Mutiny in America
hades of Herman Wouk! George Bush strolled into the Rose Garden today and channeled the behavior of Captain Philip Francis Queeg as described in the Caine Mutiny. He avoided grasping for small steel balls in his coat pocket and rolling them menacingly in his hand (no clack, clack to compliment the clicks of cameras) but he did have the shrill, hysterical tirade down pat. For those not familiar with the Queeg character, consider the following traits described courtesy of Wikipedia:
Queeg is assigned as captain of the U.S.S. Caine
Sort of like being named President by the Supreme Court--a command decision.
He is initially welcomed by the crew as a tough, no-nonsense veteran, who will shape up the ship after his slovenly predecessor's departure.
Oval Office oral sex does not qualify as "slovenly", but it certainly was tawdry. Despite the uproar surrounding his appointment, most of the country welcomed Governor Bush--the tough minded, compassionate conservative--as a tonic to restore honor to the Presidency.
After a honeymoon period, it becomes apparent that Queeg is prone to eccentric behavior. Queeg displays a micro-managing command style and (sometimes unprovoked) angry outbursts.
How about eccentric behavior? Does sitting immobile for several minutes in a Florida classroom on 9-11 after being told the United States was bombed count? Chopping wood on ones ranch while the city of New Orleans drowns in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina seems queer. The New York Times editorial from 19 July 2006 noted that, "the really weird thing is his (Bush's) sense of victimization. He's strangely resentful about the actual core of his job. Even after the debacles of Iraq and Katrina, he continues to treat the presidency as a colossal interference with his desire to mountain bike and clear brush."
Micro-manager? Okay, not so much. Manager? Not so much. The most vacationed President in the history, spends little time managing anything. But "anger"? That's another story. The jutting jaw tirade unleashed during today's press conference was occasionally interrupted by the Bush smirk. Doubt Bush was angry? Give NBC's David Gregory a shout.
As time passes, he begins to make mistakes that endanger his crew. He neglects to order the ship to stop turning while reprimanding a crew member for having his shirttail out, and so the ship steams over its own towline, parting it.
If you are going to invade a country, history demonstrates the invader should be prepared for the aftermath. George Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq but took a nap when it came to post-war planning. George Bush ordered U.S. troops out of Afghanistan before the Taliban were fully destroyed and Bin Laden in hand. Today, Iraq is embroiled in an escalating civil ware and the Taliban are back with a vengeance in Afghanistan. Bush actions and inactions are endangering America and, as noted just yesterday by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, undermining our nation's moral authority.
When called on the carpet by a superior after this incident, he refuses to acknowledge it happened, or to admit blame in any way.
Senate Intelligence Committee reports anyone? Last week's bipartisan report documents multiple examples of Bush ignoring and misrepresenting intelligence on Iraq to the American people. For example, Bush consistently portrayed Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein as partners in the crime of terrorism. The intelligence community, however, said no--there was no operational relationship. This was the consensus of the analysts. Yet Bush continued to insist the opposite.
. . .the Caine is ordered into combat. Queeg is observed to always frequent the sheltered side of the ship's bridge from the beach. When he orders the ship to withdraw before reaching the line of departure while escorting a Marine landing craft under hostile fire, his subordinates consider him either crazy or a coward.
George Bush, who hid out in the Alabama National Guard rather than serve in Vietnam, was crazy like a fox. Bush is Commander-in-Chief but accepts no responsibility for insufficient troop strength in Iraq. Bush claims the security of the United States depends on success in Iraq, but takes no action to boost the manpower and materiel of the U.S. military. No member of the Bush family has served in Iraq or Afghanistan during this war.
Another episode which highlights Queeg's behaviors occurs when a quart of strawberries go missing from the wardroom icebox. Remembering how he helped solve a mystery involving a similar theft when he was an ensign earlier in his career, Queeg attempts to recreate his former accomplishment by insisting the strawberries were pilfered by a crewmember with a duplicate key. Queeg orders every key on the ship collected, and a thorough search made. During the search, the captain is confronted with evidence that the messboys ate the strawberries. Queeg loses all enthusiasm for the search, though he orders it to continue, and it is continued in a desultory way amid public mocking of the captain.
Two words--Valerie Plame. Bush flim flams the American people with a false story that Iraq is buying uranium in West Africa. The husband of secret CIA operative Valerie Plame--Ambassador Joseph Wilson--alerts the press that the claim is bogus. Eager to discredit Wilson, Administration officials--including Richard Armitage, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby--fan out thru the Washington press corps with the story that Wilson's wife sent him on a boondoggle. Following the public disclosure that Valerie Plame was an undercover CIA operations officer, George Bush vowed to punish the leakers. When he "learns" that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby are culprits, his enthusiasm for justice peters out.
