Slog - Comments on George Bush = Drunk Rat? http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat Slog tipper Josh detects a series of digs directed at George W. Bush in Paul Steinberg's op-ed in today's New York Times. The op-ed is about the long-term impact of binge drinking on rats and the possible implications for human binge-drinkers, current or long-since reformed. And Steinberg's piece, writes Josh, uses several phrases that--well, let's just go to the source. But first here's the experiment... When put into a tub of water and forced to continue swimming until they find a platform on which to stand, the sober former binge-drinking rats and the normal control rats (who had never... Copyright 2008 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:20:14 -0800 Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:40:09 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Jim Demetre I'd say his bike-riding, etc. is just a physical manifestation of "became confused and kept circling." As far as his workout routines with Condi are concerned (she is said to kneel down on his feet when he does sit-ups) I will not speculate.

]]> Jim Demetre http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885055 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885055 Media Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:34:50 -0800 Comment by Fifty-Two-Eighty So what they're saying is that there's no point in quitting drinking, since you're still going to have a booze-addled brain anyway? Hoo boy, pass that bottle!

]]> Fifty-Two-Eighty http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885057 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885057 Media Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:47:12 -0800 Comment by Karla #1 - Condi is lez

You have a dirty mind

]]> Karla http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885063 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885063 Media Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:07:48 -0800 Comment by Essex no mention of protracted coke use

and with his money - beaucoup

]]> Essex http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885064 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885064 Media Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:08:59 -0800 Comment by thehawke this of course, supposes that bush is a former drinker.

]]> thehawke http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885070 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885070 Media Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:33:56 -0800 Comment by drinker Or also what kind of drinker was he.
Was he a fun drinker to be with. Was he smartly witty or did he just steal peoples jokes.
did he try to out talk everybody at the bar, or was he reserved.
Did he mingle with the crowd or did he sit back in a dark corner contimplating his moments.
Did he throw up and say "I'll never drink like that again"
or was he the one who laughed at the guy who did that and say" Ha Ha, you were soooooooo drunk last night, here want another to get rid of that hangover?
Being the president of the United States , I don't think he gives a rats ass. oops.

]]> drinker http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885071 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885071 Media Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:45:56 -0800 Comment by JerseyJew I wonder how many abortions Bush has forced Condi to have? Oh, what a tragedy, not Condi’s abortions, but our middle east policies. Bush is a believer, that is for sure, but he did not write the policy papers” Plan for the New American Century,” or “Securing the Realm.” These two articles are the blue print for what is happening now. Who is to say everything is not happening as it is suppose to? This war is not over, and the Muslim world is not destroyed and laying prostrate at America’s and Israel’s feet. Bush is not a booze addled rat, he is a man with a plan that is unfolding as it should.

]]> JerseyJew http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885086 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885086 Media Sat, 29 Dec 2007 23:38:55 -0800 Comment by patrick Right on JerseyJew.

Who says Bush is incapable of changing his mind? Only people that think he should.

He is doing exactly what he set out to do and its not because he is or isn't an alkie, but because he is an asshole.

]]> patrick http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885088 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885088 Media Sat, 29 Dec 2007 23:51:04 -0800 Comment by M'thew "Old" news.
See:
http://www.counterpunch.org/wormer1011.html

]]> M'thew http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885101 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885101 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 03:06:38 -0800 Comment by Merlin There is much to hate about Bush, but using a cultish term like "dry drunk" is not helpful. If he really has stopped drinking then he is as legitimally sober as someone who goes to 12 step meetings every day. Stopping use of a substance is all one needs to do to be considered sober. Duh.
Please note I am not defending anything about Bush or his actions. Just pointing out that not using is the only step required to become fully sober. Since when is a disease treated by attending meetings?

]]> Merlin http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885111 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885111 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:56:07 -0800 Comment by Irena "Since when is a disease treated by attending meetings?"

@10, that statement is either disingenuous or extremely naive. Some alcoholics can quit on their own. Many, many more have found the support of a twelve-step program was the only thing powerful enough to help them save their own lives (my father, for one).

Quitting booze is one thing; staying off it is another. It's not nearly as simple, for most people, as you make it sound.

]]> Irena http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885122 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885122 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:47:05 -0800 Comment by W It wasn't me that wanted to invade Iraq, it was the it was the booze a talkin'!

]]> W http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885126 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885126 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 09:02:21 -0800 Comment by catalina vel-duray Bush is a tool. Like Reagan, but without the polish. A true lowest common denominator president that only the GOP could create, and only a Republican could vote for - which is why they had to steal the election. The real power is behind the throne.

I think history will show him as a pitiful character: A failure in everything he ever attempted, cursed by his families wealth, unable to rise above it and create a legacy of good for himself, as so many of the Kennedys have been able to do.

Bush is the ultimate example of the destructive force of inherited wealth. If that was suddenly taken away, he couldn't get a Job selling refrigerators at Sears. Or if he could, he wouldn't be able to keep it.

It's really the stuff of opera, when you think about it.

]]> catalina vel-duray http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885127 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885127 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 09:02:44 -0800 Comment by raindrop Just one more year to go of inane extrapolations like this to bash George W. Bush. He's a lame duck, get over it! It's getting boring.

