Ron Suskind has another blockbuster.
That’s George W. Bush, talking trash to a CIA briefer who visited Bush’s ranch in August of 2001 to make sure he’d read the August 6 PBD headed “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US.”
Looks as if Suskind has done it again.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman
I am always taken aback at these glimpses into Bush's true nature, especially the depth of his cynicism. It was evident as far back as 2000 that he is a bit of a demagogue and a poseur, but this comment is of a different order.
Bush may be intellectually inert, but in some ways he's brilliant. He knows how to fake sincerity (as in the old joke about how to succeed in Hollywood), and to convince half the voters that he's earnest, moral and courageous.
I blame television, and the illusion it creates that the viewer is really getting to know the person whose image he sees on the screen.
During his father's presidency, Barbara Bush was consistently portrayed in the media as the kindly mother figure, whereas she's really quite meanspirited in real life. Maybe young George took a lesson from that bit of fakery.