George Bush is the Captain Queeg of the U.S.S. America. The ship and her crew--the American people--are endangered by his sins of omission and commission. When warned in August of 2001 by the CIA that Al Qaeda was ready to strike inside the United States, he did nothing to confront the threat. Then came 9-11. Since unleashing the dogs of war in Iraq, terrorist attacks in which people are killed and wounded have quadrupled. Surrendering the high ground earned during the Cold War against the Soviet Union, George Bush approves secret prisons, torture, and trials with secret evidence. Actions once considered unique to Soviet tyrants are now staining the garments of the cloak of American justice.
Instead of mature, measured leadership, America is saddled with a man that would probably frighten the fictional Captain Queeg. Like the character portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, George Bush compensates for his insecurity and inadequacy with shows of bravado and choleric indignation. But this ain't the movies folks. This is real. Like the crew of the U.S.S. Caine, there is a growing realization that the Captain is a little crazy. Mutiny anyone?
Comments (17)
Step #1 in the mutiny - Democratic control of the House after November's election. Step #2 - subpoenas issued to many hundreds of Bush lackeys. Step #3 - impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Step #4 - either acquital in the craven Republican controlled Senate or maybe conviction in a Democratic Senate.
Either way we keep the morons busy so they can't bomb Iran before they leave office in January 2009.
Tom
September 16, 2006 6:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Larry -- the parallel of Bush/Queeg is perfect! (As long as we avoid the final ten minutes of the film.)
A quibble, but a serious one. The Oval Office (or its neighboring kitchenette?) has doors and its inhabitant-in-chief is an adult individual. What's wrong about oral sex in those precincts is much less than that it happened, but that people pointed at it, stared at it, featured it, described it, delighted in making it public, investigated it, revelled in the (private) physical details of it, discussed it at incredible length on the floor of Congress, used it to bring about an impeachment. I see it as a egotistical folly on the part of Bill Clinton but as a very significant embarrassment and disgrace on the part of the US Congress from which they have yet to recover. The disgust which is now felt towards Congress by a bipartisan majority of Americans got its biggest boost during that period, I betcha.
September 16, 2006 7:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Larry: Excellent analogy between Bush & Capt. Queeg. The only difference is that in the end of the movie, Queeg is a sympathetic pitiful man. When Bush is impeached, I want to see the boy cry, and he will.....not for all the innocents he has killed, but for himself.
September 16, 2006 7:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
this is like the bank robber at the teller cage window who points the gun at his own head and says, "give me the money or i'll shoot..."
could we possibly hear a little bit about those terrorist attacks the program has supposedly "thwarted...?" and, why not have a little national discussion about how such information was obtained...? maybe we could talk about whether the methods by which such information was obtained mesh with the values and principles on which the united states was founded...? and, while we're at it, could we expand the discussion to include how such methods might impact how american military personnel might be treated in the event of capture...? and, gee, might it not also be a good idea to talk about, as colin powell rightly suggested, america's moral leadership in the world...?
oh, and before i forget to mention it... could you cool it with the tantrums, george...? they aren't working for you...
And, yes, I DO take it personally
September 16, 2006 8:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
I couldn't resist the alliteration. Also, I agree there is an enormous gulf between what two consenting adults do (that will get one of them in trouble with his wife) and the actions of a President who puts the country at risk.
September 16, 2006 9:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bush is one of the more unpopular presidents in U.S. history.
This Congress is one of the more unpopular in U.S. history.
Yet victory at the polls is still very much an uncertainty for Democrats. If they can't figure out how to beat this group, I find it a bit unrealistic to expect they will bind together to impeach the president (assuming, of course, that they can even win back a house of Congress).
Even Al Franken is against impeaching the president.
September 16, 2006 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Even a quick study of George's resume would have revealed just exactly the kind of president he'd be.
The British Admiralty, when appointing Bly captain of the Bounty, had serious misgivings about his fitness for the job. He was the first captain of a British ship not to have come from the "gentleman" class and rightly or wrongly Brits do have a thing about class.
Here in the "classless" States, we have a thing about resumes - even though in electing a president they seem not to count for much. Like the Brits whose bout with Bly ultimately lost them a ship, our bout with Bush may ultimately lose us a country.
September 16, 2006 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Barney Greenwald: I'm going to be frank with you two. I've read the preliminary investigation very carefully and I think that what you've done stinks.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: And now we come to the man who should have stood trial. The Caine's favorite author. The Shakespeare whose testimony nearly sunk us all. Tell 'em, Keefer.
Lt. Tom Keefer: No, you go ahead. You're telling it better.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: You ought to read his testimony. He never even HEARD of Captain Queeg!
Lt. Steve Maryk: Let's forget it, Barney.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: Queeg was sick, he couldn't help himself. But you, you're real healthy. Only you didn't have one-tenth the guts that he had.
