George's FACE always gives him away and he can't control it.

[vickitulsa]

I've been watching news clips of GWB speaking lately more than I would like, since I can hardly bear to see or hear him continue to tell his lies. There is a good reason for me to observe and listen to him more often right now, however: I know I can always rely on his facial expressions and body language to reveal how he REALLY thinks and feels, no matter what words are coming out of his mouth!

A few minutes ago on MSNBC I watched a brief video clip of this faux president which that network chose as indicative of his primary message delivered in Utah yesterday. I was absolutely amazed at how much stress and uneasiness, to put it mildly, were showing in W's face, tone of voice, and body as he fidgeted before the camera. He has always found it hard to control his physical expressions, but this time his failure to do so was quite pronounced.

It's difficult for me to feel 100 percent GOOD about this simply because I am concerned for all of us when such an unstable man remains at the highest office and the seat of most power in America -- and many would argue, in the world. But if we are right to want to witness George W. Bush decompensating under stress before our very eyes, then we should be feeling pretty good right now.

What drew my attention most was the sideways sliding of his lower jaw as he spoke words he knew to be lies about the war in Iraq and the "honoring" of the fallen we would be doing by continuing to occupy Iraq with no commitment to bring home the troops anytime soon. It was a sort of gritting or clenching of his teeth I was watching, only his facial expressions are not typical of most people, I have found. So what I was seeing in this tight-jawed sideways pulling on his face as he spoke was extreme uncertainty, even anxiety, and above all, concern for his own position in the eyes of his audience.

He knew even as he stepped up to the podium that there were a couple of thousand anti-war protestors just a few blocks away, of course, and that the ranks of those who oppose his policies are growing almost daily. Not only are the numbers of citizens against him growing, they are showing their anger and their willingness to speak out loudly to get his attention by turning out in the streets in protest!

George is surely aware that his approval numbers continue to slip downward as more American soldiers are reported killed and wounded in Iraq and the price of gas at the pump skyrockets on a weekly basis. I think he knows full well that his position on the war grows ever more tenuous and insupportable, even though he tries to insulate himself -- especially during his lengthy VACATION -- from the unhappiness of so many of the citizens he's been lying to ever since he began his first campaign for office.

So George's face is showing all these things whenever he has the nerve to face us at all. Yesterday he was shifting his weight from foot to foot and trying very hard to sound confident (but failing) as he delivered yet again the same old words of assurance about the war's value and progress. He seemed especially to approach the limit of his self-control when he spoke about the deaths of troops. His composure didn't completely fail, but it was so easy to see how difficult it was for him to maintain an even tone of voice and avoid letting it crack as he himself is cracking under the strain.

It's a strain he brought on himself, of course. He lied about the reasons given for launching the invasion of Iraq, and he has continued to lie ever since as his administration has called upon the generals incountry to shift their focus and tactics to defend against the ever more inventive and powerful insurgency. For every gain our soldiers make in Iraq, there are several areas where they lose ground in their fight to stabilize that country.

GWB is more aware than anyone of just how MUCH he has lied to all of us, and he can see -- even if he doesn't want to look at it -- how such a house of cards cannot continue to stand in the face of daily developments both in countries where our troops are fighting and here at home. So he has very good reasons to be nervous!

I know some posters here at DU have seen this deterioration in W's demeanor because they have mentioned it. I believe his out-of-control facial expressions are revealing his high anxiety about his stand on the war as well as his domestic policies which are not faring much better among a large segment of the population. When I see the man fidget ceaselessly and watch his eyes dart from side to side instead of looking Americans in the eye when he talks to us, I have little doubt what such mannerisms signify.

George W. Bush KNOWS he is losing his hold on the millions of his countrymen whom he has lied to and fooled -- for a time -- even as he seems unaware that he has lost control of his own face that is giving him away every time he speaks. Now that people are not buying his deceptions any more, now that they are beginning to refuse to accept the price THEY have to pay for believing him, I think we are seeing George decompensate in a big way ... right before our eyes.

Oh my, and now they're showing him talking before cameras in Idaho beside the governor of that state, and I'm absolutely stunned at his manner! Is anyone else seeing this?? Wow.... it's even worse than I thought. Never have I seen him so tentative and uncertain as he told his lies.....

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Arkansas Democrat]

1. I can't stand to watch him!

He reminds me of one of my foster dads who abused me as a young girl! :(

[txindy]

33. That's just awful

But, I'm confused. Why does your profile say you're a guy?

[Booster]

48. Good catch.

[Arkansas Democrat]

81. Oops! I'd better go

change that! I thought I clicked on female!! :(

[Hekate]

101. His body language has ALWAYS said "abuser" to me; it creeps me out

I particularly get that vibe from Dubya when he talks about death and destruction and vengeance -- he leans over the podium, and I lean back from the tv; he says "heh-heh-heh" and smirks, and my skin crawls. That man is never so genuine as when he talks about dealing out death.

I'm really sorry for your experience, but you completely validate my feelings and I thank you for sharing.

Hekate

[ramapo]

2. And that grin

What is that all about. The guy is always grinning even at the most inappropriate times. It isn;t even a smirk anymore but an outright grin.

What's so friggin' funny? That this guy is actually "leader" of the "free" world. The joke is on us...

[renie408]

19. My nine year old does that...

I say that she has 'inappropriate emotional responses'. She starts to giggle when she is in trouble. If you threaten her with discipline, she giggles. If she is in danger, she giggles. But she's a nine year old girl. Somehow it is easier to take in her than in the President of the United States. At least she has a chance to grow out of it.

[Lindacooks]

52. It's like he's asking for approval after every one of his 'statements'

begging those watching him to understand his ridiculous blathering and stumbling and agree with him.

[Cha]

80. LIke the bumpersticker says..

SOMEWHERE IN TEXAS A VILLAGE IS MISSING AN IDIOT

This just isn't hyperbole, either.

[Arugula Latte]

3. He's got the self control of a five-year-old boy

struggling to get through a boring church sermon without getting into too much trouble.

[BlueEyedSon]

4. You could see Powell and Rice lying their asses off in the recent CNN

show "Dead Wrong", by their facial expressions, general unease and wavering voices (during the lead-up to the Iraq Invasion).

How does everyone else just let this slide? I guess people don't watch the evening news.....

[speedoo]

5. Yup, just caught the last 20 seconds of his Idaho lie-session.

He is clearly losing it. The phony confidence and swagger are gone. Just trying to bluster his way through. Looked like he just got out of bed.

The fucking coward had better be getting ready to go to hell.

He has met (so to speak) someone who will not accept his lies, and who is not afraid to confront him... Cindy Shehhan.

[vickitulsa]

24. YES! And I think he honestly FEARS her!

As Swamp Rat depicted in one of his wonderful graphics -- he's scared to death of that woman!

I guess even though he lost his grip on sincerity and honesty many years ago -- if he ever had one, he can still recognize the Real Thing in someone else when he sees it.

And he's met with her before ... wouldn't let her talk about Casey and he wouldn't look at Casey's photos. When she tried to talk about Casey, he CHANGED THE SUBJECT. Oh yeah, he KNOWS what he's up against in that woman for sure!

