Gentlemen, please!

Okay, here's a take on George Bush that I dont think I've ever seen anywhere, and will perhaps go a ways to explain his behavior: George Bush is Not A Gentleman.

It sounds old fashioned doesnt it? And maybe it really is. John Wayne was a Gentleman, at least on Film. Thomas Jefferson was a Gentleman. Mark Twain tried to be, but was just too bitter in the end.
Modern Gentlemen? Robert Redford perhaps. Paul Newman for sure. Tom Selleck Qualifies. People who have achieved wealth and position and then use that wealth and position to help others

A Gentleman is a person of wealth and means who places the greater good above his own personal good. He is willing to risk personal cost to do the Right Thing. This is not to say that he gives all his wealth to the poor, or that he sacrifices his life for a noble cause (though he could if he wanted to), or that he even stops making money. It means that he recognises that the Greater Good leads to His Own Good, and that because he is in a position of wealth and power, he owes a debt to those less fortunate. This is a foriegn idea to many Republicans, oddly enough, considering the number of so-called Christians.
A Gentleman does not start fights; he tries, in fact, to avoid them if at all possible. But if he is required to fight (if attacked, or if rescuing the requisite women or children), then he will. Pre-emptive strategies will be tried first, which might include calm requests, reasoned persuassion, cautious vigilance, or sincere threats, but never ever pre-emptive strikes (Think Jedi.) If finally forced to act however, a Gentleman will not hesitate to fight and to do what is required to competently and confidently stop his opponent. (Think Bugs Bunny)

The Bush Administration is sadly short of these Gentlemanly Attributes. Tax breaks for the wealthiest few, an unprovoked invasion of a soveriegn country on false pretenses, the gutting of social and environmental programs, the destruction of public safety nets to feed a paranoid "security" organization, the enrichment of private companies at taxpayer expense, the encroachment of civil liberties, and the torturing of prisoners (often held without charge or trial). At best, Dubya is a Twisted Idealist (a terrible opponent), at worst he is a Corporate Thug.

BushCo operates without consideration for anything other than the generation of wealth and priviledge; all policy (except a few things based on apocolyptic christianity) are based on money, and money only. Not compassion, not enrichment, not even common sense. In the Bush Administration, the dominant philosophy is that of the marketplace. Gentlemanly behavior, however desireable a trait it may be, loses out to naked profit. There is no profit to gentlemanlyness, or rather, none that can be shown on a quarterly balance sheet. When a company, or a country, are run by accountants, they might be profitable, at least on paper, but they are rarely successful.

Time Gentlemen! It is time, for a Gentleman please.