friday absurdity

From Crooks and Liars:

The Powerline's Soft Bigotry
The folks at Powerline write:
"It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can't get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile."

Yes, genius indeed:
"If you don't stand for anything, you don't stand for anything! If you don't stand for something, you don't stand for anything!" —George W. Bush, Bellevue Community College, Nov. 2, 2000

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." —George W. Bush, LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

"Reading is the basics for all learning." —George W. Bush, announcing his "Reading First" initiative in Reston, Va., March 28, 2000

And of course, my favorite:
"Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" —George W. Bush, Florence, South Carolina, Jan. 11, 2000

Some might argue that proclamations of Bush's genius may be the result of the
Powerline suffering from the "soft bigotry of low expectations."

---
That had to be a joke, didn't it?!?! "Brilliance approaching to genius"?!?!?!? I mean, i sometimes suspect that he can't possibly be as idiotic as he comes off (though sometimes i believe that he is and is simply a puppet) and it is all some bizarre PR move, but "genius"?!?! Powerline had to write that simply to get people to quote him - what else could it be?