Quote Originally Posted by stinkyattic
There is courage, and there is arrogance.

If Bush the Second had had any of the former, his own military service record would have been far more appropriate to the commanding officer of the most powerful Armed Forces on the planet...

Sadly, missing muster for unspecified reasons (I've always assumed hangovers were involved) is far from glorious, and would have gotten a less-connected man tossed into the brig to cool his heels.

So we see the early manifestations of the arrogance that our ruling class is taught at a young age- a big FUCK YOU to those of us who actually have to answer for our youthful mistakes.
My sense of Dubya as a person is that he is a sort of simple guy who has a strong sense of privilege and likes to be in with an exclusive club. But beyond that, he's not as sinister or as devious as he is sometimes given credit for. He's not smart enough for it. I have this sense of a puppet that doesn't know he is a puppet. Or maybe he does know it, but doesn't know what to do about it. Sometimes he even seems to have an instinct for the right thing, but not the brains or strength to make it happen. He doesn't have the power to go against his "advisers" who are a lot smarter and more determined than he is. He's been carried and coddled all his life, so he has never had to face a consequence, and he might not even know what a consequence is. He's been in way over his head ever since he entered politics.

I'm sure he can't wait to get out of the oval office and back to puttin' around the ranch on his tractor, makin' a whole mess o' barbeque, maybe sneakin' away from Laura and headin' off to the back forty for a couple o' beers with some of the frat buddies from Skull 'n' Bones, watchin 'em put together some coup down Venezuela way. Those guys sure are cool, and it's great to hang out with 'em, givin' 'em all nicknames! "Hey, pass me another rib there, Slim! So what you boys got cookin'? Can I get in on this deal? I got about 10 million I'd like to double in the next year or so, maybe help Jeb go up against Hillary in a few years."