He Likes It

by digby

From his childhood pastime of blowing up frogs to his time as Governor of Texas signing death warrants, George W. Bush showed a penchant for bloodthirstiness. It continued throughout his presidential years:

Bob Woodward reports [in his new book] that Casey, the president’s commanding general in Iraq from 2004 to 2007, came to believe that Bush did not understand the nature of the Iraq war, that the president focused too much on body counts as a measure of progress.

“Casey had long concluded that one big problem with the war was the president himself,” Woodward writes. “He later told a colleague in private that he had the impression that Bush reflected the ‘radical wing of the Republican Party that kept saying, “Kill the bastards! Kill the bastards! And you’ll succeed.” ‘ “

Asked about his interest in body counts, Bush told Woodward: “I asked that on occasion to find out whether or not we’re fighting back. Because the perception is that our guys are dying and they’re not. Because we don’t put out numbers. We don’t have a tally. On the other hand, if I’m sitting here watching the casualties come in, I’d at least like to know whether or not our soldiers are fighting.”

He’s always been bloodthirsty. He signed nearly 160 death warrants in Texas without blinking an eye or expressing the slightest moral qualms at the possibility that any of them might have been innocent. He liked to cross off the names of dead terrorists on a list he kept in his desk. He likes violence.

So, does John McCain. So does Sarah Palin. (She even supports aerial wolf hunting, one of the most despicable hunting practices ever devised.) It’s a defining characteristic of modern conservatism. And it’s killing all of us.

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