Bushs Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides

[Deborah]

From Capitol Hill Blue
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/p ... 4636.shtml

Bush Leagues
Bush's Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides
  By DOUG THOMPSON
Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue
  Jun 4, 2004, 06:15

President George W. Bush's increasingly erratic
behavior and wide mood swings has the halls of
the West Wing buzzing lately as aides privately
express growing concern over their leader's state of mind.

  In meetings with top aides and administration
officials, the President goes from quoting the
Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against
the media, Democrats and others that he
classifies as "enemies of the state."

Worried White House aides paint a portrait of a
man on the edge, increasingly wary of those who
disagree with him and paranoid of a public that
no longer trusts his policies in Iraq or at home.

"It reminds me of the Nixon days," says a
longtime GOP political consultant with contacts
in the White House. "Everybody is an enemy;
everybody is out to get him. That's the mood over there."

In interviews with a number of White House
staffers who were willing to talk off the record, a picture of an administration under siege has emerged, led by a man who declares his decisions to be "God's will" and then tells aides to "fuck over" anyone they consider to be an opponent of the administration.

"We're at war, there's no doubt about it. What I
don't know anymore is just who the enemy might
be," says one troubled White House aide. "We seem to spend more time trying to destroy John Kerry than al Qaeda and our enemies list just keeps growing and growing."

Aides say the President gets "hung up on minor
details," micromanaging to the extreme while
ignoring the bigger picture. He will spend hours
personally reviewing and approving every attack
ad against his Democratic opponent and then kiss
off a meeting on economic issues.

"This is what is killing us on Iraq," one aide
says. "We lost focus. The President got hung up
on the weapons of mass destruction and an
unproven link to al Qaeda. We could have found
other justifiable reasons for the war but the
President insisted the focus stay on those two,
tenuous items."

Aides who raise questions quickly find themselves shut out of access to the President or other top advisors. Among top officials, Bush's inner circle is shrinking. Secretary of State Colin Powell has fallen out of favor because of his growing doubts about the administration's war against Iraq.

The President's abrupt dismissal of CIA Directory George Tenet Wednesday night is, aides say, an example of how he works.

"Tenet wanted to quit last year but the President got his back up and wouldn't hear of it," says an aide. "That would have been the opportune time to make a change, not in the middle of an election campaign but when the director challenged the President during the meeting Wednesday, the President cut him off by saying 'that's it George. I cannot abide disloyalty. I want your resignation and I want it now."

Tenet was allowed to resign "voluntarily" and
Bush informed his shocked staff of the decision
Thursday morning. One aide says the President
actually described the decision as "God's will."

God may also be the reason Attorney General John
Ashcroft, the administration's lightning rod
because of his questionable actions that critics
argue threatens freedoms granted by the
Constitution, remains part of the power elite.
West Wing staffers call Bush and Ashcroft "the
Blues Brothers" because "they're on a mission
from God."

"The Attorney General is tight with the President because of religion," says one aide. "They both believe any action is justifiable in the name of God."

But the President who says he rules at the behest of God can also tongue-lash those he perceives as disloyal, calling them "fucking assholes" in front of other staff, berating one cabinet official in front of others and labeling anyone who disagrees with him "unpatriotic" or
"anti-American."

"The mood here is that we're under siege, there's
no doubt about it," says one troubled aide who
admits he is looking for work elsewhere. "In this administration, you don't have to wear a turban or speak Farsi to be an enemy of the United States. All you have to do is disagree with the President."

The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the record.

© Copyright 2004 Capitol Hill Blue


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[Antigen]

This may sound strange, but I take comfort from seeing this in print. Didn't anyone notice they were a little off when they started sending armed leos into classrooms to teach pharmacology to children? I did. It was like busting your airline pilot waving out the window at his imaginary friend who likes to ride on the wing.

Seeing articles like this in print shows that there's an audience for it; that a growing number of people have begun to realize that something is terribly wrong and are interested in discussing the matter.

It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep
the rest  in order; and those who have once got an ascendency and possessed themselves of  all the resources of the nation, their revenues and offices, have immense means  for retaining their advantages.
--Thomas Jefferson to John  Taylor, 1798