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November 16, 2005

No wonder the Ship of State is off-course.

The Captain's in his cups again. Kevin Drum sums it up nicely: PRESIDENTS ACTING BADLY....What's going on with the George Bush rumor mill?

Needless to say, all of these stories are sourced anonymously and there's no telling if there's any truth to any of them. But who are these sources? At the very least, there seem to be a fair number of people who can be plausibly labeled "insiders" and who are gleefully passing along rumors of serious presidential angst. What's going on?

Either W is having real problems, or people just can't stop talking, even if they have to make it all up. Riiiiight. Must be something to it, or at least it's believable gossip given W's history, so it just gets repeated anyway.

This much is all obvious. But what if...?

One day, the news media explodes: "W gravely ill -- rushed to the hospital -- heart attack? stroke? will he live? will he die? The nation, the WORLD, waits and watches in anticipation...! More live coverage from the President's bedside vigil, after this word from Merck Pharmaceuticals..."

You think the Reagan death watch, then the papal circus, was something? Imagine the Days of Our Bush Lives soap opera insanity that would ensue. Multiply by 10 all the feeding-frenzy coverage of the Runaway Bride, Natalee Holloway, Terri Schiavo, Katrina & other hurricanes, looting, 9/11, Iraq, SCOTUS, Karl Rove -- hold it.

Karl, is that you feeding the rumor mill?

There's frequent commentary in Blogworld about the BushCo. desperation in the face of falling approval ratings, and it's usually expressed with the "wonder what they might do NEXT?" fear of something dreadful. But if the WH wanted to change the subject, dominate the news media discourse for awhile -- this would certainly do the trick.

Okay, anyone else want the tinfoil hat now? I'm just sayin' it's possible.

Meanwhile, I expect to see more recycled "out-of-control celebrities" stories like this at the Publix checkout stand in the next few months:

Song for the day: Cal Smith, "The Lord Knows I'm Drinkin'" --

CHORUS
The Lord knows I'm drinkin'; And runnin' around;
And He don't need your loud mouth informin' the town.
The Lord knows I'm sinnin'; And sinnin' ain't right;
But me and the Good Lord's gonna have us a good talk
Later tonight.

"Everybody sing!"

Posted by Jeff at November 16, 2005 06:43 AM