Open Mike reveals W's governing Philosophy : just gonna make it up

The whole world (or at least the Media) seemed a-twitter yesterday about the fact that an open mike yesterday confirmed that our President's vocabulary extends to Anglo-Saxon vulgarities  (one wonders why Bush's infamous F-ck Saddam We're taking him out!" quote never garners this sort of attention)

However, in focusing on the saltiness of the President's vocabulary (and his egregious, Alanis Morrisette level, misuse of the term Irony) a very important moment on that tape has been completely overlooked .  

In a completely unguarded moment The underlying philosophical root of George W. Bush's governing style was revealed.  From his very lips we heard him reveal the central guiding principle of his Geo-political strategy, indeed his very Presidency.  Without further ado, I give you that principle:

Bush: No. Just gonna make it up

 almost Zen  is it not?  In retrospect, it should have been so obvious, how could we have missed it?:

"I'm just gonna make it up".  

Such an elegantly simple response to the vagaries of the world of sometime inconvenient facts is it not?    Clearly,  in hindsight, it is all  pervasive part of Bush Strategy for dealing in every crisis that he  has faced:

Look at Justifying the War with Iraq::

Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.

- Speech to UN General Assembly September 12, 2002

"We've discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical weapons across broad areas."

-Cincinnati Museum Center on Oct. 7, 2002

We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have.

-Radio Address February 8, 2003

Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.

- Address to the Nation March 18, 2003

You remember when Colin Powell stood up in front of the world, and he said Iraq has got laboratories, mobile labs to build biological weapons, And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong. We found them."

- Interview with TVP Poland

Already, the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations.

- State of the Union Address - 2004 1/20/2004

Brilliant! Nary a fact in sight!  Bush wanted a war for which there was no justification.  So he reached down deep inside of himself and "made something up".

 In fact, making something up, wasn't so easy as it looked either.  As Ron Suskind recently Pointed Out in the 1% solution: It took careful preparation:

Under this strategic model, reading the entire N.I.E. would be problematic for Bush: it could hem in the president's rhetoric, a key weapon in the march to war. He would know too much."

You see, it's so much harder to "make something up", when you have too many facts cramping your style.

 Now I can see carpers and critics trying to asset that this strategy is flawed, that sooner or later the lies would be exposed, and then the president would be in real trouble. Oh ye of little faith, this philosophy is all purpose you see, when necessary a master such as Bush can merely make more things up to cover his previous inventions:

From Speech at Ft. hood Texas April 2005

" The toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad will be recorded, alongside the fall of the Berlin Wall, as one of the great moments in the history of liberty."

 "Because of you, the people of Iraq no longer live in fear of being executed and left in mass graves. Because of you, freedom is taking root in Iraq. Our success in Iraq will make America safer, for us and for future generations. "

"From the beginning, our goal in Iraq has been to promote Iraqi independence"

"Iraqis have laid the foundation of a free economy, with a new currency and independent central bank, new laws to encourage foreign investment, and thousands of small businesses established since liberation"

But for a True Master of BS-fu, you needn't be limited to a single subject either.  It works just as well Domestically as it does on foreign policy:

Watch it work On Social Security:

THE PRESIDENT: That's kind of sad, isn't it? Excuse me for interrupting. You've got younger Americans saying, don't count on Social Security. I guess the word is getting out -- slowly, but surely -- we've got a problem with Social Security, to the point where you've got some people saying, don't count on it. As a matter of fact, I saw a survey where it said younger workers feel like they're more likely to see a UFO than get a Social Security check. (Laughter.) Excuse me for interrupting.

On Domestic Disasters and incompetence like  Katrina:

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

-on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005,

The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before.

-touring hurricane damage, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

-touring hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, Sept. 2, 2005

Heck this amazing philosophical tool can even handle major lawbreaking and scandals!

For example, the NSA wiretaps:

First, our international activities strictly target al Qaeda and their known affiliates. Al Qaeda is our enemy, and we want to know their plans. Second, the government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval. Third, the intelligence activities I authorized are lawful and have been briefed to appropriate members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat. Fourth, the privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities.

We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans. Our efforts are focused on links to al Qaeda and their known affiliates. So far we've been very successful in preventing another attack on our soil.

You see? None of that turned out to be true, but didn't it sound good?

Clearly, we have wronged this President.  I and so many others have been quick to dismiss him as a clueless, feckless, ill-informed lout.  However it appears we've failed to see the subtleties of this man to fully appreciate that his every act conforms with his deepest held animating principle:

"Just gonna make something up"