[quote]Early on in his newly released memoir, George W. Bush writes with great credibility, and a welcome absence of histrionics, about his slow-motion t..."/>

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

A Careless Man: What the Bush Memoir Reveals

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Saturday, November 13, 2010 08:14
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 1483
PAGE 1 of 1

Friday, November 12, 2010 11:12 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Quote:

Early on in his newly released memoir, George W. Bush writes with great credibility, and a welcome absence of histrionics, about his slow-motion turn toward faith. There was no fiery epiphany. There was a growing comfort with the calming release of prayer, a gradual appreciation of the moral truths contained in the Bible. There were doubts too. "If you haven't doubted, you probably haven't thought very hard about what you believe," [sounds like his Presidency!] he writes. And that principle is very much in evidence when he makes the first major decision of his presidency, in favor of federal funding for research on existing stem-cell lines but not for raiding frozen embryos — potential lives, he believes — to harvest their cells. To reach that decision, Bush conducted a White House seminar that included talks with advocates, brilliant ones, on all sides of the issue. "The conversations fascinated me," he writes. "The more I learned, the more questions I had." Whatever you think of his policy, the process was impeccable.

I mention this not only because it reveals Bush at his best but because it was so much at variance with the rest of his presidency.

The presidential memoir is among the more dreadful of literary forms. Most of them are far too long, and suffocating for the heavy woolen tone of false modesty that swaddles the egomania at the heart of the matter. They are defensive, evasive and stiff. Bush's effort is all that, but better than most. It reads well. The anecdotes are occasionally revealing. There is emotion, and it is real. The pace is brisk enough to delude the unwary reader into a suspension of disbelief at first, but gradually the weakness of this chatty strategy becomes clear: Bush breezes through fundamental and earth-shattering decisions without slowing down to acknowledge their moral complexity. At the most important moments of his presidency — most notably, the decision to go to war in Iraq — he refuses to honestly consider opposing points of view or see the long-term, ancillary effects of what he is deciding.

Some of the decisions he makes are wise, like the belated move toward a counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq. In other cases, like Hurricane Katrina, he successfully defends his efforts and candidly acknowledges his mistakes. But as the pages turn, a familiar sense of the man unfurls: impatient, petulant, shallow — quite the opposite of the stem-cell decider. Bush writes that his true feelings as he found out about the 9/11 attacks — and chose to sit, famously impassive, as a Florida class read "The Pet Goat" — were, "My blood was boiling. We were going to find out who did this, and kick their ass." It was an understandable reaction, but an emotion he never quite transcended or transformed into strategic thought.

In the book, Bush never stops to wonder if, maybe, his team should have spent more time focusing on al-Qaeda before Sept. 11 — as the outgoing Clinton national-security team had strongly suggested — or whether he should have taken more seriously the infamous Aug. 6, 2001, memo from the CIA warning of an al-Qaeda attack on the homeland. And later, he never stops to wonder if the U.N. inspectors, whom Saddam Hussein had allowed back into Iraq, were not finding weapons of mass destruction because, maybe, uh, the WMD didn't exist. And still later, he expresses shock at the Abu Ghraib abuses without ever admitting — or, perhaps, finding out — that practices like enforced nudity, the use of dogs and stress positions had become common. And of course he never acknowledges the subsequent reporting, by multiple news outlets, that proved Abu Ghraib was different from other interrogation sites only in that photos were taken. In a particularly appalling moment, Bush simply decides to permit waterboarding enemy detainees because, as he told Matt Lauer, "the lawyer said it was legal." (His belief in the efficacy of torture is also at variance with other accounts, especially those provided by FBI agents, but he doesn't acknowledge that either.)

Lots more at http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2030739,00.html

Hmmmm...doesn't sound like something I want to read...or spend my money on. I like my fantasy ENJOYABLE!


