s and not on his media-created (or distorted) image.

Add to this a genuine weakness of this President: his apparent reliance on personal friendship and trust, in lieu, sometimes, of good independent judgment, and his willingness to subscribe to secrecy and close counsel for its own sake, and his constituency is left to wonder: “what is this not-very-intelligent guy up to? Perhaps he really does mean to drop a few nukes on Iran.” Now, as viscerally satisfying as “dropping a few nukes on Iran” may seem to some of

The purpose of this piece is to reassure its readers (and perhaps, its author), that civil liberties are not a concern relegated solely to the opponents of the Bush White House. Let me start off this essay by incurring much wrath in clearly identifying myself as a lifelong Republican, and a supporter of this Administration’s policies in the Middle East and in Iraq, in particular. Those whose judgment is so driven by obsessive hatred of George W. Bush that they prefer to see the failure of American interest in the international arena, than to endure a scintilla of success for Team Bush should, in any rational world, be ashamed of themselves for their lack of patriotism, to say the least. In addition, the readiness of some to declare his policies a failure smacks of intellectual dishonesty. Any student of history worth his or her salt knows that the success or failure of a policy—ANY policy—is not evident for at least fifty years, or more. Alas, however, we do not live in a rational, or an intellectually honest, world.

In spite of my political leanings, it is an unfortunate reality that our President is a divisive figure. Part of this is a function of his inability to project intelligence, and the resultant, and mistaken public impression (reinforced relentlessly and cynically by his detractors) of him as shallow and, indeed, stupid. I am naive enough to believe that idiots don’t make it to the White House, and that this President suffers merely from an enhanced form of his father’s estrangement from, and lack of fluency in, the English Language. That, coupled with a Texas drawl, a goofy grin and an inability to put forth bon mots in a spontaneous way, leaves the American public with a perception of him as something of a dimwit. Those who know the President personally (I am not among them) know this to be false. I agree wholeheartedly, in large measure because I have seen the man’s work and am, for the most part, satisfied with it. Irrespective of the views of both his supporters and detractors, history, most importantly, will judge him on his deeds and not on his media-created (or distorted) image.

Add to this a genuine weakness of this President: his apparent reliance on personal friendship and trust, in lieu, sometimes, of good independent judgment, and his willingness to subscribe to secrecy and close counsel for its own sake, and his constituency is left to wonder: “what is this not-very-intelligent guy up to? Perhaps he really does mean to drop a few nukes on Iran.” Now, as viscerally satisfying as “dropping a few nukes on Iran” may seem to some of

rnational arena, than to endure a scintilla of success for Team Bush should, in any rational world, be ashamed of themselves for their lack of patriotism, to say the least. In addition, the readiness of some to declare his policies a failure smacks of intellectual dishonesty. Any student of history worth his or her salt knows that the success or failure of a policy—ANY policy—is not evident for at least fifty years, or more. Alas, however, we do not live in a rational, or an intellectually honest, world.

In spite of my political leanings, it is an unfortunate reality that our President is a divisive figure. Part of this is a function of his inability to project intelligence, and the resultant, and mistaken public impression (reinforced relentlessly and cynically by his detractors) of him as shallow and, indeed, stupid. I am naive enough to believe that idiots don’t make it to the White House, and that this President suffers merely from an enhanced form of his father’s estrangement from, and lack of fluency in, the English Language. That, coupled with a Texas drawl, a goofy grin and an inability to put forth bon mots in a spontaneous way, leaves the American public with a perception of him as something of a dimwit. Those who know the President personally (I am not among them) know this to be false. I agree wholeheartedly, in large measure because I have seen the man’s work and am, for the most part, satisfied with it. Irrespective of the views of both his supporters and detractors, history, most importantly, will judge him on his deeds and not on his media-created (or distorted) image.

