Is Bush Beelzebub?

Keith Olbermann: The general tone of the coverage is that mister bush simply doesn't want his name in the news before the election because it's like saying beelzebub or something. But is it possible that we are going to learn something aobut the role that congressional republicans played in getting up the fake intel on iraq or letting Bin Laden out of Tora Bora or how the economy got to be tanked or I've only got a thousand of these left, you can jump in any time.

Eugene Robinson: Well, it is indeed possible that there are secrets in there that we don't know. President Bush is not a man who was known for his self knowledge; he did not lead what would seem to be an examined life and so I don't hold really high hopes.

I think the real problem is reminding people of the Bush era, and I think even President Bush gets it. That that's not good for the republcian party.

---The former took place a couple weeks ago on Countdown.

My...thoughts on Governor George Walker Bush are difficult ones to work through. Being an individual who came of age in the aughts, the shadow of his presidency blankets these formative years in a fine layer of ash and soot, far beyond what even my own smoking would already itimate.

If you know me by now, and it isn't something that I should presume, then you likely now that I am one for a good bit of tonal flourish. The more potent the sensation, the duller the sense, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try for as powerful a language as possible. A fine line's been delineated, and I readily admit that it is quite easy to trip on either side of it, though the question of who is hurt by it--myself or my audience--is circumstansial.

So, let's think for a moment on whether it is unduly hyperbolic for Keith Olbermann to suggest that the former governor is Beelzebub, Lord of Flies and one of the seven princes of hell. Up front, yes, this is a bit much: Cheney fits far better since George wasn't a particularly powerful force in this world by the acuity of his own mentality. I get flustered when people say that a president is made by his cabinet, since I'd prefer to reflect on each position as having its own standards that exist parallel to synergetic responsibilities, but this man strikes me as an organ of a greater body at work, and, in particular, he is likely an appendix if not a hemaroid or carbuncle.