And I'll bet some of his advisors have clued him in if he doesn't already "get it," about how this lady is going to be very VERY hard to smear or cancel out with any of their dirty tricks. One of the coolest things to me is that Cindy made it clear that she has long been an activist, so her accepting the help and reinforcements of the activist community is NOT an opportunist jumping on the bandwagon for publicity in any sense -- nor is it easy to claim that is the case.

They know it -- all those neocon nuts who have up till recently gotten clean away with their deceptions and dirty tricks and outright cheating U.S. citizens out of our right to vote and have our votes counted. I think they ALL can see the "dark at the end of the tunnel" and as you said, they had better be getting ready for hell because (I don't make the decision but I suspect) that's where a lot of them are gonna end up.....

Meanwhile, life on earth is gonna be fairly painful and uncomfortable for a lot of them, I reckon. Ya think? :grin: Even Rummy was starting to look like a man who could read the writing on the wall behind the reporters. His way of dealing with it seemed to be more like a satisfied, smug contentment that his gig had run this far before it fell apart. He can accept what happens now because he's too damn old to give a sh*t much anymore, and his reputation is beyond redemption anyhow.

I think Rumsfeld should be on trial for war crimes, and I hope some day that will happen. I know it's unlikely, but still, the wickedness, the plotted evil that these people have perpetrated, the deaths and maimings and suffering they have instigated and continued to endorse for YEARS now.... There should be some kind of reckoning!

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Imagevision]

85. Bush: It's like looking into Charles Manson's face -

every picture tells a story, Bush looks dangerous, out of touch!

[RONSTOO]

6. I thought I was the only one that noticed

it seems quite apparent that he is on the verge of some kinfd of meltdown. What would he do if Rove gets indicted...?lol


His mannerisms definitely belie his nervousness and unease.


That grinding of his teeth is irritating as hell.

[vickitulsa]

25. I think a lot of us have felt that way.

But I'm so happy to have learned when I came here to DU that there are PLENTY of people who see the truth in the face of the liar.

And welcome to DU, RONSTOO -- I'm glad you jumped in here with your say. :hi:

I think you're gonna like it here.... :pals:

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[calimary]

36. Welcome to DU, RONSTOO!

I'd LOVE to see the DT's he goes into when rove is indicted (hopefully). He's already as unstable as hell. And THIS is the guy with the finger on the button...

[TahitiNut]

7. It should be viewed with a actor/reactor paradigm.

Smirk is a pathological narcissist (Narcissistic Personality Disorder per DSM-IV). As such, he relies on causing others to react, seeing in that reaction the reflection of his own existence. That's the only purpose that others have. People are a means to his narcissistic ends, not an end in themselves. When he's on-stage and spewing his smirk-and-leer-and-challenge-laden vomit, he's harvesting reactions as a narcissistic supply. "Look, ma! No hands!" When, however, he's forced to react (if only in answering) to questions, he's put in the uncomfortable position of being a mirror rather than actor. He's struggling with turning the tables - forcing a reaction rather than reacting. But he's so embedded in the paradigm that he "leaks" reaction in hundreds of twitch and contort squirms. Smirk doesn't sit in an audience; he climbs onto the stage with the houselights on so he can see their reaction.

[vickitulsa]

26. Your diagnosis seems right on the money to me.

I hadn't gone so far as to settle on a diagnosis, but yours sure seems to ring true in every respect.

The immaturity he displays is prominent, too, in his symptom picture. Others here have commented on it -- and well they should, since he does exhibit traits that are better suited to someone say eight or nine years old!

And THIS MAN was given the reins of the United States of America at the start of the 21st Century?! My lord, what were those who PUT him there THINKING??? I guess they figured they could control him and have him serve their purposes splendidly; but they didn't count on the way he has tried to grab those reins and wield his power to his own devices. They didn't reckon he would rebel against them and start giving THEM orders -- orders which they must now FOLLOW.

I'll bet there's some serious ship-deserting going on behind the scenes that we can only imagine. :applause:

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[TrogL]

40. He's a sock puppet

Who can't even read the script properly.

[npincus]

42. have you read "Bush on the Couch"?

I just started reading it- your analysis is well-informed; perhaps you have knowledge and insight about human psychology. Though I have probably advanced B*sh on the evolutionary scale by inferring he may be human.

Your thoughts are very interesting and seem dead-on.

[TahitiNut]

46. I've only read excerpts ... and some spawned articles.

I'm not a professional in any sense in the areas of psychology (only the lower-division courses in college) ... merely a student of what's sneeringly called "self-improvement" approaches. I tend to "surf" such topics along with the philosophical/spiritual stuff ... merely to see what it might trigger in my thinking and see whether the paradigms are useful to me. The dynamics are fascinating to me -- and there's so much in everyday life to look at for examples, too.

A looong time ago, I got the impression/idea that I could meet someone, pay attention to what and how they talked (and moved), and get a pretty good idea what they thought was "the best time of their life." I've tested it fairly often and have a pretty high batting average. There's something about the way folks behave that will announce whether they were "in seventh heaven" in high school, college, the military, a young single, or some adolescent time. It's almost like a hand-lettered sign they carry. I've since found that traumatic events leave their mark as well -- creating something like a valley/dent in the topology of their emotional development. It's really quite fascinating.

[Lindacooks]

54. Wow - EXCELLENT analysis.

You should post this on its own thread, because this is the best analysis of the chimp that I have seen.

[TahitiNut]

58. Thanks! ... but threads I've started just sink under the GDebris.

:evilgrin: This topic has been well-discussed in the past on DU, if perhaps not this particular item of his behavior. It's not clear that the forum is attuned to sustaining it as well as in the past (and future, hopefully). GD's more like a food-fight than fine-dining these days -- or perhaps a better paradigm would be that we're a crowd sloshing in cheap wine from the keg rather than group doing wine-tasting and discussion.
:dunce:
It's amazing how much we're missing as the volcanic ash just keeps burying the village(rs) and tile murals. :silly: (I sometimes feel like an ash-hole.) :party:

[vickitulsa]

79. I'm still pretty new here, TN, but from what I've seen

quite a few excellent threads do tend to sink into the bog, all right. I guess that's to be expected ... we never know from day to day or week to week who is reading and responding, who is too busy or is on vacation. Or what topic is particularly likely to grab the attention of many instead of just a few.

I've only started two or three threads, and one time there were only a half-dozen replies (but they were very good ones), but then look what happened with THIS one! It's been a healthy, sustained thread now for several days and has garnered some of the best comments I've seen since I've been at DU.

You've been here a lot longer than I have, so you know how things go here way better than I would. But ya know, we have something in common -- a solid grounding in and perhaps a keen knack for understanding human behavior and seeing how the psychs might see it, due not to attaining advance degrees but to our own thirst for knowledge and searching for it ourselves wherever we can find it.