Add to this a genuine weakness of this President: his apparent reliance on personal friendship and trust, in lieu, sometimes, of good independent judgment, and his willingness to subscribe to secrecy and close counsel for its own sake, and his constituency is left to wonder: “what is this not-very-intelligent guy up to? Perhaps he really does mean to drop a few nukes on Iran.” Now, as viscerally satisfying as “dropping a few nukes on Iran” may seem to some of

ite of my political leanings, it is an unfortunate reality that our President is a divisive figure. Part of this is a function of his inability to project intelligence, and the resultant, and mistaken public impression (reinforced relentlessly and cynically by his detractors) of him as shallow and, indeed, stupid. I am naive enough to believe that idiots don’t make it to the White House, and that this President suffers merely from an enhanced form of his father’s estrangement from, and lack of fluency in, the English Language. That, coupled with a Texas drawl, a goofy grin and an inability to put forth bon mots in a spontaneous way, leaves the American public with a perception of him as something of a dimwit. Those who know the President personally (I am not among them) know this to be false. I agree wholeheartedly, in large measure because I have seen the man’s work and am, for the most part, satisfied with it. Irrespective of the views of both his supporters and detractors, history, most importantly, will judge him on his deeds and not on his media-created (or distorted) image.

Add to this a genuine weakness of this President: his apparent reliance on personal friendship and trust, in lieu, sometimes, of good independent judgment, and his willingness to subscribe to secrecy and close counsel for its own sake, and his constituency is left to wonder: “what is this not-very-intelligent guy up to? Perhaps he really does mean to drop a few nukes on Iran.” Now, as viscerally satisfying as “dropping a few nukes on Iran” may seem to some of

Language. That, coupled with a Texas drawl, a goofy grin and an inability to put forth bon mots in a spontaneous way, leaves the American public with a perception of him as something of a dimwit. Those who know the President personally (I am not among them) know this to be false. I agree wholeheartedly, in large measure because I have seen the man’s work and am, for the most part, satisfied with it. Irrespective of the views of both his supporters and detractors, history, most importantly, will judge him on his deeds and not on his media-created (or distorted) image.

Add to this a genuine weakness of this President: his apparent reliance on personal friendship and trust, in lieu, sometimes, of good independent judgment, and his willingness to subscribe to secrecy and close counsel for its own sake, and his constituency is left to wonder: “what is this not-very-intelligent guy up to? Perhaps he really does mean to drop a few nukes on Iran.” Now, as viscerally satisfying as “dropping a few nukes on Iran” may seem to some of

s and not on his media-created (or distorted) image.

Add to this a genuine weakness of this President: his apparent reliance on personal friendship and trust, in lieu, sometimes, of good independent judgment, and his willingness to subscribe to secrecy and close counsel for its own sake, and his constituency is left to wonder: “what is this not-very-intelligent guy up to? Perhaps he really does mean to drop a few nukes on Iran.” Now, as viscerally satisfying as “dropping a few nukes on Iran” may seem to some of us, it is probably bad policy, and even worse policy to leak to the media that it is even being considered.

Putting all of that to the side, however, and given this writer’s support for the War on Terror and the Bush policies in Iraq, what concerns me the most is the utter lack of public discourse on the real issues which arise from these policies. I refer, of course, to the price demanded of our civil liberties and the evolving change of balance as between our rights and the powers ceded to law enforcement. And when I allude to public discourse, of course, I am not referring to the debate among the talking heads on Washington Week in Review, and its three or four weekly viewers, or the weekly bloodsport/screamfest-passing-for-discussion known as The McLaughlin Group. Rather, I am wondering: what happened to the “public” in public discourse? In the middle of a war, in the midst of a crisis in which the “President” of Iran speaks of wiping Israel off the map, and at a time in which the arrogation of power to law enforcement has resulted in so-called “free speech” zones at which the public may gather to express their displeasure with government policy, the public discourse devolves into discussion of such earth-shattering concerns such as who will prevail on American Idol, or who will be America’s Next Top Model.

I am sure, perhaps with some justification, to be accused of intellectual snobbery in appearing to suggest that entertainment and silly diversion has no place in the midst of international crisis. That is not my contention. Indeed, we are nearly always in some international crisis, or other, and people—ALL people, virtually—need diversion from the horrors that face us as members of the human race. We certainly cannot reasonably be expected to devote all of our waking hours to consideration of the horrors of Darfur or the likelihood of a viable nuclear capability in the hands of Pyongyang. That way, of course, lies madness. No, we need Desperate Housewives. We must have Entertainment Tonight. And the goings-on of Scientologist cum Philo