Psycho killerQu’est que c’est

‘‘And I think it's important for me to be thoughtful and sensitive to those who have got something to say. I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life.''

That statement was made by President George W. Bush on Saturday. He said it while defending why he would not meet with Cindy Sheehan -- the grieving Mom of a soldier killed in Iraq. As anyone who pays any attention to the news must know by now, Cindy Sheehan has been holding a vigil for her son, Casey, in Crawford Texas; the place where Bush is taking a five week vacation.

Bush continued:

‘‘I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy,'' he said when asked about bike riding while a grieving mom wanted to speak with him. ‘‘And part of my being is to be outside exercising.''

‘‘So I'm mindful of what goes on around me,'' Bush added. ‘‘On the other hand, I'm also mindful that I've got a life to live and will do so.''

Bush's schedule that day included in addition to the two hour bike ride: a lunch meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a nap, some fishing, some reading and an evening Little League Baseball playoff game.

Certainly no one can deny that our leaders need time off -- even in times of war. FDR, for example, took frequent trips to Warm Springs, GA.

But Bush's statement, "I think it's also important for me to go on with my life..." reminded me immediately of something his mother, Barbara Bush said during the buildup to the war in Iraq:

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths," Barbara Bush said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on March 18, 2003. "Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

It reminded me of some other responses Bush has had to events that usually call for at least a show of compassion and sensitivity:

- The way he mocked Carla Faye Tucker. She was convicted of a horrendous crime and had sought a pardon from then Governor Bush while she was on death row based on her conversion to being "Born Again." As reported by conservative Tucker Carlson in Talk magazine Bush mimicked Ms. Tucker: "Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."

- The time that he continued on with his vacation plans even though his teenage daughter, Jenna, was rushed to the hospital for an emergency Christmas Night appendectomy, saying that if she cannot join the rest of the family for a Florida vacation, "she can clean out her room."

- The "cute" joke he made at the 2004 Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner. As David Corn of The Nation reported: But at one point, Bush showed a photo of himself looking for something out a window in the Oval Office, and he said, "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere." The audience laughed. I grimaced. But that wasn't the end of it. After a few more slides, there was a shot of Bush looking under furniture in the Oval Office. "Nope," he said. "No weapons over there." More laughter. Then another picture of Bush searching in his office: "Maybe under here." Laughter again. Disapproval must have registered upon my face, for one of my tablemates said, "Come on, David, this is funny." I wanted to reply, Over 500 Americans and literally countless Iraqis are dead because of a war that was supposedly fought to find weapons of mass destruction, and Bush is joking about it.

Of course now we know that Bush knew prior to the war that there was no real danger of "the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

Many used to mock Bill Clinton's use of the phrase "I feel your pain," but Clinton was a popular president -- even during his impeachment -- a majority of the public believed that Clinton was a compassionate man who understood them despite his own personal failings.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was able to bring out the best in the American people through the Great Depression and World War II. He inspired people to have both courage and to sacrifice of themselves to get our country through the most trying of times. Bush, on the other hand, continually raised the level of fear during the 2004 Election and has called on the nation to do nothing more than go shopping since 9/11.

Bush cannot call upon the people of this country to sacrifice of themselves because he does not posses that ability himself. He cannot sacrifice his bike riding time to meet with grieving mothers (there are more Gold Star Family Moms there than just Sheehan now). Neither can he sacrifice the time he spends at political fundraisers to meet with them.

Bush cannot sacrifice any time or political capital to be seen at the funerals of any soldiers who he sent to Iraq -- that would make the war too real for those not paying attention.

But the consequences of this war are making it into the public consciousness...the twenty National Guard members from the same unit in Ohio who died in one week...the doubling of the total number of Guard deaths from Pennsylvania the next. The war is getting too bloody to joke over...to "go on with my life" and ignore the pain of those left behind.

But Bush doesn't do pain well. He has no capacity to "feel our pain" and no capacity to summon our courage.

He appears more and more clearly to the public as the smirking frat boy and privileged son of a privileged son that many on the Left recognized him as from the start.

Moreover, to make a statement that, "I've got a life to live and will do so," in reference to why you will not meet with someone whose son no longer has a life to live because of war you started that was based on lies that you told goes beyond mere frat boy arrogance -- it reaches into the realm of sociopathic...of psychopathic.

You start a conversation you can’t even finish it.
You’re talkin’ a lot, but you’re not sayin’ anything.
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed.
Say something once, why say it again?

Psycho killer,
Qu’est que c’est
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away
Psycho killer
Qu’est que c’est
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away

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