When Reason Fails (I): Bush Derangement Syndrome

Seldom has a president had so much opposition and bad press from the outset as George W. Bush. He never stood a chance against the onslaught of parlor tricks and other theatricals that the postmodern shop of rhetorical attributes has to offer. It was full throttle from day one: for just an example read "The Party of Defeat Top Five Lies About Iraq," by Ben Johnson on Front Page ... read it all!

The world - not all of it, but a very vocal part - was determined from the get go to trash and ditch the man. Some have axes to grind, but the main reason? Of course they didn't need an excuse, but the truth is, he wasn't a member of the Democratic Party, but a Republican ... and in Their White House!

Europeans - even the thinking, 'Right' part, have bought the propaganda that the Democrats are conservative enough for their standards, and that Republicans are a rabidly reactionary bunch of religious morbids. They even think slavery was abolished by the Democrats (they're the good guys, aren't they?).

They needed no excuse but on top of that, W. owns a ranch in Texas (a bowboy in the White House), he's no natural orator (dim), he's plain speaking (crude), is a Christian (a religious maniac, possibly insane), and a man of action (a war-monger): any characteristic can be turned into a negative if taken to extremes. This rhetorical trick is the postmodernist's specialty: raising straw-men, making caricatures, switching contexts.

Ronald Reagan met the same fate in Europe. He didn't have a paradigm shattering terrorist attack on his hands, so the histrionics were limited to the stationing of cruise missiles. Of course the vocals would rather have the Soviets over - ostensibly rather not 'provoke' them - what else is new with the habitual traitors.

Examples in the Eurotrash press abound, but here's a typical article in last night's Der Spiegel from Germany: "THE COWBOY AND HIS SUNSET," subtitled "Europe Happy to See the Back of Bush" - well, not in my name, you don't!

The innuendo from Orwell's Press from Hell in the meanwhile continues. Take this morning's article by the fallen BBC: "BBC Uncovers Lost Iraq Billions": the accusations are hurled in hyperbole, but nowhere are they substantiated. To legitimize the story the BBC come up with one example. We may never hear of it again, no retractions, no apologies, but the mud sticks.

This is how you trash a subject. Quite a bit of what is going on in that department is compiled on Articles in the dossiers "The Demise of the Press from Hell," "Big Bro's Smoke and Mirrors," and in the series of posts "Blurring the Border between Reality and Perception."

Times Online had an exclusive interview with the Number One Cowboy: "President Bush regrets his legacy as man who wanted war." W. doesn't go any further than expressing regret for some of the rhetoric, and rightly so. I agree with commenter Steven from London: "History will be kind to George Bush because expectations of him were so low yet the actual positive results will last for generations. Al-Qaeda almost destroyed. Afghanistan mainly pacified. Installing the first Arab democracy in Iraq. All necessary. A truly decent and remarkable man."

The same psychological mechanism that causes all rational faculties to break down is responsible for the exact opposite, in the case of B. Barack Hussein Obama. Not only is there no healthy scrutiny into the man's past or present At All, the adoration (in which he shares!) is reaching truly disquieting levels.

- Continued in Part II: "The Left's Narrative" -

- Filed on Articles in "The Political Pathology Page" -