George W. Bush’s medieval presidency
This LA Times Sunday Op-ed explores the religiously-based medieval mindset of the Bushies, who, convinced they alone possess truth, ignore and distort anything that contradicts their worldview. This behavior sounds oddly similar to those Islamic religious theocracies they’re always pointing the finger at.
The difference between the current administration and its conservative forebears is that facts don’t seem to matter at all. They don’t even matter enough to reinterpret. Bush doesn’t read the papers or watch the news, and Condoleezza Rice, his national security advisor, reportedly didn’t read the National Intelligence Estimate, which is apparently why she missed the remarks casting doubt on claims that Iraq was trying to acquire uranium from Africa.
A more sinister aspect to this presidency’s cavalier attitude toward facts is its effort to bend, twist and distort them when it apparently serves the administration’s interests
Every administration spins the facts to its advantage. As the old adage goes, “Figures don’t lie but liars do figure.” But the White House medievalists aren’t just shading the facts. In actively denying or changing them, they are changing the basis on which government has traditionally been conducted: rationality. There is no respect for facts because there is no respect for empiricism.
Some people get great strength from a belief in God. Others become deluded and think God is telling them — and them alone — what to do. Usually, we just lock people like this up for their own safety.