I happen to believe (and I've coined this phrase and use it often) that "being self-taught doesn't necessarily mean being poorly taught." Some of the brightest people around shunned the rigid and often arcane and unhelpful "book-learnin'" of the collegiate curricula and sought wisdom in the world about them, in people they meet (sometimes seeking them out), and in the libraries that are open to anyone who wants to do research and find out what's the latest thinking on any topic.

I got as far as the end of my junior year in college studies, with a 3.9 GPA and a lot of encouragement from some profs and friends to go right on through a BA and into the graduate degree pursuit that once appealed to me. But life circumstances made that difficult, and I had already discovered by the time I was 21 that a person could get an amazing education in a very practical way, just by living and paying attention. I wrote letters out of the blue to B.F. Skinner and to several authors who wrote stuff I appreciated, and not only Dr. Skinner but a few of those authors replied.

I got to know Harlan Ellison (quite an interesting little fella, heh heh) and Tony Jones (editor for the short-lived revival of Harper's Weekly), and one of the BEST of my contacts, Robert Pirsig, who wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and who became a dear friend over the year or so we exchanged letters. He told me the real story of his son -- yes, the same one who was the "model" for the 12-year-old boy the protagonist took with him on his cross-country motorcycle trip. Bob's real life son was killed when he was just 19 years old, stabbed senselessly on a street in San Francisco one night when he was going home to his Zen Buddhist retreat from a friend's house. Bob finally told me that my wanting him to exchange letters with me regularly was rather like asking a mailman to take a hike on his vacation, and I understood that (who wouldn't?), so we stopped writing but I've never forgotten him and how much he taught me. At the time I last heard from him, he had remarried, had a young wife who was about to give birth to a new son, and they were living in his boat off the coast of the Isle of Wight. He was working on a new book, another novel, I think. Cool, huh?

And the B.F. Skinner thing ... well, I wrote a bit about that in one post here at DU. Heaven knows I learned a tremendous amount from that guy during the years we were in touch. He was disappointed but understanding that I hadn't stayed in Cambridge to study under him at Harvard and become a "Skinnerian disciple," as he liked to put it. In one of the last letters I received from him, he was about to travel to Missouri to deliver a speech or hold a seminar or something, and he wanted me to meet him there. I wrote back that I was tied up with my own college classes at the time, and he was a bit frustrated. He called me up and said, "I'll do anything to spend some time with you except move to Oklahoma!" Hahaha, now THAT was funny!

Btw, he also wanted me to have his baby. HAH! Apparently I wasn't the first young woman he'd "gotten to know" outside his regular classroom curricula... but I was too screwed up in those days to make the most of my relationship with him. One friend told me I ought to write a book about that "adventure" -- or at least an article. But I had promised him I wouldn't do anything like that, and I didn't really want to anyway. He was, for all his quirks and flaws, a very good man, a warm and loving guy -- something you'd never have guessed if you just studied his behaviorism tomes.

So there are plenty of ways to gain wisdom and knowledge in this world, as you clearly know already; and books and professors can help but they surely aren't the only sources for hungry minds to turn to.

And after all, your post to this thread sorta spawned its own sub-thread, with some interesting feedback!

I for one would like to hear plenty more of what you have to say, because you clearly have a lot of insight into human behavior. GOODONYAMATE!

Oh, and I loved your dining analogy re DU, and your clever take on what we may be missing here -- the village(rs) and tile murals buried in the ash -- and your pun on feeling like an ash-hole. Too funny! So you're witty as hell to boot! ;)

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[TahitiNut]

84. Indeed, we seem to have similar perspectives.

While I (barely) finished my undergraduate and (stolidly) forged onward in a graduate program, I could never find enough leashes to rein in my curiosity for things not emphasized in the curriculum, and my disdain for things that were. It has always been far more difficult for me to hike at someone else's pace than at my own, both literally and figuratively. I sometimes think I have a kind of scoliosis of the intellect - hugely preferring to swim rather than march in lockstep.

I've also been very fortunate in having some remarkable people touch my life ... from James Martin, Ken Iverson, Edsgar Dijkstra, and Grace Hopper to Soapy Williams and Walter Reuther (and being a sideboy for JFK). I'd rather shine shoes at gatherings of such folks than be fed grapes at others. I secretly revel in being a pest and have never grown out of the "Why, Mommy?" phase. I'd rather play Trivial Pursuit than Hollywood Squares. Having lived a life of eventually climbing out of every Skinner Box, I still love cheeses. (Androuet's in Paris is a favorite restaurant of mine.) :dunce:

BTW ... Welcome to DU! :hi:
(My stepbrother lives in Tulsa ... I can only cringe.) :evilgrin:

[vickitulsa]

88. Thanks for the welcome to DU

Here's a bit of humor about that welcome, though. Whenever I see it, DUers almost invariably put an exclamation point at the end, and my brain, doing its own thing (as it so often does) keeps seeing the "DU!" as "DUI"!

Well, I've been here long enough to know you're not all a buncha drunks, that's for sure. ;) I enjoyed reading your abbreviated bio, TN, and I'll bet I'd find quite a few DUers have interesting bios. The food fight atmosphere may be a bit rowdy right now, but I've also seen a fair bit of really intelligent, thoughtful, and original insight articulated here in the short time I've been reading posts. The mods seem to be top notch and the site is organized and easy to learn my way around in; and I've certainly been warmly welcomed a number of times. No one new to a venue ever gets tired of that sort of thing! Especially when it's sincerely offered, as appears to be the case here.

I know what you mean about being a "pest." Harlan Ellison, the brilliant sci-fi writer who is known for his snot-nosed attitude and short stature (the two may be related), answered my first two letters by saying he did NOT want to correspond with me. In the second one he included a really sad letter some poor young girl had written him, fawning over him and practically begging him to let her come to him and be his slave. I was so pissed, I wrote him back a really LONG letter, typed up in finest form and scolding him for comparing me to that particular "fan."

To get his attention and because I was just at that time fending off Fred Skinner's coaxings to return to Harvard after I'd left there in a hurry, I told Harlan a bit about my relationship with the great shrink.

Almost immediately I received a POST CARD back from Mr. Ellison, and on it he had handwritten (not had a secretary type) a short message, saying something like this:

"If you're ever in Thousand Oaks, drop by. Skinner is an ass. Love, Harlan."

I never made it out to Thousand Oaks, but I pictured his home there and fantasized a bit. Thought about it; I'd hitched my way around some before then. But I figured he'd tire of me in short order in person since I was still just a "child" (only 21 then). We continued to exchange letters for quite a while, and his next one to me after the post card was three full pages long, single-space typed -- and he said he had done it *himself*, which amazed me. I doubt by that time in his career he very often typed his own material anymore, even personal items! And that one letter was as long as some of his short stories.

Which goes to illustrate just what you indicated, that being a "pest" can get you some mighty interesting results from some awfully interesting people.

