BUBBLE SPEAK

BUSH IS IN A BUBBLE but he is not in a bubble. This is a big problem, but Bush’s ability to ignore problems is admirable . 

President Bush has always shown an admirable ability to ignore the Washington pundits and make fun of the chattering classes. Yet his inattention to Murtha, a coal-country Pennsylvanian and rock-solid patriot, suggests a level of indifference, if not denial, that is dangerous for a president who seeks to transform the world. All presidents face a tension between sticking to their guns and dealing with changing reality. History suggests it can be a mistake to listen too closely to the ever-present (and often self-aggrandizing) critics. But likewise, the idea that any president can go it alone is, to say the least, problematic.

THE LATEST PIECE of what passes for journalism in Newsweek analyzes Bush in the bubble and in some ways but not that many blows up in the writers’ faces. Some might call this double speak bubble speak, an ability to say everything and nothing at the same time.

MORE ON HOW THE BUBBLE BURSTS or doesn't
CORRENTEWIRE Lambert on: Bush reign of terror in the Beltway.  A nice or not so nice compilation.

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE Group Think in the White House: Bush likes to think of himself as a CEO President. Good CEOs are self-aware and self-critical. A good CEO faced with the pervasive groupthink that seems to plague this Administration would clean house and then set up new decision-making processes to prevent a recurrence. 

THE HERETIK THINKS group thinking is an oxymoron, no thinking within the group at all.

UPDATE
DAN FROOMKIN the bad boy at the WaPo quotes Bush in his “interview” with NBC’s Brian Williams here: "I really don't. I mean, I'm interested in the news, I'm not all that interested in the opinions."

Comments

[No Blood for Hubris]

One cannot imagine Bubble Boy even "liking to think" at all, can one?

[Rex Kramer, Danger Seeker]

Ignorance Is Strength