It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad President
Several years ago I had first-hand dealings with a person with very high narcissistic tendencies. Before I figured out their mindset, I thought it was me who was going crazy. This person was such a convincing liar that I had begun believing their warped version of reality instead of trusting my own eyes and ears and memories.
For instance, this person would say they were going to do THING A, and then the next day they would do THING B. But afterwards, they would so convincingly look me in the eye and tell me they had clearly said all along they were going to do THING B, that I soon began to doubt my own sanity.
So, I read — I read a lot about how to deal with a narcissist, and one of the best things I learned was to keep plenty of notes. Narcissists hate being confronted with facts that don’t match their lies. They’ll rage, and they’ll storm away and scream how a circle is a square, and they won’t talk about it anymore because, they say, you’re the psycho, not them. But when you keep good notes, at least you’re certain of the truth.
And that brings me to the President…
Sunday, in an interview on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, President Bush said, “Well, hey, listen, we’ve never been ’stay the course.’”
If you — like me — are tempted to doubt your own sanity when you read that, just go to your notes. Thankfully, the White House has kept a good record for us all. Go ahead, bring www.whitehouse.gov up in another window, and in the SEARCH box at the top, keyin “stay the course.”
What do the notes say? Is Bush a full-blown pathological lying-to-your-face narcissist? Unfortunately, yes, yes, and yes…a hundred times yes:
BUSH: We will stay the course. [8/30/06]
BUSH: We’re not going to lose in Iraq. As a matter of fact, we will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course. [7/11/06]
BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05]
BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We’re just going to stay the course. [12/15/03]
BUSH: And my message today to those in Iraq is: We’ll stay the course. [4/13/04]
BUSH: And that’s why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. And that’s why when we say something in Iraq, we’re going to do it. [4/16/04]
BUSH: And so we’ve got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course. [4/5/04]
People involved with a narcissist are living in a very bad fiction. Right now the whole world is involved.
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“The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.” Bush, Sept. 13, 2001
“I don’t know where [Osama bin Laden] is and I really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” Bush, March 13, 2003
“Gosh, I just don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama bin Laden. It’s kind of one of those exaggerations.” Bush, Oct. 13, 2004
The guy’s certifiable, but we already know that politicians lie…
From Bush Distances Himself from Himself
The only question I have is WHAT is going to be the GOP’s “October Surprise?” How many people can they scare into voting for them? And how will they do it?
But if you’re not afraid, they really can’t control you, can they?
I hope Rove was just having a bad day when he said that…I mean, didn’t it sort of remind you of high school when two bullies face off in the hall and without any real good comeback, one says to the other, “Oh yeah? Well I know something you don’t, heh-heh-heh, so you better watch your back!”
On the other hand, the neos have had Iran on target for quite a while, have had covert ops on the ground inside the country for well over a year now. We don’t have the troops to invade, Bush has beat the drums for allowing use of tactical nukes…so, what could happen that would let that slide? Maybe if the neos convince us that Iran was behind blowing up San Francisco with a nuke? That’d probably get the draft passed again, too.
But, maybe all it is (as if that isn’t plenty enough…) is that they just have enough voter lists purged, and enough Diebold machines rigged to hang on for a few more years. I dunno, despite the little nit-pickin’ fights and an a critical election on the way, it’s awful quite in Washington, and there’s not many days left in the month…so we’ll know soon.