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Before I get into specific
instances of Bush laughing and having fun throughout the entire period of the
inferno he created in Iraq, I want to discuss a number of more indirect but
revealing incidents that reflect he could not care less about the human
suffering and carnage going on in Iraq, or anywhere.
1. The first
inkling I got that Bush didn't care about the suffering or anyone, not just those dying in Iraq, was from
an article in the September 22, 2001, New York
Times just eleven days after 9/11. Though 3,000 Americans had been
murdered and the nation was in agony and shock, the man who should have been
leading the mourning was, behind the scenes, not affected in the tiniest way.
The article, by Frank Bruni, said that "Mr. Bush's nonchalant, jocular demeanor remains the same.
In private, say several Republicans close to the administration, he still slaps
backs and uses baseball terminology, at one point promising that the terrorists
were not 'going to steal home on me.' He is not staying up all night, or even
most of the night. He is taking time to play with his dogs and his cat. He is
working out most days." So right after several thousand Americans lost their lives in a horrible catastrophe, behind
the scenes Bush is his same old backslapping self, and he's not letting the
tragedy interfere in the slightest way with the daily regimen of his life that
he enjoys.
In fact, he himself admitted to the magazine Runners World (August 23, 2002) that after the
Afghanistan war began: "I have been running with a little more intensity . . .
It helps me to clear my mind." (In other words, Bush likes to clear his mind of
the things he's supposed to be thinking about.) Remarkably finding time in the
most important job on earth to run six days a week, Bush added: "It's
interesting that my times have become faster . . . For me, the psychological
benefit [in running] is enormous. You tend to
forget everything that's going on in your mind and just concentrate on the time
and distance." But even this obscene indulgence after 9/11 and during
wartime by the man with more responsibility than anyone in the world wasn't
enough for Bush. He told the magazine: "I try to go for longer runs, but it's
tough around here at the White House on the outdoor track. It's sad that I can't run longer. It's one of the
saddest things about the presidency." Imagine that. Among all the things
that the president of the United States could be sad about during a time of war,
not being able to run longer six days a week is up there near the top of the
list.
A New York Times article
not long after 9/11 (November 5, 2001) reported that Bush had told his friends
(obviously with pride) that "his runs on the Camp David trails through the
Maryland woods have produced his fastest time in a decade, three miles in 21
minutes and 6 seconds." USA Today (October 29, 2001) reported that Bush used to run 3 miles in 25 minutes and now
he was "boasting to friends and staffers" about his new time, and was "now
running 4 miles a day."
So with his approval rating soaring to 90
percent in the wake of 9/11 -- and with his being the main person in America whose job required that
he be totally engaged every waking hour in working diligently on this nation's
response to 9/11 -- Bush, remarkably, was working diligently on improving his
time for the mile. I ask you, what American president in history, Republican or
Democrat, would have conducted himself this way?
2. One thing about
Bush. He's so dense that he makes remarks an intelligent person who was as much
of a scoundrel as he would never make. They'd keep their feelings, which they
would know to be very shameful, to themselves. On December 21, 2001, just a few
months after 9/11 -- a tragedy that shocked the nation and the world in which
3,000 Americans were consumed by fires, some choosing to jump to their deaths
out of windows eighty or more stories high -- Bush, who could only have been
thinking of himself, told the media: "All in
all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." He said this because
that is exactly the way he felt. What difference does 9/11 make? I'm president.
I love it, and Laura and I are having a ball.
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