Blumenthal: "There is no one to intervene"

[nostamj]

<snip>

While Powell's authority withers, Bush looks elsewhere for reflected legitimacy. He tells Woodward that he is "frightened" and "scared" by detailed questions. He admires Cheney, "a rock," for not needing to explain in public. "That's why I love Cheney." Pointedly, Bush says, unlike Tony Blair, "I haven't suffered doubt."

Asked if he seeks advice from his father, the former president, Bush says: "He is the wrong father to appeal to in terms of strength. There is a higher Father that I appeal to."

A largely overlooked new book, "The Bushes," by Peter and Rochelle Schweizer, two scholars at the conservative Hoover Institution, attempts to be a glowing multigenerational saga. But its centerpiece is the tortuous Shakespearean story of the father and his wastrel son. Even after the younger Bush attains the presidency, the elder statesman frets. When the son seeks to demonstrate by force of arms that he can exceed his father and correct the error of his rejected presidency, the father once again is consumed with anxiety and disapproval. Then the father's closest associate, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, openly writes an article expressing his opposition before the war, which is widely interpreted as expressing the senior Bush's views. The Schweizers quote George W. Bush directly: "Scowcroft has become a pain in the ass in his old age."

Bush gazes upward for guidance, or turns to Cheney. Judgment Day may not arrive before Election Day. Here on earth the old Republican establishment that saved Reagan has become superannuated and powerless -- the "wrong father." There is no one to intervene.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2004/04/22/woodward/index.html

[KoKo]

1. This is an interesting read. I got more out reading this article than

listening to Woodward be interviewed about his book. Blumenthal picks out some quotes that I havn't heard mentioned, and gives his own insight which is more damning to Bush that the pundits and cables have reported.

It's worth getting the day pass to read it, because you can sign the petition to Congress about Bush's plan to increase allowable Mercury levels. Even if you don't sign the petition you can get the "Day Pass."

[kskiska]

3. You can also read it here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1200413,00.html

and not have to deal with Salon's rigamarole.

[rocktivity]

2. "He is the wrong father to appeal to in terms of strength..."

"WAHHHH! MY DADDY DOESN'T LOVE ME BECAUSE I'M THE RUNT OF THE LITTER! Well, I'll show him--when I get big I'll take over the WHOLE WORLD! WAHHHHH!!!"

:headbang:
rocknation