Full of beans?
Posted on 10/18/2005 8:13:40 AM PDT by rface
How did a judge’s decision not to deport the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela connect to the report that George W. Bush has again hit the bottle?
The answer begins in the fact the Bush never entered a recovery program for his alcohol and drug addiction, which he supposedly gave up at age 40 while jogging. God talked to him, or Jesus or some envoy. This born again phenomenon apparently substituted for AA – along with exercise and praying.
W had ongoing problems, of course, in Iraq and Afghanistan. At home, his poll ratings fell to 40% or less by September. Yet, Bush continued on Karl Rove’s path, derived from Napoleon, Frederick the Great and the Nazi Party model of politics: forget about facts, truth, integrity, ethics; rely on audacity and aggression. This formula won him two elections, placed the gutless Democrats on the defense and secured the “stupid male vote,” the dumbos who adore Dr. Laura and Rush Limbaugh and vote against their own interests.
The impregnable success model, however, eroded quickly and, according to the The National Enquire (“Bush’s Booze Crisis,” Sept. 21), Laura Bush caught George throwing down a drink at his Crawford ranch. Drinking began after aides informed him of the Hurricane Katrina disaster and FEMA’s failure to deal with the aftermath.
Laughing about the source? Before the “respectable” press got wind of it, The Enquirer revealed Rush Limbaugh’s oxycontin habit (“Limbaugh Caught in Drug Ring,” Oct. 2, 2003).
Now, Jennifer Luce and Don Gentile report that “Family sources have told how the 59-year-old president was caught by First Lady Laura downing a shot of booze at their family ranch in Crawford, Texas…
“When the levees broke in New Orleans, it apparently made him reach for a shot,” said one ‘insider.’ “He poured himself a Texas-sized shot of straight whiskey and tossed it back. The First Lady was shocked and shouted: ‘Stop, George!’” After listening to a September 12 exchange with a journalist, Laura may have already suspected he had started nipping.
“Did they misinform you when you said that no one anticipated the breach of the levees?”
“No,” Bush responded. “…When that storm came by, a lot of people said we dodged a bullet. When that storm came through at first, people said, whew. There was a sense of relaxation, and that’s what I was referring to. And I, myself, thought we had dodged a bullet. You know why? Because I was listening to people, probably over the airways, say the bullet has been dodged…Of course, there were plans in case the levee had been breached. There was a sense of relaxation in the moment, a critical moment. And thank you for giving me a chance to clarify that” (White House Web Site Sept. 12).
This mangled attempt at oral clarity hardly compensated for his non-handling of Katrina’s aftermath. And bloodshed in Iraq dominated daily headlines. Popularity ratings went south. Gas prices went north. W went boozing.
“The sad fact is that he has been sneaking drinks for weeks now. Laura may have only just caught him — but the word is his drinking has been going on for a while in the capital,” said an Enquirer source. “The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him… The result is he’s taking drinks here and there, likely in private, to cope.”
The nation has endured drunken Presidents, like Ulysses Grant and Warren Harding. But a “dry drunk?” Dr. Katherine Van Wormer, co-author of Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective, applied this term to Bush, meaning he stopped drinking but still thinks constantly about relieving his anxiety with alcohol (Counterpunch Jan. 22, 2003).
On September 20, he returned to “N’Oleans” which he remembered fondly from his drinking days. Bush promised to “get the debris removed, get the water up and running and get the bridges rebuilt. But what you need to do is develop a blueprint for your own future. We look forward to hearing your vision so we can more better do our job.”
“More better?” More disturbed, thought Laura. The following day, W unleashed another missile. “If you want to grow something, you shouldn’t tax it. If you want to encourage small business growth, we ought to incent it to grow in that part of the world. Somebody said the other day, well, that’s a tax break. That region is going to have zero income anyway.”
“That region” conjured up images of poor people suffering. If he stayed for photo op-s, he would have to shake dirty hands and hug smelly bodies. So, he remained “on vacation,” watching TV golf, not images of floating bodies and desperate people.
The dry drunk got wetter. Van Wormer listed other traits: “A rigid, judgmental outlook, impatience, childish behavior, irresponsible behavior, irrational rationalization, projection and overreaction.” Dr. Van Wormer thinks Bush exhibits these traits and “some indications of paranoia.”
She selected as an example Bush’s declaration: “We must be prepared to stop rogue states and their terrorist clients before they are able to threaten or use weapons of mass destruction against the United States and our allies and friends.” Such a statement indicated “projection is evidenced here as well, projection of the fact that we are ready to attack onto another nation which may not be so inclined.”
He also displays his “judgmental outlook” in a statement on Israel. To fight evil, Bush turns Biblical. “Look my job isn’t to try to nuance. I think moral clarity is important... this is evil versus good” (Counterpunch, Oct. 11, 2002).
Such pronouncements of an uncompromising terrorism fighter evaporated on September 27 and provided W more reason to drink. On that day, a U.S. immigration judge denied Venezuela’s request to extradite Luis Posada Carriles. The U.S. government lawyer offered no opposition to the judge’s ruling, although it carried heavy implications.
Posada, who Hugo Chavez’s government labeled “the Osama bin Laden of Latin America,” grinned. So did Osama bin Laden when he heard Bush’s October 6 remarks?
“The United States makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor them, because they’re equally as guilty of murder. Any government that chooses to be an ally of terror has also chosen to be an enemy of civilization. And the civilized world must hold those regimes to account” (Speech to the National Endowment for Democracy, Oct 6, 2005).
How to coincide these remarks with not deporting a terrorist? “God should have known that those anti-Castro Cubans, whom I owe for two elections, would not let me deport Posada. They call him a `zealous patriot’.”
