What Kind of Man Serially Lies?
Mary McCarthy once took a now-famous jab at playwright Lillian Hellman, saying: "Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'." Kim thought that reminded her of that feckless guy who illicitly occupies that sullied house on Pennsylvania Avenue.
As far back as 2003 reporter Dana Milbank was writing in The Washington Post: "For Bush, Facts are Malleable." She went on to compare him to Richard Nixon. Milbank, of course, continues writing about the lies that Bush used to get us to invade Iraq, lies we all now know to be lies.
What kind of man serially lies? Not a real man, only a petty, cowardly man subjugated by first one and then another, and yet still another Dominatrix. Normally, the prissy, petulant, lying sons of privilege can go about their deceit without affecting the rest of us, but when it's the prez, well, sonny, we're all affected. Remember the White House's fury at the leak that the Medicare Prescription Medicine Plan was going to cost billions more than Bush was stating? The myriad lies Bush used to justify the invasion of Iraq that he had already decided he was going to undertake? And more recently, about torture: "We don't torture?" His lies to Senator John McCain regarding his commitment to stop torturing? Not knowing about Katrina until 24 hours had elapsed? Spying on citizens' phone calls, email and private mail? Abu Ghraib? Whoa! Freedom of the press, and freedom to criticize the government? (Remember, Cindy Sheehan's being stalked by the Bush agents.) More lies?
This administration says it holds life sacred; well, not yours or mine. Only the haves-more are worth protecting. Poor and middle-class people? Hey, have you been keeping up with Katrina? Those are poor people. Iraqis? Hey, they're not born-again, so their lives aren't worth protecting, but knots of cells in test tubes? Oh, that's different. And Bush's famous fight for Democracy? Well, he doesn't like it now, since things in Egypt and Palestine didn't "democratize" the way he had ordained. Only a slick trickster would say to the world: "Democracy my way or no way!"
Lastly, Bush's Dishonest Budget
Bush's State of the Union speech is famous for its inanity. There's no wind in those sails, only defeat. Still, instead of taking the high road, he stayed in the gutter, lying to the nation as the world watched; and listened. To those most in need, need of every kind, he lied by stating loftily, piously: "Our greatness is not measured in power or luxuries, but by who we are and how we treat one another. So we strive to be a compassionate, decent, hopeful society, one that comes to the aid of fellow citizens in times of suffering and emergency."
How the guy was able to keep a straight face as he spouted these lies is beyond all of us here on the farm. We wouldn't feed our animals such garbage, but there was Bush, Insensitive Mamma's son, huckstering the middle and lower classes. His budget is a humanitarian farce, blocking billions needed by the less fortunate. Heck, he's even eliminating the paltry $225.00 Social Security used to give you to help bury a deceased loved one. Cut: food stamps for 300,000 hungry people, Medicare and Medicaid. But, and Bubba is thrilled at this though he'll never see a penny of them tax cuts for the super duper haves more: $136,000.00 if you earn over a million big ones! Poor Bubba, doesn't know when he's getting, well, shafted?
Liz, On Liars
Call them (him) prevaricator, falsifier, deceiver, fabulist, cheat, fabricator, trickster, slicker, beguiler, or simply: the son of the famously insensitive Barbara Bush, who would, infamously say: "Well, really darling, they're better off hungry; things could be worse, they could all be dead." And speaking of Barbara Bush and how well she trained her kids, here's what John Ruskin once said: "To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education." Seems like Barbara failed her kids, and then they were unleashed on us.
The Sleet Begins, and Dinner is Served
Ah, sweet sound, that dinner gong. It calls us all to take our places at the two dinner tables, one for the adults in the old, large dining room, and another table in the great room for the teenagers.
Marie Christine and her husband, Jean Paul, indomitable horse trainers, are also magnificent chefs. Tonight, knowing that we would have sleet, they wanted all the arriving neighbors to have something nice and warm, comforting, to ward off the chill. They prepared a fantastic Onion Soup with Cheddar-Pancetta Croutons. They tweaked the old standard by adding chopped Granny Smith apples to the soup. That small addition really changed the face of this standard, and delighted us all. They chose a delightful Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris for the soup course.
Marie Christine is taping a program on PBS about a banquet given at Windsor Castle for 140 dinner guests. We knew she was taping it and we discussed it at length. Sure, a formal dinner for 140 guests at Windsor Castle is a vastly more complicated affair than ours, but still, Marie Christine said, having almost 40 people to feed every night is quite an undertaking.
However, as she pointed out, it's just a question of organization, a bit like organizing your stables so you have everything organized to feed, medicate, groom and train your horses (lots of them.) This old, stone farmhouse has a kitchen large enough for an army of us to prepare dinner for a crowd, obviously from the
days when the kitchen had to produce meals for an army of ranch hands. Fortunately, whoever planned it, mercifully also put in a super-sized "butler's pantry" which for us holds walk-in coolers and freezers and places to store all the silver and dishes needed to feed so many people.
Well, as Marie Christine and Jean Paul would say in French, back to our muttons.
Tonight, they decided to skip the fish course, and went straight to the Grilled Duck Breasts that Max helped them grill out on the porch. Brave of Max, since the sleet just wouldn't stop. They served the duck with grilled mushrooms, pearl onions, and baked Chayote squash with butter, orange juice glaze, cinnamon and brown sugar. All this was paired with a Marimar Torres Pinot Noir from California. What a wonderful dinner for this unexpectedly nasty night.
Charlotte helped Marie Christine prepare the delicious, no, the scrumptious, Chestnut and Pecan Tartlets. This is a rich tart, deserving of great after-dinner coffee and Grand Marnier. Max, as usual, was in charge of brewing his special blends of coffee.
A Good Evening
Unpleasant as it is to live under a president who only knows how to lie and squeal that he is a good, solid christian, we can find comfort in our neighborliness and in our communal cooking experiences, which are truly, much more comforting than the daily bad news emanating from this sick, gangrenous White House. Pity, Liz said, that it wasn't Cheney who had gotten shot. One more heart attack Dicky, and it's curtains!
Off, to blanket the horses and make sure all the livestock are protected from the inclement weather, and off, too, to try and forget that we are currently being governed by Barbara Bush's sick, sick, spawn.
Summary:
This president, son of the sick and dysfunctional, insensitive Barbara Bush, is making us pay for the way she raised him. His upbringing taught him one thing: to lie. And so, he's made it through life by lying, but that has dragged us into his gutter-life, and that's a shame. We, The People, deserve better and were promised better. Regime change, wherefore art thou? Nowhere in the Constitution does it say Thou Shalt be Lied To, and It Will Be Good.
