Manchurian Bush

If you're gonna be a blogger, you've got to be quick. You can't hesitate in the face of a half baked idea. You've got to run with it and run with it fast. Otherwise, some other blogger (most likely one with better name recognition and more readers) will beat you to the punch.

Such is the case with an idea that occurred to me on the way to work yesterday.

Why, I wondered, does Bush -- at every opportunity --make decisions so completely contrary to America's interests? Why, as I alluded to yesterday, has Bush failed to adequately fund vital national security programs like port protection? Why has he abandoned an incomplete mission in Afghanistan? Why has he degraded America's standing in the world while simultaneously gutting our military capabilities?

The only explanation is that Bush is actually a modern Manchurian Candidate. Matthew Yglesias, writing in Tapped, fleshes out the theory, albeit without the fancy cinematic reference.