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Dick Morris: Bush=Jimmy "The Sweater" Carter?
Posted by Prof. Goose on April 18, 2006 - 4:05pm
hat tip to Kevin Drum for pointing us to this piece by Dick Morris entitled "The Republican Jimmy Carter" in which Morris says:
Bush has truly become the Republican equivalent of President Jimmy Carter, out of control, dropping in popularity, unable to resume command.... Yet Bush, like his father, fails to invent issues to give his presidency a new lease on life. Is he too tired or lazy to do so?Drum points out in response:
So what's the first fresh new idea Morris proposes for Bush? "Really focus on energy issues," he says, apparently oblivious to the fact that not only is this an old idea, it's an old idea originally popularized by....Jimmy Carter.*sigh* It is true what they say about politics, isn't it? Much like fashion, if you don't like an issue, just wait around, it will come back into vogue. Well, it's here. And this time, it ain't going away.
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I often wonder if Bush is practising patience in regards to Peakoil. Now, I am certainly not in favor of the '3 Days of the Condor' scenario where 99% of the Peakoil ignorant masses are propagandized into the wild screaming for the 'Nuke their Ass--I want Gas' mindset.
But my wild imagination sometimes speculates that the seemingly unstoppable nuclear collision with Iran will be the turning point in our leadership and the mainstream media. The President will go on TV to say military ops against Iran has commenced because of Peakoil and he will refer everyone to govt websites and freely available pamphlets explaining the 'Official' reasons for Peakoil. The MSM will totally reinforce this suddenly 'new' leadership disclosure to the shocked & awed general public.
The totally surprised masses will hurriedly read this misinfo, and the critical mass to create a 'No Thanks--I like Empty Tanks' mindset will be purposely precluded from ever forming. The transformation of our economy into a total war-machine will be remarkably swift, but totally futile in the long run.
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
I think that we are seeing an "Iron Triangle" of sorts defending the status quo: (1) most housing/auto/financing companies and related companies; (2) Most MSM companies that are selling advertising to Group #1 and (3) some major oil companies, major oil exporters and energy analysts that are working for the major oil companies and exporters.
In my opinion, Group #3 is afraid of punitive taxation (major oil companies) and military takeovers (exporters).
Group #1 wants to keep selling and financing large homes and SUV's.
Group #2 wants to keep selling advertising to Group #1.
Group #3 provides the arguments for Groups #1 and #2, i.e., we have trillions and trillions of barrels of remaining reserves.
Subkommander Dred
Yes it was. Here is a link to his famous 'Sweater Speech' where he tried to kickstart the 'No Thanks--I like Empty Tanks' mindset:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/ps_energy.html
Bob Shaw in Phx,AZ Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
I won't even get into Carter's legacy as a philanthropist, philosopher, and generally good guy. He might not have worked out as a president, but he's a human being worth respecting.
And that is not something I would credit Shrub with on his best day.
Call me unconvinced. Maybe Morris was trying to butter up some potential Democratic clients?
ROFLMAO!
You don't often find any humor at this site, other than the gallows type.
You were joking, right?
I lived (and suffered) through the Carter years. His policies where failures, his decisionmaking processes inept, and this judgment suspect. His behavior as an ex-president has been terrible! He was the one that handed a done deal to Clinton on the North Korean nukes, the one where they admitted to lying. He's played kissy face with Castro. He's given the stamp of approval to several illegitimate "elections" in Venezula and Iran.
Personally, I think the State Department should revoke his passport.
As to the "nuclear engineer" boast, he had, what, six months navy training? He was clearly over his head and out of his depth during the Three Mile Island accident.
We are here to discuss energy policy, economics, and technology together. Of course those topics stray into general politics where our opinions are much more divergent.
If you are secretly hoping that peak oil will create chaos and extreme social and economic disruption, then you want a guy like Jimmy Carter at the helm. He is a proven failure at dealing with energy issues.
Please supply (objective) documentation that that any election in Venezuela was certifiably "illegitimate". Name-calling by Bush administration officials does not count.
For extra credit, compare and contrast those elections with the last two US presidential elections. Pot, kettle, black????
Larry
Most of us here on TOD lived through the Carter years. Your experiences are hardly enlightening.
Goddamnit, you guys make this so easy. You should see how they play this game over at Daily Kos. I think they hand out valium early in the morning.
Obviously, history can not yet judge G.W. Bush. That's for the voters to do and the fact that he won re-election is the judgment that counts for now.
Historians actually rate GW among the worst presidents in history, and quite possibly THE worst.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9961300/the_worst_president_in_history?rnd=1145977567 178&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1069
You guys are just whistlin' past the graveyard.
You cannot be serious!
Carter has demonstrated amazing resourcefulness, courage, and integrity over the years. His efforts to illuminate our energy addiction, and take very real steps toward conservation was decades ahead of its time - clearly too much so to achieve lasting traction. Yes, he made mistakes as president (I didn't vote for him second time around), but considering his lifetime of service and achievement, he deserves far more respect then you give him.
