Bush - Too Bad to be True syndrome?

[NewJeffCT]

Interesting article in this week's Hartford (CT) Advocate. No, it is no relation to the gay newspaper, The Advocate.

But, columnist Alan Bisport writes that the reason Bush has not dropped precipitously in the polls despite doing so many terrible things is that nobody really believes that a president could really be so bad – the Too Bad to be True syndrome. His example was Bush gutting 30 years of bipartisan environmental advances. Most Americans care about the environment and cannot imagine somebody would do something that evil.

The article is not posted on the website yet. His latest article is from last week.

http://www.hartfordadvocate.com

[jean]

1. not only that but it's too frightening for lots of people to believe or

even hear how evil and incompetent this crowd is.

I have friends who just don't want to hear about any of this stuff - they've said (paraphrase) 'I want to have faith in my government and it's too upsetting and scary not to.' They keep their heads in the sand.

[Wickerman]

2. ain't it grand, the same folks said the same when Clinton

was "exposed". "You just don't want to know had bad your President is, keep your head in the sand!"

Bullshit - Helluva difference 'tween a blowjob and a lie to hide it than a lie that kills tens of thousands so you and your cronies can be war profiterrs.

[jean]

9. these two particular friends are pro Clinton but vulnerable

psychologically.

Both (they don't know each other) are on fairly heavy meds for depression and seem to want to insulate themselves from the truly scary bush realities in order to protect their emotional stability.

[MallRat]

3. Scandal fatigue.

Until INDICTMENTS are handed down to people within the adminstration (and as I've said before, my money's on the Valerie Plame outing), these scandals will just accumulate and collect dust in the deep recesses of the public consciousness.

One of these stories has to break from the pack before people pay attention. And the wrongdoing has to be understandable in easy-to-digest soundbites so that it sticks as a meme. And when I say easy-to-digest, I mean "Clinton blowjob" kinda simple.

-MR

[no_hypocrisy]

4. So, it's checkmate? If all of *'s actions are held out for accountability,

the number is so great and the breadth is so vast that he must be "too bad to be true"?

But on the other hand, if one selects three of the worst, it may not be enough to overcome "The War President"/Security image.

I refuse to accept this as more than a challenge. We will show the skeptics that YES, * IS TOO BAD TO BE TRUE. We have the facts, we have the proof, and we're not going away! We are protecting other citizens from the further destruction of American democracy and we have a duty to keep the message kicked.

[nostamj]

5. the country is suffering from BOOS

Bush Outrage Overload Syndrome

[seabeyond]

6. this is true

i have been feeding a friends bits and pieces, she can only handle so much. she is getting it. i am to the point of calling her stupid and all the others cause they are refusing to learn, look, see and bushies know this, and look what they are getting past you. you are allowing. do we need bush for more years for your people to get it

[RafterMan]

7. Nailed it

That, plus the degree of lying is really outrageous. They might believe he was dismantling the environmental laws if he didn't frequently say he was doing the exact opposite. "He couldn't be telling that big a lie, could he?" is the related question.

[LoZoccolo]

8. For a while I've had this Hunter S. Thompson quote in my mind.

The only hope now, I felt, was the possibility that we'd gone to such excess, with our gig, that nobody in a position to bring the hammer down on us could possibly believe it.

This is from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.