Pete from the DarkWindow has up this excellent post (Pete's commentary in yellow, Newsmax drivel in white):
Monday, November 01, 2004
The Poker Face Of George W. Bush
Thanks to reader SocraticSilence, our attention was drawn to a fine article about our fearless President over at NewsMax. It's called The Poker Game: Bush vs. Kerry on 9/11 <http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/10/31/141125.shtml> and it's by Joan Marie Nagy.
Imagine, if you will, that in the world of international power and intrigue a high-stakes poker game is being played. The stakes: Western civilization. The game: 9/11.
The cards are dealt. Nines and aces are wild. The game begins when war is unofficially declared.
When President Bush learned of the Sept. 11 attacks, what the world saw was the classic poker face, the non-reaction reaction. What Bush understood, in that split second, was that not only would the entire world be watching his reaction, so, too, would the next wave of terrorists.
Yep. That's exactly what I gathered by watching his face. Split-second recognition of complex issues and an instant understanding that he'd only defeat the terrorists by sitting in a small chair with a children's book in his hands.
The "non-reaction reaction"
The terrorists would study his reaction and gather valuable information on how he would play his next hand. His reaction would reveal to them the sum of his mettle as a man and the tenacity of his exploits as their future opponent.
And his reaction had them quaking in their sandals, ladies and gentlemen. How could they have possibly known he'd keep reading that book?
With a steely determination the presidents expressionless gaze moved across the room and seemed to look out beyond the walls and into the future.
'I wonder what's for dinner tonight,' he thought bravely. 'I wonder if this means I have to eat with Dick and Karl again.'
What cards was Bush holding close to his vest?
I think that was Andrew Card, telling the President what had happened. Wise of him to ignore it.
Did he have three of a kind, a straight, or a royal flush? Who could tell?
Certainly not the President.
Bushs expression was unreadable, his demeanor calm, his mind calculating.
His reading skills at a grade-school level.
The terrorists watching must have been disappointed with the cool, composed and measured response.
If by cool, composed and measured response, you mean no response, then yes. They must have been.
Bush gave the terrorists nothing that day.
No kidding, huh.
Sen. John Kerry, a power wannabe, not even in the game, eagerly reveals how he would have played his hand. The elite French appeaser quickly lays all his cards on the table with childlike enthusiasm in an effort to prove that he is smarter than his opponent. He criticized Bush for sitting still and continuing his agenda.
Let's just be clear about something. Bush's agenda was to read My Pet Goat with schoolchildren.
Kerrys strategy: Had he been in the game he would have quickly jumped up, explained to the "kids" in the room that he had important business to attend to and rushed off as the big and important person he was, or as he perceives himself to be.
Yes, nothing big and important about being President of the United States.
In doing so, he would have undeniably confirmed himself to be of French descent, inadvertently revealing himself to be a reactionary, willing to act before being in command of all the facts, easily read and, even more important, easily led in essence, a puppet.
Interesting logic. Immediately trying to ascertain what has happened and deciding what to do makes one French and a puppet. Sitting and waiting for one's handlers makes one a steely man of decisive power.
Great truths are often revealed in small arenas. In this high-stakes poker game, where our lives are in the balance, we can choose to have our hand played with the caginess of a panther or the weakness of a puppet.
Or, in the case of NewsMax, with the nuttiness of a walnut tree.
Monday, November 01, 2004
The Poker Face Of George W. Bush
Thanks to reader SocraticSilence, our attention was drawn to a fine article about our fearless President over at NewsMax. It's called The Poker Game: Bush vs. Kerry on 9/11 <http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/10/31/141125.shtml> and it's by Joan Marie Nagy.
Imagine, if you will, that in the world of international power and intrigue a high-stakes poker game is being played. The stakes: Western civilization. The game: 9/11.
The cards are dealt. Nines and aces are wild. The game begins when war is unofficially declared.
When President Bush learned of the Sept. 11 attacks, what the world saw was the classic poker face, the non-reaction reaction. What Bush understood, in that split second, was that not only would the entire world be watching his reaction, so, too, would the next wave of terrorists.
Yep. That's exactly what I gathered by watching his face. Split-second recognition of complex issues and an instant understanding that he'd only defeat the terrorists by sitting in a small chair with a children's book in his hands.
The "non-reaction reaction"
The terrorists would study his reaction and gather valuable information on how he would play his next hand. His reaction would reveal to them the sum of his mettle as a man and the tenacity of his exploits as their future opponent.
And his reaction had them quaking in their sandals, ladies and gentlemen. How could they have possibly known he'd keep reading that book?
With a steely determination the presidents expressionless gaze moved across the room and seemed to look out beyond the walls and into the future.
'I wonder what's for dinner tonight,' he thought bravely. 'I wonder if this means I have to eat with Dick and Karl again.'
What cards was Bush holding close to his vest?
I think that was Andrew Card, telling the President what had happened. Wise of him to ignore it.
Did he have three of a kind, a straight, or a royal flush? Who could tell?
Certainly not the President.
Bushs expression was unreadable, his demeanor calm, his mind calculating.
His reading skills at a grade-school level.
The terrorists watching must have been disappointed with the cool, composed and measured response.
If by cool, composed and measured response, you mean no response, then yes. They must have been.
Bush gave the terrorists nothing that day.
No kidding, huh.
Sen. John Kerry, a power wannabe, not even in the game, eagerly reveals how he would have played his hand. The elite French appeaser quickly lays all his cards on the table with childlike enthusiasm in an effort to prove that he is smarter than his opponent. He criticized Bush for sitting still and continuing his agenda.
Let's just be clear about something. Bush's agenda was to read My Pet Goat with schoolchildren.
Kerrys strategy: Had he been in the game he would have quickly jumped up, explained to the "kids" in the room that he had important business to attend to and rushed off as the big and important person he was, or as he perceives himself to be.
Yes, nothing big and important about being President of the United States.
In doing so, he would have undeniably confirmed himself to be of French descent, inadvertently revealing himself to be a reactionary, willing to act before being in command of all the facts, easily read and, even more important, easily led in essence, a puppet.
Interesting logic. Immediately trying to ascertain what has happened and deciding what to do makes one French and a puppet. Sitting and waiting for one's handlers makes one a steely man of decisive power.
Great truths are often revealed in small arenas. In this high-stakes poker game, where our lives are in the balance, we can choose to have our hand played with the caginess of a panther or the weakness of a puppet.
Or, in the case of NewsMax, with the nuttiness of a walnut tree.
