[Peace-discuss] Bush's Erratic Behavior Worries White Hou

[jencart]

Interesting bit of gossip..... BTW, the author of A Bush Dyslexicon, published just bef 911, also compared Bush to Nixon -- devious and unprincipled -- a mistake to write him off as just a doofus following orders.

Jenifer C.
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a story not being heard much yet
Bush's Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides

By DOUG THOMPSON
Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue
Jun 4, 2004, 06:15

President George W. Bush's increasingly erratic behavior and wide mood  swings has the halls of the West Wing buzzing lately as aides privately  express growing concern over their leader's state of mind. 

In meetings with top aides and administration officials, the President  goes from quoting the Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against  the media, Democrats and others that he classifies as "enemies of the  state."

Worried White House aides paint a portrait of a man on the edge,  increasingly wary of those who disagree with him and paranoid of a  public that no longer trusts his policies in Iraq or at home.

"It reminds me of the Nixon days," says a longtime GOP political  consultant with contacts in the White House. "Everybody is an enemy;  everybody is out to get him. That's the mood over there."

In interviews with a number of White House staffers who were willing to  talk off the record, a picture of an administration under siege has  emerged, led by a man who declares his decisions to be "God's will" and  then tells aides to "fuck over" anyone they consider to be an opponent  of the administration.

"We're at war, there's no doubt about it. What I don't know anymore is  just who the enemy might be," says one troubled White House aide. "We  seem to spend more time trying to destroy John Kerry than al Qaeda and  our enemies list just keeps growing and growing."

Aides say the President gets "hung up on minor details," micromanaging  to the extreme while ignoring the bigger picture. He will spend hours  personally reviewing and approving every attack ad against his  Democratic opponent and then kiss off a meeting on economic issues.

"This is what is killing us on Iraq," one aide says. "We lost focus. The  President got hung up on the weapons of mass destruction and an unproven  link to al Qaeda. We could have found other justifiable reasons for the  war but the President insisted the focus stay on those two, tenuous  items."

Aides who raise questions quickly find themselves shut out of access to  the President or other top advisors. Among top officials, Bush's inner  circle is shrinking. Secretary of State Colin Powell has fallen out of  favor because of his growing doubts about the administration's war  against Iraq.

The President's abrupt dismissal of CIA Directory George Tenet Wednesday  night is, aides say, an example of how he works.

"Tenet wanted to quit last year but the President got his back up and  wouldn't hear of it," says an aide. "That would have been the opportune  time to make a change, not in the middle of an election campaign but  when the director challenged the President during the meeting Wednesday,  the President cut him off by saying 'that's it George. I cannot abide  disloyalty. I want your resignation and I want it now."

Tenet was allowed to resign "voluntarily" and Bush informed his shocked  staff of the decision Thursday morning. One aide says the President  actually described the decision as "God's will."

God may also be the reason Attorney General John Ashcroft, the  administration's lightning rod because of his questionable actions that  critics argue threatens freedoms granted by the Constitution, remains  part of the power elite. West Wing staffers call Bush and Ashcroft "the  Blues Brothers"