]]> raindrop http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885137 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885137 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 09:22:32 -0800 Comment by Merlin @#11 I do not even believe it is a disease. Medical Experts are by no means in agreement about the disease theory. It is a choice. People drink because of the pleasure they get from drinking.

The rate of success for abstaining from booze is the same for AA as it is for stopping by yourself. About 5-10% are still sober after a year.

The 12 step approach is really about faith healing. It is a religion that teaches the false doctrine that we are powerless over addictions. We are not powerless. We need not "turn over" anything. Least of all our own confidence that we can learn to stop self destructive behavior on our own.

]]> Merlin http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885139 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885139 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 09:29:48 -0800 Comment by patrick Merlin sounds like someone that went to 12-step meetings until he figured out how to stop drinking...then when no one would have sex with him he stopped attending meetings and decided they were all a bunch of evangelical bastards.

That's ok. It's not mandatory. If it works, great...if something else works better, (your version sounds like Ayn Rand Anonymous) then do that.

Whatever it takes.

]]> patrick http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885144 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885144 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:03:36 -0800 Comment by Merlin I never attended even one meeting my entire life. I drank like a fish for almost a decade. A few years I ago a made a plan and decided to never drink again for the rest of my life. Therefore the label "alcoholic" no longer applies to me. I am now a teatottler. Thats what I put on insurance forms, medical papers and legal documents.
The sick behaviour stopped when the drinking stopped. I have no need to talk about it all for the rest of my life in meetings. If meetings work for people then go for it. 12 steps are not the only game in town

]]> Merlin http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885145 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885145 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:17:45 -0800 Comment by SDA in SEA Personally, I loathe AA's general philosophy. The disease philosophy. You're powerless; quasi-religious overtones. It all sounds like such bullshit to me.

But you know what? It works for a lot of people. I may think it's crap, but the statistics back them up. I may not buy their philosophy, but I'm completely pragmatic. If it works as well or better than anything else, which statistically it does, then more power to them.

]]> SDA in SEA http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885159 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885159 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 12:06:21 -0800 Comment by thehawke Hey, AA saved my life and was there when I needed it. I no longer need it and can, indeed, enjoy a couple drinks without the urge to get shitfaced. In AA, that's called a relapse. I call it being able to drink normally.

For me, it's all in the motive associated with the drinking. Before, I drank to forget horrendous abuse suffered as a child. Once I dealt with that, I no longer needed the crutch of alcohol to get thru life.

Now I drink because I happen to like the taste of a good tequila. But I usually stop at no more than 3 because I no longer enjoy getting (or need to get) shitfaced.

]]> thehawke http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885167 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885167 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 12:55:43 -0800 Comment by M'thew The article (and the link I posted) really were not about AA and/or the 12-step method. They're about the long-term damage that a human brain suffers because of addiction to alcohol, and how it purportedly shows in W. Just to be on the safe side, even if the jury is still out on the phenomenon of 'dry drunk', I'd rather not see someone with a past like that in a powerful position like W occupies just now.

]]> M'thew http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885168 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885168 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 13:31:19 -0800 Comment by googler Check out the op-ed author's own website where he brags about his Bush-bashing article:

http://www.paulsteinbergmd.com/

Cheap journalism and really not very funny - pretty juvenile actually, masquerading as something else in "code". Did everyone figure it out and that is why the Times liberal readership made it the Number 1 emailed story in the last 24 hrs?

I agree with the comments that the exercise fanatic that W is, is not really reconciled very well.

]]> googler http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885232 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885232 Media Sun, 30 Dec 2007 18:06:00 -0800 Comment by max solomon Todd Snider's "You Got Away With It (A Tale Of Two Fraternity Brothers)"

The tale of two brothers...a memoir
Remember that kid we beat up back in college
Me, you, and Thompson out in front of the frat
And that hippie went home crying to his parents
I can't believe you got us out of that
How sweet was that
God we were drunk
Drove around all night after it with that keg in the trunk
And when the cop pulled us over
You talked us out of that, too

You got away with it
You got away
You get away with
The things that you say

I had to quit partying about a year and a half after you did
I don't regret it though, I think it was fun
Besides, it was the 70's
We were a couple of rich kids
And aside from that one hippie
We never really hurt anyone
Well, there's that other thing that I won't even say
As God as my witness I'll take that to my grave
Cause that was an accident
And you did what you had to do

You got away with it
You got away
You get away with
The things that you say
I worry forever
Never for you
You'll get away with it
You always do

You never did tell me what happened with you and your brother down there in Florida
I heard they gave you a hell of a time
Everybody around here was afraid you might lose
I told them not to worry cause I knew you'd be fine
Had me out here to Camp David a few times over the years
I think the first time we were teenagers sneakin' beers
Look at you now you old son of a bitch
You got the run of this place
Unbelievable

You got away with it
You got away
You got away with
The things that you say
I worry forever
Never for you
You'll get away with it
You always do
You'll get away with
This new thing too

]]> max solomon http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885368 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/george_bush_drunk_rat#c885368 Media Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:40:09 -0800