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Bush's Increasing Mental Lapses and Temper Tantrums Worry White House Aides
By DOUG THOMPSON Nov 2, 2005, 05:26
An uncivil war rages inside the walls of the West Wing of the White House, a bitter, acrimonious war driven by a failed agenda, destroyed credibility, dwindling public support and a President who lapses into Alzheimer-like periods of incoherent babbling.
On one side are the dwindling numbers of die-hard loyalists to President George W. Bush, those who support his actions and decisions without question and remain committed to both Bush and scandal-scarred political advisor Karl Rove.
On the other side are the increasing numbers of those who say Rove must go and who worry about the President's declining mental state and his ability to restore credibility with Congress, our foreign allies and the American people.
The war erupted into full-blown shout fests at Camp David this past weekend where decorum broke down in staff meetings and longtime aides threatened to quit unless Rove goes. Insiders say Chief of Staff Andrew Card now leads the anti-Rove legions and has told Bush that he wants out of the high-pressure job.
White House staff members say the White House is “like a wartime bunker” where shell-shocked aides hide from those who disagree with their actions and office pools speculate on how long certain senior aides will last.
Bush, whose obscenity-laced temper tantrums increase with each new setback and scandal, abruptly ended one Camp David meeting by telling everyone in the room to “go **** yourselves” before he stalked out of the room.
Senior aides describe Bush as increasingly “edgy” or “nervous” or “unfocused.” They say the President goes from apparent coherent thought one moment to aimless rambles about political enemies and those who are “out to get me.”
“It’s worse than the days when Ronald Reagan’s Alzheimer’s began setting in,” one longtime GOP operative told me privately this week. “You don’t know if he’s going to be coherent from one moment to the next. What scares me is if he lapses into one of those fogs during a public appearance.”
Aides say Bush, who has always had trouble focusing during times of stress, is increasingly distant during meetings, often staring off into space during discussions on the nation’s security and other issues.
Card has responded to the crisis by cutting back on the number of staff members with direct access to the President and jumping in to answer questions when Bush’s mind wanders.
“Some people say Karl Rove is ‘Bush’s brain,’” says one increasingly-concerned West Winger. “Well Andy has become the President’s voice. He’s there to speak when the President seems unable to find form an answer.”
Bush’s mental state is a hot topic on Internet blogs and has increased since this web site disclosed last year that the White House physician had placed the President on anti-depressant medication – a story the administration never denied. Others, including prominent psychiatrists like Dr. Justin Frank of George Washington University, wonder if Bush, an admitted heavy drinker who claims he quit without any professional help, is hitting the bottle again.
An increasing number of mainstream media outlets, including Newsweek, The Washington Post and the New York Daily News recently confirmed our earlier reports about Bush’s temper tantrums.
“Bush usually reserves his celebrated temper for senior aides because he knows they can take it,” the Daily News reported. “Lately, however, some junior staffers also have faced the boss’s wrath.”
“This is not some manager at McDonald’s chewing out the help," a source with close ties to the White House told the paper. “This is the president of the United States, and it’s not a pleasant sight.”
Bush loyalists claim the President can survive his current spate of political troubles and emerge stronger than ever but an increasing number of White House aides express increasing doubt. Some even go so far as to speculate if the President’s deteriorating mental condition can survive another three years in office.
“The President has lost his focus, his ability to govern and the trust of the American people,” says one longtime GOP operative. “Those are things that are difficult to recapture when you’re on top of your game and this President has taken one too many blows to the head.”
posted
Well, I don't know if mainstream america (people who have jos and a TV) are paying attention, but I think they are and all the recent events will hopefully start to expose how corrupt our government really is.
Posts: 562 | From: NY | Registered: Jul 2005
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a lot of GOOD people have gone down in flames... and i'm not talking about the people still in the white house....
