Why Is He So Jovial?

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With the U.S. economy slipping ever deeper into a recession, and a financial meltdown possibly in the cards, how can George W. Bush be so happy?

For years most people have known that George W. Bush has lived in a bubble, that kept him clueless to the reality of the world, but now he is taking this to a whole new leval of increduility.

Is anyone else bewildered by the president and wondering how he can be in such a fine mood?

The dollar has been sinking like the Titanic, there is a recession on the horizon if you don't believe it is already here, and the markets have been doing their best 1929 impersonation, how can anyone with half a brain see this and be cheerful?

George W. Bush seems to be running for president of the Optimists Club. Just the other day he is quoted as saying, "I’m coming to you as an optimistic fellow.”


Its not just the words he used in his speech, but its the description of his manner that is rather jaw dropping. As he spoke to the Economic Club of New York on Friday his manner has been described as jovial, and that he was chuckling and making fun and acting like the nation’s economy was chugging along at a 4% growth rate and the Dow was reaching all time highs instead of the reality where economic growth is stagnate and the Fed’s bailing out the imploding Bear Stearns..

If you watch clips of his speach, he actually began by laughing as he described the latest news on the economic meltdown “a interesting moment.”

Reading different accounts by reporters who have met with Bush recently, it has been weird to see accounts that seem to describe him as goofy, and happy in a rather weird way. For some reason he does seem liberated and ebullient. How is he not more down by the news that keeps piling on?

Not only is he not morose, but he thinks the Republicans are in great shape. “I think 2008 is going to be a fabulous year for the Republican Party!”

Is Bush on drugs? Could that explain his disregard of reality? Could it be that he went off the deep-end?

I don’t know the answer, but it’s scary that we still have roughly 10 months of his administration left to live through.



 







< Economy tanks, Bush Has Nothing | Realities of War in Iraq >
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I know you must know the answer to this.

His is the contentment and freedom that comes with  having no empathy for other people.  He's rich, his pals are rich, and the effects of his decisions will insure that the "right people" approve of him.  Being poor and powerless is just a vague concept to him.  That's something that happens to other people, like schistosomiasis.  He's never known it, he's been isolated from it all his life and I'll bet he doesn't see any point in even trying to imagine what it's like.

I think his light-heartedness as of late is because he feels he can walk away soon and let someone else deal with the problems he's created.  This was the whole purpose of the "surge".  It was calculated to buy time until he could walk away.  This "stimulus" package is meant to accomplish the same goal.  Note that neither has the effect of permantly solving the problem.

In short I think his attitude is:  "Okay, so a bunch of people are pissed at me.  Hey, Ill still be rich, all this global warming and war and economic stuff isn't going to cramp my style, or my family's, or my pals.  10 more months and I'm sipping beers and clearing brush and I don't have to listen to no intelligence wonks screaming about "Bin Laden this, or Bin Laden that".

by bfaul on 03/18/2008 03:40:53 PM EST


SAM: What's new, Normie?
NORM: Terrorists, Sam. They've taken over my stomach and they're demanding beer.

by Spinny on 03/18/2008 03:56:50 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Can I share mine with you?
bobo van driesen
The reason that all conservatives are happy is because they are successful.

The reason that all conservatives are successful is because they are happy.

You miserable, sad sack, loser, liberal weiner dogs will never be able to grasp the connection.

by KenTX on 03/18/2008 04:31:32 PM EST

[ Parent ]

I see you like to think I'm not successful.  Go ahead, I won't burst your little con bubble.  It's just so pathetic that you must believe that.

Go shoot some more coyotes.  I'm sure it will make you feel like a man.

by bfaul on 03/18/2008 04:51:54 PM EST

[ Parent ]
You would be happy. If you were happy, you would be successful.

by KenTX on 03/18/2008 05:00:57 PM EST

[ Parent ]

I'm plenty happy, just worried, that's all.  Tell you what,  I will be delirously happy when your heroes are thrown out of office.  Wish me luck.

I've got everything I need.  I just want to keep what I've got.  Oh, and I want my country back. 


by bfaul on 03/18/2008 05:26:12 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Do conservatives measure success by the amount of money they have? If so, that's just sad, and it is not true that money makes people happy.

by desertpear on 03/19/2008 12:02:52 AM EST

[ Parent ]
I think many of them measure their respect for other people based on the amount of money they think they have.  Imagine the kinds of people you tend to accumulate in your life if you think that way.

by bfaul on 03/19/2008 12:16:45 PM EST

[ Parent ]
That is just too sad and empty to contemplate. 

by desertpear on 03/19/2008 02:37:28 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Not all conservatives are successful.

