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The Slipper Tongue

The ironic story behind “The Slipper Tongue”, Bush’s favorite painting!

The title of George W. Bush’s 1999 ghostwritten autobiography, A Charge to Keep, is associated with a favorite painting of the former President’s, that was loaned to him by a childhood friend, Joseph I. O’Neill III, shortly after his 1995 inauguration as governor of Texas. Joseph ‘Spider’ O’Neill said the lead cowboy reminded him of Bush and the former governor claimed it as his own.

“I thought I would share with you a recent bit of Texas history which epitomizes our mission. When you come into my office, please take a look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us.”

Governor George W. Bush, memo to staff [1]

The painting followed George Bush from Austin to Washington, where it occupied a prominent place in the tour and talking points routine the President gave Oval Office visitors during his years in the White House [2].

“One of the paintings I selected for the Oval Office shows a man on horseback, leading a charge up a steep hill. His face is full of purpose and determination, and it is clear he expects to get the job done. The painting is called ‘A Charge to Keep,’ based on a Methodist hymn that’s a favorite of mine.

I love the painting because it speaks to serving a cause that is greater than yourself. The picture reminds me every day that my most important job is to unite our country and provide leadership to overcome America’s toughest challenges.”

George W. Bush, 2004 campaign fund raising letter [3]

Bush loved to talk of his identification with the heroic struggle he saw in the illustration and the resolute determination of the nineteenth century circuit riding preachers who spread Methodism across the Allegheny region of the young American nation. Its title, he asserted, was “based upon a religious hymn….about serving God,” a song written by Charles Wesley called ‘A Charge to Keep I Have’ [4].

Referring to Bush’s fondness of the picture, David Gergen a longtime Presidential advisor and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, commented:

Bush’s personal identification with the painting, which now hangs in the Oval Office, reveals a good deal about his sense of himself as a political leader–who he thinks he is, the role he plays, and the centrality of his religious faith….His followers today tend to see in Bush what he sees in the painting: a brave, daring leader riding fearlessly into the unknown, striking out against unseen enemies, pulling his team behind him, seeking, in the words of Wesley’s hymn, “to do my Master’s will.” They see him as a straight shooter and a straight talker. [5]

The painting was originally commissioned in 1916 by The Saturday Evening Post; which gave the job to William H.D. Koerner, a regular illustrator of popular magazine short stories in early twentieth century America. In 1912, it was Koerner that was picked to illustrate author Zane Grey’s famous ‘Riders of the Purple Sage’. In later interviews, W.H.D. Koerner and his daughter Ruth explained that the inspiration for his work came from immersing himself in the story and characters for which the illustration would be used:

“I try to draw the man the author describes…I concentrate on the character until it comes alive and I can see him in my mind’s eye.”

William Henry Dethlef Koerner, ‘Yes We Read the Story’, interview for The Saturday Evening Post; June 25, 1932 [6]

The painting was subsequently used in other short stories, including, in 1918, ‘A Charge to Keep’ in Country Gentleman magazine, a tale about a timberland inheritance and the responsibility it brought to protect its resources from the capitalist robber barons that were aggressively seeking to exploit its assets. But the character that lived in William Koerner’s 1916 illustration was the one that rode in the 1916 Saturday Evening Post story, a tale called ‘The Slipper Tongue’.

As with so many other positions embraced by our forty-third President, it might have been better had George W. Bush been a little less certain of his own point of view and a little more curious and inclined toward deliberate reflection in his decision making process. For what George W. is so certain is a depiction of a Methodist preacher resolutely ‘leading a charge up a steep hill’ that he proudly announced,

‘When you come into my office, please take a look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us’;

turns out to actually be an illustration of a smooth-talking horse thief on the run, risking the welfare, and perhaps the life, of the mount he rides in a mad dash to try to escape the justice following close behind.

Bush’s perspective exemplifies the decision making style that characterized his leadership of our nation. Starting from little research and continuing through little examination, based on his gubernatorial inauguration’s use of Charles Wesley’s hymn, ‘A Charge to Keep I Have’ and his friend ‘Spider’ O’Neill’s offer to loan a painting he called ‘A Charge to Keep’, George W. choose to associate his work in public life with a reckless horse thief’s attempt to evade justice.

slipper tongue

‘Had His Start Been Fifteen Minutes Longer He Would Not Have Been Caught’,

W.H.D. Koerner

The Slipper Tongue

1916

““This is us,” said George W. Bush claiming autobiographical semblance to an illustration originally titled, ‘Had His Start Been Fifteen Minutes Longer He Would Not Have Been Caught’ [7].