Clarke, a registered Republican as late as 2000, is a long-time associate of the most hawkish faction of the national security establishment. In 1991, he supported continuation of the first Persian Gulf War, arguing against the decision of President George H. W. Bush to call off the ground war after four days rather than pressing forward into southern Iraq. During the 1990s, he supported aggressive US military action against Iraq’s supposed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. That such an individual should come out publicly against the Bush White House is an indication of deep divisions within the American ruling elite and its military-intelligence apparatus over the deepening crisis in US-occupied Iraq.
Former treasury secretary Paul O’Neill, who published his own critical book on the Bush administration in January, Clarke describes the Bush administration’s leading personnel as “right-wing ideologues” who simply refused to consider any facts that did not conform to their world view, and who were focused on preparing war with Iraq from the time Bush entered the White House.
Rand Beers, the official who succeeded Clarke after he left the White House in February 2003, resigned in protest just one month later—five days before the Iraqi war started—for precisely the same reason that Clarke quit. In June, he told the Washington Post, "The administration wasn't matching its deeds to its words in the war on terror. They're making us less secure, not more." And: "The difficult, long-term issues both at home and abroad have been avoided, neglected or shortchanged, and generally underfunded....
the list goes on and on and on...
there are many, many more "invisible commoners" that have taken early retirement from civil service too....
we are in for a very rough several-ten years
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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the underlying theme bore itself out as Katrina unfolded.... it was always about invading Iraq, fighting terrorism at its root causes and building an internal response sytem to terror threats was never even done... anybody watching what's going on in France right now? or how the Paki's are begiining to beetch about how little money they are getting for their 'quake....
the poopee is hitting the fan and the white house has gone bipolar....
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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Paris, 4 Nov. (AKI) - The rioting that has wracked impoverished Paris suburbs over the past week has now spread to other cities in France, notably the central city of Dijon, Rouen in the north, and the region surrounding the southern port of Marseille. Rioters set fire to at least 150 vehicles, two textile warehouses, shops a bus depot and a school in an eighth night of unrest. The urban violence was triggered by the accidental death two teenagers of African origin in a electricity sub-station on 27 October, as they were reportedly fleeing from police.
Riot police are out in force in the Paris suburbs, where gangs of youths armed with bricks and sticks have been roaming the streets of housing estates, local reports said. France's social cohesion minister Jean-Louis Borloo said on Friday the government needed to react "firmly" but added that France must also acknowledge its failure to deal with anger that has been simmering in poor suburbs for decades.
France's government is now under pressure to restore order. Prime minister Dominique de Villepin and interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy overcame previous differences on how to handle the disturbances, saying late on Thursday that tackling lawnessness and restoring order in the Paris suburbs and elsewhere is now their "absolute priority". De Villepin has briefed local officials about an 'action plan for the suburbs' he intends to unveil later this month.
The unrest comes despite Sarkozy's anti-crime drive, launched following president Jacques Chirac's re-election in 2002 on a 'law and order' platform. This failure has triggeried criticism from the French right. Daily newspaper Le Figaro quoted right-wing former interior minister Charles Pasqua as asking Chirac "to account to the nation," while France's anti-immigrant National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, said "France is under attack from hordes of foreigners".
The rioting that erupted again on Thursday night dashed hopes that the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan would calm rioters, many of whom are Muslim, locally-born French citizens who feel that poverty, sub-standard housing, high unemployment and discrimination give the lie to France's Republican principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. The hurling of a police tear gas canister - some believe deliberately - into the Bilal mosque in the Paris suburb of Clichy, on Sunday evening has also heightened tensions.
"If a tear gas cannister had been thrown into a synagogue, all France's ministers would have gone there immediately," commented Abdel, a local cultural mediator, quoted by the French daily Le Figaro.
Muslim leaders have urged politicians to show respect for immigrant communities. French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM) head, Dalil Boubakeur, after visiting the Bilal mosque on Tuesday, said inhabitants of France's poor suburbs "must be given the conditions to live with dignity as human beings," not in "disgraceful squats".
