Magic Carpet Ride

I'm not sure if this puff piece in the Washington Post is supposed to flatter or deride the president. Personally, I found it hilarious and extremely scary at the same time. Read some, then we will talk. There is so much here I can't contain myself.

For whatever reason, Bush seems fixated on his rug. Virtually all visitors to the Oval Office find him regaling them about how it was chosen and what it represents. Turns out, he always says, the first decision any president makes is what carpet he wants in his office. As a take-charge leader, he then explains, he of course made a command decision -- he delegated the decision to Laura Bush, who chose a yellow sunbeam design.

What a fuckin simpleton. What an ass. Mr. President how about "fixating" on, oh, fixing Iraq, helping Katrina victims, that Osama guy. And Mr. Bush, maybe your "first decision" as president should have been to listen to the outgoing Clinton administration when they tried to warn you about Al Qaeda. But no, it was all about Iraq from day one. And don't you deny it, Mr. Carpet man.

Some visitors have the impression that the rug story is revealing. In his new book, "Rebel-in-Chief," Fred Barnes recounts how Bush told him about the carpet: "His job, he told me, is to 'stay out of minutiae, keep the big picture in mind, but also make sure that I know enough about what's going on to get the best information possible.' To stress the point, during our interview in the Oval Office Bush called my attention to the rug."

So, I guess the minutiae includes suffering people in New Orleans. Were the warnings about an Iraqi insurgency minutiae too, Mr. President? How about the exploding deficit? Does that rank up there? Everything is clear now. You don't even know there is a deficit. That would explain your signing of every bloated bill that floats across your desk. (Sorry, did I say bloated. Jeez, maybe that reminded you of the bloated bodies in New Orleans. Sorry, Mr. President, didn't mean to bother you with minutiae. I'll have a de-bloated DVD on your desk in the morning.)

And finally, this masterful puff piece wants you to know... wait, you tell me.

"But make it say 'optimistic person.'"

"For him, the optimism is very symbolic of what he wants his presidency to be about."

"It helps make this room an open and optimistic, place," Bush tells viewers.

"...he wanted the rug to express the view that an 'optimistic person comes here,'"

"I think you're going to say, just like you know it, 'This guy's optimistic.'"

So, I guess the president is an optimistic fellow. Gee, I almost missed that. Mr. President could you sprinkle some realism in with your optimism. Maybe then so many people wouldn't be dead on your watch. Ass.

Oh, and, optimistic times were real under Bill Clinton. Enough said.

I'd say read more, but it will just make you sick.