Not all conservatives are happy.

Grasp that.

SAM: What's new, Normie?
NORM: Terrorists, Sam. They've taken over my stomach and they're demanding beer.

by Spinny on 03/18/2008 08:16:09 PM EST

[ Parent ]
That's because most conservatives aren't expatriates living in a country whose currency has reached a 13-year high against the currency of their birth country.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make a wire transfer.

by OneHitKill on 03/18/2008 10:32:17 PM EST

[ Parent ]
awwww whats the matter?? Reality hitting ?

by Chinese Democracy on 03/18/2008 11:41:11 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Your happy? The last line in your post begs to differ. Its highly doubtful that someone who is truly happy would turn to such a juevenile screed.

To be honest my bet is you know in your heart where conservatives have taken this country, and it isn't pretty. And now you don't know how to deal with it, and so lash out like a three year old.

by jrolsen on 03/19/2008 06:21:40 AM EST

[ Parent ]

...but when they're put that way, I've gotta give 'em credit.

by EveningStarNM on 03/19/2008 01:11:33 PM EST

[ Parent ]

You realize we're not in a recession right? A recession by definition is 2 quarters of negative growth. Maybe you should wait until we're actually in a recession to decalre we're in one?

 People on these forums were saying we were in a recession in 2003 and 2004 and continued on to 2005-2008.

 We're not...yet..and maybe we won't be?

by acroso on 03/19/2008 01:29:53 AM EST


Actually by definition we probably are in a recession. The government had to go back and adjust down figures for growth in the last quarter of 2007. There is a reason that polls of economists show that a majority believe we are in a recession.

That being said, its an argument of semantics. Whether we are in a recession or not is less important to the fact that the economy has a number of issues that are pulling it down.

Consumer spending is in steep decline, energy prices are rising, there is a credit crunch, and turmoil in the mortgage market, whether you want to call it a recession or not is of little consequence. There are real problems that need more than happy talk from the Commander and Clueless.  






by jrolsen on 03/19/2008 06:30:38 AM EST

[ Parent ]

That's good acroso but to be most effective it needs to be repeated in monotone at regular intervals over and over again:

We're not in a recession.  We're not in a recession.  We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession. We're not in a recession.

by bfaul on 03/19/2008 12:09:42 PM EST

[ Parent ]
with one of those months being December.  And we still need the second adjustment on the income numbers for 3Q07 and the first adjustment for 4Q07.  And does anybody really believe that this quarter will be better?

Only if you're looney and haven't been paying attention.

But if you have been paying attention, you don't have to wait.  You can look at the value of the dollar, our trade imbalance and what we're trading, the unemployment line dropouts, orders, the failing credit market, construction, and a host of other problems.

We're in a recession.  The only question now is how bad is it going to be and how long will it last.

America is toast, and the Republicans made us that way, just like they always do.  And just like Democrats always must do, they'll rescue us.  Again.

But without structural change, especially in our campaign finance system, the Republicans will again be able to convince enough people that they're actually worth voting for, only to wreck our economy yet again.  They always do.  Republicans never are good for our country.

by EveningStarNM on 03/19/2008 01:28:16 PM EST

[ Parent ]

Everything Liarcoso posts is either a lie , prevarication or outright plagiarizing of "conservative" hate sites. You should know that he/she trolls other websites "rollplaying" in various personalities.

He/she loves to plagiarize of post dead links from WingNutNet Daily where most of the conservative falsehoods and extremist hate speech can be found. 

Hey, liar boy, explain these  inflammatory comments your anti American flare. Maybe you could enlighten us as to where you came up with this information other than regurgitating Rush Limbaugh? Prove your lies.