And I've always believed that "adventures" are about the best learning vehicles going. When I was suicidal in 1970 and stuck out my thumb to hitchhike anywhere else but where I was, my first stop was to see my former boss, an Australian and the county psychologist in my hometown who'd become my surrogate father and confidant after becoming my first boss on a real, grown-up job. He told me, after I explained that I was "on the screaming edge" re the suicide thing, to just keep moving like I was doing. He insisted I exchange my small wad of cash for traveler's checks and take a bus instead of hitching, which I did. (But I got off the bus and resumed hitching soon after ;).) Bruce told me that if I kept moving, traveling, I would encounter people and learn a lot and see places that would enthrall me ... and in that way I really might be able to "run away from myself."

He was so right!

Mentors needn't be famous or even unique to be worthy, of course. But it's fun to see the private side of well-known persons too. I think what many people figure is that all famous people are unapproachable. But the truth is you just have to figure out a way to be interesting to them, IMO. Ironic how it works, though; how a person's "celebrity" ceases to matter much once you get to know the human being behind the public image.

Oh, and through my friendship with Fred Skinner, I got to talk to Carl Rogers as well -- the original "Rogerian" shrink who was Fred's longtime "rival." Another fascinating man, though I still think his approach to therapy is ridiculous. :D

Nice chatting with you, TN.

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[glitch]

8. I predicted he'd crack in June, and resign for (genuine) health reasons

so I guess he's doing better than I thought he would. But it's only a matter of time.
He should be fearing an internal coup.

[Javaman]

15. It's amazing what scotch and ecstasy will do to keep a person going.

[tavalon]

59. What?

Is someone going to depose President Cheney! Oh no!

[glitch]

65. Sure! And everybody would be so sad and sympathetic for lil boots

they'd let cheney 'choose' jebbie as the new vp.
And the line of secession is secured. :crazy: :silly: :rofl:
Actually, I think bush really is ill and they don't know how to play it.

[vickitulsa]

82. Me too. I think they planned for a lot of eventualities, but not this.

So there's bound to be a lot of scrambling going on back at "W Management Headquarters."

One problem with that is, however, that each dirty rat aboard that floundering ship might be VERY busy just trying to figure out where HE's gonna turn if The Crunch gets much worse. And I do see The Crunch getting much worse....

The gas prices thing -- that's an issue that will NOT go away, and what with so many in this administration having made their whadayacallit, their name, their wealth, their GOLD, in that bizness, folks ain't likely to look upon any of them too kindly as the mega-rich mega-corporate ops like Exxon and Amoco continue to reap profits higher than any they've ever known. While the little guy can't afford to keep his small business going because he depends on a small fleet of vehicles that require regular fillups....

How on earth can any business that "delivers" turn a profit these days? It will soon cost more to have a pizza delivered than you'll pay for the foodstuffs!

I think this issue, even more than the ill-advised and poorly managed "war on terror" and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the one that those on the Bush team have feared turning sour on them. LONG before now, those who've benefitted most from the monstrous fossil fuel rip-off at the expense of mass populations have known the jig might be up for them one day. I worked in that industry for three decades and at the top, as I've mentioned, for the CEOs and presidents of companies like Bechtel and Occidental and Williams Brothers Engineering -- the most prominent support company to the Big Oil industry. I KNOW how these bigwigs feel about being "found out" by the public for all the shennanigans they've pulled, the outright deceptions they've perpetrated on us all about what could and couldn't be done in the energy industry. They've lied and covered up and polluted -- with a virtually free hand ever since human beings fell in love with automobiles, and then air travel.

They KNOW what chickens might come home to roost one day. And I think they see the writing on the wall, sensing that "one day" is fast arriving.

So W and the rest of his Oil Cabal crew, including his daddy, have plenty of good reasons to be nervous to the point of breakdowns. And how can they mount a good coverup and defense for W's freakout if they are all busy trying to get their own Lear jets fueled up for a fast trip outta here?.............

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[glitch]

87. Yes - they probably wouldn't believe it, but most of us are truly glad

we're not them, for many reasons. They may think they're envied, but they will be extremely lucky to get pity.

[elehhhhna]

9. I LOVE WATCHING him devolve. I paid for my ticket,

so I'm staying for the show.

[Contrary1]

10. His rapid blinking is the clincher. n/t

[RONSTOO]

11. the teeth grinding and stuttering

really give him away

[yojon]

57. Nixon used to do that

when he was lying .. which was most of the time

[Dinger]

68. Yup, Remember The Debates

Where Kerry KICKED HIS ASS? Once he started blinking, you know the meltdown had begun.

[Javaman]

12. Try watching one of his* speaches with the sound off...

It's a completely different message he's* sending then when you hear him* speak. He's like the little kid that tells a lie, he can't stand in one spot and keeps moving around, never once looking you in the eye.

"your mouth says one thing, but your body says, yes yes yes!" (must be said with an affected French accent)

colossal failure*

[vickitulsa]

22. I do this all the time -- with many I see speaking on TV.

And it's always an eye-opener, no matter how well I may think I've already pegged a person.

I guess I'm not surprised at the response to this thread because the man just makes it impossible not to mock and loathe him by the way he APPEARS.

I was hoping he'd crack sooner, too, but the signs are sure there in abundance now. It IS kinda satisfying -- no, it's DAMNED satisfying -- to see him devolve, all right. I hadn't considered that he might actually resign his office for health reasons -- which could indeed be genuine. Hmmm.... could be a way for all those neocons who propped him up to try to save face maybe?

And excuse that pun -- "save face"! Just can't resist sometimes!

Just having to turn OFF Rummy right now ... been half-watching and listening for a while and just can't take anymore! Try watching HIM with the sound off ....... whole different story. One controlled human being. Or should I say maybe "anal"??

One thing I noticed was that he is once again trying to get CHUMMY and FUNNY with the reporters ... what's THAT a sign of? ;)

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

13. bush anxiety

I surely hope this pressure keeps up on him taking away his grinning veneer. Saying "keep the troops there to honor the fallen soldiers", that is really twisting things. First it was, we need to stay because we are already there, and now it is stay for honor. And I heard that some pro-war families from Vacaville are going to the ranch to counter Sheehan. I wonder how they were pulled into this. The republicans use the technique of turning the tables, but this one might be too much on an individual level for them to turn around.

[Javaman]

16. The difference is, we have Cindy they have moron*...

Let's see which protest group last longer. I think we all know. Between truth and lies, Truth always wins.

[calimary]

17. Welcome to DU!

I'd love to see him devolve completely on TV some evening. See that "Texas Two-step" take him all the way down. Maybe he's out making these appearances because his handlers believe he's sufficiently dried out by now. I doubt it. I would think he'd need some numbing to alleviate the pain of the mother's anguish and the growing protests that are following him around and the bad poll numbers and the louder and more public voices of his critics (some within his own party). He's turning to something. He's not sufficiently strong of character to conquer this on his own.

[Supersedeas]

14. the twiching jaw shift has been pronounced since the Robert's nomination

a primetime event designed to change the subject from Rove and the War--though the pretext of it all got the better of his physical manifestations

[cliss]

18. I regret to say - the TV is gone.

Bush was responsible for this. So I can't offer any opinions or feedback. But -- I love reading posts about him.

GREAT post, VT. Awesome writing.

