Drunk in charge of a Superpower

Every so often one of those fairly improbable coincidences happens, which makes you chuckle and puts a smile on your face.

I was having a bit of a skive over in the Dependency Clinic Visitor's Reception with my mate Maureen, and, as Laverne (the hard-nosed little madam of a Receptionist) was out to lunch, we thought we'd have a little peek inside the "Suggestions" Box. The box was padlocked, but I could see something inside, and could just about reach through the letter-box and. I fished out two yellowing pieces of paper.

Rather spookily there were two photocopies of exactly the same article from Counter Punch, sent in by two different visitors: Holly & Joe, and Joseph Lucas. WoooOOoooh! A little frisson of statistical excitement shot up my suspenders as I read on...

Addiction, Brain Damage and the President:

"Dry Drunk" Syndrome and George W. Bush

Alan Bisbort argues that Bush possesses the characteristics of the "dry drunk" in terms of: his incoherence while speaking away from the script; his irritability with anyone (for example, Germany's Schröder) who dares disagree with him; and his dangerous obsessing about only one thing (Iraq) to the exclusion of all other things.

In short, George W. Bush seems to possess the traits characteristic of addictive persons who still have the thought patterns that accompany substance abuse. If we consult the latest scientific findings, we will discover that scientists can now observe changes that occur in the brain as a result of heavy alcohol and other drug abuse.

Some of these changes may be permanent. Except in extreme cases, however, these cognitive impairments would not be obvious to most observers. To reach any conclusions we need of course to know Bush's personal history relevant to drinking/drug use.

To this end I consulted several biographies. Yes, there was much drunkenness, years of binge drinking starting in college, at least one conviction for DUI in 1976 in Maine, and one arrest before that for a drunken episode involving theft of a Christmas wreath.

According to J.D. Hatfield's book, Fortunate Son, Bush later explained: "Alcohol began to compete with my energies....I'd lose focus." Although he once said he couldn't remember a day he hadn't had a drink, he added that he didn't believe he was "clinically alcoholic." Even his father, who had known for years that his son had a serious drinking problem, publicly proclaimed: "He was never an alcoholic. It's just he knows he can't hold his liquor."

Maureen gave a “Haruumph” and peered at me over her horn-rims. “Never an alcoholic? What planet are these people ON? Talk about abject denial! Tsk! Tsk!” She read on:

…Bush drank heavily for over 20 years until he made the decision to abstain at age 40. About this time he became a "born again Christian," going as usual from one extreme to the other. During an Oprah interview, Bush acknowledged that his wife had told him he needed to think about what he was doing. When asked in another interview about his reported drug use, he answered honestly, "I'm not going to talk about what I did 20 to 30 years ago."

That there might be a tendency toward addiction in Bush's family is indicated in the recent arrests or criticism of his daughters for underage drinking and his niece for cocaine possession. Bush, of course, deserves credit for his realization that he can't drink moderately, and his decision today to abstain. The fact that he doesn't drink moderately, may be suggestive of an inability to handle alcohol.

In any case, Bush has clearly gotten his life in order and is in good physical condition, careful to exercise and rest when he needs to do so. The fact that some residual effects from his earlier substance abuse, however slight, might cloud the U.S. President's thinking and judgment is frightening, however, in the context of the current global crisis.

...complete article here

Whipping out her Catholic Herald Commemorative Hip-Flask and knocking back a large slug of home-made Potcheen, Maureen shot me one of her 'knowing' looks. "Well... there you go, sweetie," she said "It's not just us, then."

I noticed the date on the two faded photocopies - 2002. "Bloody hell," I exclaimed "How often does Laverne empty this box? She's supposed to pass Visitor's observations onto Senior Management as soon as it arrives... this kind of stuff's too important to ignore. How can Dr. Strangelove diagnose properly if he’s only got half the facts?"

Maureen by now had the bit firmly between what remained of her own teeth - she'd produced a pair of plastic "Happy Garden" chopsticks from her capacious handbag, and was merrily probing the slot of the Suggestions Box again. After a brief tussle and much swearing, she gave a little "whoop" of victory. "Got you, you little beggar. Come to nursey..."

Gingerly teasing to document out of the slot, Maureen smoothed it out and started reading out loud:

Bush’s cognitive functioning worries observers

...It is thus hard to avoid the conclusion that Bush's cognitive functioning is not, for some reason, what it once was. I am not qualified to say why this is so. It would not be surprising if he was under enormous stress, particularly after the 9/11 atrocities in 2001, and I gather this could explain much, if not everything.

But I have heard wild speculation in Washington that he is suffering from a neurological disorder, or that the years of alcoholism might finally be taking their toll on his brain...

...It does not help that Bush now lives in a positively Nixonian cocoon. He does not read newspapers; he sees television only to watch football; he makes election speeches exclusively at ticket-only events, and his courtiers consciously avoid giving him bad news. When he met John Kerry for their first bout on the debating platform, it was almost a new experience for the President to hear the voice of dissent.

