, January 02, 2006
BUSH PATHOLOGIES: A CASE STUDY
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FROM DSM-IV:
NPD OR NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER:
"...a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy...,indicated by five (or more) of the following:
An exaggerated sense of self-importance
Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love
Believes he/she is 'special' and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people
Requires excessive admiration
Has sense of entitlement
Selfishlessly takes advantage of others to achieve his/her own ends
Lacks empathy
Is often envious of others or believes that the others are envious of him/her
Shows arrogant, haughty, patronizing, or contemptuous behavior or attitudes
October 29, 2003
NEWS ANALYSIS ARCHIVES
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"Mission Accomplished": Anatomy of a Deadly Lie
BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
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Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the "Mission Accomplished" banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call "magic hour light," which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush.
(http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/05/16/nyt.bumiller)
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Recent books by Joe Conason, Al Franken and David Corn have documented how Bush is a serial liar. When BuzzFlash interviewed Molly Ivins awhile back, we thought that she was quite fair to Bush. She didn't jump on the bandwagon of people who claim he is dumb. But she did, almost casually, state: "What we did was just look at Bush's record in "Shrub." And consequently, I think we were less surprised than anybody in America when Bush started governing from lies."
(http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/07/10_ivins.html)
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The right wing extremists and "good Christians" tolerate Bush's lies for different reasons, which we won't get into at this time. And no doubt, there are some naive Americans who believe that "God's chosen President" couldn't lie because he was anointed, as Bush claims, by the Lord Almighty.
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The reality is that Bush can't STOP lying. In fact, he almost never tells the truth. He has, as we noted in the title of a Buzz-Flash editorial, made presidential lying seem banal when it is, in actuality, the betrayal of a nation. http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/03/07/18.html
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Many of the lies that led us into Iraq have been thoroughly documented at this point -- and these are only the tip of the iceberg. Yet, the mainstream media doesn't, in general, believe that these lies -- that are tantamount to treason -- are worthy of front page news coverage.
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And the culture of deception and prevarication pervades his entire administration. Just look at the 60 Minutes II story a short time ago, when an aide to Colin Powell charged that the American Secretary of State knowingly lied in his infamous U.N. speech "justifying" the war with Iraq. That story hardly penetrated even one news cycle.
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So, today, Bush lied about his most grandstanding, insulting, ego-tripping stunt: his "Mission Accomplished" appearance aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. In his October 28th "news conference," President Pinocchio claimed:
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"The 'Mission Accomplished' sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished," Bush said.
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"I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious advance man from my staff — they weren't that ingenious, by the way."
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That, of course, was a lie. The people who clean up Bush's lies -- the ones who would follow an elephant in a circus with brooms and garbage bags for the droppings -- quickly tried to repair the damage with a parsing of Bush's statement that was clearly laughable, if the stakes weren't so high:
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"After the news conference, a White House spokeswoman said the Lincoln's crew asked the White House to have the sign made. The White House asked a private vendor to produce the sign, and the crew put it up, said the spokeswoman. She said she did not know who paid for the sign." [LINK]
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Since the White House put up the "Mission Accomplished" banner, 217 American soldiers have died in Iraq many more than died before his hideous Hollywood-theatrical appearance on the aircraft carrier. Hundreds of our soldiers have been wounded since he appeared under that White House conceived and made sign.
http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx
The AWOL Chickenhawk, who let other young men die in his place in Vietnam, pretended he was top gun, but he's always AWOL from the truth.
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Here is what some of our BuzzFlash readers have to say about Bush's latest brazen lie, one that is of deadly symbolic and real importance. Some of the material will be repetitious, but read it through for the full documentation of a president who can't tell the truth:
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Excerpt from a CNN Story, "Keeper of Bush image lift stagecraft to new heights," about how every aspect of a Bush media appearance is stage crafted. Nothing happens by accident:
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The most elaborate — and criticized — White House event so far was Mr. Bush's speech aboard the Abraham Lincoln announcing the end of major combat in Iraq. White House officials say that a variety of people, including the president, came up with the idea, and that Mr. Sforza embedded himself on the carrier to make preparations days before Mr. Bush's landing in a flight suit and his early evening speech.Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the "Mission Accomplished" banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call "magic hour light," which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush.
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"If you looked at the TV picture, you saw there was flattering light on his left cheek and slight shadowing on his right," Mr. King said. "It looked great."
(http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/05/16/nyt.bumiller)
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Today at his press conference, Bush said the following:
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THE PRESIDENT: The "Mission Accomplished" sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished. I know it was attributed some how to some ingenious advance man from my staff -- they weren't that ingenious, by the way.
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Buzz,
This is pretty low, when you stoop to blaming the sailors for the "Mission Accomplished" sign. This moron has never been accountable for anything in his life!
Gigi
Original DU thread: [LINK]
Credit goes to DU's Atomic Cat and Stephanie, not me! I'm just passing it along with their OK.
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Bush's denial today that the WH placed the banner on the carrier: [LINK]
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Q Mr. President, if I may take you back to May 1st when you stood on the USS Lincoln under a huge banner that said, "Mission Accomplished." At that time you declared major combat operations were over, but since that time there have been over 1,000 wounded, many of them amputees who are recovering at Walter Reed, 217 killed in action since that date. Will you acknowledge now that you were premature in making those remarks?
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THE PRESIDENT: Nora, I think you ought to look at my speech. I said, Iraq is a dangerous place and we've still got hard work to do, there's still more to be done. And we had just come off a very successful military operation. I was there to thank the troops.
