Actually it was Karl Rove who had the brain just as it was Arthur Sinodinos who had the brain in the Howard machine.

Bush is just a moron.

wizofaus

Obviously if you didn't want to be like Rupert Murdoch you wouldn't hate him. But if you wanted to be like him and you COULDN'T, you would hate him.

http://kotzabasis5.wordpress.com

Um, I wouldn't mind being like Nelson Mandela, but I can't...does that mean I'm supposed to hate him?

wizofaus

You have to read the psychology right, not the benign and gracious person, like Mandella. If you really LOVE yourself and your aspirations and ambitions and you cannot accomplish the latter, you would deep down HATE the person who had succeeded in fulfilling these same aspirations and ambitions. The same applies to nations. That is why I used the paradox of Rupert Murdoch as an example.

http://kotzabasis5.wordpress.com

America is a nation where almost half of Americans have reverted to the Dark Ages in terms of thinking and behaviour due to 50 years of progressively deteriorating education in all but the wealthiest states. (The USA rates 21st, we're 7th)

Between 10-15% percent of wealthy Americans support and gain from the plutocracy that the USA has always been. That leaves just over 35% of well educated and well traveled Americans, from the wealthy states, who see what’s wrong with and do their best to improve America but who are continually berated by those in power in the plutocracy.

American’s are brainwashed from birth to believe they are superior mainly based on wars, War of Independence from Britain and winning WWII with a belief that military superiority means they should control a world-wide American Empire, a belief encouraged by the Military-Industrial Complex. They fail to see they are in decline just as other nations with dreams of empire declined, from the Roman to British.

Poor education and health facilities in many states has led to an increase in fanatical religious cults as well as obsessive glorification of war as revenge and retribution. What was the
lunatic fringe but sadly is now mainstream and accepted by the 50% of Americans in the Dark Ages.

Bush is indeed inarticulate, insular, messianic born-again Christian cowboy. He has an IQ of 100, far lower than the IQ of any other US President and the majority of world leaders throughout history. Rove and the Neo-Cons are the ones who devised and lead Bush’s campaigns, while Bush read out what they wrote. Bush rarely deviates from his written script for obvious reasons.

America will continue with warfare, in fact will increase it and preemptive strikes of who they deem ‘enemies.’ They will also continue to crumble from within, with all monies being spent on warfare and less and less on education, health and infrastructure. It would be wise for those who read this to note the similarities between America and what Howard was trying to do here in Australia

"Just like with conservatives a century or so earlier these criticisms often tell us much more about the fears elites hold about their own nation's working class than anything insightful about American culture."

I'm sorry, perhaps you could elaborate on this point. How does criticising a country for a militarist culture or a national diet that generates an obesity epidemic whilst an economy based on consumer capitalism exhorts its victims to be obsessed with body image (To give just a few examples) reflect badly on anyone?

Perhaps you don't need to elaborate because me thinking this makes me an 'elite', a convenient perjorative that avoids you ever having to answer such questions...