I think to justify the actions of Bush and Cheney as "they know not what they do" is a worse error in some respects than what they do, because they do know, perhaps Cheney more, as you say, than Bush, who at least can be said to have the cognitive powers to form justifications beyond Cheney's claim of privilege. Nevertheless, Bush is not ignorant of the distinctions between good and evil, he instead subverts the difference in his own mind, using reason to create reasons. It may not constitute evil per se, but it is still consciously wrong, like lying under oath.
Sometimes I question, I guess, whether "evil" is a meaningful way to view things. "True" and "False" work a litle better for me, or maybe, "Clearly Wrong" and "A Close Call".
there is a good, dispassionate, view of Cheney in this week's New Yorker. This guy is a bad guy and Bush's anti-intellectual mind is the perfect foil for Cheney"s manipulation of him. Somewhere I saw a quote of Bush, "I don't do nuance". How DID this jerk get elected!!! Politics require nuance.
There is a school ofthought that holds that Bush is less stupid than is assumed. Actually, by this time I think that most people don't think he is stupid at all. I am not prepared to believe that he is intelligent in the way that I think intellegence works, but he does seem shrewd. Nevertheless, there is very little that suggests to me that he's the guy pulling the strings, and his lifetime accomplishments up to 2000 certainly make him look more like a useful catspaw than anything else.
I keep coming back to this, but the Bush Administation reminds me of nothing so much as the bad guys in "That Hideous Strength".
With Kerry as Ransom and Dean as Merlin?
I haven't worked out who the good guys would be, but tell me that Ashcroft and Cheney aren't right out of the book.
Feh. Every year, I realize I like law and policy more and more and politics and parties less and less.
I'd vote for an alternative to Bush, if I thought there was one that held a real middle ground (so I'm somehow praying that the "Bull Moose Party" returns, I suppose). Kerry's too far left for me as to social services and intelligence gathering, Edwards just doesn't seem qualified for the c-in-c role, and Bush is, even for this (moderate) republican, not terribly impressive. Legislating marriage... good lord. Wake me up when politics is based on coherent theories.
Too right. What really makes you want to spit is when you realize that there are people working in government who have a clue, nad are trying to do the right thing, but are only able to acomplish what they can at the sufference of the people who believe that politics is a spoils system, nearly divorced from the provision of good government.
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