A senior Republican, experienced and wise in the ways of Washington, told me last Friday that he does not necessarily accept that Bush is unstable, but what is clear, he added, is that he is now manifestly unfit to be President. This, too, is a view that is widely felt, but seldom articulated and then only in private, within the Republican as well as Democratic establishments in Washington. Either way, the choice voters make on
Tuesday fortnight should be obvious: whether he is unstable or merely unfit to be President -- and I would argue that they amount to much the same -- he should speedily be turned out of office.

... complete article here

"Bejeesus," she exclaimed "this one's from last year, during the Presidential campaign. I can't believe that this kind of commentary has been floating around, unheeded and unreported by the mainstream media and their Masters..."

She paused mid-sentence as the penny dropped, and she realised it was a rhetorical one.

"Hmmm… I guess that's why he was the perfect choice for their miserable, corrupt agendas; the fascist Cultists, the New World Orderists, the Robber Barons and the Plain, Honest-to-Goodness Psychopaths who have stolen the American Republic.

"If you're conspiring to impose a fascist regime, destroy Democracy in your own Homeland in order to exert totalitarian control over the general population, whilst plundering the nation's coffers via Haliburton and Bechtel, you'd really need a psychotic, messianic nut-job Figurehead, without a single atom of human compassion or sense of guilt, now wouldn't you?"

By this point my Nurse’s Radar was pinging away like the last screen of Space Invaders. How many analyses and commentaries by respected mental health professionals have been out in the Public Domain, yet been completely suppressed by the Media?

This was crazy. I needed to sneak into Patient's Records and have a look at his Psychological Profile so I could properly understand just how dangerous George Bush really is. Laverne was going to be back in ten minutes, so I'd better hurry. A brief flurry of the old nail-file saw me into Patient Records. To my amazement the Bush's have their own filing cabinet. I opened the "Restricted - Junior" drawer, and pulled a file:

Noted psychologist observes Bush's behaviour

There's plenty to be worried about

by Oliver James, The Guardian [London, UK]

Sept. 2, 2003

As the alcoholic George Bush approached his 40th birthday in 1986, he had achieved nothing he could call his own. He was all too aware that none of his educational and professional accomplishments would have occurred without his father. He felt so low that he did not care if he lived or died.

Taking a friend out for a flight in a Cessna aeroplane, it only became apparent he had not flown one before when they nearly crashed on take-off. Narrowly avoiding stalling a few times, they crash-landed and the friend breathed a sigh of relief -- only for Bush to rev. up the engine and take off again.

Not long afterwards, staring at his vomit-spattered face in the mirror, this dangerously self-destructive man fell to his knees and implored God to help him and became a teetotalling, fundamentalist Christian.

"Good grief," I thought " so THAT was the horror-story - the cathartic life event that finally sent the alcoholic, tormented, knuckle-dragging George Bush Jnr. over the edge of Humanity and into the raging vacuum of Insanity. This was important-to-know stuff. I had to know more...

...He was aggressively anti-intellectual and hostile to east-coast preppy types like his father, sometimes cruelly so. On one occasion he walked up to a matronly woman at a smart cocktail party and asked, "So, what's sex like after 50, anyway?"

A direct and loutish challenge to his father's posh sensibility came aged 25, after he had drunkenly crashed a car. "I hear you're looking for me," he sneered at his father, "do you want to go mano a mano, right here?"

As he grew older, the fury towards his father was increasingly directed against himself in depressive drinking. But it was not all his father's fault. There was also his insensitive and domineering mother.

“Mmm,” I mused “I wonder if I can guess what comes next…”

Barbara Bush is described by her closest intimates as prone to "withering stares" and "sharply crystalline" retorts. She is also extremely tough. When he was seven, Bush's younger sister, Robin, died of leukaemia and several independent witnesses say he was very upset by this loss. Barbara claims its effect was exaggerated but nobody could accuse her of overreacting: the day after the funeral, she and her husband were on the golf course.

She was the main authority-figure in the home. Jeb describes it as having been, "A kind of matriarchy... when we were growing up, dad wasn't at home. Mom was the one to hand out the goodies and the discipline." A childhood friend recalls that,"She was the one who instilled fear", while Bush put it like this: "Every mother has her own style. Mine was a little like an army drill sergeant's... my mother's always been a very outspoken person who vents very well -- she'll just let rip if she's got something on her mind."

According to his uncle, the "letting rip" often included slaps and hits. Countless studies show that boys with such mothers are at much higher risk of becoming wild, alcoholic or antisocial...

I’d say that’s about as perfect an environment as you could get to turn any child into a sociopathic, bullying drunk… emotionally cold, physically abusive, fanatically domineering parents. Nice. And in Texas, too… a place not noted for it’s collective compassion. This is where the anger and loathing for anyone further down the food-chain comes from.

How did this personal epiphany manifested itself in George Bush, a failed man already filled with loathing and contempt for other people’s happiness? How does he express his desire to hurt and control the whole World, so he can maybe one day feel good about himself?

... His moralism is all-encompassing and as passionate as can be. He plans to replace state welfare provision with faith-based charitable organisations that would impose Christian family values.

