Hero Worship

Sometimes you read something that just makes your jaw drop because you can't understand how the person who wrote it could possibly live in the same universe as you do. That's how I felt when I read this bit of hero worship by Mario Loyola at The Corner (the title of his post is "Remembering why we prayed for a Bush victory"):

Bush has virtually never in his political career made a
decision that he didn't think was the right thing to do and
the right way to do it. Conservatives who are piling on the
anti-Bush bandwagon should consider that this trait--which
makes the Bush family historically great--is a historical
rarity to be treasured. This administration would do well to
be more concerned with its popularity -- the President and
even Vice President should appear every week in press
conferences and on the Sunday talk shows -- if only to
strengthen the political viability of their agenda, and be able
to shape the terms of debate. But it was not so long ago that
Americans could only wish for a president who was obviously
trustworthy, upstanding, and principled. And the day is not
far off when we will think ourselves lucky to have seen this
President defend the honor and integrity of his office--and
the American people--for eight years. The times are
difficult, and nobody could have gotten through the last five
years without making mistakes. But in that station to which
God called him, George W. Bush has been himself honestly,
and thank God for that.

Wow, I think even Bush's own mother would have been embarrassed to write that. Apparently Bush is not only doing Rove's God's will here on earth, but he is guided at all times by nothing more than his innate sense of what is right. Polls mean nothing to him.

I guess that explains why he has now twice pushed for a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. He must have thought it was "the right thing to do and the right way to do it." Surely political pandering had nothing to do with his decision.

And when Bush opposed campaign finance reform and the creation of the Homeland Security Department only to completely change course and sign those bills into law, I'm sure opinion polls played no role whatsoever. Same goes for his decisions to capitulate on the Harriet Miers nomination and the Dubai ports deal. That was just Bush doing what he felt was right.

Mario is right; Americans "could only wish for a president" who secretly violates criminal laws prohibiting warrantless surveillance and torture. And no one could be more "obviously trustworthy, upstanding, and principled" than someone who signs a bill into law with great fanfare--a law which makes it a felony to conduct warrantless surveillance--and then immediately (and secretly) authorizes his administration to disregard it. Here's some of that exceptional honesty on display:

Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States
government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap
requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way.
When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're
talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's
important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you
think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place
when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our
homeland, because we value the Constitution. (George W.
Bush--April 20, 2004)

And, of course, nothing brings more "honor and integrity" to the White House than misleading the nation into supporting a war by intentionally and repeatedly conflating Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, leading a majority of Americans to believe that Hussein was somehow responsible for 9/11. And just look how that decision turned out. Boy are we "lucky" to have had George W. Bush leading us for the last six years.

Okay, that's enough sarcasm. You get my point. But good grief, even most Republicans understand how hyper-political this White House is. Does Mario Loyola really believe that someone who employs Karl Rove as his chief political adviser "virtually never" bases his decisions on the polls? That's just so transparently stupid that I don't even know what to say.

Any halfwit can see that Bush's "I don't pay attention to the polls" act is just that, an act. It's his way of spinning a bad situation. That's how every politician throughout history has responded to bad poll numbers. Bush can't magically make things better in Iraq, and because he is singularly responsible for this war, he can't simply withdraw. All he can do is claim that he doesn't make decisions based on poll numbers (even though he so obviously does whenever it is feasible). But don't tell Mario Loyola that; he's too busy thanking God for having blessed us with so fine and honorable a president.