Letters to the Editor
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My own experience suggests
That the tendency to view the world as a cartoon representation is pretty much universal. If you consider the fleeting nature of our actual sensory inputs, its easy to see that most of our understanding of the world is constructed from whole cloth within our skulls. With that realization in place it's easier to see how our own opinions of others are actually projections of ourselves.
If a person like shooter (just for example)happens to see an Islamofascist hiding under every bed, its because he knows that they will never be comfortable as long as such people are in the world and assume the Islamofascists feel the same way. The obvious difference though is that he feels totally justified in his conviction while the Islamofascist on the other hand deserves to die.
We are all, at our core, binary thinkers. Some of us just have more elaborate layering on top of the core.
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"good vs. evil" as a marketing strategy
Rove, on the other hand, does not have a history of interest in foreign policy, but does have a long history of successful dirty politics.
While we don’t know for sure whether George Bush takes his Christian evangelical convictions seriously, we do know that Karl Rove does not - he has said so. That, however, did not prevent him from exploiting those who hold such beliefs.
He made weekly conference calls to Christian leaders during elections so they would know the GOP “talking points” of the moment and widely distribute them on the “under the radar” right-wing Christian radio network.
The “Christian” leaders he dealt may or may not believe what they’re preaching either, but the “good vs. evil” paradigm is a high selling product among their authoritarian followers.
This mentality has always sold among “the base” and, as Glenn documents, it now has been appropriated for the wider public and used to sell the “war on terror” and everything that entails – the power grabs, the abuses, the secrecy – and the “with us or against us” mentality has even led to the incompetence we see on such a grand scale by appointing “loyal Bushies” over people who actually know something about what they’re supposed to be doing.
Whether the people selling this product (of exaggerated fear and “good vs. evil” thinking) actually believe it or not doesn’t change the fact how it has been used – as a “brand” in a successful marketing strategy.
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I agree with your assessments, however...
...One must realize people like Limbaugh are sincerely, 100% convinced that "liberals" are incapable of spiritual redemption. That's why Limbaugh & his audience are 100% convinced any claim of embracing Christianity coming from a Democrat is a sham.
Alot of this has to do with creationism vs. evolution (95% of Limbaugh's audience thinks evolution is a liberal conspiracy, and that any public official whom would dare mock the "created by a Creator" meme is intrinsically evil).
Moreover, you have O'Rielly using language like "secular progressive." One can imagine how foreboding "secular progressive" sounds to Trent Lott's constituency.
As far as Bush's Christianity...he's the guy that used his so-called Christianity to get elected (remember: "compassionate conservative"). When you use your religious convictions to pander to the extent Bush has, you set yourself up for alot of justified attack.
Bush is supposed to be, not only our Commander in Chief, but also our Sermon on the Mount guy. "By their fruits ye shall know them," said Jesus. So what public figure has begat more rotten fruit than Bush?
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What motivates Bush?
I think he just wants to be "The Hero."
Everything written about him re: his interactions with his family and friends/acquaintances points to that.
He couldn't save his little sister, who died when they were both very young. And he's still carrying that around with him.
He "saved" himself (or maybe it was Laura) from drinking by grasping onto a religion that focuses on good and evil. At 40, he started over. Reborn.
Yet, in spite of his trials and tribulations, he's actually been pretty lucky in his own life. [For the rest of us it's a different story.] Of course, it helps to have a father with connections to financial types who can be counted on to bail you out. (At least until now.)
How can he possibly justify everything that has "happened" to him... unless he does something heroic?
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e_five
His "reasoning" for EVERYTHING is nothing more than a thinly-veiled bullshit excuse to reward cronies, punish enemies, wield power, and create a permanent system to facilitate other ghouls from engorging themseleves on the American people (particularly the poor). It's as simple as that.
Does George Bush really believe in God. Does he believe in an afterlife? Did he really fundamentally find religion when he gave up drinking?
He says he did, so it must be false. "It's as simple as that."
Truth = "Opposite of what George Bush says."
The Rosetta Stone we've long been seeking.
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PBS
Someone watched Frontline last night? Leave it to PBS and Glenn Greenwald to de-scummify the administration even a slight bit.
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A Better Question Is ....
Trying to figure out what REALLY motivates Bush or whether he was just the puppet of his handlers may turn out to be one of the great questions of history. And it may also turn out that it will never be definitively answered.
Someone else has already suggested that a better question is whether Bush can be stopped.
But, even that may not be the ultimate question. The ultimate questions may be, "If he can't be stopped, why not?"
I'd suggest that the answer to that question may be that there is something fundamentally deficient in American government. And, unless we can figure out the answer to that question and fix that, we may be doomed to keep having to repeatedly live with mistaken policies by an uncontrollable leader.
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Good Vs Evil
As always, Bob has words of wisdom that apply...
Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.