An absolute lack of empathy

This screed originally was going to be in the comments section for a post from Shakespeare's Sister

Who knew there was even going to be a report on Bush’s bike accident in Scotland last year when he crashed into a Scottish police constable while cycling in the grounds of Gleneagles Hotel? I certainly didn’t.

Another so-dead-on-target post from SS, this one dealing with the Administration's fetish for covering up any & all incidents that make the Dear Leader & his Retinue look less than honorable

It was in her comments section that SS made this observation

Yeah, waterhouse, it was, except that Prez. Bartlet ran into a tree, not a police officer.

Right. I mean, like I was kind of chuckling until I got to the part where the guy was off work for 14 weeks. That doesn't sound like a "very minor" injury - and original reports didn't even mention that the guy struck his head. It sounds like it was a lot worse than we were told, which makes it not funny because someone really got hurt and not funny because we were lied to. Again.

My reply

For Dear Leader W & Cheneyburton, it's not so much a matter of covering up that shows their true nature, it's the fact that they both lack ANY empathy for anyone else outside their brittle Bubble Worlds-namely, some immediate family only

They weren't thinking about covering up or how they'd respond when pressed publicly about their miscues & misfires, because they weren't worried in the least about what they'd done, and even less worried about their physical harm of others

But with Dear Leader W, there's also an anger at both others and himself when it comes to how President jr handles problems that have popped up on him before

Such as using political connections to leapfrog over 500 more qualified applicants for that TANG spot that kept him completely out of harm's path and active duty in Vietnam

Dear Leader W saw nothing wrong with doing everything he could to stay off the battlefield, and it makes him angry when anyone else calls him a coward who used the ultimate form of affirmative action-politicial power

Yet, in his deepest soul, Dear Leader W acknolwedges his cravenly actions, it shreds him that he can't, factually, dispute his critics' negative assertions

He's decided that being a hardass politically makes up for not being a hardass on the battlefield OR in the world of business, a record worth noting in that he NEVER ran a successful business from the ground up, based on his own actions & decision, EVERY single business venture he headed failed miserably

Listen to how often the Dear Leader trots out that obvious, psychologically self-reassuring blather of "I'm A War President"

Dear Leader W figures if he repeats that "I'm A War President" mantra long enough, he'll set his own gnawing doubts about his own character to permanaent rest.

Even more astonishingly, he figures that by repeating the "War President" claim enough times, even his critics will finally give him his bonafides as someone who's more than made up for their past lack of spine for anything hostile-combat related

Isn't it amazing what a great War President & Military Stragetist Dear Leader W's become since first refusing to serve in active combat?

Forget all the BS that W wanted to take out Saddam Hussein because of a fialed assassination plot against Bush Sr, Bush has no real love for his father in the least, best example of that was W's reply to a question about whether he'd sought his father's advice regarding the Iraq invasion & occupation, W responding that he listened to a HIGHER father

Did Mr. Bush ask his father for any advice? “I asked the president about this. And President Bush said, ‘Well, no,’ and then he got defensive about it,” says Woodward. “Then he said something that really struck me. He said of his father, ‘He is the wrong father to appeal to for advice. The wrong father to go to, to appeal to in terms of strength.’ And then he said, ‘There's a higher Father that I appeal to.’"

And while we haven't seen or read much about it, I would venture that it's driving Dear Leader W absolutely CRAZY that it appears that Clinton has a better relationship with Bush Sr than Bush Jr does

Even though W seemingly has no love for his father, he's no doubt told himself that Clinton being on better terms with Bush Sr has somehow caused Bush Sr to love Jr less than he would have otherwise

It's that complete lack of empathy thing, it allows W to insist on emotions & tributes from those he refuses to treat in the same fashion.

Yet, as sociopathic as Dear Leader W's mindset is, he's given to temper tantrums when his self-aggrandizing mythology can't completely drown out harsh & unpleasant self-realities

If that core of unpleasnt self-reality didn't intrude in W's thoughts in the least, we'd have no reports about temper tantrums, he wouldn't care what he said in public as it wouldn't bother him in the least to be scolded as a complete & utter hypocrite no matter the issue, a logical impossibility given the Administration's determination to spin all things to make the Dear Leader TRULY great, and in that pursuit are cover-ups perpetrated

Nothing, absolutely NOTHING showed Dear Leader's mindset & self-delusional brittle bubble of monumental ego as much as W's answer to a question of what mistaes did President Jr think he'd made as President, to which W famously responded that he couldn't think of a single mistake he'd made as President

John.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. In the last campaign, you were asked a question about the biggest mistake you'd made in your life, and you used to like to joke that it was trading Sammy Sosa. You've looked back before 9/11 for what mistakes might have been made. After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say, and what lessons have you learned from it?

THE PRESIDENT: I wish you would have given me this written question ahead of time, so I could plan for it. (Laughter.) John, I'm sure historians will look back and say, gosh, he could have done it better this way, or that way. You know, I just -- I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn't yet.

*******************************

I hope I -- I don't want to sound like I've made no mistakes. I'm confident I have. I just haven't -- you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.

Besides a foolish belief in his overarching perfection, something else gnaws at Dear Leader as well: the well-deserved perception that if it wasn't for the truly loathsome Karl Rove, W would have been as successful at politics as he's been in his business endeavors, all of which failed when W was calling the shots

It drives President Jr crazy to accept advice from someone he'd have beat up on if they'd gone to the same school at the same time, as W figures that Rove hogs far too much credit for Bush's political acumen, and that he needs W as much as W needs him

Lets face it, once Dear Leader is out of the White House, him & Rove will NEVER speak to each other again, let alone visit or send Christmas cards

Which brings up a final point

Just how many REAL friends does Dear Leader W TRULY have?

Does anyone really think that W will actually sit on Trent Lott's porch?

Does anyone really see Dear Leader W & Cheneyburton getting together once the Administration's gone?

It's a lack of empathy that ensures W will only ever have pragamatic relationships, as opposed to REAL, unalloyed friendships

Make no mistake, President Jr lacks a heart, and that lack of empathy, more than any other flaw, fault or shortcoming is W's Truest character trait