Sunday, June 04, 2006

George W. Bush, old and new

Over at The Carpetbagger Report, Steve Benen responds to a fairly stupid WaPo piece on Bush's attempts to reach out to dissenters and finds that, in fact, "Bush's Bubble remains very much intact":

On its face, the notion is startling. We've become so accustomed to a president who enjoys the safety of his little "bubble" that we're actually supposed to be impressed — front-page-of-the-Washington-Post impressed — that Bush is actually willing to be exposed to a few people whose opinions on isolated issues are slightly different from his own.

But Paulson (Treasury Secretary) and Snow (Press Secretary) are hardly dissenters. I agree with Steve:

Let's be clear: genuine tolerance for dissent includes sincere consideration of ideas that conflict with pre-conceived notions. What evidence is there that Bush has matured in this capacity? None.

The "new" Bush is the old Bush, the same old Bush. Nothing has changed. Even MSM gullibility remains disturbingly the same.

For more, see Taylor Marsh, The Heretik, and Firedoglake -- all good responses to the WaPo article.

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2 Comments:

  • If you step back into a larger historical context, Bush's bubble is similar to those of Clinton, Bush and Reagan. Modern presidents live in bubbles. I don't like it but it's not unique to Bush.

    By Blogger cakreiz, at 7:22 AM  

  • That's true, Cakreiz. In fact, Clinton's bubble sort of came with him from Arkansas. Consider all the problems he had early on in his presidency.

    The problem with Bush may not be so much the bubble itself as the arrogance and overall lack of curiosity.

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 9:21 PM  

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