The moral low ground

Matt Frei of BBC News interviewed George Bush this week, and he found the resident of the White House oddly ebullient for someone whose approval ratings continue to hover around 30 percent. Frei wrote:

Mr Bush seems blissfully undaunted by his abysmal opinion poll ratings at home and abroad.

He feels uncowed by the oceanic gulf between his rhetoric about unity and such and the rather vexing reality on the ground.

So Mr Bush soldiers on, trying to secure a legacy for himself - although some might call it mere damage limitation.

The questioner and the questioned seemed hardly on the same planet, Frei serious and probing, Bush casual and dismissive. Particularly when they talked about torture:

Frei: The Senate yesterday passed a bill outlawing water-boarding. You, I believe, have said that you will veto that bill.

Mr Bush: That's not -

Frei: Does that not send the wrong signal...

Mr Bush: No, look... that's not the reason I'm vetoing the bill. The reason I'm vetoing the bill - first of all, we have said that whatever we do... will be legal.

Bush's confusion is total. Though he avoids answering whether his veto sends the wrong signal, he says that he's vetoing a bill outlawing waterboarding because whatever he does (including, implicitly, waterboarding) will be legal. In fact, if water torture—as the Spanish Inquisition called it—is legal, it can only be legal insofar as Bush has rejected a bill making it illegal. Of course, it remains illegal as the result of other laws that remain in force, but Bush prefers to ignore them.

Frei: But, given Guantanamo Bay, given also Abu Ghraib, given renditions, does this not send the wrong signal to the world?

Mr Bush: It should send a signal that America is going to respect law.… And I'm comfortable with the decisions we've made.  And I'm comfortable with recognising this is still a dangerous world.

Frei: Can you honestly say, Mr President, that today America still occupies the moral high ground?

Mr Bush: Absolutely - absolutely. We believe in human rights and human dignity. We believe in the human condition. We believe in freedom. And we're willing to take the lead.

Tellingly, as the BBC video makes clear, during this last speech Bush is shaking his head vigorously from side to side. That is, he is sending a strong signal that commonly indicates negation, that no one should believe a word he is saying. "The moral high ground? Absolutely (not). We believe in human rights and human dignity (not). We believe in the human condition (not). We believe in freedom (not). And we're willing to take the lead (not)."

Some of George Bush's signals are unmistakable.