Bush's comment is not that bizarre a thing to say, considering his upbringing -- which is to say, considering the upbringing of perhaps a majority of Americans today.

Americans of a certain age were raised to value their own feelings, desires, and ambitions before anything else; they were raised, in short, to be the Me Generation. Bush was not the first Me Generation President, and is far from the only Me Generation member prominent in national politics today. Of course he would remember most vividly a moment that saw himself in the public spotlight, a moment in which a mistake would have led to personal embarrassment -- a consequence far weightier in the world of the Me Generation than a disaster befalling people hundreds of miles away.

A lot of Americans today would prefer to think of George Bush's Presidency, and specifically of George Bush's personal conduct as President, as an aberration, something that just happened to us. It wasn't, and it matters that we understand why it wasn't. You don't win tens of millions of votes, and Electoral College majorities in two successive Presidential elections, if you don't reflect something essential about your constituency.

I remain AMAZE, yeah, ASTOUNDED at President Bush's incredible talent to metaphorically shove a dick into his mouth every time he opens it.

And America asks our departing disaster-in-chief:

Was it good for you too?

And yet this is the guy Linda Wertheimer tried to convince us this morning on NPR if we only got to know him, we'd love him. Puppy dog dumb is not loveable in human beings, especially ones who can get people killed.

We've always known he's totally self-centered and and sees everything in terms of how it affects him personally. I've often wondered whether it's something that's hard-wired into Republicans (or, that people hard-wired this way tend to become Republicans) because I know several people who act and think the same way and all of them are Repubs.

I think the reason the possibility of fumbling the ball resonated more than any of the bigger calamities is that the humiliation would have been watched, in real time, by thousands and he's very proud of his physical prowess. Being a fool in the eyes of the world affects him less because a) it's less immediate and/or b) he doesn't believe it's possible.

PS Don't I also remember him saying somewhere that the best moment of his presidency was when he landed a particularly big trout? Nothing to do with the country or the world, nothing to do with governing... His own, *personal* pleasures and achievements come first, always.

I'm sure in the unoiled hamster wheel that passes for his brain, Bush added 'which was not an epic and catastropic failure' to the original question.

Well - of course - this was the moment he looks back on as the only time he faced the pressures of being President. It's probably the only time in the last eight years when he had to do something all by himself, rather than hand off the job to Cheney and go watch some cartoons.

That's real pressure, man. Furthermore it was baseball. Far more important in Bush's mind than all that Prezidenting shit. And you've got to love the way he fantisises that all those fans were there to watch him and didn't - want - him to screw up.

George W. Bush's two terms haven't been successful, but they have been eventful.

They've been extremely successful. Disastrous, yes. But successful. They did what they set out to do. They broke what they set out to break. They diminished what they set out to diminish. And they enriched those they set out to enrich.

If you don't consider Bush's terms successful, that's because they weren't for you.

I rather suspect he was simply being more honest than your average politician. Otherwise, I am with Zathras here.

He's just a sociopath, that's all.

It's 60 feet 6 inches, not 60 feet.

Next high pressure moment?

"Where's that carpet gonna go"?

not when he was told about what had happened at Abu Ghraib

This did not come as a surprise to him. He approved the interrogation tactics and methods utilized in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. The tactics and abuses were approved at the highest levels and were not the result of decisions made by a few "bad apples" the lowest rank in the military.

Every generation has its share of "me". Narcissists are laced throughout history. Sometimes that self absorption is a good thing (Montaigne, Newton, van Gogh) but generally it isn't.

Bush is the boy who never grew up.

Bush once bragged about not losing sleep worrying about the war. Clearly he is a man that can send people to their deaths without batting an eye. We got a glimpse of this despicable trait when he made fun of Carla Faye Tucker shortly she was executed. Compare his attitude to Eisenhower's agonizing the night before D-Day or LBJ's losing sleep over the deaths in Vietnam. The man lacks normal human empathy, a hallmark of narcissitic character disorder.

The American history classroom cliché, that mediocre -- or worse -- presidents seek the office because they want to be someone, and good -- or great -- presidents seek the office because they want to do something, comes to mind.

Hell, it would humanize the little twisted shit if he wanted to become president to do someone...

