OT: God and George Bush or -- a Dry Drunk?

May 28, 2003

In a message dated 5/28/2003 3:56:33 PM Pacific Standard Time,

cheetahkita writes:

> Did I join a political board here???

>

> Lisa

>

Nope. You joined an aromatherapy board that from time to time strays from the

subject. Keeps people on their toes and life interesting! ;-)

Cheers!

Kathleen Petrides

The Woobey Queen

http://www.woobeyworld.com

May 28, 2003

In a message dated 5/28/2003 4:05:12 PM Pacific Standard Time,

cheetahkita writes:

> ....Well, I'll keep my political views to myself then ;-)

>

Well THAT'S no fun! Go on, SHARE! You're SURE to run into someone with the

opposing point of view... THEN it gets tricky! This from one of the MOST mouthy

people on the list... ;-)

Cheers!

Kathleen Petrides

The Woobey Queen

Woobey Tip:

http://www.woobeyworld.com

May 28, 2003

In a message dated 5/28/2003 4:16:12 PM Pacific Standard Time,

janetkgolden writes:

> Oh put your toe in the water, hydrosol, or tar pit. It has been

> fairly quiet this week.

> Just stirring the cauldron ;-)

> Hugs~

> Janet

>

OOOOOHHHHHH Another rabble rouser! ROFLMAO!

Cheers!

Kathleen Petrides

The Woobey Queen

Woobey Tip:

http://www.woobeyworld.com

May 28, 2003

At 10:59 PM 5/28/2003 -0700, you wrote:

>Hi y'all,

>

>This is a pretty interesting view of what drives George Bush. ;-p

>------

Or, it could be this, Butch.. saw it on the news the other day:

http://www.counterpunch.org/wormer1011.html

Addiction, Brain Damage and the President

" Dry Drunk " Syndrome and

George W. Bush

by KATHERINE van WORMER

Ordinarily I would not use this term. But when I came across the article

" Dry Drunk " - - Is Bush Making a Cry for Help? in American Politics Journal

by Alan Bisbort, I was ready to concede, in the case of George W. Bush, the

phrase may be quite apt.

Dry drunk is a slang term used by members and supporters of Alcoholics

Anonymous and substance abuse counselors to describe the recovering

alcoholic who is no longer drinking, one who is dry, but whose thinking is

clouded. Such an individual is said to be dry but not truly sober. Such an

individual tends to go to extremes.

It was when I started noticing the extreme language that colored President

Bush's speeches that I began to wonder. First there were the terms--

" crusade " and " infinite justice " that were later withdrawn. Next came " evil

doers, " " axis of evil, " and " regime change " , terms that have almost become

clichés in the mass media. Something about the polarized thinking and the

obsessive repetition reminded me of many of the recovering

alcoholics/addicts I had treated. (A point worth noting is that because of

the connection between addiction and " stinking thinking, " relapse

prevention usually consists of work in the cognitive area). Having worked

with recovering alcoholics for years, I flinched at the single-mindedness

and ego- and ethnocentricity in the President's speeches. (My husband

likened his phraseology to the gardener character played by Peter Sellers

in the movie, Being There). Since words are the tools, the representations,

of thought, I wondered what Bush's choice of words said about where he was

coming from. Or where we would be going.

First, in this essay, we will look at the characteristics of the so-called

" dry drunk; " then we will see if they apply to this individual, our

president; and then we will review his drinking history for the record.

What is the dry drunk syndrome? " Dry drunk " traits consist of:

* Exaggerated self-importance and pomposity

* Grandiose behavior

* A rigid, judgmental outlook

* Impatience

* Childish behavior

* Irresponsible behavior

* Irrational rationalization

* Projection

* Overreaction

Clearly, George W. Bush has all these traits except exaggerated self

importance. He may be pompous, especially with regard to international

dealings, but his actual importance hardly can be exaggerated. His power,

in fact, is such that if he collapses into paranoia, a large part of the

world will collapse with him. Unfortunately, there are some indications of

paranoia in statements such as the following: " We must be prepared to stop

rogue states and their terrorist clients before they are able to threaten

or use weapons of mass destruction against the United States and our allies

and friends. " The trait of projection is evidenced here as well, projection

of the fact that we are ready to attack onto another nation which may not

be so inclined.

Bush's rigid, judgmental outlook comes across in virtually all his

speeches. To fight evil, Bush is ready to take on the world, in almost a

Biblical sense. Consider his statement with reference to Israel: " Look my

job isn't to try to nuance. I think moral clarity is important... this is

evil versus good. "

Bush's tendency to dichotomize reality is not on the Internet list above,

but it should be, as this tendency to polarize is symptomatic of the

classic addictive thinking pattern. I describe this thinking distortion in

Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective as either/or reasoning--

" either you are with us or against us. " Oddly, Bush used those very words

in his dealings with other nations. All-or-nothing thinking is a related

mode of thinking commonly found in newly recovering alcoholics/addicts.

Such a worldview traps people in a pattern of destructive behavior.

Obsessive thought patterns are also pronounced in persons prone to

addiction. There are organic reasons for this due to brain chemistry

irregularities; messages in one part of the brain become stuck there. This

leads to maddening repetition of thoughts. President Bush seems unduly

focused on getting revenge on Saddam Hussein ( " he tried to kill my Dad " )

leading the country and the world into war, accordingly.

