Do you know why you don't like Bush?

If you are an ardent Bush Basher, which of the reasons below would best explain why you dislike him so?

• He lied to us about Iraq. He's a Texas oilman and we went there to help Halliburton and to take over Iraq's oil supply.
• He's a warmonger - or even a terrorist.
• His policies are designed to help the wealthy and hurt the poor.
• He's against a woman's right to choose and gay marriage.

It's hugely important to understand why "W's" presidency has been such a disaster. If you didn't find the reason you were looking for in this list - congratulations! Many of the reasons listed aren't even true - but the real reason was all over the news today with Scooter Libby's conviction.

Lost? Let me explain.

Those who follow the White House closely know that the real tragedy of his administration isn't his policies per se. It's "W's" arrogance, displayed by a lack of curiosity and questioning. It's his inability to accept/understand different points of view. And it's his inability to change his mind when the facts are shown to be different than he supposed. These inherent traits have led to the disaster in Iraq, the alienation of our allies and lack of action on key issues like global warming.

I remember when "W" came to Southern Oregon for a campaign stop in the 04 election. Barely noticed above all the excitement about the President's visit was that the only people who could attend his rally were those who signed a pledge that they planned on voting for him. It was a sad day for democracy - just like Scooter Libby's conviction in the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson affair.

To recap the affair, "W" was determined to use the State of the Union address preceding the War as the opportunity to sell the American people on the need to invade in order to stop Iraq's ambitious nuclear program. The smoking gun was intelligence indicating Iraq was trying to obtain "yellow cake" uranium. But the only problem was that Wilson investigated this and found the claim wasn't true - and like a good whistleblower - he went public with it.

Apparently under orders from Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, Libby nastily attempted to discredit and intimidate Wilson by insinuating to reporters that Wilson only got the Iraq investigation job because of his wife (Plame) who, by the way, was a covert CIA agent. In other words - anyone who questions the President will pay a severe price - their name will be dragged through the mud and their livelihood will taken away (the CIA doesn't have much use for outed agents).

It's hard to underestimate how important this is. The momentous decision to invade Iraq...the decision that has led to 10,000+ wounded and dead soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi dead...the decision that has severely weakened our world standing while strengthening Al Qaeda and Iran...was made with an arrogance borne of a lack of curiosity, debate or planning. And anyone who tried to speak up was squashed.

That's the real reason to dislike Bush.