Point of View

The Debates –What Do They Mean?

When A Man Truly Believes An Obvious Lie, It Can Only Lead To Disaster
By Fred H. Arm

I recently had the fortune, (or misfortune) to watch the Kerry-Bush and Cheney-Edwards debates. Millions of viewers like me were pondering the veracity of the participants and for some voters, their reactions will decide who they will ultimately vote for. I frankly expect most politicians to bend, stretch, and/or distort the truth to one degree or other to make them selves more or less appealing to the public. I doubt whether there has ever been a politician who speaks the truth at all times. This quasi-truth I have grown to accept as the way it is, not how it should be.

Assuming this condition to be well founded, how can we as voters decide whom we would rather have as President of the United States? I listened very carefully, not only to the statements made and observed their respective demeanors, but I also tried to discern whether the politicians espoused their lies and exaggerations with a motive for the public good or to foster their own agenda upon the gullible public.

What became palpably obvious was that Bush seemed to actually believe the bullshit he was handing out! This man, whether driven by his obsessive compulsiveness with religious dogma, has simply a warped personality, or is so patently incompetent, that the nonsense simply rolls off his tongue without a moment’s reflection. I could excuse his behavior if I thought he was only blowing his horn to look better, but the man accepts the garbage he spews out as true and appropriate.

The entire world knows that there is not now nor in the immediate past weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq. A president who really cared about his people would have admitted that the Nation made a grave error in running off to war so quickly and apologized for the error. Not Mr. Bush. He is still singing his same old song. The same truth has been revealed with suspected ties to Al Queda as a justification for pre-emptive strikes against Iraq. Still no words of contrition from Bush. What does this man need to admit he has made a mistake?

I am reminded of an old joke by the late Red Foxx when he said, “If my wife ever catches me in bed with another woman, I just tell I am holding her for the police”. We can laugh at this because Foxx is obviously lying to avoid a tongue-lashing by his wife. The tragedy of Bush is that he seems to believe his lies. It is one thing to make up stories to make yourself look better or to get out trouble if you screwed up. But to fervently believe your stories when the opposite has been demonstrated many times over is simply too dangerous and aberrant for the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth.

I can foresee some dangerous scenarios arising if our glorious leader chooses to subvert, distort, or ignore reality irrespective as to how much has already been proven to the contrary. One needs only to look back briefly into history to find another such delusional leader. No matter how much valid information Adolph Hitler received during the latter part of World War II, he fervently believed he could still win the war and accordingly millions of people lost their lives on both sides due to his defective belief system.

Is Bush cut from a comparable cloth? It seems so as the debates seem to bear out. Obviously, his staff is not about to speak up against him. They seem to be on the same page. Whether their interests and beliefs are the same, only history will reveal. More likely persons such as Cheney are more interested in the monetary spoils a victory in Iraq will mean to him personally and to his cronys. Bush himself does not seem to be that mercenary; however, the effects of his stupidity and incompetence will live on in infamy. I cannot in true conscience consider this man for President.