Since Posada escaped trial for his lead role in the October 1976 bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner over Barbados in which all 73 people aboard died, Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela’s Ambassador to Washington, accused Bush’s administration of using a “double standard” on terrorism.
At his Texas trial, the White House and Homeland Security collaborated with Posada by failing to counter his lawyer’s virtually unsupported claim that Venezuela would torture him. Indeed, the State department’s most recent report exempted Venezuela from the list of states that practice torture.
Ironically, U.S. officials have routinely torture prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. One State Department official spoke anonymously, “Here we have someone who we know is a terrorist, and it’s clear that we’re actively protecting him from facing justice. We have zero credibility.” (Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service, Sept. 29, 2005).
Posada weakened W’s terrorist reputation. Then a Texas prosecutor weakened his power in the House by charging Tom DeLay with multiple felony charges. “The Hammer,” as frightened legislators called DeLay, had rammed through Bush’s tax cuts for the richest people in the country.
In addition, the SEC began to probe Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s sale of stock in Hospital Corporation of America from his blind trust, just days before poor earnings sent HCA shares sharply down.
“Billy” claimed he sold the shares to avoid “conflict of interest” should he decide to run for president. But his kin also sold their HCA shares on that day. None of them aspired to public office. Frist denied that he saw clearly into his blind trust. Few believed him.
Then, the press chastised W for naming Julie Myers to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She was General Richard Myers’ niece, who married Homeland Security head Mike Chertoff’s chief of staff. So what that the agency was part of Homeland Security!
With his approval dropping, Social Security reform entombed and facing increasing voter dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq, Bush also took heat for rising gas prices.
So, Posada weakened Bush’s last claim to strength, fighting terrorism.
Dr. Justin Frank (Bush On The Couch: Inside The Mind Of The President) thought “that Bush is drinking again. Alcoholics who are not in any program, like the President, have a hard time when stress gets to be great” (Enquirer Sept. 21).
Posada grinned. Bin Laden guffawed. Bush drank. The drama of our time: two terrorists and a lush?
* Landau is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.
Taken from Progreso Weekly
Full of beans?
I remember the National Enquirer once telling the story about 12-year-old Bobby, who survived several weeks trapped in a junkyard refrigerator by eating off his own foot. A police sergeant who arrived at the scene was quoted by the National Enquirer: "Little Bobby may grow many more inches, but he'll never grow another foot."
I would never have believed the story except for the credibility of the source.
I quit on my own, and later joined a support group. You can't say they are mutally exclusive. You're not an expert on addiction, you don't seem to understand it, so it might be better if you didn't opine on it.
Landau's latest book:
The Pre-Emptive Empire: A Guide to Bush's Kingdom
Are you disenchanted with the cynicism of Bush's government and the blatant imperialism of US international policy? Do you want to understand what's really happening in US politics?
This book, is a scathing account of George W. Bush's world before and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that will appeal to anyone who is disenchanted with the cynicism of Bush's government, and the blatant imperialism U.S. international policy -- or those who just want to learn about what's happening in US politics.
Absolutely right. The essence of the AA program is step 3 wherein a person makes a decision to let God be in charge. The other 11 steps are basically nothing more than ideas about why one needs to make that decision and how to go about it. The AA program as it's outlined in the book is great and effective. Sadly, much of what some of these folks spout off in meetings is dangerously misleading nonsense. A person is better off without that.
Now, let's imagine that Bush had gone to AA meetings. How many "anonymous" reports would we have heard about crazy things he'd allegedly said and done in the meetings? Yeah, yeah, I know no one is supposed to talk about it, but that "protection" wouldn't apply to Bush.
I don't think W would ever give them the benefit of his taking a drink. He knows that if he drinks he loses. He is way too proud for that.
I met President Bush at a rally here in NH. I know that he does not want anyone to even consider him a recovered alcoholic let alone an active alcoholic. He may have had a little "drinking problem" but he does not consider himself an alcoholic (hey, whatever works!). He tries to distance himself as far as possible from any image related to drinking.
****I quit on my own,****
Good for you! I did too! And President Bush was one of my role models at the time that I decided to quit (as was Mel Gibson and many others less famous). I would be very sad if "W" started drinking again but if he did I don't think it would last very long anyway. He likes feeling healthy too much to go down that road again, IMHO.
****I quit on my own,****
Good for you! I did too! And President Bush was one of my role models at the time that I decided to quit (as was Mel Gibson and many others less famous). I would be very sad if "W" started drinking again but if he did I don't think it would last very long anyway. He likes feeling healthy too much to go down that road again, IMHO.
Hey pal, I am speaking from PERSONAL experience so don't try and tell me what I do and do not know.
The President could go to an online AA meeting and be anonymous.
I have great respect for AA so I don't mean to take anything away from them. But I know plenty of folks who one day just stopped drinking. Usually, it happens by an ultimatum from a wife, or just having done something scarily stupid under the influence. I don't like the tone this article takes about Bush stopping without a 12 step program.
No where in these articles does it ever mention that he was cleared in a Venezuelan court of the crime for which they now seek him.
What credibility ??
He is quoting a story from The National Enquire
Exactly !!
Dear leftists:
I drink because you're stupid.
Sincerely,
Dubya
P.S.: Just kidding. I don't drink anymore. But you're still stupid.
Batboy sends his love...
I quit drinking cold turkey 12 years ago....come this December. I was a hard drinker. I did do a very little AA, but I could count on both hands the meetings I went to, and I went, not to help myself, but to reassure sceptics that I had quit for good.
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