It seems a fitting marker for the Bush presidency. Bush has consistently exhibited what psychologists call the “Tolstoy syndrome.” That is, he is completely convinced he knows what things are, so he shuts down all avenues of inquiry about them and disregards the information that is offered to him. This is the hallmark of a tragically bad executive. But in this case, it couldn’t be more precious. The president of the United States has identified closely with a man he sees as a mythic, heroic figure. In fact that man is a wily criminal one step out in front of justice.

Scott Horton, Esq.; Harper’s Magazine, January 24, 2008 [8]

The philosopher Socrates once observed ‘without reflection, there can be no experience’. That explains a great deal, for without thinking about our experiences, life becomes just a blur of events from which we take little opportunity to grow. Many are the qualities essential to leadership, especially leadership of a great nation. Discernment is indispensable and lacking that, we can better understand how the presidency of George W. Bush, among other things, left our nation floundering economically and on the horns of two wars; one unresolved in the land that Empires go to die, the other frivolous, wasteful, and based on deception.

As George W. Bush once said:

“I’m the master of low expectations… I’m also not very analytical. You know I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things.”

George W. Bush, June 4, 2003, on board Air Force One

REFERENCES:

[1] Horseshit! Bush and the Christian Cowboy, by Jonathan Hutson, TALK TO ACTION, May 12, 2006; http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/12/7393/57216

[2] 45 Minutes with Bush, Kai Diekmann, The BILD Interview, May 5, 2006: http://www.counterpunch.org/diekmann05112006.html

[3] GEORGE W. BUSH, ART CRITIC, by Michael Horne, Milwaukeeworld Roundup, February 23, 2004; http://www.milwaukeeworld.com/html/horne/h-040223.php

[4] A CHARGE TO KEEP I HAVE, Words by Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Se­lect Pass­ag­es of Ho­ly Script­ure, 1762; http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/h/chargkeep.htm

[5] Horseshit! Bush and the Christian Cowboy, by Jonathan Hutson, TALK TO ACTION, May 12, 2006; http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/12/7393/57216

[6] Horseshit! Bush and the Christian Cowboy, by Jonathan Hutson, TALK TO ACTION, May 12, 2006; http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/12/7393/57216

[7] A Charge to Keep, Wikipedia Encyclopedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charge_to_Keep#cite_note-horton-4

[8] The Illustrated President, by Scott Horton, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, January 24, 2008; http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/01/hbc-90002237

Why al-Qaeda and Bush’s neocons were useful to each other!

On January 19 2009, the Huffington post carried an article on Bush pardoning Osama bin Laden…. Seriously now, the funny thing is that Osama bin Laden has done more for the Bush administration than any potential pardon candidate and would have “deserved” such a pardon from Bush!

Here are some reasons why al-Qaeda and the Bush’s neocons were indeed useful to each other:

Charles Edmund Coyote, January 26, 2009:

Before the September 11 attacks, Washington’s neocons waited for a ‘Pearl Harbor’ type event that would give them the opportunity to rouse public support for a war against Iraq and Six other [Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran] “rogue states” they were sure American military power could easily dispatch. The neocon’s Project for the New American Century proposed to remake the oil-rich-Middle-East in America’s image. Vice President Dick Cheney dreamed of restoring the imperial presidency that had been lost in the debacle of Richard Nixon’s Watergate. And George W. Bush had an agenda that was anything but the ‘humble’ foreign policy on which he had run in the 2000 Presidential race.

In 1999, when Texas Governor George Bush was preparing to campaign for the nation’s highest office, he contracted with Houston Sportswriter and Author Mickey Herskowitz to ghost-write his autobiography. It would be called ‘A Charge to Keep’. After 2 months of interviews and work, however, Bush’s team of advisors decided they better get rid of Herskowitz. The gregarious Governor Bush was telling Mickey too much. What’s most interesting about the Mickey Herskowitz saga is that Bush explained to him that if a President attacks a small country and wins an easy war, it is an effective way to increase his popularity with the American people and gain the ‘political capital’ needed to advance his political agenda. Bush and his team had seen Bush’s father, H.W., rise to 90 percent approval ratings over the First Iraq War in 1991, but felt he failed to take advantage of the popularity gained.

