I've been calling Bush the antiChrist since before he was elected. Nothing he has done since them has convinced me otherwise.
Great post, Tom. I can add nothing to what you've written. I agree completely.
But if he can't think of anyone who believes this, I'll help him out by giving him the name of someone who does.
I do.
I'm Spartacus.
Ahab, Tom. D'accord.
BG
Debra: I don't know about the Antichrist...maybe the Antichrist's brother Fredo. 
Ahab, thanks! 
BG, thanks--and I like the Spartacus metaphor, it's definitely in line with what I intended.
I'm Spartacus, too! 
Great post, Tom, and thanks for the link to the Fallows article.
And I'd go more with the Antichrist's brother Shemp.
Thanks, Mr. Particular! How about Shedo? Or Fremp?
Oh, man, you guys are rolling! Spartacus, Fredo, Shemp!!! We're having fun now. This is going to be a good election season.
Debra, the idiocy and the demagoguery of Bush was obvious to me, too, from the first, sweaty, Texan megachurchianesque footage I ever saw of the man. There he was in 1998 or 1999, incredibly a candidate for president, this somebody's son, coddled and isolated from reality, selling his snakeoil to a huge, invited and worshipful audience of Republicans. Then, before you knew it, there he was again, astride the rubble on 9/14/01, answering a chorus of ringers in the WTC audience: "We can't hear you," they demanded of the President of the United States, "We can't hear you!" Bush delivered his lines as they were written, then he and the GOP went about the business of capitalizing on their great good fortune. AntiChrist? Let's just say he plays one on TV.
Ahab,
megachurchianesque Woo. Woo.
Nice post, as usual.
BG
Mr. Nobody,
The Shemp thing eludes me. If it's not too much trouble (or too embarassing for me), would you be willing to 'splain, please.
Sorry. Density attacks 'R us.
BG
LOL! BG, Tom's analogy with Fredo is certainly more meaningful. Calling him "Shemp" was just an insult. Casting Bush as Fredo addresses his shifting relationship with hardcore conservatives, but I felt the need for something that emphasized how stupid he is. The character of Fredo, apt as it is, dignifies him too much, I think. So, I called him Shemp as a joke.
By the way, in case your question is nothing more than "Who's Shemp?" ... Shemp Howard was the "fourth Stooge" of the Three Stooges. Moe, Larry, and Curly were the core Stooges. Shemp occasionally stood in when one of them was indisposed ... by, say, death, or something. Moe, Shemp, and (the original) Curly were all brothers in real life. And no, I am not a Three Stooges fan, shattering the myth that all guys love the Three Stooges. I thought their films were stupid even when I was a kid. But I was not able to escape from the ambient cultural awareness of them, which is how I know so much about them.
I hope this addresses your question, madam. And by all means, don't be embarrassed. If you didn't know who Shemp was, that's very much to your credit as a human being.
Thanks, BG! "Megachurchianesque" isn't quite a Churchillesque formulation and the "esque" is probably redundant anyway, but it felt right in context. Does anybody else remember those dramatically-lit, high production value, made for excerpting by CNN and the network newscasts Bush addresses of 1999? When cavernous Texan halls echoed with the smarmy preaching of a guy who obviously didn't measure up? The dope could have been reading from the back of a breakfast cereal box and those carefully composed audiences (they protected him even back then, or maybe especially back then) still would have roared their complete approval of the annointed one. Gee, who could've known it'd all go so badly? Ummm, I knew it! Anybody else out there forsee the inevitable trainwreck? Any other "cynics," as my GOP acquaintances call me, out there? Don't you feel ashamed that you never gave the Bushy fella a real chance? Me either!
Mr. Particular,
Guess I was trapped in that same ambient cultural awareness (lovely phrase, by the way); that's who I thought you meant. I felt the same way about them as you did.
Well, I've been nursing this post for the last three-quarters of an hour and I'm not getting anywhere.
Had a tooth pulled yesterday, and I think I'll call it a night.
Hope to see some of you on the morrow.
BG
Ahab,
I meant to reply to yours, too. Please see mine above to Mr. P.
BG
Hope to see some of you on the morrow.
You coming to Zeitgeist? If you are, I'll see you there!
Hope you're feeling better today, BirdGrlllllll.
Tom,
You coming to Zeitgeist? If you are, I'll see you there!
Veni (I came), vidi (I saw?), [vici] ... my latin is so scant (read, non-existant) that I haven't a clue as to the proper conjugation for THEY, i.e. you all, conquered. Anyway, you get my drift. I had such a wonderful time this afternoon! I'm so pleased to have made your actual acquaintance.
Thanks for having us.
BG
Ahab,
You're so nice to say so. I'm actually quite fine ... much to my amazement.
My dentist is doing some new voodoo dentistry, bone graft in preparation for an implant (bone banks, bones in a bottle/vial [cue Twilight Zone theme]) and this is not at all like what I'd have thought having a major molor extracted would be like. For instance, no swelling.
The process as explained to me (and as I looked it up) is FASCINATING. But I'll cut it short here. With one last thing: They TRACK the bone I've gotten ... it's from a 70-year old female.
cough. cough.
Anyway, sorry for all that detail. NO REPLY NECESSARY.
BG
BG, glad you made it! I enjoyed meeting you--hope you can make it to more of these events.
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