Bush is certainly a take-charge guy - no doubt about that. However, he takes charge based on a highly subjective set of assumptions about reality, and surrounds himself with those of a similar mindset. At a time in history when we desperately need visionary leadership, we have a twisted neo-conservative administration whose political missteps in both domestic and foreign policy has been disastrous. The true extent to which the Bush administration's policies have harmed civilization will be seen in the light of history, as the consequences of his "face the facts - take charge" policies play out.
"We have no right to cheap gas."
and
"$3 gas is cheap."
Peak is going mainstream.What they are worried about,and the reason for nothing out of the talking heads,is they fear the loss of control. When people start to understand ,in their heart-of-hearts,its game over,and we are not going to miss this bullet,as a nation the bright ones will start makeing personel decisions that will make control of them impossible.Its the desire of the .gov types to maintain control... that is at the root of the lack of coverage of the mainstream media of peak oil....dont scare the public.God damn them this should be the top story on every paper and every tv station of the country
.....Saudis just verified 8% decline per year of production...peak oil is here
I have spent time at the state,county,and local level explaining the need for prestageing material specificly for acute,chronic fuel shortages,as well as the old fema material for switching tractors to run on woodchips thru gasification....I had to stop last year,due to poor health and complete frustration with the system.
the reason they politely lisened,was 13 year hands-on experience at emergency management at 17 commecial nuke stations.A total of 37 refueling as a Senior Health Physic Tech,starting with 2 years D.O.D.F.E.M.A C/105 radiological control RADCON. I have a lot of been there,done that,when things got bad.The US .gov spent close to half a mil. training me how to be creatively,and usefully paranoid,radiologicaly speaking.
This developed in me a good sense of what can bite me.I have been studying peak for around 5 years now.Peak will hurt us soon. But the actions of this administration has the potential to change hardship to disaster,and economic pain to complete destruction.
An excellent example is the administrations benign neglect of NOLA,as well as their turning back the help of locals who had the boat and gear to complete the evacuations.....their desire was to maintain complete federal control,as well as force the population to leave
The only way to develope emergency management ability that will be effective during a powerdown due to fuel shortages,is to make it local...neighborhood,by neighborhood,useing existing social structures....but we just dont have a lot of time...
Subkommander Dred
I agree with you that when it comes to disaster management, the federal government seems to be more interested in establishing control than in actually doing some good.
From everything I've seen, the federal government's response to Katrina (after they managed to find New Orleans on the map) had more the appearance of imposing de facto marshall law than disaster relief. The armed troops seemed to be there more to control the people rather than help them. You will recall that they even attempted to cut all communications except that which had to go through FEMA. Now what was the purpose of that?
You may know more about this than I do, but what is one to make of this $400 million+ project given to Kellogg Brown & Root by Homeland Security to build some unspecified number of detention facilities in certain unspecified locations? The officially stated purpose, as I recall, included some words about temporary immigration detention, emergency shelter, and 'other contingencies as may arise'. I'm beginning to get uneasy as to what sort of 'other contingencies' are being contemplated.
What's your take on this? Just another pointless government boondoggle or are some people in the Bush regime getting ready for when the shit hits the fan?
This is why I belive that peak oil has been known,and planned for for a long ,long time.Isnt it funny,we got the same old retreads from the raygun administration?That oil companies now are the most profitable,and powerful companies on earth now?That the elites and corparations now have utter control of all the levers of power in the government.They now write the laws that we "citizens" live by?It took nearly 40 years,but we now have the makeings of a facist plutocracy now,and I doubt those in power now wish to change.
The current admin. knows if the dems get the house,the subpoena power will spoil the game.I fear major backlash if there is any attempt to suspend or play games with the election comeing up.The plain working folks are angry.And they are also hip to the lying...
I am fairly sure the US will hit Iran before the elections.I am also sure this will result in a catastrophic retaliation.This retaliation can be the basis for implentation of martial law and other fun things.As I am no long anywhere near the "the action" consiter this speculation on my part.Anyone who spends the time to look at whats going on,will reach the same conclutions I have.
We,as a nation,are WilyE.coyote,off the cliff,before the drop.
Personally,I live next to the woods,have a large garden,and plant fruit trees.The die is cast.At this point of the game,my family,my clan,my garden is more important than beating my head against bureacratic brick walls.
The possible need to detain large numbers of people is certainly consistent with the need/desire to impose some form of marshall law in the event of mass unrest or some disaster, either natural or manmade. The question I have is: Why at this time? Is it just another malignant outgrowth of the Patriot Act, or is there a specific plan and purpose?
