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troutman · 10-19-2004, 02:45 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine...ner=rssuserland

Bruce Bartlett, a domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and a treasury official for the first President Bush, told me recently that ''if Bush wins, there will be a civil war in the Republican Party starting on Nov. 3.'' The nature of that conflict, as Bartlett sees it? Essentially, the same as the one raging across much of the world: a battle between modernists and fundamentalists, pragmatists and true believers, reason and religion.

''Just in the past few months,'' Bartlett said, ''I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do.'' Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush's governance, went on to say: ''This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them. . . .

Blogs,

http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/36308

http://www.38ludlow.com/lemonblog/

It takes a very profoundly thorough look at the Bush presidency and the trend toward faith-based decision-making over analytical decision-making. Its really rather freightening. Keep in mind, Suskind is not a partisan hack. He was the senior national-affairs reporter for The Wall Street Journal from 1993 to 2000. Despite the White House's demonization of him following his co-authoring of the Paul O'Neill book last year. He is a straight shooting journalist.

10-19-2004, 02:45 PM	#1
troutman Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Crowsnest Pass Exp:	http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine...ner=rssuserland Bruce Bartlett, a domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and a treasury official for the first President Bush, told me recently that ''if Bush wins, there will be a civil war in the Republican Party starting on Nov. 3.'' The nature of that conflict, as Bartlett sees it? Essentially, the same as the one raging across much of the world: a battle between modernists and fundamentalists, pragmatists and true believers, reason and religion. ''Just in the past few months,'' Bartlett said, ''I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do.'' Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush's governance, went on to say: ''This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them. . . . Blogs, http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/36308 http://www.38ludlow.com/lemonblog/ It takes a very profoundly thorough look at the Bush presidency and the trend toward faith-based decision-making over analytical decision-making. Its really rather freightening. Keep in mind, Suskind is not a partisan hack. He was the senior national-affairs reporter for The Wall Street Journal from 1993 to 2000. Despite the White House's demonization of him following his co-authoring of the Paul O'Neill book last year. He is a straight shooting journalist.