Capitol Hill Blue: "Death Watch at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue"

White House insiders say George W. Bush’s mood swings have increased to the point where meetings with the President must be cancelled, schedules shifted and plans changed to keep a bitter, distracted leader from the public eye.

“He’s like a zombie some days, walking around in a trance,” says one aide who, for obvious reasons, asks not to be identified. “Other times he launches into angry outbursts, cussing out anybody who gets near him.”

Aides say gallows humor has descended on the White House, where the West Wing is now referred to as “death row” and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, along with Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, are known as “dead men walking,” a reference to the last walk death row inmates take to the execution chamber."

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7560.shtml

at any spontaneous moment.

who kept Nixon from using them... lets hope condy has the same foresight.

...shortly after General Al Haig took over as Chief of Staff, the "football" stopped following Nixon around. I heard this directly from a guy that was on Kissinger's staff at the time.

Additionally, a friend of mine was serving at a top-secret facility on Guam when a heavily classified message came across the teletype advising all commands to "disregard all orders from the Commander-in-Chief".

Kissinger would love to take credit for keeping Nixon from using nukes, but that's not the way it really went down.

IMHO, a partnership of the military (JCS) and the intelligence community (primarily the CIA), quietly and efficiently took control of the government to allow time for the transition to a new civilian government.

I think a very similar event took place ten years earlier in Dallas, with LBJ immediately taking the oath mere hours after JFK's murder.

Take a good look around and ask yourself why the NeoCons are back on their heels, and a determined prosecutor like Fitzgerald is still alive.

I have heard the story from a history professor who was ahem, in the beltway during those days... as a young staffer

The way he put it, the football stopped doing this when the JCS was asked, where does the Military stand?

Behind the Constitution Sir

Yet as he put it, Kissinger also had a role, mostly the public role of this... and public face

It is just a more complex side of the story, if you know what I mean

I asked that same prof, why is it that nobody dares to write that and allows Kissinger to continue to take credit... his words (I paraphrase) it was agreed upon

about 4 weeks ago. Before he left for basic training, I actually said to him, "If anything happens while you're in the navy and it comes down to choosing between protecting the Constitution or obeying the Commander-in-Chief, I hope you make the right choice." He's very liberal and assured me he wouldn't change. I know he'll choose the Constitution.

I do hope

My son left for Basic last month too (Nat. Guard) and I will be using your words on him when he gets back. (if you don't mind) ;)

if Bush ever gets too close to doing something REAL stupid, I would hope that there are some Generals who are brave enough to "stop" him.

thugs, liars, thieves and all-around jerks.

Because CHB keeps reporting the same story over and over and they are the only one's doing it.

two weeks ago, IIRC... those looked like confirmation to me

By the way, the editor in chief has many contacts inside the beltway

Do you have a link for the newsweek article? I must have missed it.

and yes he is a former freeper, but he has put his country ahead of anything else... he has no trust for any professional politician regardless of party at this point... and I cannot blame him for that.

That said, he has the contacts... and he is not spreading mis info... just because he is a reformed freeper people automatically distrust him...

They were among the first also with the God talks to Bush, which was confirmed first by Ha Aretz and finally the BBC, after two years, picked up.

So their record is pretty damn good... and to me it proves he has contacts.

It was available online. IIRC, Isakoff wrote it.

I'm not defending the credibility of CHB, but there is definitely a ring of truth to this story, even if many of the details are sheer fantasy.

I look at Bush lately (especially since he retreated to Texas this summer) and he really seems more off-the-wall than usual. And the White House has become amazingly disfunctional. Their incompetent and ideological approach to policy matters aside, they've always been remarkably disciplined, publicly unified and strictly on message until lately.

I really think something's wrong with Bush and it seems to be getting worse. Either he's done "playing president" or he's losing it.

They are reporting the same story over and over. I can tell that there's something up with Bush. You can see it in everything he does. I just wonder how much of this is legit.

They need to save their own $$$ and butts. Is the publisher truly a former 'freeper'?

he was a staffer on the hill during the good ol' days of Reagan

Thanks.

My brotehr in Law posts at his forum, where he does not tolerate personal attacks, and anything yuo post, better be fact checked... and he posted once his past...

I like to think I am 'on top' of things - The Hill dude as a Freeper is just a head-exploder.

his profile from CHB

...but I have no difficulty believing that President Bush is subject to mood swings and that there are more than a few aides who might say so.

Other than the first three or four sentences, the story isn't really all that controversial, either.