Not all of France's Muslim leaders agreed with Boubakeur's visit to Clichy. "Mr Boubakeur's visit was totally precipitous... he has taken the CFCM into political territory where it does not belong," said Fouad Alaoui, secretary general for the Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF), quoted in the French daily Le Monde.
French police and municipal officials have however praised efforts by local Muslim leaders to instil calm on the streets of poor suburbs. "The role of Muslim associations has become essential," said one police officer in the largely immigrant Seine-Saint-Denis area of Paris.
I wish to quibble, perhaps, with your use of the language. I am certain you didn't mean it is our government that is currupt, but the gang of thieves and crooks that stole it from us.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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I don't mean to be sounding like a supporter of the Kennedy clic, for I certainly am not, but I think it started to get really nasty when Nixon couldn't beat a Catholic.
That was still within the time of influence of McCarthy's commie hunt, the soldiers of which were mostly younger Republicans, most prominately Nixon and the crew that he took into the White House later. The damage that that sick bunch did to the Constitution can never be corrected and worse, it trained the first generation of Republican anti-Constitutionalist that we still have grinding incessanrtly at our Republic.
Now, with the currently "installed" gang, we hear that the president can, by presidential edict, over-ride any part of the constitution that suits his whim. Maybe it is too late already to save it.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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there is so much dis-information out there that it's important to keep putting the concept in front of people.. it's like some of the posters here that THINK they are doing "the right thing" in pushing their religious agendas in front of people...
they have been "trained" to interpret the whole issue BACKWARDS...
i get truly annoyed when the ultra-conservatives claim there are "activist" judges making laws when the ones they are claiming that make the laws are in fact the only ones that are strictly interpreting the constituion...
take gay marriage...im NOT for it (personally)....
but? constitutionally? there is no way anybody can STOP it.... and that is EXACTLY why Bush promised an constittional ammendment to make it illegal...( another hollow campaign promise)cuz they HAVE NO CHOICE if they want to stop it..
BUT? claiming that the "activists" judges handing down decisions that gay marriage restrictions are unconstituional are false, in fact it is JUST THE OPPOSITE... the ultra-conservatives are no more moral than anybody else, yet they claim to hold the moral high ground...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
All i can say get this guy a rubber room before he does something even dumber than he has and believe me he can do it. Anybody that thinks they are hearing voices like God talking to them has got to be watched and taken care of. Now I am a christian and I know that God does not tell you to be president because you will have the power to do his will on earth, that is what I have heard on this bb and other people have told me so and I believe it. Most of his actions are not christian in the least like distroying the social saftey net and his end justifies the means policy, which includes every dirty trick and falsehood beyound most peoples imagination. I look at him and I see a total control freak that trusts fewer and fewer people and that makes me fear of what he can do.
Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005
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I am not worried by the ultra-conservatives. There have always been and will always be ultra-conservatives, often providing valuable insight onto the workings of our society.
The ones that I really fear are the ones duping the ultra-conservatives into handing over our rights and control of government to them, then using control to turn the federal treasury into a device to strip money from the people and put it in the pockets of special interest (often offshore) and establishing a virtual SS to control the population that is not burderned with the Constitutional rights of the people. They already have separated us into a classed society and have confused various political interest groups, only one of which is the ultra-conservatives, into thinking they are included in the upper class.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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bdgee I agree with you it is not ultra conservatives that I am afraid of I have known a lot of them in my day and they use logic and good sense. I fear for this mans mental stability and what he can do with his office I believe that he gained his his office with falsehood and lies told to honest people that wanted to believe. And right now it is getting harder and harder for them to hold on to there icon
Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005
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True conservatives are great! The dangerous radicals that have taken to calling themselves "conservatives" are not.
