When people think of the Bush administration and the “henchmen” (apologies, but I can’t find a better term) within, they often come up with household names like Karl Rove, Condoleeza Rice, and Dick Cheney. But until recently, few people would recognize the name Matthew Dowd.
That’s a real shame, too. Because to hear him tell it, he was instrumental in getting Bush re-elected. And in a recent New York Times article, he shares his regret for for being so successful in getting this country into the current mess it’s in.
Quite a few passages in the article make me cringe, and others make me outright angry with this idiot. For example:
He said his decision to step forward had not come easily. But, he said, his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s presidency is so great that he feels a sense of duty to go public given his role in helping Mr. Bush gain and keep power.
Mr. Dowd, a crucial part of a team that cast Senator John Kerry as a flip-flopper who could not be trusted with national security during wartime, said he had even written but never submitted an op-ed article titled “Kerry Was Right,” arguing that Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and 2004 presidential candidate, was correct in calling last year for a withdrawal from Iraq.
Okay, so he branded Kerry as a slippery eel that couldn’t be pegged down. I guess Dowd knows a lot about that, considering the article also points out that prior to this guy’s love affair with Dubyah, he was an inside man for the Clinton administration, only to leave in the second term because he was “disillusioned” with Clinton’s leadership and policies.
Gee, doesn’t that sound familiar?
There’s more to the story that makes me think that he’s got more than just a screw loose. Apparently, he “loves” the president, even though he became a turncoat, again. No, he really loves the president. REALLY:
“”When you fall in love like that,” he said, “and then you notice some things that don’t exactly go the way you thought, what do you do? Like in a relationship, you say ‘No no, no, it’ll be different.’ “
And then there’s the other little morsels: his violin story about his personal problems, his son going off to Iraq to fight the war he’s reallying against now (but oddly, supported before his son was called to duty).
What a real gem this guy must have been to work with. He works his way in after being disillusioned by the other side, is so wedded to ideals that he talks politics in terms of love affairs and relationships, and then goes into a mood swings, talks about disenchantment, and trash-talks the insiders he once “loved” so much.
So, there you have it.bush administration is (or at least was with not just warmongering religious zealots, but emotionally unstable simpletons, as well. Frankly, I find his attempt at making amends insulting, and his attempts to jsutify his actions and past history are revolting. he called Kerry a flip-flopper, and yet flip-flopping appears to be what this guy does for a living.
I feel sorry for his son; out fighting a war that could arguably be his dad’s fault for being so prolonged and without an end in sight. A meaner individual than I would probably find it to be an amazing case of instant kharma if he didn’t come home. I however, wish him well… and hope his father gets some real help, before he decides to ride another politician’s coattails and make another four years of our lives hell.
