Why Bush is a Liar, perhaps?

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are those who cannot or will not give themselves over to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which requires rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average.

from the "How it Works" section of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. {emphasis added}

The Reverend Andrew Greeley is shocked, shocked, to discover that maybe the Bush Administration has been lying all this time.

Is Bush Lying About His Lies?
from the November 25, 2005 edition of the Chicago Sun Times

"The buck stops in the Oval Office. If the president was not deliberately lying to the American people, he nonetheless presided over what was in effect and in truth a massive deception. He would be much wiser to admit his mistake and assume responsibility, but it is apparently not in his character to do so." - the Reverend Andrew Greeley

I have seen a scattered pile of posts across the Internet about the possibility that Bush is still drinking - that in fact, this coke-snortin' draft-dodger never stopped drinking, that his "self-made" recovery without a program of recovery is a pile of bunk bigger than Plamegate.

The Poor Man delivers an analysis of the National Enquirer story about Bush's drinking. Noting that the NE isn't the best source of anything, TPM offers an interesting analysis of all the bruises and cuts that appear on Bush's face from time to time.

On the other hand, the guy falls down alot. I don’t know what a normal amount of falling down is, an I imagine that some people have lifestyles that involve a higher risk of falling down than mine, and so that needs to be taken into account. That said, he fell off a Segway. That’s like … I don’t know what that’s like, like water flowing uphill or something. I’m not sure how you would go about doing that, falling off a state-of-the-art self-balancing transport, but I think there are instructions inside bottles of cheap Scotch.
- from the Poor Man.

Bottle of Blog offers pictures of all those bruises, and picks up on the riff of the falls and the bruises with a generous pile of pictures, as well as commentary like, "And, as I say, for a grownup, he sure gets his face banged up a lot. In the last ten or fifteen years of my adult life, I’ve only ever shown up for work on a Monday morning once with bruises and cuts on my face, and that was after I broke my nose dancing at a Christmas party. And guess what? I was stupid drunk when it happened."

And there's that nutty weird thing where Bush requires that all state functions end by nine o'clock because "he needs his sleep". A more skeptical person might say that nine p.m. is about as late as a hardcore alcoholic can make it before he needs a damn drink. So, no, sorry Enquirer readers, Bush has not started drinking again. Bush never stopped drinking in the first place. "

- from the BottleofBlog

I don't have a thing against anyone drinking anything at almost any time of day. But I hate people who lie - about most anything, really. For the President of the United States to say that he doesn't drink anymore because Jesus won't let him or whatever and then to continue to drink is a breach of the public trust - but that's something that President Bush seems to be fairly good at doing.

Looking for richer content? There's not much in the way of links out there, even in the from-the-hip blogging community. Salon.com's Joan Walsh offers a lengthy history of Bush family alcohol issues, which describes a man who couldn't stop drinking once he started - a fairly good description of an alcoholic - but who just managed to "quit" cold-turkey without programs or therapy.

Well good for him - now, do I have to rely on his word in order to believe this? Hmm....

Tip o' the hat to my pal Guthrie T. - an AA member for a number of years - for passing on this link. Sorry I just can't seem to make those meetings, buddy...

Technorati Tags : Bush, BUSH, DRINKING, President, alcoholism, alcoholic, drunk


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