corrente

People are starting to notice:

The White House announces a press conference in the morning. After the announcement comes the news that 31 Americans died in a chopper crash in Iraq (6 others died today in seperate incidents). The president takes the podium fresh with the knowledge of that tragedy--and radiates a cheerful disposition bantering with the press about senior citizens and their faulty memories. ... Imagine if Bill Clinton had been chirpy and chipper having just received the news of 31 soldiers dying in the theater of combat--Rush Limbaugh would have devoted three hours to it, and Fox News would have dragged Dick Morris out of the all-you-can-eat buffet for his "expert analysis."

When Bush did address the soldiers' deaths, he said that we "weep and mourn" when Americans die, but as he was saying it his hand was flatly smacking downwards for emphasis, as if he were pounding the table during the business meeting, refusing to pay a lot for a muffler. The steady beat of his hand was at odds with the sentiments he was expressing--he didn't look or sound the least bit mournful or sombre. And why should he? Death doesn't seem to be a bringdown for him.
(James Wolcott has noticed, and Kosackia noticed him noticing)

For those of you following along at home (and for alert Corrente readers), Wollcott has noticed one of Bush's troubling symptoms—Shallow affect; Callousness and lack of empathy—symptoms which, taken in the aggregate, add up to the DSM's criteria for a sociopath (back).

Of course, torturing small animals in childhood is another sign of lack of empathy, so it isn't surprising that Bush, a deeply troubled individual, blew up frogs with firecrackers (back) when he was boy. Nor should it be surprising, today, that Bush is sponsoring policies that authorize torture. It's all part of the same package.