Posts: 3243 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2005
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We had a neighbor when I lived in DC who was part of the secret service presidential detail for many years. His stories of Kennedy and Johnson were the same as those I heard from the guys who flew the presidents' plane --- yes, Kennedy did have Marilyn Monroe flown in for secret "dates " and LBJ was a typical T! exas "good ole boy" womanizer. Nixon, Bush 41, and Carter never cheated on their wives. Clinton cheated, but couldn't match Kennedy or LBJ in style or variety. The information below is accurate. The elder Bush and current president Bush make it a point to thank and take care of the air crews who fly them around. When the president flies, there are several planes that also go -- one carries the armored limo, another the security detail, plus usually a press aircraft. Both Bush's made it a point to stay home on holidays, so the Air Force and security people could have a day with their families.
WHAT WAS: Hillary Clinton was arrogant and orally abusive to her security detail. She forbade her daughter, Chelsea, from exchanging pleasantries with them. Sometimes Chelsea, miffed at her mother's obvious conceit and mean spiritedness ignored her demands and exchanged pleasantries regardless, but never in h! er moth! er's presence. < st1:place>Chelsea really was a nice, kindhearted, and lovely young lady. The consensus opinion was that Chelsea loved her Mom but did not like her. Hillary Clinton was continuously rude and abrasive to those who were charged to protect her life. Her security detail dutifully did their job, as professionals should, but they all loathed her and wanted to be on a di! ffer! ent detail. Hillary Clinton was despised by the Secret Service as a whole. Former President Bill Clinton was much more amiable than his wife. Often the Secret Service would cringe at the verbal attacks Hillary would use against her husband. They were embarrassed for his sake by the manner and frequency in which she verbally insulted him, sometimes in the presence of the Secret Service, and sometimes behind closed doors. Even behind closed doors Hillary Clinton would scream and holler so loudly that everyone could hear what she was saying. Many felt sorry for President Clinton and most wondered why he tolerated it instead of just divorcing his "attack dog" wife. It was crystal clear that the Clinton's neither liked nor respected each other and this was true! l! ong before the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Theirs was genuinely a "marriage of convenience." Chelsea was much closer to her father than her mother, even after the Lewinsky scandal, which hurt her gravely. Bill Clinton did in fact have charisma, and occasionally would smile at or shake hands with his security detail. Still, he always displayed an obvious air of superiority towards them. His security detail uniformly believed him to be disingenuous, false, and that he did nothing without a motive that in some way would enhance his image and political career. He was polite, but not kind. They did not particularly li! ke h! im and nobody trusted him. WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN: Al Gore was the male version of Hillary Clinton. They were more friendly toward each other than either of them were towards former President Clinton. They were not intimate, so please don't read that in. They were very close in a political way. Tipper Gore was generally nice and pleasant. She initially liked Hillary but soon after the election she had her "pegged" and no longer liked her or associated with her except for events that were politically obligatory. Al Gore was far more left wing than Bill Clinton. Al Gore resented Bill Clinton and thought he was too "centrist." He despised all Republicans. His hatred was bitter and this was long before he announced for the Presidency. This hatred was something that he and Hillary had in common. They often said as much, even in the presence of their security detail. Neither of them trusted Bill Clinton and, the Secret Service opined, neither of them even liked Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton did have some good qualities, whereas Al Gore and Hillary had none, in the view of their security details. Al Gore, like Hillary, was very rude and arrogant toward his security detail. He was extremely unappreciative and would not hesitate to scold them in the presence of their peers for minor details over which they had no control. Al Gore also looked down on them, as they finally observed and learned with certainty on one occasion. Al got angry at his offspring and pointed at his security detail and said, "Do you want to grow up and be like them?" Word of this insult by the former Vice-president quickly spread and he became as disliked by the Secret Service as Hillary. Most of them prayed Al Gore would not be elected President, and they really did have private celebrations in a few of their homes after President Bush won. This was not necessarily to celebrate President Bush's election, but to celebrate Al Gore's defeat. What Is Everyone in the Secret Service wants to be on First Lady Laura Bush's detail. Without exception, they concede that she is perhaps the nicest and most kind person they have ever had the privilege of serving. Where Hillary patently refused to allow her picture to be taken with her security detail, Laura Bush doesn't even have to be asked, she offers. She doesn't just shake their hand and say, Thank you." Very often, she will give members of her detail a kindhearted hug to express her appreciation. There is nothing false about her. This is her genuine nature. Her security detail considers her to be a "breath of fresh air." They joke that comparing Laura Bush with Hillary Clinton is like comparing "Mother Teresa" with the "Wicked Witch of the North." Likewise, the Secret Service considers President Bush to be a gem of a man to work for. He always treats them with genuine respect and he always trusts and listens to their expert advice. They really like the Crawford, Texas detail. Every time the president goes to Crawford he has a Bar-B-Q for his security detail and he helps serve their meals. He sits with them, eats with them, and talks with them. He knows each of them by their first name, and calls them by their first name as a show of affection. He always asks about their family, the names of which he always remembers. They believe that he is deeply and genuinely appreciative of their service. They could not like, love, or respect anyone more than President Bush. Most of them did not know they would feel this way, until they had an opportunity to work for him and learn that his manner was genuine and consistent. It has never changed since he began his Presidency. He always treats them with the utmost respect, kindness, and compassion. Please pass this on. It is important for Americans to have a true inside understanding of their President.
