By the time W’s presidency was over, all the centrists and tote-baggers hated him so much that I felt like a W apologist when I talked to them, but now there’s a lot of weird W nostalgia. People say shit like “I’d be so happy to have Bush instead of Trump”.
I’m here to tell you that there’s not that much difference, that “alternative facts” and “fake news” aren’t that different than what went on under Bush. You all know the original “reality-based” quote, but here’s another one, from Mark McKinnon, the faux cowboy “centrist” asshole who now wanks around with Mark Halperin:
And for those who don’t get it? That was explained to me in late 2002 by Mark McKinnon, a longtime senior media adviser to Bush, who now runs his own consulting firm and helps the president. He started by challenging me. “You think he’s an idiot, don’t you?” I said, no, I didn’t. “No, you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don’t care. You see, you’re outnumbered 2 to 1 by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don’t read The New York Times or Washington Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it’s good for us. Because you know what those folks don’t like? They don’t like you!” In this instance, the final “you,” of course, meant the entire reality-based community.
You may also remember this, from David Broder:
We cannot yet calculate the political fallout from Hurricane Katrina and its devastating human and economic consequences, but one thing seems certain: It makes the previous signs of political weakness for Bush, measured in record-low job approval ratings, instantly irrelevant and opens new opportunities for him to regain his standing with the public.
(To his credit, Broder later said he as appalled that he’d said this.)
The same dark forces are at work again trying to prop Trump up. They changed the headline but Brian Beutler has a screeshot.