It's (Maybe) the End of the World as We Know It
New Yorker investigative reporter Seymour Hersh can sound a bit unhinged from time to time, but it probably isn't easy for someone covering the Bush White House not to get a bit loopy. Hersh's latest hand-wringing on CNN (with a hat tip to The Talent Show) suggests that administration sources are telling him Dumbya might just be a harbinger of the Apocalypse:
" They're beginning to talk about some of the things the president said to him about his feelings about manifest destiny, about a higher calling that he was talking about three, four years ago.
"I don't want to sound like I'm off the wall here. But the issue is, is this president going to be capable of responding to reality? Is he going to be able -- is he going to be capable if he going to get a bad assessment, is he going to accept it as a bad assessment or is he simply going to see it as something else that is just a little bit in the way as he marches on in his crusade that may not be judged for 10 or 20 years."
If George W. Bush is ultimately the guy who brings about the destruction of the world, that's fine. We've all gotta go sometime, and now that "The Sopranos" only has one and a half seasons left, now might be as good a time as any. I have no quarrel with the end of the world -- although it will definitely sour me to all that Nostradamus prophecy about the antichrist being some guy with a blue hat (could he have meant blue blood?).
No, what really bothers me about that possible scenario is the end of the world being brought about by someone who says "nukular" and "Internets" and "put food on the family." Call me old-fashioned, but I think Armageddon calls for ... well ... just smarter people than that.
posted by Chase McInerney @ 7:31 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Not to be rascist or anything, but as I recall the Nostradamus video they played us in middle school refered to the antichrist as wearing a blue turban. No, really.
A turban is a hat, smart guy.
Bush's mispronunciation of "nuclear" actually evens the score of US Presidents who frequently used the "new-kew-ler" version at two Dems -- Carter and Clinton -- and two GOPsters -- Eisenhower and now Bush. Hat tip to Kate Taylor's Sept. 2002 Slate piece on the word, which itself references a William Safire article.
If I had an evil, nasty mind, I would note that this means two of the smartest Democratic presidents in recent memory are apparently no smarter, pronunciation-wise, than two GOP presidents who aren't usually praised for Mensa-like qualities.
Fortunately, I don't have an evil, nasty mind and I think it's just coincidence...and a fun joke :-)
Maybe I'm the crazy one, but didn't we know Bush considered this his crusade a couple of years ago? This article, while troubling, only fortifies what we already knew.
I've been wishy washy on the war --wanting to believe, like Thomas Friedman did, that this might actually build a better middle east -- although quickly becoming anti-war as evidence seems to mount about pre-war lies. Anyway, that said, not everyone who believes they're being inspired to do something by a higher power is nuts or wrong. Faith isn't such a bad thing in the right circumstances.... It kept Holocaust survivors alive, etc...
Ceres,
You misunderstand. I in no way am equating the Iraq situation and the holocaust.
But I was raising the issue of faith. And there are some on the left who broad-brush stroke faith as a bad thing not matter what. I disagree. In fact, I wish I had more faith than I do--in stranges, in family and in God. As it stands, my faith reading is near "e".
Lighten up, Francis.
We all know that the real anti-Christ is Jon Stewart -- and he's a long way from enacting the final stages of his master plan.
He has to spend a few more years in snarky late-night cable land before he moves to the next stage: After all, what better way to ingratiate yourself to power brokers like Martha Stewart?
The bestselling history tomes, though, they're a little scary -- as are the heavy-handed appearances on shows like CNN's "Crossfire." Those kind of suggest Jon is feeling his demonic oats, and may be ready to cut loose with a little four-horsemen-style action.
When Stewart has a "breakthrough" dramatic film role that critics insist smells like Oscar ... heck, maybe a sequel to "Rent" set instead in Calcutta ... then we'll know the Apocalypse is coming...
Some people of faith did survive the Holocaust; many people of faith died in the same inferno. Faith does not mean we get what we want. It also means we accept the inevitable with peace and grace and submit our own wishes to the Divine Will. Faith also means that we recognize the difference between our own wills -- and egos -- and God's will. There's little on earth more dangerous than someone who has confused himself/herself with the Creator.
Umm... well, I kinda sorta did brag to someone the other day that I was the Creator. Does that make me a bad, bad man?
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