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nota bene: for what it's worth, i do not think that the question is whether bush has "lost it" or not: i see no reason to go in that direction to interpret this story and its afterburn: rather, i think its timing shows that it is something of a balloon sent up to the christian right in the context of the contreversy about harriet meier. the rove squad must be really quite worried about a split within the reactionary base, so much so that they are willing to let the statement stand with the weak caveat raised above.
if bush has not "lost it"--this story would then reflect something of the tension that must dog this president who is (apparently, at least some of the time) an evangelical type who imagines that god talks directly to him and political action in a democratic context. god talks to me, so it is therefore ok to lie to an entire planet about the rationale for war...god talks to me so dissent means nothing....god talks to me so anyone who opposes me is in league with terrorists--on and on, all as a direct consequence of this blurring of systems to rationalizing action.
seems to me that this kind of action is a strong argument for pushing the seperation of church and state ever deeper.
the more difficult question is: assume that bush has not "lost it" but actually think in this way. is this kind of thinking not most dangerous for a democracy, even a shallow one like the american? but if it is dangerous for democracy, what to do about it?
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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