At any rate, I think that the immigration issue as one of the stated rationales for building mass detention facilites is the least credible. How reasonable is it to expect that we are suddenly going to be swamped with such a wave of illegal immigrants as to require mass detention facilities? On the other hand, the immigration issue has generated the largest mass protests since the Vietnam War. No, if the Bush regime is expecting very troubled times ahead, it would also be expecting large numbers of very angry people and therefore feels a need for some way of dealing with such troublemakers. The making of an American gulag?
I would agree that in the current political climate any anti-government activist who publically embarrasses the regime is really putting his ass on the line. I don't recall who it was, but a year or so ago some Republican congressman from one of the 'Red States' stated on the House floor that protesting against the Iraq occupation interferes with the war on terrorism and therefore such protest can be considered an act of terrorism and should be treated accordingly. This is the mentality of the people running the show.
And it's hardly a Republican/Democratic thing. The creeping police state is bipartisan. Just keep in mind that the atrocious siege of Waco took place under the Clinton regime.
Basically, it's one more issue where the new Republicans are moving in the direction of their new, southern, base, away from the old country club Republicans like his dad.
We have plans for invadeing Canada for christ sake.
Understand we have pirates running the ship-of-state these days.They got the keys to the files,and the checkbook.As soon as you understand that both political sides are owned by the same corp. money,it all makes sense.
What I belive is happening now,is a very large segment[critical mass] of the population now realizes just how radical this administration is.This also includes a lot of people who have serious money.They understand how wealth is created,as well as exactly what this group is up to.
When this administration failed to catch and skin the golden goose{social security}I belive the decision was made to destroy the currency thru inflation,breaking the social contract we have had for the last 60 years..I truly belive that we have elected people who intend to return our system to a pre-NewDeal form of social darwinism that leaves a few, Verrry wealthy,and the masses in poverty.They dont give a damn about anything for the 95% of us outhere with things like insurance and house payments. This is a plutocracy,by the rich ,for the rich.Warren Buffet once was ask if he thought class warfare was occuring.His reply"yes,and my side is winning".
Peak oil has figured in some plans made by the group that made bush president.Cheney himself gave presentations to various organizations that centered on the increadible demand that would generated by world industrial development.But the desire of those in power is to maintain control of the decision on how our country will deal with the arrival of peak.It is essential then, to maintain control of the dialog.I belive the rest of the nation,myself included, would prefer a less militant form of addressin the issue.They are trying to seize control of the whole middle east.700 bases,and god only knows how many mercenary troops we have,and I belive they WILL use nukes on Iran if given the slightest excuse
The patriot act,and the placement of the last few judges on the supreme court insure that power and wealth, will remain is a very few"strong hands".
What they have done ,is seal the pressure cooker,and plug the safety release.They think that the patriot act,domestic surveillance,and other more sophisicated means of social control will be effective in controlling the population as fuel,food shortages,ect.begin to occur here.Now its rolling blackouts in Houston,tommorow [?]
What I have seen to be true,over the years,is that complexity, in anything ,increases the likelyhood of critical failure. It is the web of complexity of our system that will prevent a efective soviet style police state from being created here I hope,although if you have a black skin in this country,you may feel that you live in a police state now.
We are starting to see ,things that have not been seen in the US for 100years.Bodies rotting in the street. Whole gulf states where the rule of law has turned upsidedown.
Military adventurism that would make the old warlords of the crusades howl with delight.Mercinaries,armed with full-auto weapons with shoot-to-kill orders walking he streets of a american city.
These things are just the start of the game.Its going to get weirder I think,and I dont know where it will end.
Democrats blast Bush for runaway gasoline prices
This is completely counterproductive for our society to recognize Peak Oil and to move ahead - very quickly. Instead, it reinforces the notion that we are somehow entitled to cheap energy. Nevermind that higher prices lead to more exploration, less consumption, cleaner environment, etc.
No, I believe in the Kunstler clusterfuck scenario. I am very cynical about the human race. We will destroy ourselves squabbling over the symptoms of Peak Oil instead of focusing on the solution. Maybe this is just an American-centric point of view, but when you're at the top and living "the great life" compared to the rest of the world, the last thing you will do is voluntarily give it all up and peacefully regress back to a pre-oil state of society. We will blow the world up before giving up our "American way of life."
As for leadership - there will never be any except for the megalomaniacs like Hitler that arise from desperation. The "Left" and the "Right" will always blame each other and point fingers. As I said above, look what the Democrats are doing. No, we are on a highway (pun intended) to hell, full-speed, pedal-to-the-metal, V12 burning away.
The Demopublicans are all of the same general mold. They suck, almost every single one of them. And they are one of my strongest reasons for believing that the United States is about to become a piece of history. As I've said before, we can manage the technology problems. What we can't manage is the psychology of peak oil, and the con artist nature of 99% of all politicians.
I'm going to say that the Reagan/Carter difference was less about underlying content and more about outward emotion.
It doesn't have to play again the same way. We can have a little Teddy Rosevelt vigor with solar panels, if someone just decides to mix it that way.