Should we call Bush "evil"?

[lwcon]

Here is my response to Glenn Greenwald's post about whether Manichean turnabout is fair play, when it comes from Bush detractors:

Calling Bush and his party "evil" is accurate but not sufficient.

I certainly agree that to say "he's evil, and that's that" is moronic and unproductive.

Also, I don't hold with those who think the evil and malfeasance are all about personal profit.

It appears to me that the Bushies' motivating force is that oft-cited Leo Strauss mentality -- the idea that there is a class of people who know what's best, the good people, and shifting power to those people (who, as it happens, are already quite powerful) is the best way to fight all the bad in the world. Little -- if any -- of his record contradicts that perception of his worldview.

The danger of the "that's that" mentality is that it does little to help us understand, communicate, and (if the fates and voters allow) undo the damage these bastards are wreaking upon our country.

The danger of not stressing the fundamental evil (or choose whatever comparable, non-moralistic language you prefer to describe non-stop lying, wanton killing, and active disregard for the less-fortunate) is that many folks are disillusioned with politics in general and respond to the Democrats' more-than-occasional acts of mediocrity with apathy or protest votes.

I think it's vitally important that the message be well understood that today's GOP has lost its DC privileges for the foreseeable future -- that is, if our American democracy is still capable of doing its job.

The choice isn't between two evils, or two mediocracies. One party has gone terribly, terribly wrong, and that needs to be much better and much more widely understood, through a combination of well-researched, nuanced analysis and plain talk about how historically terrible, untrustworthy, and dangerous this gang is.

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[YOY]

1. Bush...no. He's a product of his environment. Cheney...HELL YES.

Rove...DEFINITELY

Wolfie...YUP!

Rummy...BLOODSUCKING.

etc...

[Kikosexy2]

6. That's too polite...

it's they're F*#KIN' EVIL!

[liberal N proud]

2. What is beyond evil?

This regime is the worst thing that has happened to this once great nation to date.

[YOY]

9. A video game

http://beyondgoodevil.com/us/index.php

[FormerDittoHead]

3. I agree that Bush shouldn't be allowed to be the sacrificial lamb of the right...

There are many conservatives who aren't happy with Bush. They will look back upon these days with disgust and go merrily along in their right wing ideology, listening to talk radio, etc.

To let Bush / Cheney be symbolically linked to the evils of the right, as Reagan has been symbolically linked to its mythological virtues (that's something, being a symbol of a myth - great accomplishment, Ronny) is to let go the fact that the foundations of the right wing - that in all cases, government is bad and business is good, and the bigger the business the better, the market cures all economic and social ills, etc etc etc.

But the Ayn Rand / Leo Strauss / neo-con FOUNDATATIONS of the right are the problem - NOT BUSH. Bush just REVEALED to us what the right IS, and now the right is trying to say, "Oh, but Bush isn't a REAL conservative.

We've got to win more than just another election - we have to EDUCATE people about the LIE of "conservative" ideology.

[Karmageddon]

7. When they say Bush isn't a "real conservative", I say "but he IS a "real" republican"

The republican party has long since given up the right to call itself conservative. Thank newt, or lee atwater, or nixon, or whoever - but there are very few reps in any kind of power that are conservative.

That being said, I agree that we should not let all the ills they've delivered to this country and the world be laid at the feet of Bush. It's the whole damn party, and he is just one of many.

[lwcon]

11. My point is that this whole neo-con movement is evil

And Reagan and his Iran-Contra gang were little or no better, just a little less emboldened, because they hadn't totally neutered the press yet.

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[FormerDittoHead]

13. Oh, I agree. But it's they SELL it via Reagan and Bush...

My point is that it's all the same thing. Neo-cons USE electable Republicans to SELL themselves into office. If neo-cons were to actually run on what THEY believe, they'd never get elected.

"Real" conservatives ("real" in quotes because there never existed a world in which conservatives can accurately call the 'good old days of conservatism' which we'd want to duplicate today) are only fooling themselves (and others) thinking that there will EVER be a Republican who will implement their ideology.

The fantasies of conservative ideology will forever be dangled in front of them as a carrot to the donkey...

Conservatives would be best taught to realize that their ideology, itself, is bullshit - something which will never be achieved like utopian communism was to totalitarian socialism. The days of the wild west are over but they're being told we can relive them somehow. They're being sold the little house on the prairie, but we're get the banana republic instead.

...and yes, thank God we had a VESTIGE of independent media during Reagan's administration - I can only imagine what "brave new world" we'd be living in today...

[lwcon]

14. Well said! n/t

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[atreides1]

4. Does this definition apply to Bush??

" in ethics, evil refers to violations of an emapthetic ideal which manifests as morally or ethically objectionable thought, speech, or action; behavior or thought which is hateful, cruel, violent, or devoid of conscience."

If this definition of evil applies to Bush, then yes he is evil in every sense of the word.

[jgraz]

5. Calling him "evil" distracts from the "stupid"

We need a new word....

Stevil?

[Vickers]

12. I was just about to post something similar..."He's too stupid to be evil"

Great minds and all that. :P

[Totally Committed]

8. I think so.... but only until a better word is found.

I was thinking of "Bushy", as in "That statement was pure Bushy." But, in the context we know our CIC, our POTUS-with-the-mostest, that statement could just mean, "That statement is purely incomrehensible."

Anyone got a better word than "evil"? No? Then I'll stick with that for now.

TC

[stellanoir]

10. Consider the possibility that similar to hating him, calling him that may just keep

him in power longer.

Consider also what that word spells when it is spelled backwards.

I call him misguided and unenlightened and incurious and other less than flattering terms but I refuse to empower him with that particular term.

Those who do so are responding in kind to his "evil doer" schtick and it's no better than incessantly intractable and unproductive shadow projection.

Energetically, these bozos basically ain't necessarily living on love if ya know what I mean.