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off





NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 11:16 AM

BLUEHANDEDMENACE


Im tempted to read this primarily for the nuggets of absurdity I'm sure it contains. Probably more dishonesty per capita than any other work in published history....outside of the bible of course.

But who knows, maybe Dubya has a shot at the title

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 11:28 AM

ESTEAD


Hello Niki,
I'm a bit confused here, were you hoping to discuss Time magazine? The quoted author's intentions in writing the article? Or is this just basic trolling? I mean, you state very clearly that you have no intention of reading the memoirs, so I guess I'm just hoping you would provide some clarification as to what type of discussion you were looking to start.
Thank you.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 11:43 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Bluehand: Hee, hee, hee, well said. I might be tempted for the same reasons, except it would much more likely end up with me hanging over the toilet, hurling.

estead: to answer your "questions" (which I realize they weren't), I find the things I'm reading and hearing about Bush's memoirs interesting, if predictable, and sharing some of them, okay?

I don't know where you connect "discussing Time Magazine", but if you hadn't noticed, people here post all kinds of things...right now the memoirs are current events. Beats the hell out of the recent swath of "Hee, hee, hee, we won!" idiocy, thread after thread of it, or PN's incessant spewing of...well, you know the titles, nor is it any less valid than Kanye West, "'Tis the Season", "Clnton's Genocide" or recipes.

I get that this was a snark, it was just a rather poor one. To call it trolling comes under DT's heading of "epithet" in my opinion, compared to what other people put up sometimes. At least I look for material and yes, I lean very left so I get a kick out of these things. But I also put up other material, sometimes anti-Obama and anti-Dem, which is more than can be said for a couple of people here. May I respectfully suggest you go snark at someone who's post actually IS trolling.


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 11:49 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Oh, I forgot to put up the photo that accompanied the story:



By the way, estead, exactly what source of news DO you find acceptable? I check out CNN first ('cuz it has the most comprehensive list of recent events, which I can then look up elsewhere if I wish but usually don't post from elsewhere, as CNN writes pretty well), Time, ABC, CBS, NBC, other things I ind on the internet, now and again Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and occasionally Mark Morford, for a giggle.

I avoid Huffpost, Fox and MSNBC, tho' I may get a story line from MSNBC, but I always look it up on the internet for a more unbiased point of view.

So what would be acceptable under YOUR criteria, might I ask?


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 12:10 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Whoopsie! Looks like Bushie lifted entire passages, quotes, and more from other books, books written by his advisers, pieces lifted straight out of newspaper and magazine articles, and more.

Plagiarist-in-Chief?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/12/george-bush-book-decision-poi
nts_n_782731.html?utm_campaign=111210&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics&utm_content=FullStory&utm_term=Daily+Brief#s180908


Quote:

When Crown Publishing inked a deal with George W. Bush for his memoirs, the publisher knew it wasn't getting Faulkner. But the book, at least, promises "gripping, never-before-heard detail" about the former president's key decisions, offering to bring readers "aboard Air Force One on 9/11, in the hours after America's most devastating attack since Pearl Harbor; at the head of the table in the Situation Room in the moments before launching the war in Iraq," and other undisclosed and weighty locations.

Crown also got a mash-up of worn-out anecdotes from previously published memoirs written by his subordinates, from which Bush lifts quotes word for word, passing them off as his own recollections. He took equal license in lifting from nonfiction books about his presidency or newspaper or magazine articles from the time. Far from shedding light on how the president approached the crucial "decision points" of his presidency, the clip jobs illuminate something shallower and less surprising about Bush's character: He's too lazy to write his own memoir.

Bush, on his book tour, makes much of the fact that he largely wrote the book himself, guffawing that critics who suspected he didn't know how to read are now getting a comeuppance. Not only does Bush know how to read, it turns out, he knows how to Google, too. Or his assistant does. Bush notes in his acknowledgments that "[m]uch of the research for this book was conducted by the brilliant and tireless Peter Rough. Peter spent the past 18 months digging through archives, searching the internet[s], and sifting through reams of paper." Bush also collaborated on the book with his former speechwriter, Christopher Michel.