The commonest targets of authoritarians have been Jews, blacks and homosexuals. Bush is anti-abortion and his fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible would mean that gay practices are evil. But perhaps the group he reserves his strongest contempt for are those who have adopted the values of the 60s. He says he loathes "people who felt guilty about their lot in life because others were suffering".

I think we’re getting the broader picture now…

He has always rejected any kind of introspection. Everyone who knows him well says how hard he is to get to know, that he lives behind what one friend calls a "facile, personable" facade.

Frum comments that, "He is relentlessly disciplined and very slow to trust. Even when his mouth seems to be smiling at you, you can feel his eyes watching you." His deepest beliefs amount to superstition. "Life takes its own turns," he says, "writes its own story and along the way we start to realise that we are not the author." God's will, not his own, explains his life.

“Here we go again.” I groaned “Back at the bloody Apocalypse! Always with the bloody Apocalypse! No matter which way you turn when inspecting the dis-ease of George Bush Jnr, you are constantly banging into these insane Religious Terrorists. When are people going to WAKE UP and DO SOMETHING about these Fanatics who are telling George Bush what they expect him to do for them and their Theocratic ambitions?”

Most fundamentalist Christians have authoritarian personalities. Two core beliefs separate fundamentalists from mere evangelists ("happy-clappy" Christians) or the mainstream Presbyterians among whom Bush first learned religion every Sunday with his parents: fundamentalists take the Bible absolutely literally as the word of God and believe that human history will come to an end in the near future, preceded by a terrible, apocaplytic battle on Earth between the forces of good and evil, which only the righteous shall survive.

According to Frum when Bush talks of an "axis of evil" he is identifying his enemies as literally satanic, possessed by the devil. Whether he specifically sees the battle with Iraq and other "evil" nations as being part of the end-time, the apocalypse preceding the day of judgment, is not known. Nor is it known whether Tony Blair shares these particular religious ideas.

By the way - we’ll be getting onto Inmate Blair, aka “The Vicar” soon, I promise.

However, it is certain that however much Bush may sometimes seem like a buffoon, he is also powered by massive, suppressed anger towards anyone who challenges the extreme, fanatical beliefs shared by him and a significant slice of his citizens -- in surveys, half of them also agree with the statement "the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word".

Bush's deep hatred, as well as love, for both his parents explains how he became a reckless rebel with a death wish. He hated his father for putting his whole life in the shade and for emotionally blackmailing him. He hated his mother for physically and mentally badgering him to fulfil her wishes. But the hatred also explains his radical transformation into an authoritarian fundamentalist.

By totally identifying with an extreme version of their strict, religion-fuelled beliefs, he jailed his rebellious self. From now on, his unconscious hatred for them was channelled into a fanatical moral crusade to rid the world of evil. As Frum put it: "Id-control is the basis of Bush's presidency but Bush is a man of fierce anger." That anger now rules the world.

...full article here

I stopped reading. Tears were welling up in my eyes… I’d been so busy reading, crouched down behind the filing cabinets, that I didn’t realize I had hooked the top of my knickers on a cupboard door-handle, and was slowly giving myself a strangulated Wedgie. I heard Maureen hissing to me from the other side of the door. “Laverne’s coming back, come on, hurry up!”

I put everything back where it belonged and slid out through the door, just in time. Maureen and I were lost in our thoughts, as we walked back to the Janet Adegoke Ward. What did I think?

Now I knew: This was how the man was made: this apparently idle, drunken, hate-filled Trogolodyte Playboy Prince, the runt of the litter, the self-loathing, anti-intellectual heir-apparent of the New World Order's first Royal Family.

These cruel Anti-Kennedy's... the disastrously emotionally constipated Bush family, from whom George Bush Junior was running from when his twisted id tried to kill himself one day in a plane crash - and in the process (and by a quirk of chaos), got as close to seeing his own rectum from the inside-out... and the light at the end of the tunnel... as any man ever did, and lived to never-ever-ever-tell what it did to his already deranged mind.

I think George Bush Junior was, literally, the much-scorned Atheist in the Foxhole, the allegorical ‘Coward’ who stared his own empty Death right in the eye, suddenly grovelled to God and ‘magically’ got a second chance.

Almost dying changes you, it really does. I've been pretty close myself (especially when the Safeway Security Guard catches you red-handed, stuffing tins of Chicken Roll down your tights!). For most people it's a life-affirming experience, a chance to try again and learn from the Past, to try and become happier because it puts things into a healthier perspective. They typically become much nicer, kinder people.

But for those people who were never All That in the first place, it results in a catastophic delusional experience waaay beyond their already-dim imaginings. Junior didn't suddenly snap out of what ailed him like most people would; he went slightly mad instead.

This is a problem for all of us. Something just HAS to be done.

Maureen and I are going out to the 'Anaesthetist & Ferret' tonight for a mad Karaoke party, so don't expect to hear from me for a couple of days, unless I make bail!

I'll leave you with a famous quotation:

"All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those toward whom it is directed will understand it... Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise."

Adolph Hitler