Letters to the Editor
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Of course he's charming
His George Bush is charming, petulant, open and insecure, smart but allergic to inconvenient facts.
Like all good sociopaths, superficial charm is one of their primary weapons of mass destruction. As is petulance, ruthlessness, cruelty, bullying, coolness under pressure, and unwillingness to flinch in the face of adversity (never play chicken with a sociopath; they'll run you right down and not think twice about it). They also are good at crocodile tears and milking pity from people, as required, and equally as good at finding somebody's weakness and using it against them.
I always think when people go with the "Bush is dumb" critique of him, they're missing the real danger of this man, what he's done, and what he represents. Sociopaths aren't crazy -- they're possessed of a personality defect that makes them unable to feel empathy, to put themselves in others' shoes, to feel their pain; they see others as tools and playthings for their amusement, use, and abuse. Maybe that's what helps keep those sycophants working for him in awe of the Leader.
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I don't think so.
I'd be surprised, too, to discover that Bush has an 'intellect', since everything he says is either asinine or another example of compulsive lying. I'd be really surprised.
Most people just aren't going to find anything charming about a gold-plated self-important twit with a massive inferiority complex and an equally massive sense of entitlement. It's just not going to happen. If the guy worked in your office you'd want to get another job.
Face facts. The MIC power meisters picked Bush for his name and because he can be led by the nose by the corporatist powers behind the throne, like Cheney, who prefer to let Dubya take the heat for administration failures and rapacity while they keep the low profile and handle the profiteering.
The right-wing propaganda machine could get Dubya's dog selected president, but even they can't make Dubya look good no matter how many billions they spend. But they do try.
"Bush's appeal is, after all, to the stupid. They, too, are inflexible - they also know that maintaining one's stupidity can become a kind of strength, provided you never change your mind."
- Norman Mailer, New York Review of Books
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Perhaps the answer perplexed geoffchaucer
“Having been in sales all my adult life and also having seen and talked with some of the greatest salesmen provides some insight into W.”
nick ray
Sociopaths aren't crazy -- they're possessed of a personality defect that makes them unable to feel empathy, to put themselves in others' shoes, to feel their pain; they see others as tools and playthings for their amusement, use, and abuse. Maybe that's what helps keep those sycophants working for him in awe of the Leader.
Slackie Onassis
“Which leads me to the real mystery of this to an outsider- why do you keep voting for him?”
geoffchaucer
Geoffchaucer, Slackie and nick have answered your question. Those who vote for our sick president, do so to keep their insecurities in tact and because it feels so good to be comforted and led by someone like GWB. And since Dubya is so like me, I won’t question any of his frailties or mine will show and then I can’t buy what he is selling- and I need it so much.
It’ been that way throughout history in republics, oligarchies, monarchies, fiefdoms, kingdoms, etc., when led by sociopathic, slick salesman despots. The supreme sales pitch has been and still is, it’s OK to suffer in this life so that you can romp in the splendors of your next life.
Maybe geoffchaucer you are perplexed because you think most people think rationally. They don’t. We all try to protect our insecurities more than we try to fix them. It often turns those who are not sociopaths or ego bloated comfort grabbers into suckers.
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Well which is it
Is he the spider at the heart of the world's most inscrutable and complex conspiracy or is he a monkey? Make up your minds. See the problem is that you want to reduce everything to stereotypes. This isn't fourth grade. Ever worked in a big corporation for a person you thought was a dolt? Except that they're not. Successful people are good at being successful regardless of any of their other talents or lack thereof.
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He is a stupid person who has enough power to do real damage.
Brainless does not equal harmless.
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Yes
Especially if they are sociopaths. Now what is your definition of success?
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Charm? Inetlligence?
I've never gotten the notion of Bush as "charming" or "likable". On television or the radio, he comes across as either very uncomfortable and brittle, or swaggering like a used car salesman. Perhaps in a small group, the frat boy humor, cute nicknames, etc. are entertaining for a short time, but I suspect that an evening with George Bush would be a deafening bore. His pet issues, like social security "reform" are those of a right wing crank and the rationale behind them seems to be more about a vague sort of belief (much like his vague religiosity), rather than from facts or even life experience. In other words, I picture and evening with George Bush as being like an evening with some cranky uncle who tells bad jokes and spouts inane political pieties that embarrass his wife and children by the end of the evening. I had an uncle like that I know others who've had fathers, cousins, uncles or (occasionally an aunt or a mother) like this.
Perhaps his "non-Beltwayism" is part of what gets journalists to avoid hard questions. May be its the implicit knowledge that you get nowhere with a crank or the intuitive avoidance of challenging an authoritarian personality. Whatever, the bamboozlement has continued for years, even as it has become obvious how the game is played. Some of it probably has been the organization of information at the WH. High level people like Rove happily leaked all kinds of misinformation, while the usual 2nd and 3rd rung people were kept to Regent University loyalists and much of the civil service was cowed or simply not cultivated--Dana Priest, Walter Pincus, & Sy Hersh do talk to these people, but the rest of DC press corps doesn't.
As for intelligence. The previous comment about Otto (the idiot) from "A Fish Called Wanda" is a good one. Otto read Nietsche, but understood little of it. Bush is someone who's been indulged and bailed out all his life. His businesses were failures that were meant to fail---they were tax shelters. He's never really had to master anything and his insecurities are obvious,. The insecurities also make it easy for him to accept flatterers or the guidance of Rove or Cheney. If one reads about Clinton, JFK, or even Nixon & Johnson (two self-absorbed, self-pitying paranoids with much in common with Bush), they were all very curious men with searching intellects. Not academics, but men who studied history and the world around them. LBJ knew Vietnam was a mistake and that Civil Rights would forever hurt Democrats in the South. He made his choices knowing what they were. Bush clearly couldn't muster the perspective taking of an LBJ or move from stupid choices (escalation in Vietnam) to courageous ones. Draper seems to have lifted the veil a little bit, but it sounds like he almost says more about himself than the White House. It will take someone shrewder and more immune to cheesy charms to really put the pieces together.