The modern definition of "socialist" is anyone who's winning an argument against a tea-bagger.

AURaptor's Greatest Hits:

Friday, September 24, 2010
I hate Obama's America. You're damn right about that.


Friday, May 28, 2010 - 18:26 To President Obama:
Mr. President, you're a god damn, mother fucking liar.
Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit.
... go fuck yourself, Mr. President.


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 12:11 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Quote:

Originally posted by estead:
Hello Niki,
I'm a bit confused here, were you hoping to discuss Time magazine? The quoted author's intentions in writing the article? Or is this just basic trolling? I mean, you state very clearly that you have no intention of reading the memoirs, so I guess I'm just hoping you would provide some clarification as to what type of discussion you were looking to start.
Thank you.




So what's YOUR basic discussion here? Or are you just trolling?


The modern definition of "socialist" is anyone who's winning an argument against a tea-bagger.

AURaptor's Greatest Hits:

Friday, September 24, 2010
I hate Obama's America. You're damn right about that.


Friday, May 28, 2010 - 18:26 To President Obama:
Mr. President, you're a god damn, mother fucking liar.
Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit.
... go fuck yourself, Mr. President.


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 12:24 PM

ESTEAD


Hello Niki,
No snark at all. I got the "Time magazine" connection from the link to the article. I really was just curious. Your set up didn't make any sense to me, so I asked for clarification, and I think you provided it.

To answer your question, all of your choices for news are acceptable to me. It's not the news that's a problem in this country, it's the lack of critical thinking.

As for what is acceptable under my criteria, I would like to think that if someone wanted to discuss a book, they would read that book and post, not cut and paste another author's opinion. Now, if you wanted to discuss the article, that's entirely different. Of course, that leaves the "comedy" post, which I take it was your intention.
Thank you.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 12:29 PM

ESTEAD


Hello Kwicko,
Are you trying to start an internet fight, or is there anything in my post to Niki you would like to address specifically? I would be happy to clarify if you have questions.
Thank you.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 12:30 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I'm still not sure how to take this. Surely if I'd wanted to discuss Time Magazine, I'd have said something about it, rather than just citing it? Oh, wait a minute...you mean you didn't understand my snark about fantasy? Okay, I'll buy that. Anyway, it's not important.

Why would I spend the money OR take the time to read a book by someone for whom I have absolutely no respect, and why wouldn't I get a kick out of articles quoting it and reaffirming my own expectations that he would try to revise history and it would reflect what I have long believed was his shallow, un-self-aware, illiterate personality? I didn't know about the plagarism, however; that's a double giggle, Mike!


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 12:56 PM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.


Quote:

As for what is acceptable under my criteria, I would like to think that if someone wanted to discuss a book, they would read that book and post, not cut and paste another author's opinion. Now, if you wanted to discuss the article, that's entirely different.

I see no problem with people posting opinion pieces that they've found interesting or entertaining. Sometimes it can develop into genuine discussion, and Niki is someone who will generally defend and back up any point of view that she's put forward. So she's not a political spambot, like one or two others on this site.

It's not personal. It's just war.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 1:14 PM

WHOZIT


Quote:

Originally posted by Niki2:
I'm still not sure how to take this. Surely if I'd wanted to discuss Time Magazine, I'd have said something about it, rather than just citing it? Oh, wait a minute...you mean you didn't understand my snark about fantasy? Okay, I'll buy that. Anyway, it's not important.

Why would I spend the money OR take the time to read a book by someone for whom I have absolutely no respect, and why wouldn't I get a kick out of articles quoting it and reaffirming my own expectations that he would try to revise history and it would reflect what I have long believed was his shallow, un-self-aware, illiterate personality? I didn't know about the plagarism, however; that's a double giggle, Mike!


