I Cogitate

Talk about the hollow man. Having certain military service records mysteriously disappear, along with those involving various scrapes with law and, of course, classifying everything but the used White House toilet paper as top secret while as president, have allowed George W. Bush's handlers to re-invent this vainglorious coward as someone unrecognizeable, even to himself in those few moments of reality he cannot self-suppress. He possesses none of the qualities or traits of an actual leader -- that's why getting him into the most powerful position was absolutely critical. The trappings the office supplied were necessary to fill what was so absent from the person. There was and will be no need to respect anything about or from George W. Bush, the person -- he was and will be a bad and sad joke and no one to pay the least attention to about anything. But, ah the presidency, it provided what he lacked the whole life -- reverence and deference. George W. Bush is the person who never was or will be.

Now comes another Dubya personal fabrication, this time supplied by author Craig Unger.

<>How George Bush really found Jesus
The story Bush tells about how Billy Graham converted him is a fable, concocted during the 2000 presidential campaign. Here's the truth.
Craig Unger
Salon.com

Nov. 08, 2007 | Conventional wisdom has it that George W. Bush became a "born-again" Christian in the summer of 1985, after extended private talks with Reverend Billy Graham. As recounted by Bush himself in "A Charge to Keep: My Journey to the White House," a ghostwritten autobiography prepared for the 2000 presidential campaign, one evening at Walker's Point, the Bush compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, Graham, spiritual confidant to Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan and a close friend of the Bush family, sat down by the fireplace and gave a talk. "I don't remember the exact words," Bush wrote. "It was more the power of his example. The Lord was so clearly reflected in his gentle and loving demeanor."

The next morning, Bush and Graham went for a walk along the rugged Maine shore, past the Boony Wild Pool where Bush had skinny-dipped as a child. "I knew I was in the presence of a great man ..." Bush wrote. "He was like a magnet; I felt drawn to seek something different. He didn't lecture or admonish; he shared warmth and concern. Billy Graham didn't make you feel guilty; he made you feel loved."

"Over the course of that weekend, Reverend Graham planted a mustard seed in my soul, a seed that grew over the next year," he continued. "He led me to the path, and I began walking."

There's just one problem with Bush's account of his conversion experience: it's not true.

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