President Bush might one day make a robot version of himself, and then install that version as Resident Pharoah of the United States
Joshua Marshall of Talking Points Memo watched the CBS 60 Minutes interview of George Bush, televised Sunday, January 14, 2007, in which the President uttered the following:
"Our administration took care of a source of instability in Iraq. Envision a world in which Saddam Hussein was rushing for a nuclear weapon to compete against Iran."
Hmmm...this is odd thinking, and it made an impression on Marshall here. Joshua posts an additional piece on this theme here, where Marshall quotes TPM reader BS's comment vis a vis Bush's reasoning:
That the President is being less than forthcoming on an issue of national security is hardly anything new. What worries me is setting out a doctrine that pre-emptive strikes are not only justified by an actual gathering threat but by hypothetical futuristic scenarios which have no bearing in the present reality. You can’t invade a country without a nuclear program to stop them from maybe one day changing their mind about it any more than you can shoot an unarmed man because he might one day buy a gun. Didn’t Bush ever read that Bible he likes to invoke so much? Remember Exodus, where mean old Pharoah starts killing all Hebrew newborn males to decimate the population? To quote:
“Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war, they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.” (Exodus 1:8)
By Bush’s new logic, Pharoah would have been completely justified in his genocide - yeah the Hebrews weren’t rising up but “imagine a world” in which they did. In fact, by this logic a nation can justify invading ANY country at ANY time and even commit widespread atrocities against civilians. Saddam could have invaded Kuwait because they might one day get nuclear weapons. Russia could have invaded Afghanistan because they might one day get nuclear weapons. Hell, Hitler could have invaded Poland because pigs might fly and Polish scientists invent some kind of super duper laser beam that makes them an armed superpower. Or he could have just killed all the Jews using the same rationale for pre-emptive action that Pharoah (and our President) endorsed.
Ah, it all makes sense: Bush is Pharoah. Or, to follow his logic, he could one day decide to become Pharoah. Perhaps we should embalm him now, as someday he might decide to become a mummy.
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