Phony

... he started telling us how he was never ashamed, when he was in some kind of trouble or something, to get right down on his knees and pray to God. He told us we should always pray to God - talk to Him and all - whenever we were. He told us we ought to think of Jesus as our buddy and all. He said he talked to Jesus all the time. Even when he was driving in his car. That killed me. I can just see the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs.
- J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Two notable events today: a decent citizen excoriates President George Bush during one of his typically canned public snake oil events, and it is revealed that Scooter Libby, indicted for revealing the secret identity of a CIA agent, is claiming in court papers that Bush not only knew all about the leak, he fucking authorized it.

Let's start with Mr. Harry Taylor, looking as honest as a classically American Norman Rockwell figure. Somehow he made his way into the event, and stands up to say to Bush's face that:

“I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration. And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself.”

Bush's response:

I'’m not your favorite guy.

Take a look at the video here, courtesy of Crooks & Liars.

Bush doesn't even answer his question directly, instead heading for the usual lies about wanting to do his NSA wiretaps constitutionally, that his lawyers told him it was constitutional, that he consulted with members of both parties in Congress on it.

It's easy to call Bush a liar, ever since his infamous 16 words claiming Saddam Hussain had sought uranium from Niger in his 2003 State of the Union address, the year he started the Iraq War, because he's never made amends for it. What's clear from watching the video of this Truman-esque Harry vs. Bush is that he's too phony to ever do anything of the kind.

Bush looks eager to answer, as if he's prepped with talking points for this kind of question, from this kind of mild-mannered citizen. It's a bit of a bully move from his bully pulpit, but most of what comes across is how insufferably smug El Presidente is. See how much pleasure he's getting in standing strong by his illegal activity, his power to drag America into war and not be held accountable, so perverse considering how much blood -- American and innocent Iraqi -- has been spilt.

This is a guy who enjoys being an asshole. Is it any surprise that away from the cameras he curses like a sailor? People think of him as a Texas boy, but he's a preppie, a smug, self-congratulatory, insular prep school kid who has an empathy deficiency.

As Holden Caufield says of his own prep school elsewhere in The Catcher in the Rye:

Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has - I'm not kidding.

Low on empathy, high on smug. Why did Cindy Sheehan protest the President? It was a reaction to being invited to the White House in an event supposedly honoring 15 dead soldiers. Her experience:

"He wouldn't look at the pictures of [my son] Casey. He didn't even know Casey's name. He came in the room and the very first thing he said is, 'So who are we honoring here?' He didn't even know Casey's name. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear anything about Casey. He wouldn't even call him 'him' or 'he.' He called him 'your loved one.' Every time we tried to talk about Casey and how much we missed him, he would change the subject. And he acted like it was a party."

Now, the other incredible news today goes right back to that great big State of the Union lie. The Joe Wilson story has been covered well elsewhere, particularly by Juan Cole, and if you need the background I urge you to read it. But again, that phony-baloney Bush said, when the news of the leak first broke,

There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. If there's leaks out of my administration, I want to know who it is, and if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of.

Now, in the Bush Administration, "being taken care of" might mean being commendated for dereliction of duty or subversion of the public trust. However, he did later clarify that that if anyone on his staff committed a crime in the CIA leak case, that person will "no longer work in my administration."

So, if Libby is telling the truth and Bush somehow authorized Vice President Richard "Dick" Cheney to authorize I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to leak the name of a CIA agent to a reporter, putting that agent and anyone she ever associated with while undercover in foreign countries in grave danger, does this mean Bush will fire himself?

Ahh, the real Bush. Bush the vindictive. Bush the hypocrite.

I'm betting he'll give himself a medal.