As a well-known RAND Corporation study advocated, the most effective way to fight terrorist organizations is through a combination of intelligence operations and police work, using flexible military power when necessary. That, in essence is what the U.S. had done with such success during the opening weeks of its Afghan War. The Bush Administration, however, switched the focus to Iraq, before the job was done in Afghanistan, and, for reasons that remain unclear, badly fumbled the opportunity to eliminate bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri at the Battle of Tora Bora. Disingenuously, the Bush neocons and Cheney imperialists then militarized the ‘War on Terror, formatting it as a perpetual state of “war”, which made it easier to delimit government, expand presidential power, and use American power to attempt to remake the world.

In South Asia, al-Qaeda was also making its plans. During the 1990′s, the people and the governments of Muslim nations from Algeria and Egypt, to Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, had grown tired of the Islamists and were running them out of their countries. In Algeria, Islamic radicals had even taken to eliminating each other over perceptions that many of their own members were “”not Muslim enough”. Bin Laden had been expelled from Saudi Arabia to the Sudan and then back to the caves of Afghanistan. Even in Afghanistan, his friend Mullah Omar, concerned for the well-being of his Taliban government, had ordered bin Laden to stop giving interviews to the western press talking about jihad against Israel and the U.S.A.

Rudyard Kipling once described Afghanistan as the “place where empires go to die”. Bin Laden understood the advantages of taking on superpowers in that region and had done it with the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Believing that Israel and its supporter, the United States, were instruments of oppression for the muslin people, he planned for an opportunity to drag the United States into a long and costly war similar to what had helped drag the Soviet Union down twenty years before. One effective, low-cost, guerilla fighter can keep a hundred expensive military personnel busy for a long time. Al Qaeda’s goal, in the September 11 attacks, was to provoke a heavy military response from the Americans, the inevitable cost and clumsiness of which would offend the Muslin world and destabilize the Middle East, thereby increasing oil prices (which had been cheap for decades), damage the American economy, and bring prosperity to the Muslim people.

Bin Laden took the chance that America would strike back at al-Qaeda in a way that would alienate the U.S. from the larger Muslim world. But that did not happen in Afghanistan where the U.S. used only 400 CIA agents and Special Forces (along with a very effective Air Force and suitcases of cash for the Northern Alliance) to tear the Taliban government apart. The Bush administration, however, was not focused on bin-Laden, and used the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to attack Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Instead of using available U.S. troops to trap bin Laden, Washington hired Afghan mercenaries who were also taking money from al-Qaeda! During the battle of Tora Bora these local “allies” let many of al Qaeda’s fighters escape, while the nearby U.S. Marines and Special Forces, foreseeing al-Qaeda’s strategic withdrawal to safety, were under orders to do nothing to stop it. Most experts and witnesses claim Osama bin Laden escaped from Tora Bora around December 14, 2001.

“I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” said George W. Bush on March 13, 2002, six months after September 11.

Bin Laden repaid the favor to George Bush during the 2004 presidential election. Although Bush adviser Karl Rove successfully painted George W’s image as “resolute” and Democrat John Kerry’s as “a weak flip-flopper”, the race for the presidency was still neck-to-neck even a few days before the election. Then, with four days to go, Osama bin Laden released a tape telling the American people “Your security is in your hands. Any nation that does not attack us will not be attacked”. According to a CIA analysis, reported in the book, W Got His War, Bin Laden knew that by demanding US withdrawal from the Middle East, Americans would instead fight all the harder and consequently vote for the “resolute” appearing Bush instead of the more nuanced Kerry. Bin Laden wanted Bush to win and continue his clumsy war in Iraq in order to deplete the American economy and continue to harm American relations with the Muslim nations.

The distracting war in Iraq turned out not to be easy ‘cake walk Bush had expected. Sad to say, it became instead a walk into bin Laden’s trap, helping al Qaeda achieve many of its goals. Years ago, bin Laden demanded that the price of oil should be $144 a barrel. By 2008 this had come true, in large part because of the Hubris of President Bush’s clumsy Middle East policies.

