[Mb-civic] The Real George Bush

[Reeeees at aol.com]

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Real  George W. Bush

By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real
October 27,  2005  _http://www.alternet.org/story/27385/_ 
(http://www.alternet.org/story/27385/) 

For  three more years America is going to be led by not just a lame duck 
president,  but a totally discredited president.

In a _http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/25/cia.leak/_ 
(http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/25/cia.leak/)  poll taken yesterday, 90 percent of those asked 
said they  believed top Bush administration officials are guilty of either 
illegal or  unethical behavior in the CIA leak case.

So where does that leave an  un-indicted George W. Bush? There really are 
only two explanations, and neither  reflect well on him. First, he can claim his 
closest aides conspired behind his  back while he was otherwise occupied. I 
call that the "Exxon Valdez Defense" --  the captain was not at the helm when a 
careless crewman ran the ship of state  aground. Unfortunately for Captain 
Bush, that defense did not wash for the real  captain of the ill-fated tanker. 
Because, you see, the captain is always  responsible.

The other explanation is worse: that the President of the  United States knew 
what was going on, maybe even participated in  it.

Either way, Bush is finished as a force in American politics. How he  ever 
got to become president in the first place -- not once, but twice -- will  
remain a subject social scientists will study and debate for decades to come.  
Because there was plenty of evidence that George W. Bush was a made man. He had  
accomplished nothing in his adult life on his own -- not one thing. 
(_http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1992/09/bushboys.html_ 
(http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1992/09/bushboys.html) 
Click here for more.)

Of course, for  those of us who have covered the Bush family for years, it's 
no mystery at all.  The best way to think of George W. Bush is as a beard for 
others. At every step  in his career, individuals of wealth or power groomed 
him, and then used him as  their front man.

These benefactors had learned long ago that there was  more money and more 
power to be had in the shadows than in the limelight. All  they needed was the 
right person to front for them -- someone with a name, a  smile, a confident 
swagger. Vision, dreams, hopes and ethics were not only  unnecessary, but 
liabilities in a beard. All they needed was a person they could  program, wind up 
and send out into the public spotlight and deliver for  them.

That's George W. Bush. He fit the bill to a T. Texas oil men -- and  
companies with international agendas and voracious appetites for government  contracts 
-- had found their perfect front man in GW: a kind of Forrest Gump  from the 
Dark Side. A man ignorant and proud of it, and willing to take  direction from 
those he considered friends.

They began by nurturing  Bush's pathetic efforts to become a high-rolling 
Texas oil man. Though his  companies failed, they made sure he never did. Then 
they were able to further  his ascendancy by indulging his playful side, buying 
him his own baseball team  -- a Texas baseball team. That raised Bush's public 
profile to just a notch  below their ultimate goal: public office.

Fully groomed and programmed,  they finally steered Bush towards the goal. 
And it worked, probably beyond their  wildest expectations. As governor of 
Texas, their beard kept state regulators  out of their hair on dollar and cents 
issues critical to the oil drilling and  processing industries, like air quality. 
That alone would have been sufficient  payoff for their years of cleaning up 
Bush's business messes.

Bagging the  United States presidency was an unexpected super-bonus. Still, 
they knew it was  a development ripe with as much danger as opportunity. After 
all, they knew the  real George W. Bush. There was no way they could send that 
hayseed off to the  Big Show unattended. Dick Cheney and Karl Rove were 
tasked with keeping their  idiot prince both on message and on a short leash. God 
forbid he should ever  make a speech, take a position, or make a decision on 
his own.

All went  very well for the first four years. From day one, their boy 
delivered, delivered  and delivered again. He was a gift that just kept giving:

*  $1.6 trillion in tax cuts, the bulk of which went to people like  them;

* Environmental laws watered down; expanded logging  allowed in national 
forests

* A push to open protected  Alaska wilderness to oil and gas drilling;

* Iraqi oil  fields suddenly within reach;

* Plenty of cheap labor  flooding across our southern border.

And just as it looked as if he was  on the way to fulfilling another 
assignment -- the elimination of the estate tax  -- his beard fell off. It was the 
thing they had always feared most: the real  George W. Bush went public. There it 
was, for the whole world to see: a  chuckling, twitching dope of man standing 
in front of the American people,  unleashed and unscripted. Worse yet, he was 
making his own decisions. He chose  his friend and admirer, Harriet Miers, 
for the Supreme Court of the United  States of America.

What went wrong? Where were his handlers? Busy. They  dropped Bush's leash 
when handed subpoenas. Junior was unleashed and home  alone.

It's a moment new to America -- a leader who needs to be led, and  now unled. 
And the world is watching. It's as if the police had come and dragged  Edgar 
Bergin offstage in the middle a show, leaving Charlie McCarthy, wide-eyed,  
mouth agape and slumped alone on his stool.

So, what now?

Stephen  Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including "Inside Job: The 
Looting of  America's Savings and Loans," which was nominated for a Pulitzer.

© 2005  Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at:  http://www.alternet.org/story/27385/ 
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