Sunday, July 13, 2008

Bugliosi -- The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

Bugliosi was on C-SPAN's Book TV overnight. I doubt they will re-run very much, although it seems to be scheduled one day next month.

I report, you decide...

And even when Bush is off camera, we have consistently heard from those who have observed him up close how much he seems to be enjoying himself. When Bush gave up his miles of running several times a week because of knee problems, he took up biking. "He's turned into a bike maniac," said Mark McKinnon in March of 2005, right in the middle of the war. McKinnon, a biking friend of Bush's who was Bush's chief media strategist in his 2004 reelection campaign, also told the New York Times's Elisabeth Bumiller about Bush: "He's as calm and relaxed and confident and happy as I've ever seen him." Happy? Under the horrible circumstances of the war, where Bush's own soldiers are dying violent deaths, how is that even possible?

In a time of war and suffering, Bush's smiles, joking, and good spirits stand in stark contrast to the demeanor of everyone of his predecessors and couldn't possibly be more inappropriate. Michael Moore, in his motion picture documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, captured this fact and the superficiality of Bush well with a snippet from a TV interview Bush gave on the golf course following a recent terrorist attack. Bush said, "I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you." Then, without missing a single beat, he said in reference to a golf shot he was about to hit: "Now watch this drive."

3 comments:

Michael Wade said...

I seem to recall having seen quite a few photographs of FDR smiling and laughing during World War II. No doubt while he was yukking it up, American military personnel were dying. Did that mean that FDR was indifferent and unfeeling? No. It would be unfair to require that any president go around somber-faced during a war. I'd worry more about the mental state of one that did.

Hoots said...

Absolutely right. As much as I disapprove of the Iraq adventure I see Bugliosi as someone inappropriately way over the top. Besides, how does it make sense to indict someone empowered to grant pardons? It chips away at the foundation of representative government.

There is plenty of blame to go around for this war, including millions of patriotic Americans, many of whom would argue that the president has not been vigorous enough in its execution.

I picked up the story by way of measuring the nether edge of polarization that continues to split the country.

Anonymous said...

FYI: You can watch the first 50 minutes of Bugliosi's C-SPAN talk, albeit from a single camera angle, here...

http://www.hotpotatomash.com/2008/06/video-exclusi-2.html