[vickitulsa]

27. Thanks so much, cliss.

I just sat down and dashed off that post because I couldn't take any more of watching and listening to him without sounding off about how I see him falling apart.

I know exactly how you feel re W being the reason you don't have a TV anymore, too! I can't even guess how many times I've had to grab the remote in a huge hurry to at least mute the sound when "he" starts speaking. Even worse than looking at him, it's the sound of his VOICE that really grates on me. And those inane chuckles, the way he stumbles and stutters and mangles the English language ... I literally cannot bear to keep listening to it, most times!

So I've gotten real fast on the mute button. And usually I won't even watch him with the sound down. Often when I want to know how he's responding to something or what he said in a major speech, I just wait until the news networks are boiling it down to a sound bite and then listen to that. I prefer it when they do NOT run a clip of the man himself speaking and instead summarize his message themselves.

I sure am feeling hopeful now, at long last, that there may be a time coming when we will be able to tune in and see the news of W waving goodbye from the steps of a helicopter, a la Nixon. Then I WISH we could see him being frog-marched into court to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against the American people, right alongside Karl Rove!

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[renate]

31. I used to think Reagan's voice was the most irritating possible

How little I knew. And it's not just the voices that differ--Reagan's "heh-heh"s were just sort of befuddled, not actually evil.

(OT: When I hear Rita Cosby's voice all I can think about is how much it makes me want to clear my throat. It's so distracting...she sounds like she's talking from behind a wall of mucus.)

[calimary]

35. Around our house, she's referred to as Rita Clear-Your-Throat.

Somebody in the executive suites in the greater NBC corporate organization undoubtedly thinks that's sexy and should be on the air. Bet on it. Could even be that she's a bedmate of somebody in the NBC brass. No other way to explain the way she's literally being jammed down our throats in every day part, promo'ed up the ying/yang, doing inserts in EVERYBODY ELSE'S show - they didn't even give this much hoo-hah to Tucker Carlson, for heaven's sakes. They might as well change the name of MSNBC to the Rita Cosby network.

I find her revolting. Besides, she still reeks of Pox "news."

[MADem]

71. I don't think she has any love for Faux

Supposedly, she was fired for being too fat and old. She actually looks better without the nonsensical cleavage, the porn star makeup, and the poufy hair.

She gets very good numbers, because she deals in the "salacious/celebrity/crime" realm. And the irritating voice is so unusual for TV, it is actually a draw.

Hopefully, the Pox stink will wear off in time. That said, her bread and butter is still trash TV, but if she can draw off Faux viewers, more power to her.

[calimary]

100. Rita Cosby gets very good numbers? Oy...

I find her - well, as I said earlier - revolting. And unlistenable. But, as you point out, if she draws viewers away from Pox "news" then she'll have served a purpose, I guess.

[Imagevision]

20. Bush looks like the sleezy car salesman you try to avoid

It's in his eye's and facial expressions, he lied us into a war killing over 100,000 not counting our own not to forget the ones they report as "wounded" what is wounded? arms and legs gone or just your legs?? what constitutes a wound.

[ginnyinWI]

21. I've noticed that deterioration too

And further evidence of his imbalance is his addiction to exercise--and even two hours or more a day is still not enough to relieve the stress. He's finding that you can't fool all of the people all of the time, and he's put himself in a corner with no way out.

Other body language signs of lying include:
looking sideways or toward the exit when talking, keeping hands turned downward/and or fists clenched, keeping arms close to the body, hunching over in self-protection, putting on a facial expression a split-second too late for it to be naturally going along with what is said, smiling or frowning only using the lower facial muscles rather than the whole face, and leaning away from rather than toward the person being spoken to.

With Dubya it's always better to watch his behavoir rather than listen to his words.

[GasolineBoycott]

74. YES!

Bush hunching over the podium, Bush out of breath in Idaho, Bush putting false and improper emphasis at critical moments in phrases. These are all signs of a coming collapse, in my opinion.

[vickitulsa]

90. I haven't yet viewed or heard any of W's big speech today in Idaho

but I happened to see a clip again today of the impromptu "chat" with reporters he had, with the Idaho governor at his side. This is the same bit I had watched earlier that made me start the thread.

This time the sound was down, and I watched closely for anything I'd missed earlier when I did have audio. Once more the tentativeness of his delivery when he spoke was just stunning. I don't think I've ever seen a public person that unsure of himself since ... well, I can't think of ANY time.

The most telling moments of all in that clip occurred early on in it, when he kept looking over (and up, since the ID gov is tall) at the man at his side as if he were ASKING PERMISSION to say anything, or seeking his approval of the words he offered! Some bold, daring leader!

It was much harder to read the governor, but I scrutinized him too this time and thought I caught him give little Georgie a small, tight, but encouraging smile and almost nodded at him, as if to say, "Yes, go ahead! Speak UP, you're the PRESIDENT, you spineless ninny!"

Someone remarked about W rejecting Laura's offer of a comforting hand at the end of his speech yesterday in Utah. I've been thinking about that, and it occurred to me that if he WAS rejecting her, he is making the biggest damn mistake of his life. Well, it's hard to pick ONE mistake as the biggest, but still....

Laura is the only reason W isn't still trying to dry out enough to keep from being dis-inherited by Poppa, IMO. Apparently she's the one who has been his refuge ever since they met, and she made him choose between her and the booze. Maybe now that he's been on a dry drunk for such a long time, he is actually *resenting* her! She came between him and the numbing he needed so badly. She ended his carousing and now he has to do things like jog or ride a bicycle just trying to cope with life.

Soooo.... it strikes me that if the rumors of his return to drinking or drugging on the sly are true, then he and Laura are *bound* to be having problems. And I think since he's been president, he's been listening to his "advisors" a lot more than his wife, which would mean he hasn't been paying attention if she's continued to be supportive of his abstinence -- IF he's still abstaining.

I can imagine all sorts of reasons for her reaching out to him. She could be trying to help him keep it together so he WON'T go grab a drink or find a Secret Service guy who'll let him snort a line in the limo unseen. Who would know better than his longsuffering wife when he was about to fall off the wagon or crack up?

Overall, he just looked so damned PATHETIC, especially in the early part of that little "news conference" with the Idaho governor, that if I didn't despise the man so much, I'd actually feel sorry for him!

But I am not tempted, not in his case, not one bit. The harm he's done to so many, the lies he's stuck to, the smearing of good people, the invasion of two countries and deaths of so many innocents ... I swear I don't know how even GOD could forgive such wickedness!

I wonder how the believers out there are feeling about "their" man now, btw? Reckon any of them are seeing the light and considering showing up outside the White House with a big sign reading, "REPENT! REPENT, for the end is near!"?

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[enigmatic]

103. What a great post

I think you nailed this perfectly; she's his last lifeline. Others always call on Condi because of her obvious "love" for him, but I think he uses her emotionally like he does everyone else.

[vickitulsa]

104. Hey thanks. Unfortunately, I was knocked offline for a couple

of days by a storm here, so I doubt anyone's checking this thread now. All the same, I wanted to tell ya I visited your Enigma Radio site and found it VERY interesting! I'm a musician after all.

