The Daily Background

I think President Bush must simply be deluded. There’s no other way to explain this:

Confronted with strong opposition to his Iraq policies, President Bush decides to interpret public opinion his own way. Actually, he says, people agree with him.

Democrats view the November elections that gave them control of Congress as a mandate to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq. They’re backed by evidence; election exit poll surveys by The Associated Press and television networks found 55 percent saying the U.S. should withdraw some or all of its troops from Iraq.

Bush of course says that Americans voted for a new strategy in Iraq, and he claims that his “surge” policy is that new strategy that people voted for. Talk about twisted logic logic- that is downright contortionist. A majority of the public wants troop withdrawal, not a troop buildup and escalation. A majority disagree with the President’s view that the surge will or even can have any meaningful impact on the violence in Iraq. Another example:

… Bush said: “I recognize there are a handful there, or some, who just say, ‘Get out, you know, it’s just not worth it. Let’s just leave.’ I strongly disagree with that attitude. Most Americans do as well.”

In fact, polls show Americans do not disagree, and that leaving — not winning — is their main goal.

I really do think that he’s deluded. There’s no other explanation. Faced with extremely clear and extremely consistent poll numbers (as well as other indications, like November’s elections and the public interest level in Democratic presidential candidates versus that of Republican presidential candidates) that say the opposite of what he is saying, he has to be simply deluded into thinking that people agree with him.

A rational, reasonable, sane person would understand and admit that people disagree with him. Instead, he’s living in this fictional universe where he’s popular and people agree with him, and the intel they used to justify the war in Iraq was solid and “what everybody else had,” and he doesn’t make mistakes (or at least he isn’t able to name any mistakes he’s made when asked).

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