Comments on: “It’s Kind of Freaky” http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/ Exposing the ugly truths about the Bush Administration. Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:43:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1.3 by: The Mahablog » Knowing Not What They Do http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-276374 Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:52:45 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-276374 [...] Some time back I wrote a post about the Bush Administration’s governing style, based on a Los Angeles Times article that is no longer online (for free, at least). Time and time again, the Bush Administration has stumbled because of three major flaws: [...] […] Some time back I wrote a post about the Bush Administration’s governing style, based on a Los Angeles Times article that is no longer online (for free, at least). Time and time again, the Bush Administration has stumbled because of three major flaws: […]

]]> by: Mike the Mad Biologist http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-271599 Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:24:28 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-271599 <strong>Confusing Brains with Sociopathy</strong> Sometimes in blogging timing is everything. I had this post about Karl Rove all ready to go, and then he goes and resigns on me. Oh well. Confusing Brains with Sociopathy

Sometimes in blogging timing is everything. I had this post about Karl Rove all ready to go, and then he goes and resigns on me. Oh well.

]]> by: The Mahablog » Saturday Cartoons Plus http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-271078 Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:22:56 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-271078 [...] Another factor: I&#8217;ve thought many times that the Bush White House has a weird inability to respond to unexpected events. Whenever something happens that was not on the schedule &#8212; like 9/11 or the tsunami or Hurricane Katrina or Dick Cheney&#8217;s hunting &#8220;accident&#8221; &#8212; they are flummoxed. Often they are slow to recognize the significance of an event until after everyone else on the planet has recognized it first. They are so focused on their pre-planned agenda they can&#8217;t see anything else. Green suggests this blinkered view is mostly Rove&#8217;s doing. In fact, Rove may have advised Bush to blow off Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina clearly changed the public perception of Bush’s presidency. Less examined is the role Rove played in the defining moment of the administration’s response: when Air Force One flew over Louisiana and Bush gazed down from on high at the wreckage without ordering his plane down. Bush advisers Matthew Dowd and Dan Bartlett wanted the president on the ground immediately, one Bush official told me, but were overruled by Rove for reasons that are still unclear: “Karl did not want the plane to land in Louisiana.” Rove’s political acumen seemed to be deserting him altogether. [...] […] Another factor: I’ve thought many times that the Bush White House has a weird inability to respond to unexpected events. Whenever something happens that was not on the schedule — like 9/11 or the tsunami or Hurricane Katrina or Dick Cheney’s hunting “accident” — they are flummoxed. Often they are slow to recognize the significance of an event until after everyone else on the planet has recognized it first. They are so focused on their pre-planned agenda they can’t see anything else. Green suggests this blinkered view is mostly Rove’s doing. In fact, Rove may have advised Bush to blow off Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina clearly changed the public perception of Bush’s presidency. Less examined is the role Rove played in the defining moment of the administration’s response: when Air Force One flew over Louisiana and Bush gazed down from on high at the wreckage without ordering his plane down. Bush advisers Matthew Dowd and Dan Bartlett wanted the president on the ground immediately, one Bush official told me, but were overruled by Rove for reasons that are still unclear: “Karl did not want the plane to land in Louisiana.” Rove’s political acumen seemed to be deserting him altogether. […]

]]> by: The Mahablog » Ten Days After: Day One http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-33593 Mon, 11 Sep 2006 17:48:48 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-33593 [...] In the first half hour after the attacks, Bush White House officials and staff demonstrated several traits I wrote about much later &#8212; they are utterly flummoxed by unexpected events; they can&#8217;t communicate with each other; and it&#8217;s often not clear who&#8217;s in charge. The one thing you can count on is that, in case of emergency, the person in charge won&#8217;t be the President. In fact, his staff often seems determined to protect him from unexpected events. He is often the last to be told what is going on. (This is pretty standard &#8220;enabling&#8221; behavior. By many accounts the President flies off the handle when he&#8217;s told bad news; thus, his staff has been conditioned to avoid telling him bad news until the absolute last minute.) [...] […] In the first half hour after the attacks, Bush White House officials and staff demonstrated several traits I wrote about much later — they are utterly flummoxed by unexpected events; they can’t communicate with each other; and it’s often not clear who’s in charge. The one thing you can count on is that, in case of emergency, the person in charge won’t be the President. In fact, his staff often seems determined to protect him from unexpected events. He is often the last to be told what is going on. (This is pretty standard “enabling” behavior. By many accounts the President flies off the handle when he’s told bad news; thus, his staff has been conditioned to avoid telling him bad news until the absolute last minute.) […]

]]> by: Britwit http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3399 Thu, 16 Feb 2006 20:25:21 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3399 Emel - comment 4 - You are so correct! I think many people have forgotten that Bush asked Cheney to come up with a list of candidates for VP and Cheney included himself. Bingo! Cheney got the VP position. Remember that Bush followed the same routine for Sandra's replacement on the Supreme Court when he asked "Harriet" to prepare a list of candidates. Bush thought that she did such a brilliant job of preparing a list that he would nominate her for the top court in the land. We know what happened on that one. Emel - comment 4 - You are so correct!

I think many people have forgotten that Bush asked Cheney to come up with a list of candidates for VP and Cheney included himself. Bingo! Cheney got the VP position.