I wouldn't bet money on CHB's reporting, but the portrait painted by the story sure sounds right from where I'm sitting.

It was pretty widley reported.

He's clearly has severe mood swings - all of the middle finger exercises he's prone to, to say nothing of his mini-tantrums they've captured the moment before the camera goes on and the fake smile goes up.

after he had to deliver some bad news to gwb.

Clearly, there are anger management issues at the very least. MKJ

nt

been complicit in keeping from the American voters.

"The façade is gone and we are now seeing the Bush White House in all its incompetent glory,” says retired political science professor George Harleigh. “They’ve ignored reality for too long.”"

We should have been privy to this on the front pages of newspapers(nwt, washedout post) and on the tv news for 5 years..instead of catapulting the propoganda for bushco.

The media sold us out.

The only reason he floated last year was that he had the campaign behind him. He doesn't have the commercials running anymore. The promotion is over and all we have is this presidency. After the mid term's, the facade of leadership will be completely destroyed. No one will need his bullshit anymore, especially if Rove is gone.

It is just magnificent. I recommend a full reading to everybody. You won't want it to end and when it does, it will blow your mind.

Thanks so much for this Senor Zen.

but it's entertaining for those who hate Bush. it plays into everything we know and think of him.

the destruction in New Orleans to show to him and no one wanted to take it to him.

it's scary. :scared:

n/t

Hmmm. Strategy session?

and we have yet another hurricane coming in... I wonder if Jim Bean will play a role

"You can’t sell shit"

I liked the phrase too but until recently it has only been not being able to sell shit overseas.

Way too many Americans not only bought the shit after 9/11 but considered it ambrosia, food of the gods, relishing the delicious flavor and fragrance.

Those of us who pointed out it was shit and not ambrosia were considered wimpy, liberal, hippie godless traitors.

Even most of Congress, seeing America feasting on the shit disregarded the taste and odor seeming rank to them and took some bites themselves. The press praised the shit or at least failed to mention that for ambrosia it sure smelled pretty strange.

That almost fits better then the emperor wearing no clothes because I really hate the thought of us seeing bush and gang naked.

But maybe we could adjust the slogan. Something like "You can’t sell shit...anymore"

this weekend. Maybe he is needed to babysit bush as he hits the bottle,in a drunken stupor as his administration crumbles around him?

he is definitely about to fall over the edge if his brain gets plucked.

When there's a war between two Mafia factions each gang holes up in a secret location with lots of spegetti and lots of mattresses on the floor for the soldiers to sleep on.

I can see the out at Camp David now with Bush, Rove and Mehlman sitting around the kitchen table plotting their next move while Scotty stands at the window shotgun at the ready and Barbara Bush stirs up a big pot of pasta puttanesca for the troops.

The big question is will Cheney and Scooter be at Camp David? Is someone going to end up swimming with the fishes?

Even if it wasn't true before, it will be true now because CHB has given us the idea. People around the administration and around the country will be referring to those two malicious clowns as dead men walking.

crazies to walk around in the whitehouse!!! We need quicker justice!!!

It scares me he is commander in chief of the army!!!

People need to DO something and DO something NOW!

What if all this talk of indictments leads nowhere?

he admired the country that got a man out of the top office by doing that???

this is oh so funny

The set up


and the follow

and of coure the red ligth saber is a nice touch, the halliburton side of the force

does the name Zbigniew mean anything, perhaps?

assessment tonight. He is generally pretty astute and thinks that we will be seeing far more stories about bush's "mood swings" and "irrational behavior" as a lead up to the "tragic" event

I actually saw his head explode in a dream six months before the election... and that is the only dream I have ever remembered that vividly

he's too gutless to suicide

It wouldn't REALLY be suicide ... they'd just SAY it was...

Terrorists pretzels!!

Insulates Republicans from Bush admin mistakes.
Stops all investigations that would speak badly of the dead.
Excuses downfall of the dollar.
Gives Republicans space to speak with compassion for a while.
Lets base feel excused for remaining Republican as mistakes are minimized.
Makes overturning his "legacy" more divisive.
Makes Dems look callous.
Anti-spiritualists will tread soft around the name Tecumseh.
Elevates Cheney without question, and smoke screens pardons.
Allows the pillaging of our treasury to continue unwatched.

Oh, it would to be ugly in such a divided nation. Gut wrenchingly ugly.

I think his family would handle it well. I'd worry a bit about the twins.

