Winks Blog

Commentary: Stay The Course: On The Wagon Mentality

Good morning.

This morning I woke up with a re-occurring thought about Mr. Bush's black and white mentality. Most people wake up remembering their dreams of flying, or sitting on the crapper, or losing their teeth or something of that nature. While I as well do have those kinds of dreams (Which perhaps one day I will dedicate another blog lol) this morning I woke up with the same old thoughts I've had since Mr. Bush was on the campaign trail for his first presidential run. I have always questioned his mentality (irrespective of his political positions), and his mental capacity as an ex alcoholic to run this country.

It is important to remember, that our president was a severe alcoholic. The only way he could stop his alcohol intake was to quit "Cold turkey". The reason many people quit cold turkey, is that they believe that if they even have a single sip of alcohol, that they will not be able to control themselves and that one sip will lead to another and then to another and.... Then they are suddenly back to being alcoholic. Let me define cold turkey. Quitting cold turkey means that a person does not gradually wean himself off of a substance. It means that he makes a decision to stop it all at once and forever. Quitting cold turkey is a harsh and defiant act. It says there is no middle ground for weaning off. It says, there is no way that alcohol will come into this body again ... Forever. For the alcoholic, winning the battle against alcohol, even if it means having to go cold turkey, is a huge success. The person who wins this battle, can be proud, feels strong, extremely determined, in control, in charge, and knows in his heart and soul that nobody, but NOBODY, can make him take a sip of alcohol again in his life.

The irony of going cold turkey, is that while it does take all the strength, determination, control, and pride in the world to do it and make that sort of commitment.... Just one small shot glass of a heavenly liquid amber scotch, could so very easily undermine the toughest cold turkey mentality and send a man back down the rabbit hole.

Literally, Mr. Bush saved his own life by quitting alcohol in the only way he could, and that was yes, cold turkey. When a man saves his own life, that is a BIG thing. Shall I restate that? I said, when a man saves his own life, that is a REALLY big thing. As far as I know, he has never had another drink, and remains on the wagon to this day.

And now this same man, wants to save OUR life. He starts out by wanting to save our life by protecting our nation from Iraq, a country he convinced us as having weapons of mass destruction, even though there was substantial evidence otherwise. He played on the fears of the American people and congress, and congress allowed Mr. Bush to attack Iraq. Now that the verdict is in, and confirmed there are NO weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Mr. Bush decides that we are in Iraq to bring about a democracy. Nice and handy new goal huh?

You see, for Mr. Bush, 9/11 was like having a pretty big sip of alcohol. And, to retaliate not only against the invader country, Afghanistan or Bin Laden, would certainly not be enough. He had to try to take down the man he hated even more than Bin... He had to take down Saddam, the man who personally threatened to kill Mr. Bush's daddy. Mr. Bush got what he wanted, he got Saddam. Congratulations Mr. Bush. Now, what about the rest of the country? No, Mr. President, we were not greeted as liberators, and no sir, they are not paying for this "Liberation" with their oil as you promised us.

The US has now occupied Iraq for over 1,000 days. 2,112 US troops have been killed, but to my best information source Iraqi Body Count, approximately 30,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed. That is about 30 Iraqi civilians per day on the average have been killed during the USs occupation.

Yesterday Mr. Bush gave a major speech to a friendly military audience. He refused to give a timetable for USS withdrawal from Iraq. He also said that "We will never back down or give in or accept anything other than complete victory as long as I am your commander and chief".

For the defiant Mr. Bush, there are no shades of gray. His cold turkey mentality says that you are either "With us or against us". His cold turkey mentality says, "We will never back down or give in or accept anything other than complete victory as long as I am your commander and chief". "Staying the course" In Iraq, as he so defiantly quotes, = Staying on the wagon. I believe there is a parallel. How does Mr. Bush define "Complete victory"? I am not sure.

What is victorious for Mr. Bush, my friends, has been his ability to constantly fight the evils of the tempting lucious scotch liquid that is constantly around him. He is victorious in haulting his natural pre-disposition and longing to partake in even one sip of the golden heaven.

What does victory look like in Iraq Mr. Bush? It is not so black and white and as simple and straight forward as you thought and even proclaimed in the beginning. Is it victorious to say that you snuffed out the ability for Iraq to utilize their non-existant weapons of mass destruction, or taken out a man who threatened to kill your daddy? Will it be a victory if some sort of democracy is installed, but civil war among the Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds continue and blossom? The road to victory, Mr. Bush, has been lined with the blood of 30,000 innocent Iraqi citizens who did not sign up for your agenda Mr. Bush. There will never be a "Complete Victory" in Iraq. They will end up in the shades of grey, a place that Mr. Bush cannot tolerate.

However, congradulations on your self control Mr. Bush. Your wagon has kept you staying the course. You, yourself have had a "Complete Victory" against alcholism. But you better get used to the fact that this "war" will never be as victorious as your ability to keep alchol off your lips.

Have a good day.

posted by Wink @ 10:15 AM