Charles Edmund Coyote

Finally, January 20th is here!

Obama’s Inauguration

Our 44th President takes the oath of office. There was a trivial, momentary slip when Chief Justice John Roberts asked Obama to recite the first line of the oath in the incorrect order. Roberts said “execute the office of President of the United States faithfully,” rather than “faithfully executive.” The oath reads: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Obama paused and allowed Roberts to correct himself. Watch it:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News

REMARKS OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Inaugural Address
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Washington, D.C.

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
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Keith Olbermann explains why George W.Bush…

must be brought to justice.

We compromised with slavery in the Declaration of Independence – and four score and nine years later we had buried 600,000 of our sons and brothers in a Civil War.

After that War’s ending, we compromised with the social restructuring and protection of the rights of minorities in the South. And a century later, we had not only not resolved anything, but black leaders were still being assassinated in the cities of the South.

Bush guilty of torture

More on Bush guilty of torture

Barack Obama’s Transitions to the Presidency

OBAMA TRANSITIONS TO THE PRESIDENCY

How long will the Obama honeymoon last?

Media make false comparison of inauguration costs

The media myth about the cost of Obama’s inauguration

Fox’s Smith falsely suggested Obama stimulus plan will “cut taxes on people who don’t pay taxes” – Media Matters

Obama arrives in DC area 2 weeks before inaugural

Perhaps we should encourage the Republican Party to seat Chip Saltsman as RNC Chairman. If that once great organization insists on continuing to run itself into the gutter, then let them build a home there – Peter Yarrow’s comment

How many people would want to go through years of a modern President’s daily life – Obama bristles as the bubble closes in

vs

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Fairwell George W Bush! Reasons we will miss you…

Bushisms:

“I was proud the other day when both Republicans and Democrats stood with me in the Rose Garden to announce their support for a clear statement of purpose: you disarm, or we will.”—Speaking about Saddam Hussein, Manchester, N.H., Oct. 5, 2002 (Thanks to George Dupper.)

There are some “GOOD RIDDANCE BUSH” Bumper Stickers left!!

“The law I sign today directs new funds and new focus to the task of collecting vital intelligence on terrorist threats and on weapons of mass production.”—Washington, D.C., Nov. 27, 2002

“The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself.”—Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 29, 2003

“You’re free. And freedom is beautiful. And, you know, it’ll take time to restore chaos and order—order out of chaos. But we will.”—Washington, D.C., April 13, 2003

“We ended the rule of one of history’s worst tyrants, and in so doing, we not only freed the American people, we made our own people more secure.”—Crawford, Texas, May 3, 2003 (Thanks to Tony Marciniec.)

“I think war is a dangerous place.”—Washington, D.C., May 7, 2003

“I’ve got very good relations with President Mubarak and Crown Prince Abdallah and the King of Jordan, Gulf Coast countries.”—Washington, D.C., May 29, 2003

“I’m also not very analytical. You know I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things.”—Aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

“It’s very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change America.”—Dakar, Senegal, July 8, 2003 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)

“Security is the essential roadblock to achieving the road map to peace.”—Washington, D.C., July 25, 2003

“I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what’s moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves.”—Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2003

“See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don’t attack each other. Free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction.”—Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003

“The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the—the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice.”—Washington, D.C., Oct. 27, 2003 (Thanks to Robert Hack.)

“The illiteracy level of our children are appalling.”—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004 (Thanks to Lewell Gunter.)

“I want to thank my friend, Sen. Bill Frist, for joining us today. … He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. (Laughter.) Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me.”—Nashville, Tenn., May 27, 2004

“I’m the master of low expectations.”—Aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”—Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 (Thanks to Alicia Butler.)

“Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat.”—Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2004 (Thanks to David Stanford.)

