Jane Smiley has written a really excellent essay on W's psychology.

How do you build yourself a madman? Well, first you flatter him, and then you try never to make him angry, and then you feed him ideas that flatter him even more by making him seem to himself sentimentally visionary and powerful and righteous. You appeal to his already evident mean streak and his hot temper by reminding him all the time that he has enemies, and you cultivate his religious side so that the sense of righteous victimization inherent in extreme religion comes out. If he were not already an ignorant, dependant, fragile, and rigid person, he would not be susceptible to this sort of conditioning, but by temperament and practice, he has nothing of his own to counter your efforts. Then you hire a few shyster-sycophants like John Yoo to tell him (ignorant as he is, with no actual understanding of the Constitution), that as president he can do whatever he wants.

I felt really insulted last night at W's "educator-in-chief" comment. If it's one thing that pisses me off to no end that ridiculously condescending tone of his where he repeats his talking point lines to us as if we're retarded and just. don't. get. it.

I wonder if Bush has any idea of any deeper meaning behind his talking points. Maybe he gives no explanations because he doesn't know any. Maybe he thinks the talking points ARE the argument.

Watching and listening to him just gives me the creeps.

Maybe he thinks the talking points ARE the argument.

Yes. Just as he thinks, "victory" is a plan. Um, nope. Victory is the goal. There is no plan.

Actually, no. If you remove the period, you have to have sex with clothing. Sorry!

But at least then I wouldn't have to do laundry!

Actually, I was good, and started three of the 6 loads I want to get done today, but I had to wait until someone else's clothes were done in the washer. I waiited an extra 15 minutes, but they were still in the washers, so I took them out and put them neatly on the dryers, but now I know I'm going to have to wait forever to get the dryers.

but now I know I'm going to have to wait forever to get the dryers.

The last time I had to do that, the person who had left their clothes in the wash still hadn't come down to put them in the dryer by the time mine were ready to go in, so I got my drying done first.

Yeah, I suspect that's going to be true here too. If I only had one set of laundry, I'd put it in, but then I have three loads following it. (we only have three washers and three dryers), so I have to decide how bitchy I want to be about making her wait for the dryers.

I just got to see a demonstration of why my front license plate is somewhat concave. People who use the bump method of parallel parking really need to learn to do it gently.

I just got to see a demonstration of why my front license plate is somewhat concave. People who use the bump method of parallel parking really need to learn to do it gently.

I did that to someone by accident a few weeks ago. Oopsie.

It happens. But gentler would be better.