Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (31448)	11/13/2003 5:54:43 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Respond to of 89467

MORE: As Eric Schmitt reported in The Times this week, Mr. Cheney has implied in recent speeches that Al Qaeda is responsible for the major attacks in Iraq this past summer, even though senior military and intelligence officials say there is no conclusive evidence for that. Clearly, Mr. Cheney remains oblivious to the fact that the president has already had to correct the vice president's previous assertion that the government did not know whether Saddam Hussein had a connection to the 9/11 attacks. Mr. Bush conceded that "no, we've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th." But while some have suggested that the president feels let down by Mr. Rumsfeld, he still seems seduced by the siren call of that deep Cheney voice and lugubrious Cheney world view. As Newsweek suggested, quoting those who know him: "Cheney has always had a Hobbesian view of life. The world is a dangerous place; war is the natural state of mankind; enemies lurk." Mr. Cheney's darkness ends up dominating Mr. Bush's lightness. As Newsweek noted, the vice president cherry-picks the intelligence, then feeds his version of reality to Mr. Bush. The president leaves himself open to manipulation because, by his own admission, he doesn't read the papers and relies on his inner circle to filter information to him. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported yesterday that the C.I.A. had issued a top-secret report from Iraq, endorsed by Paul Bremer, warning that growing numbers of Iraqis are concluding that the U.S. can be defeated and are supporting the insurgents. The question is whether other voices can ever break through that sonorous ominous murmuring in the president's ear.

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (31448)	11/13/2003 2:43:51 PM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

How else to explain the vice president's success in creating a parallel universe inside the White House that is shaping the real universe? Most liberals don't understand Cheney's appeal to conservatives. Some liberals see Cheney as an ideologue, whose bullying military mindset leads to bloody policy choices. Other liberals see him as a war profiteer, that has cynically used a national fear campaign to start wars and the loot the nation's treasury, for the benefit of the MIC (Military Industrial Complex). Neither view explains his popularity with conservatives and particularly with GWB. But consider that his voice, demeanor and words perfectly fit the strict father model. The conservative worldview, the strict father model, assumes that the world is dangerous and difficult and that children are born bad and must be made good. The strict father is the moral authority who supports and defends the family, tells his wife what to do, and teaches his kids right from wrong. The only way to do that is through painful discipline — physical punishment that by adulthood will become internal discipline. The good people are the disciplined people. Once grown, the self-reliant, disciplined children are on their own. Those children who remain dependent (who were spoiled, overly willful, or recalcitrant) should be forced to undergo further discipline or be cut free with no support to face the discipline of the outside world. from Message 19444464 Given what we know of GWB’s early life and his relationship with his father, this model explains much. JMO lurqer