I'm sure we'll see a lot more talk about W's psychological disintegration here at DU unless something happens to buck him up a LOT! Meanwhile I'm making it a point to take mental notes every time I see him now.

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

23. dubya body language

On the presidential debates, I didn't watch on TV, I listened on the radio, and I thought like many others that george W came across as a simpering, whining, baby. And people were embarassed for him, and yet he still won the election, probably because people really wanted to support him at that point. He looked worried for a while until he actually won I think. I think my point here is, maybe he won't be able to bounce back, because of not feeling that support wherever he turns.

[LittleClarkie]

28. The permasmirk was evident on the cover of the NYT today

What about that chicken movement with his head. What does that pecking motion signify when he talks?

[NightOwwl]

29. Chicken head...

I've never heard it described that way before, but it fits alright!

His head moves around just like a chicken...never stopping...always jutting back and forth...it is really unnerving.

[ginnyinWI]

47. it's the scrawny neck that does it. n/t

[vickitulsa]

32. That one annoys the hell outta me too.

In fact, it's one of his habits that pisses me off the MOST!

He seems to do it right along with the smirk (which I called a sneer before I heard others calling it a smirk) and whenever he seems to think he said something that made his point. Like, "Gotcha!"

Only he so seldom ever makes a point against ANYONE he's jousting with verbally, and the darting forward chicken-peck movement of his head is actually IMO his effort to TRY to make you think he "gotcha." It's similar to the way he repeats things over and over thinking he can make something true by forcing it down our throats or conditioning us in a Skinnerian way.

OR it could also be interpreted as a "ducking" movement -- like he's trying to avoid getting HIT in the head with a rotten egg or tomato someone is throwing at him. Hah! He probably realizes he *ought* to be the target of small missiles of contempt virtually every time he opens his mouth!

I do believe his poppa taught him a LOT of little tricks from his CIA days when he would have known some psyops methods; and *repetition* IS effective -- that's why we get so much of it in the classrooms. Everyone has noticed that W repeats the same things endlessly like he can only think in terms of short platitudes or mantras. There's a *reason* he does that -- and it actually works on some people.

I will confess to you all that I *knew* B.F. Skinner -- met him when I was a college student, a psych major, wanting to become a psychologist. I thought his school of thought re human behavior made more scientific sense than most others, so I wrote him a letter -- and he replied! I was 22 and he was 68 then, but we got well acquainted by mail ... we wrote letters at first but then at his urging we exchanged tape cassettes, recording our words to each other and mailing them. His handwriting was almost unreadable and sometimes he wanted to say things he didn't want his secretary to be transcribing. At the time (1973) he was a professor emeritus at Harvard and still rated a half-time secretary and a small office. His famous pigeons occupied more space than he did by that time! ;)

Then he invited me to come to Harvard and become a "Skinnerian disciple." He said I could be his "personal secretary" on his own payroll, not the school's, and I could attend BU until I finished my BA and then come to study at Harvard with his sponsorship.

I went to Boston, to Cambridge, but I didn't stay. The city and Harvard were just a bit too much of a culture shock and for that matter a *future shock* for this young Okie girl, and after just three weeks there I high-tailed it out of town on the same Greyhound bus I'd come in on! :D

But Fred and I (he insisted I call him "Fred") continued to be friends and corresponded for many years. I learned so much from the old gent; but what he had to teach me about human behavior was confined basically to his own school of psychology -- behaviorism. That's a big area, though; and his methods were found to be so sound that, as far as I know, his is the ONLY school of thought that was translated directly into use in our school systems in this country.

Do any of you recall something that appeared in high schools in 1966 and 1967 called "programmed learning"? That was behaviorism in practice. They used Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" in my English class and had a special booklet for it. Every few pages you took a mutiple choice quiz and on the very next page got your results. The same questions were repeated over and over. These two tactics in particular I remember from that class alone, but Skinner and those who followed in his footsteps developed curricula for classrooms from kindergarten (or even pre-school, when "programming" of minds is most easily done) to post-graduate collegiate studies.

I'm not as good at analyzing the Freudian elements of W's behavior, but what I do know is enough to make me shudder. Just to think of what this immature, narcissistic addict and alcoholic could do if he really slipped a cog but wasn't removed from power immediately! :yoiks:

Who, after all, could stop him? Dick Cheney? Rumsfeld? Hastert? I mean ... really! He has learned one thing: he doesn't have to listen to ANYBODY he doesn't want to now. He are the prezuhdent!

And if he DOES crack up, on national TV or in the privacy of the West Wing or his Crawford ranch, what then? Will that simply give all those neocon collaborators around him an easy excuse for their OWN behavior? THEIR evil deeds? "We were only doing what George wanted us to do." "We were worried about him too, but we respected him so we tried to help him instead of exposing him to ridicule." "We were just following ORDERS!"

Funny how I've come to think of SO MANY in his administration and among the corporate bigwigs and others who have supported his presidency as "collaborators." That is a term that has been used historically to describe persons who act AGAINST their own kind in order to benefit themselves. Sort of defines the whole lot of 'em pretty well, eh? *Sigh*

But I'm tired of sighing and WISHING things were different, by god! I'm sick of it all, sick of the worrying and wondering what in the world has gone WRONG in my country that this man could ever have reached the pinnacle of the political heap. I'm as fired up as anyone I've heard here or IRL as I keep trying to think of a way I can travel to Camp Casey -- Camp 1 or 2 or 10 or 101, as many of them as they can mount a need for, I'm ready! Why not a "Camp Casey - Tulsa"?

And even more am I trying to figure out how I might be able to go to Washington, DC in September -- the 24th and 25th, isn't it? -- for the BIG SHEEBANG when we gather our voices in one place for a huge shout that the world cannot fail to hear. I want the rest of the planet to understand that WE DO NOT SUPPORT GEORGE BUSH AND HIS WAR -- it's a war on Americans as surely as it's a war on Iraqis or terrorists or anyone else.

Just like the Republicans had their "contract with America" that I referred to as the "contract ON America" from the first day they announced it, this administration has literally ATTACKED us all. His mere presence in office is an assault on the senses, on sensibilities, on common sense. If he had his way, W would see to it that no scientific endeavor ever got any serious funding if it conflicted with his holy roller beliefs. We've ended up with a theocracy, or is it an oligarchy? Maybe it's both. A religious NUT in the White House is what we've got, and it's tearing this country apart and wreaking havoc on every one of our social systems.

Uh oh ... I'm ramble-ranting now, I'll stop. :blush:

But these are such important matters, and we've had to endure so much that is just plain WRONG. It's little wonder that so many of us feel the need to rant loud and long at times!

~VV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[rateyes]

30. Did you notice the repressed "sigh"..

at the end of his Utah speech..blowing his cheeks out as if to either keep from breaking down, or a "glad that's over" or both kind of reaction.

[barbaraann]

34. I saw that!

I also saw him walk right by Laura as she was trying to talk to him after the speech. He totally ignored her and she nervously put her hand in her pocket after the rejection. I watched it several times (from the c-span archives) and it seems to me she is used to bad treatment--whether it's just emotional bad treatment or more than that I don't know.