Remember that Bush followed the same routine for Sandra’s replacement on the Supreme Court when he asked “Harriet” to prepare a list of candidates. Bush thought that she did such a brilliant job of preparing a list that he would nominate her for the top court in the land. We know what happened on that one.

]]> by: Swami-o http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3395 Thu, 16 Feb 2006 19:08:48 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3395 Speaking of incompetence...Bush has about 500 innocent goatherders and taxi drivers in Guantanamo that he paid top dollar for thinking they were the worst of the worse,and now he can't figure out how to off load them with getting egg on his face.Ben Franklin was right..a fool and his money soon parted. Oh, sorry, that's a fool and our money soon parted. Of all of Bush's trangressions, his Guantanamo folly has got to be the worst. He has trampled on centurys of progress toward human rights and given place to tyranny. There is no greater injustice to humanity to deny a man his voice. It is tyranny. Every ideal I find honorable in what America is has been tarnished by the actions our morally bankrupt President. Speaking of incompetence…Bush has about 500 innocent goatherders and taxi drivers in Guantanamo that he paid top dollar for thinking they were the worst of the worse,and now he can’t figure out how to off load them with getting egg on his face.Ben Franklin was right..a fool and his money soon parted. Oh, sorry, that’s a fool and our money soon parted.

Of all of Bush’s trangressions, his Guantanamo folly has got to be the worst. He has trampled on centurys of progress toward human rights and given place to tyranny. There is no greater injustice to humanity to deny a man his voice. It is tyranny. Every ideal I find honorable in what America is has been tarnished by the actions our morally bankrupt President.

]]> by: justme http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3393 Thu, 16 Feb 2006 18:41:15 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3393 HEY!Didn't you hear?It was the "worst day "of Dick's whole life!!!......Troops are dying..doesn't bother Dick.....911, but hey it was only 3000 people,it didn't affect Dick at all....New Orleans under water??Not enough of a problem for old dick to ruin his day.. nope Dick doesn't have a bad day till HE gets drunk and shoots someone,,,then all can talk about is how bad the day was FOR HIM.... his little faux (s)nooze interview only made him look like a bigger self centered jack ass then we already thought he was...here lays a guy with shotgun fragments in his heart and all Dick can do was say what a terrible day it was for him... I guess my point is even when they do "handle" situations, this is how they are handled...by just telling us dick had a really bad day. HEY!Didn’t you hear?It was the “worst day “of Dick’s whole life!!!……Troops are dying..doesn’t bother Dick…..911, but hey it was only 3000 people,it didn’t affect Dick at all….New Orleans under water??Not enough of a problem for old dick to ruin his day.. nope Dick doesn’t have a bad day till HE gets drunk and shoots someone,,,then all can talk about is how bad the day was FOR HIM…. his little faux (s)nooze interview only made him look like a bigger self centered jack ass then we already thought he was…here lays a guy with shotgun fragments in his heart and all Dick can do was say what a terrible day it was for him…
I guess my point is even when they do “handle” situations, this is how they are handled…by just telling us dick had a really bad day.

]]> by: emel http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3387 Thu, 16 Feb 2006 15:54:11 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3387 one last comment as concerns the drunk analogy: Everybody tiptoes around and dares not tell George what he does not want to hear, Someone has to be 'designated' to tell Dick he is wrong( Condi and she goes on tv and to congress and to 9/11 commission to cover for the bad boys), Karl meanwhile calls up Mrs Armstrong and they decide to 'handle it' (read enable the drunk) for Dick. Karl the enabler that makes all the bad stuff go away and keeps the train on the track. The roles are all there. one last comment as concerns the drunk analogy: Everybody tiptoes around and dares not tell George what he does not want to hear, Someone has to be ‘designated’ to tell Dick he is wrong( Condi and she goes on tv and to congress and to 9/11 commission to cover for the bad boys), Karl meanwhile calls up Mrs Armstrong and they decide to ‘handle it’ (read enable the drunk) for Dick. Karl the enabler that makes all the bad stuff go away and keeps the train on the track. The roles are all there.

]]> by: emel http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3386 Thu, 16 Feb 2006 15:44:32 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3386 "in 2000, when George W. choose Dick ' uh no... Dick chose Dick- that's why we are seeing the farce unravel- George was chosen and 'prepped' to run and he is the petulant child and Dick the man behind the curtain. We all knew this but now we see it played out for all to see. “in 2000, when George W. choose Dick ‘ uh no…

Dick chose Dick- that’s why we are seeing the farce unravel- George was chosen and ‘prepped’ to run and he is the petulant child and Dick the man behind the curtain. We all knew this but now we see it played out for all to see.

]]> by: NEOJOE http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3385 Thu, 16 Feb 2006 15:42:19 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/02/16/its-kind-of-freaky/#comment-3385 I love reading your blog, Barbara. It is concise, well written and always puts a smile (and sometimes a smirk) on my face. Off to call some Senators too raise hell and turn my smirk to a grin! I love reading your blog, Barbara. It is concise, well written and always puts a smile (and sometimes a smirk) on my face.

Off to call some Senators too raise hell and turn my smirk to a grin!

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