September 25, 2005

It now appears that all of the carefully laid plans of Karl Rove to establish a voting bloc that would guarantee Republican control of this country for decades to come have come a cropper. Bush was to be put forward as the candidate of the Religious Right because that group is organized and fanatic but even they are having serious doubt about the persona of Bush. Business supported him because he supported them in return for huge infusions of cash. Now, like the Christians, big business is moving away from Bush because of the economic disaster that he has created and can no longer control. The idea of setting Bush up as Our Protector Against Terrorists played well for a while but grew thin what with all the noise about pink days and green days but the utter disaster and collapse of authority in the wake of the two hurricanes in the Gulf have put paid to his momentum and what goes up, must come down. Private polls taken by staffers here indicate that Bush is below 20% (!) on the national approval list and staff members, eager to enhance their careers, are deserting and passing this information to Congressmen who are, predictably, reacting strongly to the possible loss of their very lucrative jobs. The President’s staff is doing its best to keep this sort of rapid slippage from him because when Bush gets depressed, Bush gets drunk and staffers, and Cheney and Rove, are terrified lest Bush show up at a mandatory occasion, plastered enough to slur his already slurred speech or stagger into the garden or the hall and vomit. Bush is a binge drinker and no one knows if he has a bottle hidden in his desk or office safe and binge drinkers can certainly surprise their friends upon occasion. Coalitions, self-serving and survival oriented, are forming and this will be a reprise of the end of the Nixon administration, mark my words.