Does President Bush live in a fantasy world?

Watching the Daily Show last night brought into focus many of my own thoughts.

George W. Bush really believes he was chosen by God to lead the free world, yet his actions come closer to a man chosen by that guy from Hades. Dubya thinks it's okay to send a man like Bolton to the UN while most right-thinking (and by right, I mean correct) people think that is tantamount to sending a bull into a china shop. He thinks one of the reasons he was elected was to help the wealthy become richer, even though those actions tend to make the poor worse off. George thinks all those embryonic stem cells that are discarded by fertility clinics will somehow grow up to be adorable little Republicans while the vast majority of people who live in the real world believe the world would be better served if those cells could be used for research. Dubya thinks the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Iraq should be put on the line just so he could fulfill his dream of being the war President his father never was. The problem with Bush's fantasy world is the hurt it puts on those of us who live in the real world.

If there were one thing you could say about Bush that might be construed as a positive spin, it would be his loyalty to friends. The man was so sure no one in his administration would be caught while telling the world about Valerie Plame that he swore to fire anyone involved. However, once it became clear Karl Rove was involved, Bush backed down on his pledge. Score one for friendship over national security. Bush is against drug abuse yet after his friend, Rafael Palmeiro, was suspended from baseball for steroid use, Bush came to his defense and said he believed Palmeiro when he testified that he didn't use steroids even though blood tests reveal he did (and Palmeiro's contention that he didn't intentionally take steroids flies with me as much as my kids saying he didn't know the dog would eat his dinner when he put his plate on the floor under the table).

In the real world, I would turn in my best friend if his or her actions could get someone else killed. In the real world, I know pollution is bad for the world, I know cutting down too many trees is bad for our environment, and I know Laura Bush doesn't really watch "Desperate Housewives".

The sad part isn't that Bush is so out of touch with reality; the sad part is that so many Americans follow his line of thinking as if it were scripture.