He was desperate to get off the stage after that speech. I think it started off well and then went sour ten or fifteen minutes into it, and the only enthusiastic applause after the beginning was when he mentioned bringing the troops home. He started yelling after it went sour.

I think he was afraid that a heckler would yell the truth.

[cpamomfromtexas]

92. Don't you know she wakes up every morning

and that song playing in her head is "WHAT WAS I THINKIN?"

[CrispyQ]

37. I can't stand to watch or listen to him, but

I hope when he totally loses it it's on live national TV.

Like you, I cannot believe that so many people do not see that he is on the verge of some kind of breakdown, or at the very least, barely holding on to any kind of ability to deal with the pressure of the shitstorm that he has created. I'll bet half of Cheney Rove's time is spent hoping the moran won't break down publicly.

Excellent thread!

[samsingh]

38. excellent analysis

[emcguffie]

39. Anybody have video or a link? NT

[nashville_brook]

41. great book on reading faces: Paul Ekman, Emotions Revealed

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/080507516X/qid=1124834109/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-8720414-8352916?v=glance&s=books


Emotions are what "make life livable," writes psychologist Ekman in this unique hands-on volume that flirts shrewdly with psychology and anthropology. His 40-odd years of research have led him to the conclusion (originally presented by Charles Darwin) that emotions, and their 10,000 facial expressions, are largely universal. While an American smile may look much like a grin expressed by a Fore tribesman of Papua New Guinea, what actually triggers the toothy twinkle is culturally, socially and even individually determined. Emotions theselves can't be turned off, but they can be controlled, and Ekman draws upon the Buddhist concept of mindfulness to explain how, by tuning in to one's own emotional triggers, one can develop a heightened "attentiveness," thereby side-stepping future blowouts. Ekman addresses in detail the "cascade of changes" that occur physiologically in an individual in the throes of one of five salient emotional categories (sadness, anger, fear, disgust and enjoyment). In his engaging style, he asks his readers to conjure these emotions by studying photographs, meditating upon their own experiences and, if that fails, to contort their faces into specific expressions, for Ekman has found that physical manifestations actually generate corresponding emotional responses in the brain. It is Ekman's hope that once these expressions have been identified, his readers will benefit from an increased sensitivity, and will possess the skills necessary for approaching others gripped with apparent emotion.

[allalone]

43. something I've noticed

that always bugs me. Do you see how when he shakes hands with anybody he keeps his body turned away from them and presents only his right side. It's creepy. Of course when he's making out with his Saudi pals he's right in there.

[nashville_brook]

44. couldn't agree more -- thom hartmann ran clips of W after 911, discussing

him "seeing" the first plan hit the building. then he changes the subject to what a good reading class it was. enfolded in that digression was a wish to escape, along with other emotions i won't mention.

he IS frightened lately. at first that gave me a little glee thinking it might be b/c of possible indictments. now i wonder if it could be something else.

[glitch]

56. internal coup

he knows the pack he's running with, and how he's fucking up their global shitcom.

[nashville_brook]

72. talking about reading faces -- i always thought his expression in the

classroom was "they fucked me"

and the reason why he didn't do anything -- he was too pissed and knew he wasn't in control personally and of the country.

[glitch]

76. I thought he looked guilty and fearful of getting caught. He's definitely

in on it all, IMO. You can be willfully ignorant, brain damaged from alcohol and drug abuse, and still have low cunning (think street thug, or mafia son).
The 'bush is an idiot' is the defense they'll bring out at trial, but I don't think it will work. Too many people have seen him be coherent when he's focused, usually on some cruelty.
He knows what he's doing and he knows who he's doing it for and with, and that is the source of the fear in his eyes.
Edit: you could be right about the early dementia, but I think the same effects can be seen in brain damage from alcohol/drug abuse.
Perhaps they'll present his scans at his trial. :)

[tavalon]

60. I think he's frightened because his mind

which was always small and incurious, is abandoning him. I think he has presenile dementia and I think, off and on, he understands that. He understands that he didn't used to be the sort who needed a transmitter from his handlers. He understands that while he's always been an arrogant prick, that these days he has temper tantrums like a five year old and he doesn't like that he can't control them. I think that occasionally, he realizes he was picked as the heir apparent specifically because his mind was going and so he would be the perfect puppet. Frankly, I think he's scared, really scared and can't even remember what the people who are actually in charge have planned.

Then sometimes when the presenile dementia takes hold, he just rides and has fun and hits his favorite juice and all is well in his world.

Such is presenile dementia.

The sad thing is I wanted this awful person to have many years to rue what he had helped cause and he will likely die of this within 10 years. I don't think that's quite enough justice. I'm vindictive that way.

[RONSTOO]

64. what is presenile dementia?

1. what is presenile dementia? Its degenerative?



2. Do you seriously think W shows symptoms of it?

[nashville_brook]

75. from my experience with my father and father-in-law

is that it can go either way with degeneration. it can be a symptom of other degeneration, such as blood clots in the carotid artery after heart surgery or other cardiovascular disease or trauma.

the emotional response to losing your mental ability can differ from person to person. but a short fuse and inability to focus are characteristics. there's also the propensity to repeat stories, thoughts over and over again bc their short term memory is failing. long term memory generally stays intact. so, you get to relive the glory days with the dementia sufferer. as it advances they lose the ability to stay within "the lines." behavior gets more socially unacceptable bc they remember the situation they are in or what is expected of them.

BUT -- shrub's biggest emotional challenge is his narcissicism.

[tavalon]

99. Yes and yes

Presenile dementia is a variative form of Alzheimers and attacks at an earlier age. Some who drank heavily in their youth seem to end up with the Alzheimers they were going to have any way earlier.

The suckiest thing is that when he finally gets brought up on charges and he says over and over again that he does not recall, it will be the only time in his sad, pathetic, dangerous life that he would be telling the truth.

There is no question in my mind that he has some form of degeneration. Whether that is because he's back on the bottle or the snow or whether his swiss cheese brain is failing him, I cannot know. But I have my suspicions.

[nashville_brook]

73. my dyslexia read presenile as prehensile

:)

my father in law has dementia and when it first started i noticed the same anger, tantrums. dementia is a sentence for the caregiver -- laura and her hired help will bear the brunt of this.

[belle]

95. "Use it or lose it..."

[allalone]

45. I can't stand ot look at him

but I'm afraid he's going to start babbling about strawberries and how he can prove they were stolen and I'm gonna miss it.

[EVDebs]

49. In baseball lingo isn't that a "tell" ? eom

[vickitulsa]

105. YES! I think in poker too....

[Jane Austin]

50. How about right after he stepped away from the lectern?

He puffed out his cheeks like a little kid showing relief he'd made it through his book report!

Unbelievable.

