Byron Marshall's take on Bush senior

[Michael Eisenstadt]

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RE: Bush Senior

Bush Daddy actually wasn't totally secular, or rather,
he was  a religious convert, although whether it was
anything other than political is hard to say. 

When he was Veep under Reagan he realized that having
opposed Reagan on behalf of the New England elite
plutocrat branch of the Rep Party, he had to provide
himself with a conservative "base" for when he would
inherit the Presidency. He decided he could do this
with the religious right without changing many of his
policies. For example his "read my lips" tax increase.
Later I knew he really would mess us up with the Gulf
War when he first gave a speech to the religious
right.

But it was during his years as Veep that he got this
going. He started going to all the religious right and
fundamentalist get-togethers, of which there were a
lot. This worked. He also forged an alliance with eg
the famous ferocious hard ball South Carolina
political operative whose name I forget. 

Bush Senior was also originally pro-abortion. With his
new base to cater to, he was advised to switch to
anti-abortion, and he did, "because of his religious
beliefs."

Some will remember his debate with Dukakis on
abortion. Asked a question about his abortion
policies, Senior said "oh. i've never thought about
that. I'll have to think about it." He had never
thought about it because he had been pro-abortion
until just a few years earlier. 

Bush senior didn't give up everything for religion. As
I mentioned, he didn't give up his big tax policies
because of his new ties with the religious
conservatives. And he certainly didn't give up
drinking.

At the Al Smith dinner (carried on C-SPAN) during that
first campaign for President, Senior was clearly
drunk. 

It was sort of a funny drunk. His remarks had always
been famous for being sort of loopy and vague (senior
had trouble finishing a sentence) which does suggest
that Dubya's mental difficulties are inherited. (And
progressively worse.)

Anyhow, at the Al Smith dinner Bush Senior kept
sipping from a champagne glass as he gave his
"thoughts." I was watching on C-SPAN.

He would sip, look vague for a moment, and then 
wander even further off into loopy land. 

Then he would smile, take another sip, and the syntax
would get stranger. Percy Dovetonsils.

The longer it went on, the more he drank, and the more
vague his remarks, until they were virtually
non-existent.

I was a Bush supporter at the time and I was sure that
the press would crucify him for being drunk at a
public event and on national tv, even if it was just
C-SPAN. "Bush drunk at Al Smith dinner" I expected to
read the next morning. 

But the next morning there was not a word.

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Since I had observed Maine plutocrats at a wedding I
attended (I was part of the outer fringes of a large
cambridge group) I was aware that for Maine
plutocrats, being drunk from before breakfast until
the wee hours was a way of life with them.

We also saw that with Dubya, who extended his drinking
habits to include being a crack-head.

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But although we know that Dubya had his days of wine
and cocaine, I think he is under some other kinds of
medication now. 

Dubya's recent speech before the neoconservative
group, where he read a speech setting out the
neoconservative vision of world empire, itself totally
loony and vastly destructive of America's future, was
very odd. 

He kept smiling a little prissy smile and pursing his
lips. I don't know if he actually did "tongue rolling"
behavior. 

Then at the recent press conference, there was yet
another strange speech style. I noticed this listening
to it on PRN before I got home--I thought they had
overmiked him--and as we know he did not accept
questions from a variety of "dangerous" press. 

There was also the peculiar performance at that speech
last fall where he couldn't remember the joke ("fool
me once...") 

I think they've probably been giving him "presidential
speech treatments" and also drugs.

Some of this may involve pavlovian conditioning.
During the dinner, as people may recall, someone
accidentally tapped their fork against their glass,
making a clear ringing sound, and Bushie, in the
middle of some remarks on "destruction of the world",
suddenly began repeating the letters of the alphabet
backward in a progressively deeper voice.

It sounded like a speech exercise to me.

Then he began singing "Marzi dokes..."

As to his policy ... it IS hard to say. He doesn't
know much of what he's doing; he is certainly the most
retarded, or possibly brain-dead, president in U.S.
history, his very nomination an insult to the American
people, the first of many insults to come, such as
nine-eleven, when he sat in Florida reading a book
about goats to fourth graders, while the lack of any
hightened defense and alert status for our large fleet
of interceptor jets allowed the death of 3,000 people,
and shortly, coming soon to a cable station near you,
the involvement of the United States in a war in the
Middle East serving no traditional American goals or
needs.

It may be that he simply does what the neocon brain
trust around him tell him to do or mouth off. He may
enjoy the chance to dress in drag as a Texas cowboy.
He may simply not have the slightest idea what is
going on. But there is some reason to think that he
"participates" by seeing world war as a religious
obligation. 

I attended a talk last night by a very good prof of
history from our Baptist college, who knows the
fundamentalists well (since they have taken over the
college) and he feels that Bush is a member of one of
the armaggedon groups.

We are probably at greater peril than at anytime in
our nation's history. The destruction of America, it's
goals, way of life, its shining promise, what it
offers people, its liberties and economy-- the
destruction of this is at hand, unless middle of the
road people realize that as a result of the crowd of
loonies in charge, the nation is at risk.

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Say what you can for Bush senior (not much) his speech
recently describing junior's policies as unwise was
very interesting.

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