I would like to see him live out his long-term sentence as Saddam's bitch in prison.

Lots of fun gossip that usually turns out to be true.

I've been wondering about this for some time now. Does anyone know?

(NB please PM this info to me too), in Thompson's younger days he was an Appalachian newspaperman, and a friend of mine knew him very well. What I am told about him is that is that he is an H.L. Mencken-type independent, regarding ALL politicians as betrayers of the people until proven otherwise.

From what my friend says of Thompson -- and also from what I have seen of his politics via CHB -- I certainly wouldn't call him a "freeper" (with all the reflexive fascism that label implies). Instead I would say he is a genuine populist: someone who understands that where the common good is concerned, there are damn few heroes and entirely too many villains -- most of them trying 24/7 to convince us they are the opposite.

Moreover -- given the decidedly Leftist values of my friend -- I would say (without knowing) it is very probable Thompson is on the progressive side of paycheck issues, defense of the social safety net and -- of supreme importance to Southerners and old New Dealers like myself -- support for the Tennessee Valley Authority. (With its reforestation and flood control projects, TVA is not only the salvation of the South, but by its near-limitless electrical generating capability, it was the savior of the U.S./Allied war effort in World War II -- and to this day is proof positive of the ultimate superiority of New Deal socialism.)

Bottom line, Thompson's reporting seems generally credible, hence his reporting on the state of things in the White House has to be assessed as probably true. Which fills in the missing psychological dimension that explains Bush's growing hate-America defiance: threats of martial law; giving the finger to NRA by confiscation of legally owned firearms in New Orleans; suspension of Davis-Bacon; unprecedented encouragement of illegal immigration; the Miers appointment and various other defiantly theocratic measures; the administration's new Prescription Drug Lord Immunity Act that says they can kill us with bad vaccine and suffer no consequences (as posted elsewhere on DU tonight); etc. ad nauseum.

*****

For another 20th Century instance in which a high-ranking military officer literally saved America, Google "gen. smedley butler". Here is a link to the greater story behind Gen. Butler's heroism:

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/Coup.htm

Someone I know who was in the Washington D.C. inner circles at the time of Watergate essentially confirms NB's account (including the JCS "disregard" order) and claims that for about the last year of the Nixon Administration, the "real" president was Gen. Haig -- like all military personnel sworn to defend the Constitution of the United States "against all enemies foreign and domestic."

"Honor" has unfortunately become meaningless to most of us, as has the ancient notion that an oath once given can never be broken. But these values are very much alive in the armed forces, and not just in the officer corps. Thus the scenario others have laid out on this thread is entirely possible.

Whatever, I believe these are especially perilous times: Gore himself said a couple of weeks ago that American liberty has never been in greater danger.

As to NB's dream, there were a couple of allegedly "reputable" psychics interviewed on one of the cable networks just before the 2004 election who said that whomever won, he would not complete the term. I do not normally put any faith at all in commercial pop psychics, so I am merely repeating what I remember, with no judgment given or implied as to its credibility.

just a few weeks ago. Dan Froomkin did a long piece on it. And here's Evan Thomas's big article in Newsweek. Thomas basically wrote the same thing that CHB reported last year. I think they know what they are talking about.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9287434/

Maybe they know the end of the story..

:popcorn:

Maybe they know the end of the story..

:popcorn:

boo! Bush's crimes are very spooky. www.bushcommission.org
10/22 New York, New York
Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration http://www.bushcommission.org/

Look at Bu$h when he makes public appearances. He even looks distracted and spaced-out. He's got to be on some kind of meds.

What other president has so isolated himself from any opposition. The guy is paraniod about being wacked. He probably has first hand knowledge of who wacked JFK, MLK, RFK, Malcom X and attempts on Ford and Reagan. He knows it happens. What other president has surrounded himself with 1000's of bodyguards. He is paraniod.

He runs a hands-off management operation. But now I am sure he is wondering who are his friends and enemies. Right now he cannot tell. And his poppa, who he fears, is turning against him. I'd say Junior is close to blowing a gasket.

As for Condi, she won't do diddly squat. She's a sycophant to Junior. If anybody removes the football it will have to come from deep in JCS. Not even Rummy can be trusted.

I wonder about that football though. Does the football actually cause a launch or does it require an enabling from Colorado Springs before becoming active. It seems like too much power in one persons hands if the football can cause a launch without anybody else's approval.

What IF Bu$h goes insane and decides to suicide and take us with him?