Monday, December 19, 2005

The Last Commercial Break of The Bush Presidency

As anyone who watches television crime dramas will recognize, they often follow a distinct pattern in order to squeeze an entire story, with plot twists, into an hour format and still have time for commercials. It goes something like this:

A crime is discovered. The hero begins to gather evidence and characters are introduced. There is usually one character that is likable and earnest in his desire to help with the investigation. Other characters seem more ominous, and most casual viewers focus on them as the primary suspects. A clever and intuitive viewer might suspect the more affable character, but the script is written to discourage such thoughts, and most viewers will blindly follow the script.

As the story progresses, potential suspects are cleared and the audience eventually discovers something about the more helpful and likable character that suggests a darker side. This usually occurs right before the last commercial break.

During the final segment, the hero confronts the likable guy and viewers quickly find out that he is, in fact, hiding an obsession with power, jealousy, or a relentless thirst for revenge. The true villain is revealed and the episode ends, followed by scenes from the next week’s show.

At this point in the Bush presidency, most Americans have thought of him as a relatively likeable guy with a sincere desire to help rid the world of terrorism. He has made some mistakes and said things that turned out to be untrue, but most people have been willing to overlook these missteps because they could see several more obvious potential villains.

However, a couple of clues have been revealed in recent days that raise questions about Mr. Bush’s true character.

The first was the response of Scott McClellan after the President, who had insisted that he would not comment during ongoing investigations, chose to proclaim Tom DeLay innocent of the charges against him. McClellan’s response was that Bush broke his own rule because of “presidential perogative.”

The second was the revelation that Bush authorized the NSA to spy on U.S. citizens without prior FISA approval, a clear violation of law that Bush wants to claim does not apply to him.

Suddenly, the affable Bush doesn’t seem so well-intentioned. In fact, he seems a bit unstable and perhaps delusional about his presidential powers. Could it be that he is actually an evil sociopath with the ability to hide his true intentions behind a disarming and earnest charm?

Stay tuned after this commercial break!

Thanks to Left of Center for the graphic.

7 comments:

  1. That is freakin' brilliant.

    I'm gonna link this. I assume you don't mind, if so, post a comment, and I'll take it down.

    Mike

    http://bornatthecrestoftheempire.blogspot.com/

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  2. Anonymous9:05 PM

    My thanks to mikevotes' link -- I would otherwise perhaps missed this!

    Sinclair Lewis was predicting it in 1935 -- see http://gadflying.blog.com/457129/.

    I'm happy to have discovered you--you are now a "check daily" bookmark!

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  3. I've spent all my free time lately following all of these twists and turns. Last night I took a break and watched "Cold Case" and that was exactly the plot. In the end the killer was what we thought was the good kid.

    I think your on to something.

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  4. Thanks for linking to us mikevotes. I'm sure seenos doesn't mind. The more readers the better.
    Thats what were here for.

    I like your blog as well. There sure are a lot of us. I hope we are making a dent.

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  5. I read it again this morning, still loved it, and moved it back up to the top few posts. It captures the awakening of the American people in a very unique way that speaks to me.

    Yes, I watch lots of TV.

    May Rove be indicted by Christmas.

    And to all a good night!

    Mike

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  6. Ah.. finaly, a way to describe this tragic series of political events in a way even brain dead couch potatoes can fathom it.

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  7. oh, I thought this post needed a special image, so I created one. Please feel free to use it. I linked to your post here:
    http://hatestheright.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete