Most of the so-called Bushisms are of the humorous variety, chronicling how our hapless president mangles the English language in dim-witted, foolish and often unintentionally ironic ways. Some “isms” however cross over into areas that reveal the president in a harsher light, as appallingly ignorant, insensitive, mendacious, cynical, brash, blind to his own shortcomings, etc. Some of the more infamous on that list are:

• July 2003 – “There are some who feel that the conditions [in Iraq] are such that they can attack us there. My answer is: Bring 'em on. We've got the force necessary to deal with the security situation.”
• Oct. 2002 – “Fool me once, shame on . . . shame on you . . . fool me – you can’t get fooled again.” (speaking about the “threat” posed by Saddam Hussein’s purported WMDs, and that the United Nations must not be fooled by him)
• Sept. 2005 – “I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”

. . . and of course, the infamous:

• March 2002 – “I truly am not that concerned about him [Osama bin Laden].”

These are the kind of statements that bring disgrace to the president and to the country. Well, it seems that Pres. Bush went there again yesterday, in a videoconference with military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan (<link>), during which he said sort of extemporaneously:

I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.

It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks.

It’s hard, with the pervasive sense of Bush-fatigue, to muster the outrage that such a statement might arouse. Not only on the grounds of the ineffectual and inept war effort the administration has put forth in Afghanistan, and the draining of essential resources there to pursue the tragic misadventure in Iraq, but also, of course, in light of Bush’s record of military service when he was “slightly younger” and capable of serving in another “fantastic,” “romantic” and “historic” mission in Vietnam. As so often happens with these “isms,” the layers of unintentional irony are almost unfathomable.

So, how many days are left?

Yes, I saw that and it made me want to kick his ass all up and down Main Street. The vile, evil nature that one must possess to say something like that is beyond imagining; especially since he slithered out of his guard post and slithered into it to avoid combat.

But this is the same mind space that cause the crotch-stuffing effect aboard the Mission Accomplished fantasy ride to nowhere.

He's going to come to a bad end.

Great post by the way and thank you for letting others see this.

BushCo:

I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.

It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks.

I saw this on Vetvoice.com. A couple of days ago, a local soldier was KIA in Iraq. I wonder how romantic his widow feels just about now? Perhaps Bush would like to ask the widow of the guy that died in my arms in a rice paddy in Vietnam just how romatic the last 40 years have been for her.

I dunno about anyone else but I sure had a real fun and exciting time when we got ambushed and lost a bunch of guys in a firefight. Yessiree bob! We sure made a whole shitload of history there . . . a whole shitload.

Typical chickenhawk bullshit.

days to go until Jan 20th, 2009, when the Bush administration will come to an end.

Thaks for a great post.

Probably an awful lot of fellas would gladly trade all that excitement and romance to Georgie for a boring old ticket stateside. And as you point out, funny how he didn't take the opportunity to help democracy in Vietnam succeed when he WAS younger and unemployed.

What a fucking douche.