The Anchoress

Well, I was waiting for it, and here it is - the press’ unrelenting willingness to follow the template they used to destroy Nixon has led them back to the “he’s mentally ill” fountain from which they so ardently quenched their thirsts all those years ago - and they’re daring to call the fountain “truth.”

First, we get an elementary course on “denial:”

Denying the evidence of your eyes is the most extreme form of the coping mechanism called denial. But denial comes in milder forms as well. Parents refuse to believe their child is on drugs; that baggie under his bed contained oregano…

Yes, and insisting that someone “lied” about intelligence, no matter how many times you’re reminded that the same intelligence was was being fully touted by world leadership for almost three years before the man ever got into office…that’s denial.

Insisting that the “terrorist” president whom you are incessantly criticizing and name-calling, is somehow “blowing a chill wind” and curtailing free speech in America and crushing dissent (even though you can’t find any reports of it) no matter how many times it is pointed out to you that protesters newspeople, artists, novelists, play-writes, singers, filmmakers, radio broadcasters and essayists routinely imagine his assassination and accuse him of every evil (and get rich on it) do so freely and safely without suppression…that’s denial…or maybe it’s denial and delusion, I can’t tell.

But yeah, Newsweek thinks the President is mentally ill because - after making some real mistakes - he sees the new policies in Iraq beginning to take hold - and dares to be optimistic about a very noble vision. Optimism, (shudder) is apparently the opiate of simpletons. Everyone knows that everything is bad and will continue to be bad, at all times - in America and the world - until a Democrat gets that White House back. At which time everything will be good again, unless something bad happens, which will be Bush’s fault, even 6 years after he leaves office.

Let’s see on what Newsweek is basing its quack diagnosis, shall we?

Bush could, of course, know full well that the United States cannot achieve its goals in Iraq. If so, then he is lying not to himself but to us (for reasons scientists would have a field day with, but that’s another story). But while it’s always risky to psychoanalyze a politician from afar, a few things in his past are consistent with the capacity for denial. When he was 7, his baby sister died of leukemia. Bush, while certainly not denying her death, tried to cheer up his grieving mother, saying everything would be OK. Also, those who abuse alcohol, as Bush has admitted doing, typically need to see the world in black and white in order to stay on the wagon. “It’s how they control their addiction,” says Sulkowicz. “It reflects an inability or refusal to see shades of gray.”

My goodness, that is a masterpiece of ugliness and “nuanced” aggression based on nothing more than someone sitting around musing. In one paragraph - and with the seemingly reluctant admission that all this musing may mean nothing - we get:

1) He might not only be lying to himself (because he must know that his “war is lost,”) but he’s also LYING TO US
(Mr. Subliminal reinforces the “he’s a liar - Bush lied, people died” narrative).

2) When he was 7, he tried to comfort his grieving mother with all the compassion, love and clumsiness of a 7 year old.
(Mr. Subliminal says Bush is mother-hung, traumatized and guilt-stricken by his sister’s death and that’s why he’s retreated into fantasy land!)

Until I read that part, I was mildly amused…but that bit made me mad. When my Elder Son was 7 I lost a baby during pregnancy, and as I wept my son - full of compassion and wanting to do anything to make me feel better - climbed onto my bed and hugged me and told me “it will be alright, Mommy, it will be alright.”

I suppose my son is “mentally ill” too. Either that or Newsweek has made a serious miscalculation, here. Every parent who is honest understands precisely what passed between Dubya and his mother at that moment, and it is nearly obscene to see it painted as anything less than profound and innocent love. It is low, hateful, needlessly spiteful and quite honestly it says much more about the writer than it does about the president.

To me, in my amateur analysis, I can’t help but wonder (as I wondered about Ann Coulter) if there is a humanity gene missing here, or maybe there really is such a thing as a derangement syndrome at work. Either way, that is the sleaziest thing I’ve ever seen. And how horrible for Barbara Bush to read it, to remember that moment and see it dragged so recklessly. mindlessly and spitefully through the muck by such an adolescent mind.

3) People with drinking problems, even if they’ve licked them have weaknesses.
(Mr. Subliminal says “He’s weak. He’s a drunk, he’s a white-knuckled drunk and that means he’s no good, can’t be trusted. Quite unlike the admirable folks - in show business or the world-of-letters who have beaten their drinking problems and are to admired and lionized.)

4) He lacks “nuance,” he only sees the world in black and white, and everyone knows it’s all grey, grey, grey in the dictatorship of relativism.
(Mr. Subliminal says he’s not smart, he’s not sophisticated, he dares to have convictions that we’ve already deconstructed.)

All in all - an ugly and pathetic, really pathetic piece. I can’t remember when I’ve seen its like. Well, yes, I can. But I don’t know when it’s ever made me feel sadder for the writer, or for anyone who cackles over it.

An amused Ace tells Newsweek to look up “cognitive dissonance” and “lack of self-awareness.”

An equally amused Dymphna welcomes the president into a particularly blessed club.

Newsbusters wonders if Newsweek will be examining the denial patterns of Hillary Clinton anytime soon.

Well, hope they don’t. I don’t think anyone deserves to have their psyche and personal history so recklessly danced in for what appears to be no other motive but nasty amusement.

You’ll excuse me if I am not amused. A long time ago I said that the left and the press had a ways to go before they hit rock bottom and overplayed their hand. This might be it. This is very low, indeed.

But then, Newsweek hasn’t been covering itself in glory, lately.

RELATED: Since the Left brought it up:
Dr. Bob Godwin takes a look at the mental hoopjumping the left goes through and calls “not-mentally ill” from 2005 (excerpt):

A Vietnam war veteran is a baby killer, but a chicken hawk is a conservative who avoided being a baby killer in the 1960’s. But a war hero is a baby killer who opposes the Iraq war. A quagmire, of course, is any war opposed by liberals, especially if it is a defensive war and/or we are winning it. Otherwise, you will never hear the word “quagmire” used in human discourse.

Clarice Feldman says Physician, Heal Thyself

Shrinkwrapped, too, takes a look at Newsweek’s analyst.

Jonah Goldberg also wonders about the “reality-based community” and what they believe.

Siggy is awarding Newsweek’s analyst with a prize.

Dr. Sanity is doing some diagnosing of her own

Thomas Sowell is not calling anyone crazy but he is wondering the implacable anger of the left

And of course, Fred Thompson is is talking about mental institutions too, but in a slightly different - and historically accurate - way.

WELCOME: Gateway Pundit readers and Wizbang readers, and thanks, Jim and Kim for the links. While you’re here please look around; we’re also discussing the Debates, Falwell and Wolfowitz and reading Tony Snow’s exceptionally fine commencement address.