to the rotted republican dogma passing for Republicanism today.
As for Dubya's alleged charms? I saw him in person a few months ago at a dinner and people around me were hopping about for joy, but I just don't see it.
Three years ago I really kind of woke up, looked around, and was appalled. I literally thought "I can't turn my country over to the next watch in this condition," and thereupon formally joined the Democratic Party since it was the only organized opposition that had a chance of defeating the "new" republican party. It turned out I'd been a closet Democrat for many years, but simply could not recognize that fact after all those years of being brainswashed.
I am convinced that woman and I are not alone. Unfortunately, many of the disillusioned cannot bring themselves to make the jump across the chasm to join the Democrats. Part of the reason is the lingering embedded conviction programmed into their brains: "Democrats bad, weak, socialistic, and anti-American." The Democrats have yet to offer a coherent, satisfying counter-philosophy of governance that can replace the heavily promoted Republican philosophy of traditional authoritarian, tough-guy patriarchal leadership because Life is a Struggle.
It's also important to understand Dowd's son is on his way to Iraq and his point of view on Bush is certainly affected by this fact.