Lt. Tom Keefer: Except I never fooled myself, Mr. Greenwald.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: I wanna drink a toast to you, Mr. Keefer. From the beginning you hated the Navy. And then you thought up this whole idea and you managed to keep your skirts nice and starched and clean, even in the court martial. Steve Maryk will always be remembered as a mutineer. But you, you'll publish your novel, you'll make a million bucks, you'll marry a big movie star, and for the rest of your life you'll live with your conscience, if you have any. Here's to the real author of the Caine mutiny. Here's to you, Mr. Keefer.
[Splashes wine in Keefer's face]
Lt. Barney Greenwald: If you wanna do anything about it, I'll be outside. I'm a lot drunker than you are - so it'll be a fair fight.
Sot of reminds one of Colin Powell and Richard Armitage.
September 16, 2006 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
American ship of state driven on to a rock (Iraq)
The meme seems so obvious..... Is it too obvious?.... Why isn't this statement worked into every speech any Democrat makes?
September 16, 2006 5:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
step #4 would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate so the only result would be to keep the entire country busy and ensure that Democrats were perceived (accurately) as being at least as responsible as Republicans for anything that went wrong in the period leading up to the 2008 Presidential Elections.
Consequently the Democrats in control of the House after the November election will not take step #3 but will have got their base foaming at the mouth for it by not being able to resist step #2.
Consequently the Democrats will go into the 2008 elections badly split while the Republican base will be mobilized by outrage.
Consequently the "morons" who are too stupid to understand anything will still be in office in January 2009 while Democrats will be telling each other how incredibly stupid the American people are, how clever Democrats are and how they saved the world by their self sacrifice.
Even Iran's Mullah's have a better understanding of how the American political system actually works and are not particularly worried about the absurd pretense that America might start a war with them.
The shouting at Iran is primarily intended to provide Israeli Likudniks with a suitable enemy while they adjust to having to get out of the West bank and has a side effect of also giving Democrats something to foam at the mouth about.
September 16, 2006 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, Ellen. It's one of my favorite books, but in storage.
--
Howard
*equal opportunity offense to both extremes*
September 16, 2006 8:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the horse by some miracle returns, the first step must be to close the barn door!
If Democracy in achieved for only one session of Congress, the first bill put forth must be an end to Gerrymandering.
The second bill must be to force an honest count of the votes and a universal right for everyone to be able to vote.
The third and hardest bill will be to have public funding of elections. There will be much complaining that only those with money should by polititions, but if the general public does not own Polititions, who will?
September 17, 2006 1:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Talking of mutiny, I was talking with a friend and the conversation turned to the likelihood of military action against Iran by Bush. The period BEFORE the mid-term elections is clearly ruled out because the Bush administration has made a conscious political decision to blanket war talk and opt instead for the lower oil prices and increased consumer confidence that quelling the Iran "crisis" and the war talk brings. But after the mid-terms, even with Democratic gains, my friend indicated his belief that the best hope for a brake on Bush's war intentions was from a mutiny of our military. This is certainly hard to get one's mind around in the US, but I found the comment interesting.
September 17, 2006 6:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
...and if the geniuses stay in power and that results in the deaths of thousands of more Americans and Iraqis and Iranians (because of the "absurd pretense that America might start a war with them" - are you reading your Seymour Hersh? - ever heard of our absurd war in Iraq?) and others for nothing you'll sit on your butt telling everyone how smart you are and doing nothing about it except cheerlead? Is that what you're saying?
Tom
September 17, 2006 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Trying to keep the Gorilla in the closet?
When you have the WH browbeating the JAGs for 5 hours to agree to Captain Queeg's ... Er, I mean Bush's 'concept' that they've outlined with the legislation the administration has come up with, then it is already a good bet that the 'battle within the battle' has really taken a turn for the worse for the ship-of-state. Here's a little background noise:
From that link to Sign on San Diego:
What's being overlooked in this White House authored legislation is the big ticket item that is actually all about about changing the 1996 War Crimes Act (US Code § 2441 or Wikipedia) to retroactively protect policymakers from possible criminal charges and future prosecution at the highest levels in the Bush administration.
And Bush in answer to a reporter's question about Powell's letter said:
Just another damn bald faced lie!
~OGD~
ps: Anyone see where that length of anchor chain was stored?
September 17, 2006 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Never mind that. Where are the strawberries? :-)
--
Howard
*equal opportunity offense to both extremes*
September 17, 2006 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Bush has been clearing strawberries rather than brush in Crawford, Texas. Maybe he has "Strawberry Fields" down there. Maybe since he read Camus and "three Shakespeare's" this summer he's now into John Lennon. Maybe he'll see the new movie about John Lennon. Maybe he'll finish "My Pet Goat" soon.
Naah! It's more fun being a moron!
Tom
September 17, 2006 7:15 PM | Reply | Permalink