The term delusional, has been kicked around these past few years. Now if only the press weren’t so… then it wouldn’t have mattered about what these crack pot leaders thought…they would have been gone by now, or better yet, never got in for a second term.

…to me, it sounds like Bush is looking not for answers — but for rationalizations for his behavior. There is no sign of genuine introspection, no sign of acknowledgment of mistakes, no sign of any significant change of course. In a pattern familiar to anyone who has ever had a drinking problem, Bush appears to be engaged in a furious effort to persuade onlookers that he’s fine — even if he isn’t.
– White House Watch | Peering Inside Bush’s Head, 7/2/07

Bush’s whole shtick has been about confidently following, even bragging about, his “instincts”. If he were to admit that that was what got him into trouble he’d have nothing left and nowhere to turn:

Bush, Biden recalled, just looked at him, unflappably sure that the United States was on the right course and that all was well. “‘Mr. President,’ I finally said, ‘How can you be so sure when you know you don’t know the facts?”‘

Biden said that Bush stood up and put his hand on the senator’s shoulder. “My instincts,” he said. “My instincts.”
(From Ron Suskind, Without a Doubt, October, 2004)

Separates Bush from Cheney

Tries to make a case for a compassionate, concerned Bush

Limits Bush public perception damage, while leaving Cheney out there

Notably, Cheney isn’t around the Kennebunkport compound. Shrub has daddy, mama, the two wives Laura and Condi, and Hadley (who may be the Cheney link and leaker).

I wonder if pappy isn’t going to take charge at this point and do everything he can with his Carlyle buddies to isolate Cheney.

Re: this morning’s soul-searching story, I wonder if shrub is also being visited by a psychiatrist or two and whether he’s on meds. that could partially explain the blunted affect.

Since he’s still fixated on a good/evil worldview, he needs to have his authority to act mitigated, and I think that maybe the re-emergence of the Iraq Study Group and the visit to mom and pop’s house are breadcrumbs alluding to that.

Does anyone know where Cheney is?

I wouldn’t hold my breath for George W. Bush to lead anything other than a naked towel snapping contest. And, only then, if he were the only one with a towel.

—Snork—! I’m trying to eat lunch here and really did not need that mental image.;)

Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

“Personal responsibility” is a buzzword that Republicans can no more fathom than they could quantum mechanics. Spoiled children can attach no meaning to that particular concept.

Hmm. Yes. What about all those teachers who are supposed to show every year with all their students that their teaching methods have succeeded? Why don’t we just wait for history to judge them? Maybe they planted seeds in children that will blossom in twenty years. As long as they tell us they’re sure God approves of their methods and lesson plans, we should let them carry on, and not make them change anything they’re doing, even if their classrooms look chaos on a stick.