“After standing on the stage, after the debates, I made it very plain, we will not have an all-volunteer army. And yet, this week—we will have an all-volunteer army. Let me restate that.”—Daytona Beach, Fla., Oct. 16, 2004

“I believe that, as quickly as possible, young cows ought to be allowed to go across our border.”—Ottawa, Nov. 30, 2004

“Because the—all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There’s a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those—changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be—or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It’s kind of muddled. Look, there’s a series of things that cause the—like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate—the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those—if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.”—Explaining his plan to save Social Security, Tampa, Fla., Feb. 4, 2005

“It’s in our country’s interests to find those who would do harm to us and get them out of harm’s way.”—Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

“Well, we’ve made the decision to defeat the terrorists abroad so we don’t have to face them here at home. And when you engage the terrorists abroad, it causes activity and action.”—Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”—Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

“I think we are welcomed. But it was not a peaceful welcome.”—Philadelphia, Dec. 12, 2005, on the reception of American forces in Iraq

“As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself—not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar. I eventually won. The cedar gave me a little scratch.”—After visiting with wounded veterans from the Amputee Care Center of Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 1, 2006

“The point now is how do we work together to achieve important goals. And one such goal is a democracy in Germany.”—Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006

“That’s George Washington, the first president, of course. The interesting thing about him is that I read three—three or four books about him last year. Isn’t that interesting?”—Showing German newspaper reporter Kai Diekmann the Oval Office, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006

“I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it’s easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?”—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

“I’ve reminded the prime minister—the American people, Mr. Prime Minister, over the past months that it was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship.”—Washington, D.C., June 29, 2006

“And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I’m sorry it’s the case, and I’ll work hard to try to elevate it.”— Speaking on National Public Radio, Jan. 29, 2007

“More than two decades later, it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any other way.”—Martinsburg, W. Va., July 4, 2007

“I’m going to try to see if I can remember as much to make it sound like I’m smart on the subject.”—answering a question concerning a possible flu pandemic, Cleveland, July 10, 2007

“You know, when you give a man more money in his pocket—in this case, a woman more money in her pocket to expand a business, it—they build new buildings. And when somebody builds a new building somebody has got to come and build the building. And when the building expanded it prevented additional opportunities for people to work.”—Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007

Viral video: Rat loves Cat

Trillion-Dollar Deficits:

Obama Warns of Prospect for Trillion-Dollar Deficits “for Years to Come”

Slowing tax revenues and a historic bailout of the U.S. financial system will send the budget deficit soaring toward $1 trillion this year, President-elect Barack Obama said on 01-06-09, and the red ink stands to get substantially deeper if Obama wins approval of a massive economic stimulus plan.

Even if the package of spending and tax cuts helps restore the nation’s immediate economic health, Obama said, the government is likely to be left with “trillion-dollar deficits for years to come” unless policymakers “make a change in the way that Washington does business.”

“We’re going to have to stop talking about budget reform. We’re going to have to totally embrace it. It’s an absolute necessity,” the president-elect told reporters a day before the Congressional Budget Office is set to release its outlook for the coming year.

When President Bill Clinton left office in January of 2001 the federal budget was balanced. Now, after eight years of George W. Bush and the Republicans, we are faced with a failed economy and years of trillion dollar deficits. Now the National debt is $10.7 trillion (updated January 7, 2009)

REED MORE:

Economic Stimulus

Federal Budget

China Losing Taste for Debt From the U.S.

We Arrived at this Point Due to an Era of Profound Irresponsibility

One Year in 40 seconds

01/03/09: President-elect Obama’s Weekly Address

In this week’s weekly address, President-elect Barack Obama lays out the challenges that face us in the new year, and his plan for taking them on.

“We need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long-term,” he says. “And this plan must be designed in a new way—we can’t just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing money at the problem. We must make strategic investments that will serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future. We must demand vigorous oversight and strict accountability for achieving results. And we must restore fiscal responsibility and make the tough choices so that as the economy recovers, the deficit starts to come down. That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan—which is to create three million new jobs, more than eighty percent of them in the private sector.”

Watch the full address or read the text below:

Weekly Address
January 3, 2009

As the holiday season comes to end, we are thankful for family and friends and all the blessings that make life worth living. But as we mark the beginning of a new year, we also know that America faces great and growing challenges—challenges that threaten our nation’s economy and our dreams for the future. Nearly two million Americans have lost their jobs this past year—and millions more are working harder in jobs that pay less and come with fewer benefits. For too many families, this new year brings new unease and uncertainty as bills pile up, debts continue to mount and parents worry that their children won’t have the same opportunities they had.
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