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Bush Is Nothing If Not Consummate Con Man
based on a column by George McEvoy. October 22, 2005
The late and wonderfully caustic George Burns used to flick the ash off his cigar and say: "The secret of success in show business is sincerity. Once you learn how to fake that, you've got it made, kid."
That's the main problem now with the administration of George W. Bush. The faking isn't working anymore. And if you don't think politics isn't show business, you just haven't been watching.
The con that landed him in the White House, and then got him reelected, suddenly is being seen for what it is, the old flim-flameroo. A majority of the public isn't falling for his ah-shucks routine anymore.
For a while, the most obvious con jobs worked for Bush the Younger. That landing on the aircraft carrier, with him squeezed into a flight suit, strutting across the deck in front of a huge sign reading "Mission Accomplished," was so blatant that, watching it on TV, I figured all those sailors and Marines would burst out laughing at any moment. But no, they must have been under orders to be cheerleaders for the head cheerleader. And the public fell for it all.
Even after he and his cronies in the White House were caught in lie after lie — the weapons of mass destruction, the purported link between Iraq and the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon — the public swallowed his routine as if it were gospel.
But now, suddenly, the emperor's new clothes are seen for what they really are, a royal pretense.
The big con came a cropper when W. held that video conference Oct. 13 with 10 U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi. It turned out that the whole thing was as phony as any TV commercial.
You have been reading excerpts from "Bush is nothing if not consummate con man" by George McEvoy. You can read the entire piece here: tinyurl.com/a9x59. Thanks to palmbeachpost.com.
based on a column by George McEvoy. October 22, 2005
The late and wonderfully caustic George Burns used to flick the ash off his cigar and say: "The secret of success in show business is sincerity. Once you learn how to fake that, you've got it made, kid."
That's the main problem now with the administration of George W. Bush. The faking isn't working anymore. And if you don't think politics isn't show business, you just haven't been watching.
The con that landed him in the White House, and then got him reelected, suddenly is being seen for what it is, the old flim-flameroo. A majority of the public isn't falling for his ah-shucks routine anymore.
For a while, the most obvious con jobs worked for Bush the Younger. That landing on the aircraft carrier, with him squeezed into a flight suit, strutting across the deck in front of a huge sign reading "Mission Accomplished," was so blatant that, watching it on TV, I figured all those sailors and Marines would burst out laughing at any moment. But no, they must have been under orders to be cheerleaders for the head cheerleader. And the public fell for it all.
Even after he and his cronies in the White House were caught in lie after lie — the weapons of mass destruction, the purported link between Iraq and the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon — the public swallowed his routine as if it were gospel.
But now, suddenly, the emperor's new clothes are seen for what they really are, a royal pretense.
The big con came a cropper when W. held that video conference Oct. 13 with 10 U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi. It turned out that the whole thing was as phony as any TV commercial.
You have been reading excerpts from "Bush is nothing if not consummate con man" by George McEvoy. You can read the entire piece here: tinyurl.com/a9x59. Thanks to palmbeachpost.com.