-------------------- As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! Posts: 622 | From: USA | Registered: Aug 2004
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"Bush, whose obscenity-laced temper tantrums increase with each new setback and scandal, abruptly ended one Camp David meeting by telling everyone in the room to “go **** yourselves” before he stalked out of the room."
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I think yours is the fairy tale, Art! Look how young he is, in that picture! How do you know, someone didn't digitally altar that photo anyway? His finger looks twice as long as a normal one!!! Geech, we all did things when we were younger that we regret, if he did do it! For crying out loud, you guys would go back to birth, to pick on someone!
-------------------- As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! Posts: 622 | From: USA | Registered: Aug 2004
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He was the governer of Texas at the time. Watch the video, Kate. It's not altered. For more recent examples, see the article that started this thread.
Posts: 3243 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Like I said, look how young he looks. I read the article, and I don't believe it. You can look and find the opposite, if you just look for it. I refuse to believe gossip!
-------------------- As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! Posts: 622 | From: USA | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
He wasn't a Christian then, Art! Besides that, I have Christian friends who occasionally swear, drink a beer, or give the finger! That doesn't mean they are bad; they just made a mistake, and will try to do better! Christians aren't any better than anyone else! They just give their lives to Christ, and try to live the way He wants them to! That is the difference! Nobody is perfect!
-------------------- As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! Posts: 622 | From: USA | Registered: Aug 2004
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Yes, Kate, according the the words and promises of G.W.Bush himself, he was a Christain then. (As if his word were worthy of trust.)
Today, we have been provided with glossy stills of disgustion torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afganistan; seen on tv actual videos of our soldiers torturing defenseless prisoners; had our courts, both civil an military, convict people in our military of torturing; and even have heard military officials and members of the Govrnment apologize to the world for torturing prisoners. Aditionally were have been informed of numerous other instances that have occurred.
Then today, in Brazil, speaking to the World, George W. Bush declared those things never happened. I wonder how many in the world believe him?
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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"torturing defenseless prisoners" I love it... now he totally forgets that these perfect little prisoners were trying to kill Americans before their capture... He makes like these scum bags were out picking daisies when they were abducted.... Yet again taking the side of the enemy... straight out of the communist party of America's play book.
-------------------- Spend Word For Word With Me And I Shall Make Your Wit Bankrupt. Posts: 1326 | From: Here | Registered: Oct 2005
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You only have the word of the torturers and the Bush administration on that "that these perfect little prisoners were trying to kill Americans before their capture" line. There are several respected organizations that dispute that, including the Pentagon. Did you bother to learn that almost every one of those prisoners in those pictures and videos have been released because they were, according to the Pentagon, apparantly just innocently in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
There are some fools that seem to think that a handcuffed man hanging from the ceiling and being peed on by a Sargent is not defenseless!
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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