Posted by
Andrews on Thursday, October 30, 2008 10:03:10 AM
Sometimes I feel like I am living in the final reel of a bad horror film, no matter what I do, no matter what others do, we just can't make certain bad ideas go away. In this case it is the apocryphal quote, attributed to George Bush, that the Constitution is "just a damn piece of paper".
I wrote on this before, along with the quote attributed to Jerry Falwell that "gays will kill you as soon as look at you", and after searching endless citations of the quote, found that not one pointed to a primary source, but either provided no citation or cited some other secondary source. Nor am I the only one to point this out, especially concerning the supposed Bush quote. But try as we might, this quote will not go away.
Let us suppose that Bush really does not care for the Constitution and intends to ignore it. Is it likely he is going to say so? What is he, a comic book villain? He sits around burning Constitutions to light his cigars while laughing with a "MWHAHAHA" bubble over his head?
The other reason I am skeptical is, while explicitly telling everyone he despises the Constitution is inconsistent with real human behavior, it fits perfectly with the jumbled belief on the left that he is an idiot-genius. So brilliant he can manipulate us into war and overrule the Constitution, but so stupid he admits to it in front of people who will pass this story on to journalists. Sorry, but idiot-geniuses don't exist, and if they do, they do not progress as far as Bush did.
Just as the Falwell quote too perfectly fits the liberal caricature of a hypocritical, intolerant preacher, this too perfectly fits the left wing caricature of Bush as a drooling idiot who is also a brilliant plotter who also behaves like a comic book supervillain.
The story is too unlike normal human behavior to be real, but fits perfectly with left-wing beliefs, and is unsupported by any eyewitnesses I can find. So, I'll let you decide, how likely is it that it is true?
POSTSCRIPT
In preparing this piece, I checked again and got as close as I ever will to the source of this quote.
Doug Thompson attributes it to "three West Wing sources". I suppose that is a primary source, though just barely. That puts it in the same category as stories of brainwashed CIA sex slaves, Clinton Oval Office orgies and drug parties, and the Zionist Conspiracy to Dominate the World, all of which are also vouched for by unnamed sources. I know the press thinks unnamed attributions are valid, but I prefer actual evidence. So until I have a person willing to attach their name, this is still in the apocryphal quote category for me.
POSTSCRIPT II
Some will probably argue with my dismissal of unnamed sources, but I would remind them there were more than three unnamed sources for cannibalism in New Orleans, and to the blowing of the levees by divers. So unless you are prepared to give credence to those, I would be reluctant to grant credence to this story either.