[babylonsister]

51. vickitulsa, very well said! Yes, he's feeling the

heat as you so eloquently said! As you and others have noted, he appears to be getting worse and it's a wonder no one is questioning his physical downfall; what are his physicians not telling us? I also saw a bit of him today; he could barely string a sentence together.
Welcome to DU and I hope we hear a lot more from you! :hi:

[vickitulsa]

106. Thanks, BabylonSister! I sure wish the storm had not

knocked me offline right when this thread was so interesting! My DSL went down right after my last post here, I think on the 24th. Too bad, too, that threads have such a short half-life here at DU, because if comments cease for a day or so on any thread, few people are reading it anymore (even if some do post further to it). At least that's what I think I'm seeing here. Everything seems to go by so VERY FAST at DU! :)

But I'm lovin' it all the same. So much to read, so many interesting and insightful people speaking out, drawing our attention to important news events and articles ... it's sort of mind-boggling, even for an "info-junkie" like me! haha

I've noticed your posts in some threads I've read and appreciated what you had to say, BabylonSister. Like your screen name, too. ;) :hi:

~VV

________________________________________

[Donailin]

53. He has GOT to be medicating himself

think of it, day in and day out he has to be told about more death, sinking poll numbers, comparisons to Nixon, Rove about to be indicted. . on and on.What good news can he possibly hear?

As an aside though, Robertsons comments only help us. Outrageous as they are, as batshit cray as that guy is, Bush has to deal with it too. He is going to get asked about those coments and he is going to have to distance himself, but yet not CONDEMN them because that would upset his base -- all one million of them, that's about all he has left.

I just wonder what he's on.

[babylonsister]

55. I wonder if he's really told what's going on.

Maybe, judging from his deterioration, that's actually a possibility.
Poor George - not!

[tavalon]

62. Take your choice

Treatment for Mild to Moderate AD

Four of these medications are called cholinesterase inhibitors. These drugs are prescribed for the treatment of mild to moderate AD. They may help delay or prevent symptoms from becoming worse for a limited time and may help control some behavioral symptoms. The medications are: Razadyne® (formerly known as Reminyl®) (galantamine), Exelon® (rivastigmine), Aricept® (donepezil), and Cognex® (tacrine). Scientists do not yet fully understand how cholinesterase inhibitors work to treat AD, but current research indicates that they prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine, a brain chemical believed to be important for memory and thinking. As AD progresses, the brain produces less and less acetylcholine; therefore, cholinesterase inhibitors may eventually lose their effect.
No published study directly compares these drugs. Because all four work in a similar way, it is not expected that switching from one of these drugs to another will produce significantly different results. However, an AD patient may respond better to one drug than another. Cognex® (tacrine) is no longer actively marketed by the manufacturer.

Treatment for Moderate to Severe AD
The fifth approved medication, known as Namenda® (memantine), is an N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist. It is prescribed for the treatment of moderate to severe AD. Studies have shown that the main effect of Namenda® is to delay progression of some of the symptoms of moderate to severe AD. The medication may allow patients to maintain certain daily functions a little longer. For example, Namenda® may help a patient in the later stages of AD maintain his or her ability to go to the bathroom independently for several more months, a benefit for both patients and caregivers.

Namenda® is believed to work by regulating glutamate, another important brain chemical that, when produced in excessive amounts, may lead to brain cell death. Because NMDA antagonists work very differently from cholinesterase inhibitors, the two types of drugs can be prescribed in combination.

[nashville_brook]

77. poppy took halcion -- doesn't Bush On The Couch talk about this?

i've read in a number of places that he has been on antidepressants and anxiety-lowering drugs for a while. i totally applaud this. if he needs to keep balance his chemicals, more power to him. he's already dangerous enough without being off-balance.

i agree with you on Robertson, but i wonder if he wasn't told to put this out there by the bushies. thom hartmann played the clip yesterday and he couldn't find the page he was reading from, like he wasn't familiar with the words. i can imagine the bushies flagrantly floating this thru pat robertson. he's their kind of people.

but back to what bush is on...i think he's still sniffing. the clips of him at g-8 in the interview where the guy asks him about the "dark nights of his soul." classic coked-up bahavior. breathing thru his nose, rushing the questions, laughing uncontrollably, unable to take the interviewer seriously, topped with hubris uncommon even for the chimp.

i think he takes the coke.

[Imagevision]

61. Bush? Lying eyes - something even Karen Hughes is helpless with!!

Bush lied us into a phoney war!

http://downingstreetmemo.com/

[NancyG]

63. I noticed his neck for the first time today.

It looked like an old person's neck. Rooster-like. Not the athelete he thinks he is.

[Hailtothechimp]

66. The jaw thing is really annoying.

Speak a sentence, move your jaw. repeat until applause line is delivered. flip a page and repeat. That's all he can handle anymore.

[slay]

67. My whole family has commented on it

Pretty fuckin creepy huh? :scared:

[CitrusLib]

69. A side effect of some anti-psychotics can be uncontrolled muscle movements

particularly in the face and mouth.

I'm more convinced than ever that W is on an anti-psychotic. If he'd suddenly gained a lot of weight, that would have clinched the deal for me. :-)

[belle]

96. Or just severe stress.

[IowaGuy]

70. After his speech at the VFW this past week....

he gulped, puffed out his cheeks, shook his head and emitted a big "whew".....reminded me of a terrified grade-schooler after struggling through a class presentation and arriving at the end....not far off, when you think about it.

[stevietheman]

86. I wonder if he'll "die" the same way Soviet leaders died in the...

early 80's... mysteriously. Maybe he's being poisoned. Or, he's psychotic on the brink of a "bunker suicide."

[nolabels]

78. Thanks for the update

I kinda try to pretty much ignore the inane fool myself. I was seeing this much earlier but guess most everybody is seeing it now. I have seen a lot used car salesmen with better moves. He's pitching but he doesn't seem to be able to make the sale, how nice :donut:


http://www.antiwar.com/doverimages/gallery.htm

[autorank]

83. He will be"resigned" soon, that's my prediction.

This will follow indictments of DeLay, Cheney close aids, Bush close aids (Rove and Libby). Cheney wil go first. It will be a hard sell to get * out but it will happen. Then they'll present us with their "Gerald Ford." That's when we have to hit the streets. Two elections were stolen, two. No "Mr. Nice" guy. Gore or Kerry, that's it.

There's too much invested in this country for "management" to allow this insanity to go on much longer.

[Disturbed]

89. How long would this Silverspoon Sociopath last.

if he had to confront a Parliament as Blair does in the UK?

[Auntie Bush]

94. Every time I see Blair confronting Parliament

I laugh at the thoughts of Bush talking off the cuff (without notes)
like Tony. He'd probably burst into tears and run home to Mommy.

[autorank]

97. About 90 seconds...and that would be good for him!!!

[lildreamer316]

102. I friggin' just posted that very thing last night.

I swear he's going to resign.

[lovuian]

91. His unconcious must be working on him!!!

I would bet he isn't sleeping well!!!

[Auntie Bush]

93. None of his henchmen sleep well. They all take Ambien and that

can effect memory.

[Skittles]

98. if he truly, truly believed the trash he speaks

he would have had no problem whatsoever meeting again with Ms. Sheehan to state his beliefs with assurances. The fact is, HE KNOWS HE IS LYING.