Bush's Erratic Behavior

>From Capitol Hill Blue

Bush Leagues
Bush's Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides
By DOUG THOMPSON
Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue http://www.capitolhillblue.com
June 4, 2004

President George W. Bush's increasingly erratic behavior and wide mood
swings has the
halls of the West Wing buzzing lately as aides privately express growing
concern over
their leader's state of mind.

In meetings with top aides and administration officials, the President goes
from quoting
the Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against the media, Democrats and
others that
he classifies as "enemies of the state."

Worried White House aides paint a portrait of a man on the edge,
increasingly wary of
those who disagree with him and paranoid of a public that no longer trusts
his policies in
Iraq or at home.

"It reminds me of the Nixon days," says a longtime GOP political consultant
with contacts
in the White House. "Everybody is an enemy; everybody is out to get him.
That's the mood
over there."

In interviews with a number of White House staffers who were willing to talk
off the
record, a picture of an administration under siege has emerged, led by a man
who declares
his decisions to be "God's will" and then tells aides to "fuck over" anyone
they consider
to be an opponent of the administration.

"We're at war, there's no doubt about it. What I don't know anymore is just
who the enemy
might be," says one troubled White House aide. "We seem to spend more time
trying to
destroy John Kerry than al Qaeda and our enemies list just keeps growing and
growing."

Aides say the President gets "hung up on minor details," micromanaging to
the extreme
while ignoring the bigger picture. He will spend hours personally reviewing
and approving
every attack ad against his Democratic opponent and then kiss off a meeting
on economic
issues.

"This is what is killing us on Iraq," one aide says. "We lost focus. The
President got
hung up on the weapons of mass destruction and an unproven link to al Qaeda.
We could have
found other justifiable reasons for the war but the President insisted the
focus stay on
those two, tenuous items."

Aides who raise questions quickly find themselves shut out of access to the
President or
other top advisors. Among top officials, Bush's inner circle is shrinking.
Secretary of
State Colin Powell has fallen out of favor because of his growing doubts
about the
administration's war against Iraq.

The President's abrupt dismissal of CIA Directory George Tenet Wednesday
night is, aides
say, an example of how he works.

"Tenet wanted to quit last year but the President got his back up and
wouldn't hear of
it," says an aide. "That would have been the opportune time to make a
change, not in the
middle of an election campaign but when the director challenged the
President during the
meeting Wednesday, the President cut him off by saying "that's it George. I
cannot abide
disloyalty. I want your resignation and I want it now."

Tenet was allowed to resign "voluntarily" and Bush informed his shocked
staff of the
decision Thursday morning. One aide says the President actually described
the decision as
"God's will."

God may also be the reason Attorney General John Ashcroft, the
administration's lightning
rod because of his questionable actions that critics argue threatens
freedoms granted by
the Constitution, remains part of the power elite. West Wing staffers call
Bush and
Ashcroft "the Blues Brothers" because "they're on a mission from God."

"The Attorney General is tight with the President because of religion," says
one aide.
"They both believe any action is justifiable in the name of God."

But the President who says he rules at the behest of God can also
tongue-lash those he
perceives as disloyal, calling them "fucking assholes" in front of other
staff, berating
one cabinet official in front of others and labeling anyone who disagrees
with him
"unpatriotic" or "anti-American."

"The mood here is that we're under siege, there's no doubt about it," says
one troubled
aide who admits he is looking for work elsewhere. "In this administration,
you don't have
to wear a turban or speak Farsi to be an enemy of the United States. All you
have to do is
disagree with the President."

The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the record.