I’ve Got The Box

Did you catch the snippet from (retired) General Sanchez’s new book that was in the WaPo earlier this week?

As I was reading this bit:

During a videoconference with his national security team and generals, Sanchez writes, Bush launched into what he described as a “confused” pep talk:

“Kick ass!” he quotes the president as saying. “If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can’t send that message. It’s an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal.”

“There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!”

…I just kept flashing on satire from the late 80s.

I know I shouldn’t laugh–this moron’s twitchy cowboy bravado, his us-and-them binary worldview, has resulted in what might well be a million unnecessary deaths. But more and more I look at this guy, who resembles nothing so much as a bit player in a not-to-deep, over-the-top, comic book satire from twenty years ago, and wonder how he managed to get elected TWICE. History will not be kind.