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




That's the same thing I said about the guy who wrote "My Pet Goat".

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 1:15 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Quote:

Originally posted by estead:
Hello Kwicko,
Are you trying to start an internet fight, or is there anything in my post to Niki you would like to address specifically? I would be happy to clarify if you have questions.
Thank you.




You must be new here. ;)

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 4:35 PM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!


What does GW write about sucking Jeff Gannon's* dick 200 nights in the White House? How about banging pretzel's with his face? How did the Pet Goat story turn out?



* www.johnnygosch.com

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 5:17 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Quote:

Originally posted by estead:
Hello Kwicko,
Are you trying to start an internet fight...



Mike can sometimes discuss stuff rationally. When he's like he in in this thread, your best bet is to use the button on him.



"Keep the Shiny side up"

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, November 12, 2010 8:07 PM

FREMDFIRMA


Quote:

Originally posted by Kwicko:
You must be new here. ;)


LMAO.
That made my night!
You're an ass, Mikey, but at least you're funny.

-F

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, November 13, 2010 2:34 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Quote:

Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Quote:

Originally posted by Kwicko:
You must be new here. ;)


LMAO.
That made my night!
You're an ass, Mikey, but at least you're funny.

-F




I take that as the highest of compliments, on both counts!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, November 13, 2010 7:59 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I would take it as a compliment too, Mike. On both counts.
Quote:

Sometimes it can develop into genuine discussion
...and most of the time that's what I hope will ensue. Other times, I'm just putting up things to remark on the idiocy of the Tea Party or other things, everyone knows that. Thank you for your kind words; they mean a lot coming from you.
Quote:

You must be new here. ;)
...or a sickpuppy. Matters not either way, I will respond as I am replied to.




Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, November 13, 2010 8:10 AM

CHRISISALL


Quote:

Originally posted by Kwicko:
Quote:

Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Quote:

Originally posted by Kwicko:
You must be new here. ;)


LMAO.
That made my night!
You're an ass, Mikey, but at least you're funny.

-F




I take that as the highest of compliments, on both counts!

You guys are killin' me here!!!LOL!!!


The laughing Chrisisall


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, November 13, 2010 8:14 AM

WHOZIT


I'm looking forward to Barry's memoir, it'll be titled;

Obama: The jugeared dimwit with a tiny dick who distoryed America

Biden's will be called;

Biden: Thank God the MSM ignored the fact my daughter's a coke head, and I can't get any dummer

Mobama's will be called;

Mobama: I want another lobster now!

The childerens will be called;

He's not our father, Rev Wright is.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

YOUR OPTIONS

NEW POSTS TODAY

USERPOST DATE

OTHER TOPICS

DISCUSSIONS
Russian losses in Ukraine
Thu, November 28, 2024 14:32 - 1163 posts
Trump, convicted of 34 felonies
Thu, November 28, 2024 14:10 - 45 posts
Salon: How to gather with grace after that election
Thu, November 28, 2024 14:04 - 1 posts
End of the world Peter Zeihan
Thu, November 28, 2024 13:59 - 215 posts
Another Putin Disaster
Thu, November 28, 2024 13:58 - 1540 posts
Kamala Harris for President
Thu, November 28, 2024 13:46 - 650 posts
Elections; 2024
Thu, November 28, 2024 13:41 - 4847 posts
Dubai goes bankrupt, kosher Rothschilds win the spoils
Thu, November 28, 2024 13:31 - 5 posts
Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
Thu, November 28, 2024 13:29 - 7515 posts
Jean-Luc Brunel, fashion mogul Peter Nygard linked to Epstein
Thu, November 28, 2024 13:27 - 14 posts
All things Space
Thu, November 28, 2024 13:17 - 270 posts
White Woman Gets Murdered, Race Baiters Most Affected
Thu, November 28, 2024 07:40 - 20 posts

FFF.NET SOCIAL