A madman at the helm of the ship of state?

Is the White House spin machine losing control of its toy president? It's funny. I've been thinking for the last few days that he's gone all rogue on them, deciding that he's "The President" dammit and he'll do whatever he damn well pleases.

There are clues to be found to support this theory. First off, his intractable position on Iraq. The "unnamed sources" are lining up in droves to buffer the public for the truth ahead. They say Iraq is lost, we can't fix it and we're going to have to hightail it out of there and leave the whole bloody mess behind.

Bush gets on the radio and says Iraq is great, we're fixing it, we're bringing freedom on 300 billion dollar platter and we have to "stay the course." Of course he doesn't have a clue on how to do that - hell he can barely manage to stay upright on his bicycle.

Which brings us to the next point - his bizarre remarks on meeting with Cindy Sheehan. Putting aside what a PR disaster this has been from the beginning, one would think that if his misbegotten strategy was to ignore her, he should continue to do so rather than make remarks like this.

"I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life."

This said just prior to a two hour bike ride with the press corps and within the context of his "heavy" schedule.

Bush's Saturday schedule included an evening Little League Baseball playoff game, a lunch meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a nap, some fishing and some reading. "I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy," he said when asked about bike riding while a grieving mom wanted to speak with him. "And part of my being is to be outside exercising."

Doesn't he realize how arrogant that sounds? Doesn't he get, that the people who are waiting to speak with him would have loved their formerly healthy soldiers to have any life - balanced or not? These people have lost their family and their peace of mind over those "good crisp decisions" he made to start a bloody pre-emptive war. You get the sense from these remarks that he just doesn't make the connection. They're so ill-advised, I have to think he made them up himself.

It reminds me of how he was behaving right before the elections. It suggests he's back on prescription drugs and believe me, I know how people on drugs behave. But you don't have to take my word for it. Capital Hill Blue has the proof.

Buy beleaguered, overworked White House aides enough drinks and they tell a sordid tale of an administration under siege, beset by bitter staff infighting and led by a man whose mood swings suggest paranoia bordering on schizophrenia.

They describe a President whose public persona masks an angry, obscenity-spouting man who berates staff, unleashes tirades against those who disagree with him and ends meetings in the Oval Office with “get out of here!”

In fact, George W. Bush’s mood swings have become so drastic that White House emails often contain “weather reports” to warn of the President’s demeanor. “Calm seas” means Bush is calm while “tornado alert” is a warning that he is pissed at the world.

...“There’s real concern in the West Wing that the President is losing it,” a high-level aide told me recently.

Small wonder. He doesn't do well when he's not popular and his Brain is preoccupied with his own troubles. It doesn't bode well for this country. We have Captain Bligh running the ship, when what we need is Fletcher Christian.