That may seem self-evident, or childish, but words have meaning.
When we grasp at all of the adjectives that can describe what's going on in the leadership of this country, Apple's Steve Jobs has shown us that sometimes, we have to get back to the basics.
More on the flip.
Tomorrow, Apple will hold its yearly MacWorld San Francisco conference, with Steve Jobs likely introducing some new gew gaw that we all must have. Now.
At the risk of pissing off many platform partisans, I think one of his statements is instructive for our purposes here. Jobs is famous for his ascerbic criticism, even though he recognizes and encourages breakthrough products and new ways of approaching old habits. Jobs was quoted in the movie Triumph of the Nerds,
The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste, and what that means is - I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way. In the sense that they they don't think of original ideas and they don't bring much culture into their product ehm and you say why is that important - well you know proportionally spaced fonts come from type setting and beautiful books, that's where one gets the idea - if it weren't for the Mac they would never have that in their products and ehm so I guess I am saddened, not by Microsoft's success - I have no problem with their success, they've earned their success for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third rate products.
Which brings me back to "Republicans are mean and stupid." And I don't mean that in a small way. I mean that in a big way. It's a fundamental way of thinking, and approaching the world. And they make really third rate policy decisions.
A new article in Foreign Policy came out just recently which tackles the behavioral underpinnings of their policy. In republicans/hawks of the current stripe, there are decision-making biases (which all of us have) that favor conflict over resolution. They have difficulty properly analyzing the behavior of others, and have difficulty seeing how they themselves might be perceived.
Not only is this problematic in assessing a situation, hawkish prophecy can be self-fulfilling by pushing others to dangerous positions in response to inappropriately hostile engagement.
Couple this inability to see yourself and others with what the article terms "careless optimism," that has little regard for what a realistic look at outcomes might be, and you've got a dangerously dysfunctional team running the show.
And it looks like Bush has dismissed or peeled off some of the remaining realists in both the civilian and military spheres, and we're left with the borderline sociopathic core.
Frightening. Bush's team he's assembled are mean, and stupid. And I don't mean that in a small way.
I mean that in a big way.