When I first read the quote "I never felt that anxious any other time during my presidency, curiously enough" I thought that he was anxious because he was worried about the possibility of a terrorist attack. There was a lot of anxiety in NYC that fall after the attacks on the World Trade Center. There was concern that something unfortunate might happen at World Series and thousands of people might be injured or killed.

But no, that wasn't what he was worried about, he was worried about looking foolish. If he was really worried about looking foolish he would have gone back to the White House and we would not have heard from him again.

T-minus 211 hours, 15 minutes until this fool of a decider rides into the mists of oblivion. I'm buying a whole damned case of good single-malt scotch for the occasion, too -- and shall party like it's 2009!

The Pressure is on…Bush and Company is about to feel the public resonance it created. The American public is cynical, filled accumulated disgust with not only Bush and Company, it took the Mainstream Media, totally embedded in a war with international implications of torture and mercenary funding secrets behind the scenes, did cover up with all intent to deceive the electorate, and work in tandem with the depth, and breath of complicity to sink America into International disgrace waging a war then sending in re-enforcements in the final days to declare a surge and a victory.

All of us who are living through this era can with confidence say that the media, CNN, FOX, and MSNBC delivered America to grief and corruption beyond every ones wildest dreams. Here, right in front of our eyes, with side shows, funny Saturday night live jokes, wild stories on cable, and viewing the worst of the worst, with no spin zones, and the political advice, topped with money tips, talk me down, or a situation room, meet the press, America now has the new, new, corruption in forms of “�trillions of dollars�� are the state of the art in political swindling.

Bush just sold America a seven trillion dollar bridge to nowhere, handing off a barrowed economy that is characterized as the worst recession with over tones as a depression derived through derivatives in estimates where twelve million Americas will eventually loose their homes, and jobs by next year. And Chris Mathews is going to describe Bush’s legacy, Jeb want to be a Senator, please America the grief from this family has gone far enough. For me they all, the whole Bush family, should be band from political service this time forward as minimum for the grievances they are about to receive.

From my own point of view and from the huge collection offered here on this web site the list is endless and after Obama’s inauguration chances are the real horror of the Bush legacy will unfold a mess of deliberate deception fear mongering and inflicted electoral damage that can not be blamed on anyone else. Here, Ladies and gentlemen of America the Bush family leading the Republican Party is the center core problem of what is wrong with America today.

Please understand that there are a lot of Republicans that are good honest types like Ron Paul. Personally I wish Obama would seek Ron Paul out to help get rid of the Federal Reserve and restart the American economy.

After Bush is out of office it will be like wow what a relief…

Yeah, when I first read that the other day I just about lost my lunch. But after a few seconds I realized that's a perfectly predictable answer from this sick, sick man. I agree-he probably was anxious about the pitch because it was in front of thousands of people at the stadium and millions actually watching on TV.

--Bush is also very lucky about his time in history. He knows that he does not have to fear his head on a pike or to be bent over with his head in the slot, looking at a basket, set up for the guillotine...He also knows there will be no trial, no painful consequences at all. He can retire to Texas and golf or whatever for the rest of his life.

NO CONSEQUENCE. He and his party all but destroyed our economy, our military and our relations around the world, but all that happens is this sad recollection on his part. And.. we have to have Sarah Palin inflicted on us whinning why she can't be leader of the free world since we already had a moron in that office and she is at least as moronic as he...

No consequence results in what we are observing. We have to be very very careful that this is not so forgotten, so underweighed, that these jokers get to do it again.

Even now our tendency is to run Obama over the coals to be sure that his plan had better be perfect to clean up the mess. All the while letting Caligula walk away reminiscing about pitching balls...

Go figure

I wish I could feel an ounce of pity for this man, but all I feel is contempt. Perhaps some people could say that what he said was an "American" way of looking at things, but I doubt that. Anyone who only worries when he has to throw a ball, is someone who should never have been President to begin with. But then, we all know that for sure, don't we?

Once a narcissist, always a narcissist.

Bush has always been about himself and no one else. He has his staunch principles, never changes his mind, and makes no mistakes, or certainly admits to none. Whatever goes wrong is someone else's fault. It's a great way to get through life as long as there's always someone to clean up the elephant dung behind you.

His baseball answer reveals everything that was wrong with his presidency, and no less what his real values are. He's still a fratboy jock who worries what his buddies will say about him in the locker room.

Pardon me. I have to go and retch.

What is weird to me is that four years ago, this thread would have been crawling with wingnuts screaming about "Bush Derangement Syndrome." No more. There are no Bush defenders left.