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The "Mission Accomplished" sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished. I know it was attributed some how to some ingenious advance man from my staff -- they weren't that ingenious, by the way. But my statement was a clear statement, basically recognizing that this phase of the war for Iraq was over and there was a lot of dangerous work. And it's proved to be right, it is dangerous in Iraq. It's dangerous in Iraq because there are people who can't stand the thought of a free and peaceful Iraq. It is dangerous in Iraq because there are some who believe that we're soft, that the will of the United States can be shaken by suiciders -- and suiciders who are willing to drive up to a Red Cross center, a center of international help and aid and comfort, and just kill.
The Banner, hung (and designed? and produced?) by the USS Lincoln crew, according to Bush. Looks suspiciously similar to backdrops we see at every Bush speech: [LINK]
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Bush's speech on the carrier: [LINK]
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Bush makes historic speech aboard warship Thursday, May 1, 2003 Posted: 9:48 PM EDT (0148 GMT)
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ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CNN) -- The following is an unedited transcript of President Bush's historic speech from the flight deck of the USS Lincoln, during which he declared an end to major combat in Iraq:
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Thank you. Thank you all very much.
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Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.
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And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.
Video of the speech linked here: [LINK]
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Bush handlers stage manage every aspect of his appearances, including this one:
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Keepers of Bush image lift stagecraft to new heights
By Elisabeth Bumiller`New York Times Friday, May 16, 2003 Posted: 7:08 AM EDT (1108 GMT)http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/05/16/nyt.bumiller/
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The president's image makers, Mr. Bartlett said, work within a budget for White House travel and events allotted by Congress, which for fiscal 2003 was $3.7 million. He said he did not know the specific cost of staging Mr. Bush's Sept. 11 anniversary speech, or what the White House was charged for the lights. A spokeswoman at the headquarters of Musco Lighting in Oskaloosa, Iowa, said the company did not disclose the prices it charged clients.
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The most elaborate — and criticized — White House event so far was Mr. Bush's speech aboard the Abraham Lincoln announcing the end of major combat in Iraq. White House officials say that a variety of people, including the president, came up with the idea, and that Mr. Sforza embedded himself on the carrier to make preparations days before Mr. Bush's landing in a flight suit and his early evening speech.
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Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the "Mission Accomplished" banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call "magic hour light," which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush.
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"If you looked at the TV picture, you saw there was flattering light on his left cheek and slight shadowing on his right," Mr. King said. "It looked great."
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The trip was attacked by Democrats as an expensive political stunt, but White House officials said that Democrats needed a better issue for taking on the president. A New York Times/CBS News nationwide poll conducted May 9-12 found that the White House may have been right: 59 percent of those polled said it was appropriate, and not an effort to make political gain, for Mr. Bush to dress in a flight suit and announce the end of combat operations on the aircraft carrier.
Bush handlers admit that the event was SO stage-managed that the ship had to slow down so San Diego would not be visible to the cameras
[LINK]
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Explanation for Bush's Carrier Landing Altered
By Dana Milbank Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, May 7, 2003; Page A20
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President Bush chose to make a jet landing on an aircraft carrier last week even after he was told he could easily reach the ship by helicopter, the White House said yesterday, changing the explanation it gave for Bush's "Top Gun" style event.
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Bush's televised landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln, for which the president wore a flight suit and a helmet and took underwater survival training in the White House swimming pool, was the dramatic start to a visit to the carrier that included an air show and a televised speech to the nation. In his address, the president declared victory in Iraq in front of cheering sailors and a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished."
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White House officials had said, both before and after Bush's landing in a Navy S-3B Viking jet, that he took the plane solely to avoid inconveniencing the sailors, who were returning home after a deployment of nearly 10 months. The officials said that Bush decided not to wait until the ship was in helicopter range to avoid delaying the troops' homecoming.
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But instead of the carrier being hundreds of miles offshore, as aides had said it would be, the Lincoln was only about 30 miles from the coast when Bush made his "tail-hook" landing, in which the jet was stopped by cables on deck. Navy officers slowed and turned the ship when land became visible.
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Citing Fleischer's revised explanation, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) wrote to the General Accounting Office to ask for a "full accounting" of the cost of the trip.
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After Fleischer's remarks, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor, saying he was "deeply troubled" by Bush's actions, which he called "flamboyant showmanship." The octogenarian lawmaker criticized the White House for using the carrier "as an advertising backdrop" and the military "as stage props" for Bush's speech.
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An eerily similar backdrop:
http://www.pixelred.com/images/bush4.jpg
Mission Accomplished:
http://www.pixelred.com/images/bushmission.jpg
Another flag backdrop:
http://www.pixelred.com/images/bush5.jpg
One more:
http://www.pixelred.com/images/bush2.jpg
They used the SAME flag graphic:
This...
http://www.pixelred.com/images/bush6.jpg
Makes this:
http://www.pixelred.com/images/bushmission.jpg
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Gen. Wesley Clark made the following statement today:
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"Today, President Bush backtracked on his May 1 political photo op on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln by blaming the troops on the aircraft carrier for the declaration of 'mission accomplished' in Iraq. This is wrong, this is irresponsible and this is not leadership. Politicizing the mission of those troops in the first place was bad theater, and diminished the office of Commander in Chief -- but to now turn his comments on those very troops is outrageous. Instead of trying to blame the sailors and soldiers, the President owes our troops in harm's way and the American people a plan to bring peace to Iraq and stability to the region." http://clark04.com/press/release/047/
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This was also noted at http://www.mediawhoresonline/, which also reports that Bush lied when he said the Navy was responsible for the "Mission Accomplished" banner. Seems the White House did, in fact, produce it.
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Clark's statement and the truth about the banner both need your attention!
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Also, read "Whose Banner is It Anyway?" from the Air Force Times at http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2346349.php
