Syndrome of a Down
A day after President Bush forcefully defended the pending sale of some of our ports to a country whose royal family literally hangs out with Osama Bin Laden, the White House is pulling the Corky Defense (via Kos) :
President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday.
For dedicated Bush-watchers, the “he’s too retarded to know what he’s saying” defense is a very familiar tactic. Here’s how I described “The Corky Defense” almost three years ago :
Bush said his tax cuts would help everybody, but it turns out he’s screwing the poor. Bush said he knows for a fact that Saddam Hussein tried to get uranium from Africa, but it was known for almost a year that the evidence was forged. Bush’s buddy Ken Lay rips off investors for billions, but when asked about him, Bush suddenly turns into St. Peter and pretends he doesn’t even know him. Bush said that there are links between Iraq and al Qaeda, but the CIA concluded that there aren’t any. There were numerous prior warning about 9/11, but Bush didn’t get them and he didn’t remember the numerous warnings he’d beeen briefed on about terrorists hijacking planes into buildings.In all these cases, all he had to do was invoke The Corky Defense and any allegations of wrongdoing and negligence went away. I guess this shouldn’t be a suprise to anyone though. Back in the 2000 election, one of the biggest defenses of Bush’s clear mental inferiority to Al Gore was “Well, he may not be that bright, but he’s surrounding himself with bright people. He’s got Colin Powell!” It was clear then that Bush wasn’t exactly the micromanager type.
What Bush doesn’t seem to realize is that being a leader isn’t just about delegating authority, but accepting responsibility for mistakes made within your oganization. Sorry George, but saying “I don’t know” doesn’t cut it. Knowing what the hell you’re talking about is one of the minimum requirements of the presidency and if you can’t even handle that, then maybe you shouldn’t be in charge anymore.
This kind of ignorance is typical of the guy who didn’t know how bad Hurricane Katrina was until some interns burned him a DVD of news coverage. I’m willing to concede that Bush probably didn’t know much about this deal last week, but when it shows up on the front page of every major newspaper, you’d think he’d start asking a few questions. Bush has been able to avoid responsibility for his own mistakes again and again by playing dumb and blaming his subordinates, but even in the best possible circumstances a real leader would make sure he knew what was going on before opening his mouth.
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He knew enough about it to threaten to veto legislation blocking the deal.
Maybe Corky just needs a nap.
Comment by Stephen — February 22, 2006 @ 11:30 am
>Bush was unaware of the pending sale…
Ta da! Overzealous Republican staffer strikes again.
That guy sure gets around.
Comment by bartkid — February 22, 2006 @ 11:44 am
The Corky defense is, as always, complete horse shit. Almost as much as the ruckus this matter is raising in Congress. Though it pains me to agree with the Moron in Chief on anything, it’d be extremely difficult for the government of the UAE to somehow mastermind a terrorist attack when U.S. authorities — not the controlling corporations — remain in control of port security. Plus, the UAE’s government did not train or sponsor that country’s 9-11 hijackers any more than the U.S. trained or sponsored Timothy McVeigh.
What’s sickening about the whole thing is … well, several things. First, Congress is grandstanding to the goddamn rafters in the name of making itself look vigilant on national security. Democrats who do this seem bold in the face of an oppressive GOP regime; Republicans who do this are posturing themselves as being unafraid to defy an unpopular White House during an election year. (What a convenient attack of conscience.)
Second — and this is what’s kind of surprising to me when it comes from seemingly enlightened Democrats — all this saber-rattling is blatantly anti-Arab and anti-Islamic, and is trading on those same destructive, xenophobic sentiments among the voting public. I firmly believe that nearly everyone involved in the legislative backlash against this fairly innocuous business transaction is either making a cynical grab for votes during an election year, or is acting on a remarkably ignorant and mostly unfounded set of anti-Arab impulses. Even if it’s a combination of the two fueling this, the whole thing stinks to high hell.
Comment by briantologist — February 22, 2006 @ 11:50 am
White House: Bush didn’t know about ports deal until it was OK’d
President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to
Trackback by Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator — February 22, 2006 @ 11:59 am
George W. Bush does not play dumb.
Comment by Kamachanda — February 22, 2006 @ 2:14 pm
Bush has spent his entire presidency manipulating the American people to be afraid of middle eastern evildoers. Now he is surprised that everyone is afraid Arabs will be landing on our shores. This does seem like a red herring but it’s nice to see his fearmongering bite him in the ass.
Comment by Becky — February 22, 2006 @ 4:42 pm
great post-toasties
Comment by Lieutenant Breakfast — February 23, 2006 @ 6:09 am
Um, I think you meant to say “wary” not “weary”…
Comment by David — February 23, 2006 @ 12:20 pm