The delusional policies of George W. Bush

As much as I loath wasting space on George W. Bush, who is, at this point, the most irrelevant human on earth, I must. He dwells cluelessly in the twilight of his administration while wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rage and calamities abound in this, his homeland. Not only does he dwell cluelessly, he tap dances before the press out of boredom. Considering the gravity of today's litany of crises, he seems delusional. And at the same time, his second in command, Dick Cheney, is doing everything in his diminished power to instigate war with Iran before they slither out of office.

In a sweeping essay, veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern takes all this on and breaks down what may await us if Bush and Cheney are not somehow restrained in their Iranian war ambitions. He wraps it up by saying:

Commenting on Bush’s recent manic behavior, Justin Frank, M.D., author of Bush on the Couch, suggests that Bush is “acting like a kid planning to make a real mess as only he knows how—given his comfort with sadism; his lack of shame or conscience; and his propensity to take delight in breaking things.”

Trouble is that as he tap dances the next few months away, he is systematically destroying the armed forces of the United States, and there does not seem to be anyone with the courage to try to stop him.

Eight months ago, Dr. Frank and Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) collaborated on an article we called “Dangers of a Cornered Bush.” Since the president and his imperial court have 10 more months to act out, the scenarios we explored in that memo are still worth pondering.

Let me close with a remark Seymour Hersh made last year, even though it may seem flippant and in no way conveys the enormity of the danger we face in the coming months:
“These guys are scary as hell...you can’t use the word ‘delusional,’ for it’s actually a medical term. Wacky. That’s a fair word.”

With so much destructive power at the disposal of George W. Bush, we need to be increasingly alert to signs that additional delusionary policies are about to be executed.

Bailey's Daily Brief

After a nasty week in Democratic politics, one thing is clear, for the sake of the Democratic party and its newly rallied coalition, Hillary Clinton should depart the race. If she did so now, with the same concern and class shown by Al Gore in 2000, she would become a hero to many. Minus the presidency, she could write her own ticket, politically, going forward. And with her support, Obama could begin a powerhouse campaign against John McCain. When will the party heavyweights have that conversation with her? And will she go quietly into the night?

Based on Hillary Clinton's real experience, it sounds like she'd make a much better Secretary of Health and Human Services than president.

The show's over. Will somebody please tell Hillary?

After word of the results of a Pentagon study proving there was no operational link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, the Bush administration is now refusing to publicly release the report. As if they could put that genie back in its bottle. It should show up online soon. Reporters who request a copy will be given one.

Who will Republican presidential nominee John McCain choose to be his running mate? Mitt Romney has re-emerged and would be delighted to be Big Mac's wing-man. Forget about the fact that they loathe each other. I've heard George W. Bush and crew are pushing McCain to choose Romney. That doesn't surprise me. And we all know what McCain does when Bush says jump. As a Republican, if I were giving the old warhorse campaign advice, I'd tell him to choose former rival Mike Huckabee. He may be a lightweight in certain areas, but he's popular and can carry Southern and evangelical voters like McCain can't.

ABC's "Good Morning America" carried Hillary Clinton's water again Thursday delivering a hit piece on Barack Obama. Backed by a barrage of clips from fiery sermons given by Obama's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah White, the piece's only aim was to give a distorted image of Wright as some kind of wild-eyed, anti-U.S. radical and linking him and his views to Obama. It was an outright smear, and left me scratching my head. I searched the papers and Internet news sites to determine if the story was linked to some bigger happening or event. Nothing. ABC's piece came out of thin air, just about the time former Clinton finance chair Geraldine Ferrarro was being hoisted onto her petard. Shame on ABC for stooping to such degenerate and unfair coverage. It's no wonder the networks are hemorrhaging news viewers. ABC "news" in particular is now about as reliable as The National Enquirer.

Fallon out of Bush's Favor

Esquire has written an excellent article on CENTCOM chief, Admiral William Fallon and the possibility that George W. Bush may be thinking of replacing him sooner rather than later.

Right now, Fallon may be the only thing standing in the way of war with Iran.

From the article:

And so Fallon, the good cop, may soon be unemployed because he's doing what
a generation of young officers in the U. S. military are now openly complaining
that their leaders didn't do on their behalf in the run-up to the war in Iraq:
He's standing up to the commander in chief, whom he thinks is contemplating a
strategically unsound war.

Some scary news

This is not good. President George Bush is thinking about relieving CENTCOM Commander, Admiral William Fallon from his job. Apparetnly he's not pliable enough. Bush is looking for a confrontation between the U.S. and Iran. As soon as possible. Fallon stands between Bush and his objective.

Fallon has said, "an attack on Iran “will not happen on my watch.”

I was initially wrong about Admiral Fallon. I thought he was just another 'pliable' candidate for the job given to him. But after hearing his words and his thinking, I was won over by his courage (in speaking his mind). He seemed to be imminently reasonable.

If Bush removes Fallon, all hell might break loose.