Matt Yglesias

Sep 24th, 2008 at 9:02 pm

Question

Is there any chance that George W. Bush appearing on television could do anything other than deepen people’s sense of panic?






34 Responses to “Question”

  1. kafka Says:

    “Is there any chance that George W. Bush appearing on television could do anything other than deepen people’s sense of panic?”

    Maybe that’s the plan. Panic people into signing on to this taxpayer robbery bill? Isn’t that how he got us into Iraq? Worked then, why not now?

  2. pAT Says:

    AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. James Gary Says:

    A lot of Americans really do find rambling, empty incoherence to be reassuring and citing specific facts to be smacking of “elitism.”

    See also my comment on the Sarah Palin post a few minutes ago.

  4. Christopher M Says:

    His plan appears to numb people’s minds into tranquility.

  5. pAT Says:

    The man who ran an oil company and the Texas Rangers (oh yeah, and the USA) into the ground and was bailed out on all (hopeful on that last one) thinks bad businesses should be allowed to fail.

    Not those that run them….

  6. Christopher M Says:

    “to” = “to be to”

  7. Rich Says:

    If you look up the word diffident in the dictionary, you will see Bush’s picture.

  8. Amanda Says:

    he himself looks panicked. he’s trembling as he stares down the teleprompter.

  9. kafka Says:

    Only thing worse than a BushCo speech is all the ensuing horse shit “analysis” from our clueless media dorks.

  10. Th Says:

    If the whole problem is that people and businesses can’t borrow money, why not just lend them money? That was what I got out of the reading of the teleprompter.

  11. Miatch Says:

    I just keep hearing in my head: The Iraq war will pay for itself

  12. Christine Says:

    That IS the plan. To create a sense of panic to get the bailout deal he seeks.

  13. david morris Says:

    Bush being kept at arm’s length through all this reminds me of that quote from The Godfather:

    “Nothing was more calming, more conducive to pure reason, than the atmosphere of money.”

    Bush doesn’t really fit into an atmosphere like that.

  14. Colonel Danite Says:

    I had fun watching him talk about his trust in the free market right before he asked us to spend three quarters of a trillion dollars to bail out Wall Street. It was too funny.

  15. Walker Says:

    If the whole problem is that people and businesses can’t borrow money, why not just lend them money? That was what I got out of the reading of the teleprompter.

    What you are suggesting is a government run bank to (temporarily) replace the private ones while they fail. Which is actually a pretty good idea. But it will never happen so long as this administration draws breath.

  16. TH Says:

    If you just lend them money, you’ll have to keep lending them money for a pretty long period of time. And you won’t just have to lend banks money, you’ll have to lend every other company money, because the banks aren’t able to do so. Also, investors (who do most “lending” through the purchase of bonds and other securities) are afraid and have run to the safety of Treasuries, closing other markets.

    No, the only thing you can do is remove the contagion from the body, and that contagion is these hundreds of billions worth of illiquid and impaired mortgage securities.

  17. nukev Says:

    I think he still beleives that he can save his legacy by again being a bold, decisive leader in the face of adversity. He’s delusional and scared that history will equate Bush with Hoover and bit of Nixon thrown in.

  18. Don Williams Says:

    Re TH’s comment “No, the only thing you can do is remove the contagion from the body ”
    ———-
    No really — you can let the cocksuckers die.

    We don’t HAVE to lend to anyone. Find some hardnosed asshole from the IRS and put him at the front desk screening applications. Find some ugly looking Federal Marshall with a big fucking revolver and have him stand beside the IRS guy.

  19. Bullsmith Says:

    Exactly. John McCain’s “campaign suspension” was meant to do the same thing. The concept that the end is upon us needed reinforcement.

  20. Grouchy Says:

    I figured out what this speech reminds me of….

    Willow: Well, the important thing is not to panic.

    Xander: You just recited the mystical panic-causing incantation, so little hope there.

  21. Johnnyk Says:

    Wow, did that little chimp look like he was close to losing bowel control or what?

  22. sally Says:

    That is exactly his plan. And McCain’s reason for “suspending his campaign.” The goal is to ratchet up the sense of crisis to such an extent that anyone who is not panicking over it is partisan, weak, unpatriotic, etc. This is what happened after 9/11, before the Iraq invasion, during the Iraq invasion, over the Patriot Act, FISA bill, etc. Crisis allows them to consolidate power.

  23. pseudonymous in nc Says:

    Answer: if his appearance led people to believe that he was going to take an active part in trying to deal with the problem, yeah. But most people have tuned the fuck out.

  24. Angellight Says:

    Could McCain be having a senior moment or is he just too overwhelmed by this crisis to debate?

    Or, is McCain really being dirty and underhanded, trying to pull the wool out from under Barack’s feet, when he reached out to him early Wedensday morning in a bi-partisan moment, so together they could show solidarity and release a Joint Statement, however, McCain did not like that idea and decidied to bring politics into an already unsteady situation in an attempt to aid his political career, pretending that it was he who reached out to Barack and not the otherway around! However, that was not good enough, he must one-up him and cancel the campaign all together, the crisis is so great, a sudden change of heart that makes McCain look phony and untrustworthy. That is not putting Country first, but we already know that by his Pallin pick!

    And, of course, the debates should not be cancelled. A President has to be able to multi-task, big time! McCain’s cancelling looks more like a senior moment or that he is too overwhelmed and distraught to be albe to explain to the country just what he would do to address this problem.

    McCain the Wizard of Oz now pretends he has a heart, brain and courage! If so, its not working very well. His wall of lies and deceipt are closing in on him and soon there will be no place to hide, not even in the Senate. McCain you can run, you can lie, but you cannot hide.

  25. Bullsmith Says:

    Of course Bush is trying to panic the public, and the markets and especially the democrats. McCain’s rash behavior isn’t the way someone who wants calm acts either. They want crisis so they can take advantage of it.

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