President Hologram

[Jcrowley]

President Hologram and the Triumph of Public Relations

By Mike Whitney

09/25/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- All tyrannies are similar in one respect; they require a steady flow of propaganda to promote the interests of the state. That same rule applies to dictators, whose “strongman image” is vital to the maintenance of autocratic government and must be supported by a “cult of the personality.” This is particularly true of George Bush, who has been the centerpiece of the most prodigious public relations campaign in American history. Our Betsy McCall executive is either dressed up in flannel shirts and Stetsons, or flight-suits and goggles; whatever it takes to elicit greater public support and project the picture of a bold and decisive leader.

This is nothing new; there’s a long tradition of inflating the virtues of the “Dear Leader” while exaggerating his manliness and steely resolve. What is new, however, is selecting a character who is entirely excluded from the policy-making apparatus and then using him as a mere vehicle for ideological extremism.

That is new.

It’s widely known that Bush is an incurious poseur who doesn’t read the newspapers and has no interest in the grueling task of managing the government. His forte is following a carefully prepared Karl Rove script and modeling the costumes selected by confidante Karen Hughes. This allows him to slip naturally into his role as the “made-for-TV” president while brushing aside the niggling affairs of state.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15103.htm

[cspanlovr]

1. Made for TV president. I love it.

[Imalittleteapot]

2. …the first purely synthetic president we’ve ever had.

What makes Bush original is that he is the first purely synthetic president we’ve ever had. There’s not a trace of the real man left. He is a mixture of mythic cowboy legend and the Old Testament “fire-n-brimstone” preacher-man, a John Brown-Ronald Reagan hybrid. The draft-dodging, hard-guzzling, cheerleading, business-flop has been transformed into a sanctimonious, war-mongering American Samurai resolving the world’s problems with just two “common sense” solutions; war and tax cuts. In Republican parlance, that makes him a “man of vision”.

OMG. Watch out Mike!