Grandiosity enters the picture as well. What Bush is proposing to Congress

is not the right to attack on one country but a total shift in military

policy: America would now have the right to take military action before the

adversary even has the capacity to attack. This is in violation, of course,

of international law as well as national precedent. How to explain this

grandiose request? Jane Bryant Quinn provides the most commonly offered

explanation in a recent Newsweek editorial, " Iraq: It's the Oil, Stupid. "

Many other opponents of the Bush doctrine similarly seek a rational motive

behind the obsession over first, the war on terror and now, Iraq. I believe

the explanation goes deeper than oil, that Bush's logic is being given too

much credit; I believe his obsession is far more visceral.

On this very day, a peace protestor in Portland held up the sign, " Drunk on

Power. " This, I believe, is closer to the truth. The drive for power can be

an unquenchable thirst, addictive in itself. Senator William Fulbright, in

his popular bestseller of the 1960s, The Arrogance of Power, masterfully

described the essence of power-hungry politics as the pursuit of power;

this he conceived as an end in itself. " The causes and consequences of war

may have more to do with pathology than with politics, " he wrote, " more to

do with irrational pressures of pride and pain than with rational

calculation of advantage and profit. "

Another " dry drunk " trait is impatience. Bush is far from a patient man:

" If we wait for threats to fully materialize, " he said in a speech he gave

at West Point, " we will have waited too long. " Significantly, Bush only

waited for the United Nations and for Congress to take up the matter of

Iraq's disarmament with extreme reluctance.

Alan Bisbort argues that Bush possesses the characteristics of the " dry

drunk " in terms of: his incoherence while speaking away from the script;

his irritability with anyone (for example, Germany's Schröder) who dares

disagree with him; and his dangerous obsessing about only one thing (Iraq)

to the exclusion of all other things.

In short, George W. Bush seems to possess the traits characteristic of

addictive persons who still have the thought patterns that accompany

substance abuse. If we consult the latest scientific findings, we will

discover that scientists can now observe changes that occur in the brain as

a result of heavy alcohol and other drug abuse. Some of these changes may

be permanent. Except in extreme cases, however, these cognitive impairments

would not be obvious to most observers.

To reach any conclusions we need of course to know Bush's personal history

relevant to drinking/drug use. To this end I consulted several biographies.

Yes, there was much drunkenness, years of binge drinking starting in

college, at least one conviction for DUI in 1976 in Maine, and one arrest

before that for a drunken episode involving theft of a Christmas wreath.

According to J.D. Hatfield's book, Fortunate Son, Bush later explained:

" [A]lcohol began to compete with my energies....I'd lose focus. " Although

he once said he couldn't remember a day he hadn't had a drink, he added

that he didn't believe he was " clinically alcoholic. " Even his father, who

had known for years that his son had a serious drinking problem, publicly

proclaimed: " He was never an alcoholic. It's just he knows he can't hold

his liquor. "

Bush drank heavily for over 20 years until he made the decision to abstain

at age 40. About this time he became a " born again Christian, " going as

usual from one extreme to the other. During an Oprah interview, Bush

acknowledged that his wife had told him he needed to think about what he

was doing. When asked in another interview about his reported drug use, he

answered honestly, " I'm not going to talk about what I did 20 to 30 years

ago. "

That there might be a tendency toward addiction in Bush's family is

indicated in the recent arrests or criticism of his daughters for underage

drinking and his niece for cocaine possession. Bush, of course, deserves

credit for his realization that he can't drink moderately, and his decision

today to abstain. The fact that he doesn't drink moderately, may be

suggestive of an inability to handle alcohol. In any case, Bush has clearly

gotten his life in order and is in good physical condition, careful to

exercise and rest when he needs to do so. The fact that some residual

effects from his earlier substance abuse, however slight, might cloud the

U.S. President's thinking and judgment is frightening, however, in the

context of the current global crisis.

One final consideration that might come into play in the foreign policy

realm relates to Bush's history relevant to his father. The Bush biography

reveals the story of a boy named for his father, sent to the exclusive

private school in the East where his father's reputation as star athlete

and later war hero were still remembered. The younger George's achievements

were dwarfed in the school's memory of his father. Athletically he could

not achieve his father's laurels, being smaller and perhaps less strong.

His drinking bouts and lack of intellectual gifts held him back as well. He

was popular and well liked, however. His military record was mediocre as

compared to his father's as well. Bush entered the Texas National Guard.

What he did there remains largely a mystery. There are reports of a lot of

barhopping during this period. It would be only natural that Bush would

want to prove himself today, that he would feel somewhat uncomfortable

following, as before, in his father's footsteps. I mention these things

because when you follow his speeches, Bush seems bent on a personal

crusade. One motive is to avenge his father. Another seems to be to prove

himself to his father. In fact, Bush seems to be trying somehow to achieve

what his father failed to do - - to finish the job of the Gulf War, to get

the " evildoer " Saddam.

To summarize, George W. Bush manifests all the classic patterns of what

alcoholics in recovery call " the dry drunk. " His behavior is consistent

with barely noticeable but meaningful brain damage brought on by years of

heavy drinking and possible cocaine use. All the classic patterns of

addictive thinking that are spelled out in my book are here:

the tendency to go to extremes (leading America into a massive 100 billion

dollar strike-first war);

* a " kill or be killed mentality; " the tunnel vision;

* " I " as opposed to " we " thinking;

* the black and white polarized thought processes (good versus evil,

all or nothing thinking).

* His drive to finish his father's battles is of no small significance,

psychologically.

If the public (and politicians) could only see what Fulbright noted as the

pathology in the politics. One day, sadly, they will.http://member.newsguy.com/~herblady

©

May 28, 2003

Did I join a political board here???

Lisa

May 29, 2003

LOL....Ok....Well, I'll keep my political views to myself then ;-)