# Reading Bush's Mind **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 20, 2008, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058 "2008-03-20T12:43:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/1 "2008-03-20T12:43:31Z")
Not sure if this belongs in GD; but there’s no definite factual answer, and it’s not a rant. Yesterday, on the fifth anniversary (let’s see, 2003 to 2008, yep, five years, Jesus Christ) of our invading Iraq, GWB stated that because of that invasion and the subsequent open-ended occupation . . . > [@George Walker Bush](#): > > The world is better, and the United States of America is safer. Now, it’s common for politicians to make flat statements without explaining all the underlying facts and logic. But this is a doozy. I’m not asking for real-world logic to support the statement – I’m just curious about what goes on in Bush’s brain. What do you think, _in his mind_, is the supporting evidence for this rather amazingly optimistic view? Where does he get his rose-colored glasses? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/2 "2008-03-20T12:44:36Z")
He’s decided it is, and therefore it is. What, you don’t know anyone like that? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/3 "2008-03-20T12:55:30Z")
Whats the option. Look at the devastation his policies has brought to the economy,and the American prestige. ? How hard would that be to do? ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/4 "2008-03-20T12:59:19Z")
If he’s not just lying (which is possible), it might be the old “We’re fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here” line. So Al Qaeda is so busy killing American soldiers and Iraqi civilians in Iraq, they just don’t have the time to kill American civilians here. As for how this makes the world a better place, I dunno. I think GWB really thinks that Iraq will turn into a liberal democracy, and other Arab countries will follow his lead. What his evidence could be for that, I don’t know. Maybe it’s ‘truthiness.’ ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/5 "2008-03-20T14:27:12Z")
What’s going on in his mind? How about “Geez, how many days till the end of my term, so someone else can deal with this shit? Where’s my goat?” ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/6 "2008-03-20T14:29:42Z")
Considering how many layers lie between him and raw data, how many filters are there to sieve out uncomfortable truths, how incurious he’s shown himself to be, I believe it’s quite possible that he really doesn’t comprehend just how much of a mess he’s made. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/7 "2008-03-20T15:09:42Z")
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy] Considering how many layers lie between him and raw data, how many filters are there to sieve out uncomfortable truths, how incurious he’s shown himself to be, I believe it’s quite possible that he really doesn’t comprehend just how much of a mess he’s made. [/QUOTE] Well, to be fair to the Chimp, there’s people on this board, who don’t have dozens of yes-men between them and the truth, that are totally convinced that everything is going swimmingly and victory is right around the next corner. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/8 "2008-03-21T00:47:34Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] Whats the option. Look at the devastation his policies has brought to the economy,and the American prestige. ? How hard would that be to do? [/QUOTE] He made it look easy. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/9 "2008-03-21T08:23:16Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] I’m just curious about what goes on in Bush’s brain. [/QUOTE] “Dick, I wish I could quit you”. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/10 "2008-03-21T11:10:59Z")
I wonder if he’ll “write” a memoir, as former presidents have. It would be interesting to read. Or maybe not, come to think of it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/11 "2008-03-21T17:07:39Z")
Is he even trying any more? (Not that it is clear he ever tried.) He vetoes the odd bill against torture and for health care for children, does a two step, and says everything is dandy in the face of all evidence. I think he can build confidence by saying we’re in an economic disaster. The public would figure that if Shrub says things are awful, they must be pretty good. BTW, someone in times, (Maureen Dowd?) compared his dancing to Gene Kelly. Gene Kelly’s widow wrote in highly offended. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/12 "2008-03-21T17:34:49Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] …victory is right around the next corner. [/QUOTE] If only you weren’t driving in a roundabout! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-bushs-mind/442058/13 "2008-03-21T17:36:19Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] BTW, someone in times, (Maureen Dowd?) compared his dancing to Gene Kelly. Gene Kelly’s widow wrote in highly offended. [/QUOTE] I’d be offended too. Bush’s dancing is painful to watch. I think Bush says that the world is better and America is safer because he’s personally quite comfortable, and he doesn’t really know or care about the world or America except as something to mine for his own benefit, so he might as well say it’s better and safer, since it sounds better.