Countering Illusion and Self-Deception

I love it when Bushites make their idol out to be just a common guy. Hell I'd done more physical labor by the time I was 11 than Bush (still) has done his whole life. ...

One of the better examples for me of this contradiction between image and fact came in an interview CNN's Wolf Blitzer had with a race car driver--head, I think, of the race car drivers for GW. Anyway, this pretty famous driver is telling Blitzer about how GW's just a regular old boy, race-drivin loving man, etc. etc. Then Blitzer chimes in with some facts about Bush's Yalie education, his millions-dollar background, and so on. Taken aback a bit, the driver gathers his thoughts and then keeps on unfazed with his polishing up of the image of GW as the working man's guy.

Now was this guy prevaricating in a calculating, hypocritical way? Not at all. The example simply shows how effective and successful the Rovian image-spinners are/were. People want or seek a leader who confirms something they need to fill. The effete, Boston-Mandarin-wannabe Kerry doesn't fill that need for me either. But the fact that he and Bush shared more than just earning C averages at Yale will not even register with the Bushites.

Now, we can go blue in the face trying to prove that Bush is not the man whom his idolizers think he is. We can print fact after fact after fact. Until we get at this will to believe that Bush is this, that, or the other thing, we'll never disabuse them of their illusion.

This latter issue would take another tactic, another rhetorical strategy than many if not most political pundits etc know about, much less want to know about. It goes to the heart of how to de-condition someone of their false beliefs, a process that requires deeply psychological, epistemological, and poetizing skills.

But that's another story...