One more Bushwhacking

Says Linda Allison, whose husband Jimmy employed George W. Bush in an Alabama Senate campaign when he should have been serving in the Texas Air National Guard:

The dynamic allowed the Bushes -- Barbara especially, Allison said -- to manipulate the friends and supporters they needed to further their ambitions, a lesson she says could not have been lost on the young George. "They had a way of anointing you, then pushing you out," she said. "It was like a mind game. It was very subtle, very hard to describe. But when you were out, you wanted desperately to be let back in." It was how she and Jimmy felt when, in 1973, they experienced a strange and, to Allison, never fully explained rupture with the Bushes, which took place against the backdrop of boorish behaviour by their son that persisted during the time he was nominally under the Allisons' care.

Don't feel too bad about it, Linda. Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein know just how you feel. One day you're best pals, tits and champagne all around. Next day they're calling you an evil madman, and then the bombs start falling.

History will teach us nothing

"It is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

-- Hermann Goering, April 18 1946

Quoted in this excellent essay. And yes it's authentic.