Dowd: Welcome to Bushworld, where things aren't what they appear to be
There is so much about the Bush Presidency that seems like an outtake from "The Twilight Zone". Perhaps it was the way this all started, with him having to steal an election and all. Since November, 2000, those who support George W. Bush seem to have no problem at all willingly suspending any sense of disbelief when it comes to their man. Hey, why ask uncomfortable questions when you can simply subscribe to the "if you're not with us, you're against us" mob mentality? It's so much easier than actually casting a critical eye on Our Sainted President.
It's their reality. We just live and die in it.
In Bushworld, our troops go to war and get killed, but you never see the bodies coming home.
In Bushworld, flag-draped remains of the fallen are important to revere and show the nation, but only in political ads hawking the president's leadership against terror.
In Bushworld, we can create an exciting Iraqi democracy as long as it doesn't control its own military, pass any laws or have any power....In Bushworld, you don't consult your father, the expert in being president during a war with Iraq, but you do talk to your Higher Father, who can't talk back to warn you to get an exit strategy or chide you for using Him for political purposes....
In Bushworld, it's OK to run for re-election as the avenger of 9-11, even as you make secret deals with the Arab kingdom where most of the 9-11 hijackers came from.
In Bushworld, you get to strut around like a tough military guy and paint your rival as a chicken hawk, even though he's the one who won medals in combat and was praised by his superior officers for fulfilling all his obligations.
In Bushworld, you get to trumpet your "accomplishments", though no one can say with any degree of certainty just what exactly it is that you've accomplished.
When I was a kid, I used to enjoy reading Superman comic books, particularly the stories of Bizarro World. It was a place where everything was exactly the opposite of what we knew in this world: war is peace, ignorance is knowledge, democracy is totalitarianism...sort of like the Bush White House, eh? Perhaps if people could actually think for themselves instead of getting their information from Bush campaign ads, they would see that their President is a hollow man, devoid of substance, a workable intellect, or a grip on proper syntax.
If someone could make a sensible reasoned argument for George W. Bush, I'd be willing to listen. The problem is, though, that those folks I know who are rabidly pro-Bush are reflexively so. It's a knee-jerk reaction, seemingly devoid of rational consideration. It's sad that in a democracy like ours, where one is free to use one's brain to make decisions, so few do.
