Both Certain and Wrong
In an article called "Without a Doubt," The New York Times Magazine explores Bush's faith-based presidency.
The money quote from Bruce Bartlett, a former advisor to Reagan and Bush I:
Absolute faith like [Bush's] overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence.... But you can't run the world on faith.Chilling stuff. And if this horrifying anecdote of utter ignorance from the article doesn't make you vote for Kerry, I am positive that no force or argument in the world will:
In the Oval Office in December 2002, the president met with a few ranking senators and members of the House, both Republicans and Democrats. In those days, there were high hopes that the United States-sponsored "road map" for the Israelis and Palestinians would be a pathway to peace, and the discussion that wintry day was, in part, about countries providing peacekeeping forces in the region. The problem, everyone agreed, was that a number of European countries, like France and Germany, had armies that were not trusted by either the Israelis or Palestinians. One congressman ó the Hungarian-born Tom Lantos, a Democrat from California and the only Holocaust survivor in Congress ó mentioned that the Scandinavian countries were viewed more positively. Lantos went on to describe for the president how the Swedish Army might be an ideal candidate to anchor a small peacekeeping force on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sweden has a well-trained force of about 25,000. The president looked at him appraisingly, several people in the room recall."I don't know why you're talking about Sweden," Bush said. "They're the neutral one. They don't have an army."
Lantos paused, a little shocked, and offered a gentlemanly reply: "Mr. President, you may have thought that I said Switzerland. They're the ones that are historically neutral, without an army." Then Lantos mentioned, in a gracious aside, that the Swiss do have a tough national guard to protect the country in the event of invasion.
Bush held to his view. "No, no, it's Sweden that has no army."
The room went silent, until someone changed the subject.
Comments
In Bush's defense, I'm sure he had a Swiss Army knife when he was a kid. You hear "Swiss Army" all the time and never "Swedish Army." You hear "Swedish Bikini Team."
Why do world affairs have to be so confusening?
Oh my fucking god, we're all doomed.
:/
To Bush's credit, he is simply reflecting the ignorance of his consituency. Even people who should have known better asked if I was going to take up skiing when I moved to Sweden. (Although there are good ski resorts on the border between Sweden and Norway, they aren't as good as in the Alps.)
it's become increasingly clear that his constant bushism aren't simply about ignorance or stubborness. the man is exhibiting symptoms of brain damage and it's not going to get better.