  • Dems think our troops are "Nazis" http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/10/25/21313 4/43/102#102
  • Dems are starting their vicious attack on American identity, national religion, taxpayers etc, http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/10/22/11525 /191/10#10
  • Voting for Democrats are at best like voting for street bums and at worst a lot like voting for terrorists.http://www.theyo ungturks.com/comments/2007/ 10/14/155517/23/33#33
  • Dems do want to take away our guns and they do want to limit our freedom of speech http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/6/20/13312/ 0705/3#3
  • La Raza is running and directing what the dems do http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/6/14/16394/ 1135/15#15
  • The dems desire to defeat the troops in Iraq and Afganistan. They want to impeach Bush because that is another way to victory in the war against the war (or another way to defeat the U.S., whichever way you look at it.) http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/4/11/112312 /588/9#9
  • Pelosi has set a date for surrender to the terrorists in Iraq, Pelosi has set a date for surrender to the terrorists in Iraq, http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/4/11/112312 /588/2#2
  • the Terrorists and the Democrats have had a lot of success in their attempts to break the will to fight of the American people. http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/4/9/131553/ 4837/1#1
  • Many Americans have lsot the will to fight the terrorists after the non-stop rhetoric coming from the left and the L&S divisions of our campuses http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/4/9/131553/ 4837/1#1
  • The Dems mato is defeat. Common sense tells us they were going to surrender to the terrorists if they took power incongress.This defeatism means implementing dates for withdrawal and defunding the our troops. http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/3/28/102731 /281/11#11
  • Nancy hangs the troops out to dry to let the Americans know who the dems really are and to lets the Islamos know that your party supports them http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/3/23/14658/ 5848/1#1
  • Go complain to Harry Reid who is heading up the defeat our troopsbillhttp://www.theyou ngturks.com/comments/2007/3 /2/941/60818/2#2
  • the Dems support the troops by supporting their defeat. The dems can't be trusted on any matters of national security.http://www.theyoun gturks.com/comments/2007/2/ 25/61739/1922/63#63
  • I posted his closing speech in the effort to stop the Dems pro-Al Qaeda resolution.http://www.theyo ungturks.com/comments/2007/ 2/25/61739/1922/54#54
  • Dems ARE unpatriotic bafoons, and the republicans aren't. http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/2/16/13593/ 4879/2#2
  • Well if there is one thing the Dems don't do is " Caring about our country." They've been working on tearing apart the ideaof what it means to be American since way before the farewell speech of Reagan where he talked about the elimination of nationalpride and collective memory.http://www.theyoungt urks.com/comments/2007/2/17 /22318/8973/22#22
  • the Dem supported the troops by supporting their defeat in the 60s. Now they "support" the troops by supporting their defeatin the war on terror. It comes to reason that the Democrats DO NOT SUPPORT THE TROOPS.http://www.theyoungt urks.com/comments/2007/2/15 /175041/565/41#41
  • How did they manage to trick the voters into this new hope ( Obama ed.) filled bipartisan agenda when the cooks are running their party?http://www.theyoungtu rks.com/comments/2007/2/6/1 1367/49130/2#2
  • Like I said, if it wasn't for the Democrats hindering the war effort, funding, and the troops we'd have won these years ago. What we need is a much larger standing army, more media control, and fewer rules. Unfortunately Al Qaeda has learned to game our media in order to dispirit the American people and the dems just act an amplifier for their message. http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/2/2/18320/2 3155/9#9
  • CNN can play the terrorists propaganda vids along side of the dem resolution supporting the terrorists.
  • Well I do know why the dems voted for General Patraeus and his plan for a surge along with giving funding to president Bush for the troops surge yet pass resolutions opposing what they just did\approved. It's all politics. Their rabid anti-American base demands that the dems politicize the war and pretend to not support the troop http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2006/5/3/12955/5 1892/8#8
  • the CNN sniper video of troops getting shot that was filmed by the terrorists in Iraq for propaganda. They want to break the American will so they give the tapes to the libs in our lib media who have like minded goals.  http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2007/1/5/19828/5 3784/2#2
  • The dems are invested in defeat, and cheer it on http://www.theyoungturks.co m/comments/2006/12/3/151518 /361/4#4

by MRFred on 03/21/2008 09:56:48 AM EST

[ Parent ]
The emergence of Bush's 'don't worry be happy' phase corresponded with the emerging certainty the economy would collapse while he was still president, wiping out the very last possible remnant of a near term legacy he could lay claim to.

And it's pretty clear from the acute urgency of the Fed's actions of late they know something we don't. Or can only guess at. Something that scared the shit out of them. Something George was told about. Probably that the entire financial system was tettering on the edge of collapse.

As most people are wont to do, when events spin irredeemably out of control and there is nothing, essentialy, left to 'worry' about, they throw up ther hands and stop worrying about it ... put it in the hands of GOD or FATE.




by spigzone on 03/19/2008 06:02:02 AM EST


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