Perhaps the reason that Bush was unconcerned about Anthrax because he had been taking Cipro as a precaution against an Anthrax attack for several weeks.
see-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20011023/aponline201158_000.htm

and

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27888

The damage he caused isn't big enough? The deaths aren't numerous enough? The misery's not widespread enough? Now he has to ruin baseball, too?

I'd like to apply some deep shrinkage on Bush but seems to me his greatest flaw is that he's pathetically immature. As was most of his posse'. To be that devious requires some amount of savvy, which George Bush ain't got. And wouldn't want. All that cowboy posturing was exactly what it appeared to be. He thinks no further than the fence in front of him. And of a good plate of grub before he kicks off the boots.

Just one more bit of evidence that shows what a small, soulless, and insignificant man he is.

How the f*ck did this clown get TWO Ivy League degrees?

Gym Rat,

Only because of his name. If he were my legacy, I would be ashamed. Babs is proud and Poppy is oblivious. Explains a lot.

One thing you can be bloody happy about, your new man Obama is not going to listen to Ron Paul or do something so bloody insane as get rid of your Central Bank because of some mystical belief in a commodity.

It's not surprising to me. The man is an absolute narcissist. I believe he has narcissistic personality disorder and is unable to actually perceive other people as separate from himself. His conversations with maimed and wounded soldiers, in which he compares the scratches he received while clearing brush to their wounds, reveal that attitude.

Frankly, I'm shocked at Junior's answer. I thought that he'd say it was the time he caught that seven and a....well, here we go remember this, from May of 2006

Q Three last very short questions. What was the most wonderful moment in your terms of being President so far, and what was the most awful moment?

THE PRESIDENT: The most awful moment was September the 11th, 2001.
Q The famous picture when somebody gave you the information?

THE PRESIDENT:Yes, that. I think, like all of us, it took a while for the -- it was more than a moment....

[...]

The best moment was -- you know, I've had a lot of great moments. I don't know, it's hard to characterize the great moments. They've all been busy moments, by the way. I would say the best moment was when I caught a seven-and-a-half pound large mouth bass on my lake. (Laughter.)

Y'all think this is so bizarre, wait until the next Republican gets into the White House. To Republicans, throwing out the first pitch at the World Series is the President's job; Republicans see the President as the PR man in chief, like a corporate CEO, a figurehead who represents the government while the real work is done by underlings who are seldomn seen. I've talked to many a conservative who sees no problem with this. One reason they hated Clinton so much is because he felt the President should take an active role in governing; conservatives are preparing to jump all over Obama for the same reason.

Amazingly limited man. Makes you wonder about how he got a his Harvard MBA. Makes you wonder about the Harvard MBA.

Nine more days.

I think there's a little more going on here in Shrub's anecdote than he mentioned. Reading it reminded me of a chapter in Richard Ben Cramer's What It Takes about H.W.'s failed first pitch at some baseball game back in the mid-80s and what a humiliation it was. I'm wondering if Shrub may have been stressing more about outdoing Daddy than in disappointing the fans in attendance.

he said that in people magazine, huh?
perfect!
absolutely the perfect answer for people magazine.
actually, bush is absolutely the perfect preznut for people magazine.
(and i'd like to see him get a lifetime subscription delivered weekly to his cell.)

Ahh, People, where I got for my latest Bush stresses and Palin family birth news because the MSM won't cover either one of them.

Like I said before: he made the drains run on time. Up at 6 am every day.

Anyone from the media that repeats the "nice, misunderstood compassionate guy" narrative is to be ridiculed and shunned.
There were serious crimes--from the strange anthrax attack with weirdly off-the-wall scapegoats to torture and murder by regulatory malfeasance. He executed the mentally retarded--he gets no pass on prosecution for being a "Gosh-golly-gee-whiz" stupid. Narcissists of this magnitude do real harm--from serial killings to Ponzi schemes.

I'm wondering if Shrub may have been stressing more about outdoing Daddy than in disappointing the fans in attendance.

Funny he didn't view jetting down to a carrier in flight suit (a'la Tom Cruise) with a perfectly fraudulent sign behind him more embarrassing than fucking up a pitch.

As to that pitch, mentally, Shrub has, always, been "just a little bit outside". But, he was very effective at throwing brushbacks to our Constitution.