Just Checked Out "The Two Faces of Bush"

I know I may be a little behind the times thanks to my computer's decision to unilaterally withdraw from our agreement to work (I'm on my family's computer now), but I just went over to the "two face" website from the banner.

I've got two words: 'Friggin' and 'awesome.'

These guys totally nailed it on the head. Not only can you pretty much find a contradiction to just about every major statement this administration has made on just about everything, but there is also an enormous gap between the George W. Bush trotted out by the GOP image-makers and hagiographers and the Dubya that has FINALLY begun to make unscripted appearances.

We got a glimpse of the Janus-head when Bush was confronted by an Irish journalist early this year. It was the first time, almost without exception, that Bush had not been surrounded by yes-men and a cowed press since 9/11. It sent shock waves through the media, who acted as if it were the first time they had seen testicles in half a century (the journalist was a woman, btw).

Frank Rich did an excellent job of following up on this theme yesterday, and I will let him quote Daily Kos to sum it up:

(T)he liberal blog Daily Kos had the big picture right: on Sept. 30, "months of meticulous image manipulation" by the Bush-Cheney forces went "down the toilet in 90 minutes."

That's a shocking development because until recently, that manipulation had been meticulous and then some. The administration has been brilliant at concocting camera-ready video narratives that flatter if not outright fictionalize its actions: "Saving Jessica Lynch," "Shock and Awe," the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue (a sparsely populated, unspontaneous event, when seen in the documentary "Control Room"), "Mission Accomplished."

Mr. Bush has been posed by his imagineers to appear to be the fifth head on Mount Rushmore; he has kept the coffins of the American war dead off-screen; he has been seen in shirtsleeves at faux-folksy Town Hall meetings that, until his second debate with Mr. Kerry, were so firmly policed in content and attendees that they would make a Skull and Bones soiree look like a paragon of democracy in action.

(Highly recommended reading)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/arts/10rich.html?ex=1254888000&en=204bc737aaa9ebb9&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

Although Americans have, for the most part, already made up their minds, I can't help but think that more than a few of them were jolted - shocked and awed, even - by the very-public bursting of Bush's bubble. And I can't help but think that the image of the Janus-head will haunt them all the way to the voting booths.