I'm not comfortable dealing with phrases like "manifest idiot" and "brain soaked in alcohol" because I think they set up barriers between us. I'm constrained from being able
to say, yes, GW seems unable to construct a coherent answer to a direct question and yes, that worries me, because it implies agreement to your assumption that this is because his brain is pickled in alcohol, something I DON'T accept.
I want to make clear that it is I who made clear that my perception of Bush as having cognitive problems "just an intuitive reaction to seeing him and listening to him." ... It was NOT, as you described it as, an "assumption" of mine that his bizarre statements were from alcohol and... I knew it was "important to note" that I was stating my opinions and interpretations, as proved by my having noted it!
Message 14805431
I don't know why Bush's brain is the way it is. He himself has admitted being a drunk and by implication admitted cocaine use. Many years of alcohol sure as hell does affect the brain. Do you know well any former long-term alcoholics? They will tell you themselves what it has cost them. Whether he stopped drinking before that occurred, I don't know. As I say, I conjectured about why he is like that,-- just as I conjectured that it might be from the dyslexia that runs in the family, since his brother Neil has it. (Not Jeb, as I think I said earlier; Neil.)
I feel I am saying the Emperor has no clothes, and many, not you, are acting just so mystified as to why on earth I say that! It is downright funny, really. (I say it because he's naked, of course.)
I think there is a tendency to think it's okay, and doesn't set up barriers, to speak negatively of a candidate whom you oppose and not okay, and barrier-causing, to speak quite insultingly of a candidate whom you support.
For example, you said of Gore something I agree with (lack of character, dubious intelligence, large void where true self should be found) -- but you may be sure many Gore-fans find this sort of characterization unwarrantedly insulting, ad hominem, mere intuition, cruel, unsubstantiatable and unfair because of this.
I met a fellow last week who knows Gore and his family personally, as a friend, and said he is the nicest, warmest, most genuine person you could ever meet, and that his awkward persona is not "him" at all. (I gathered he thinks it's the result of something like overcoming natural shyness; some social awkwardness that gives an oh-so-wrong impression.) (If you doubt this, I'll tell you his name and how I met him via PM, penni.)
Okay:
So, I made no assumption, I conjectured.
I agree with you about Gore, but others, Gore fans, undoubtedly feel calling Bush a "manifest idiot" (at least I offered examples) offers at least as much of a barrier than characterizing Gore as we have. |
