The "Madman Theory" of U.S. foreign "coercive diplomacy" has been U.S. policy for many years now, but it was codified, as Chomsky and others have pointed out in the 1995 study, "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence," written by the Defense Department's Strategic Command.
^^^^^^ CB: (This thread has been officially certified not conspiracy theory)
So, if the Iranians know about "The Madman Theory of U.S. Foreign Policy", since Chomsky told everybody, do the Iranians believe the purposeful leaks that make George Bush out as a Madman, Religious Nut ,or do they think it is the U.S. bluffing under the policy ? Is the policy a bluffing policy ? The George W. Bush administration's leaks about his father's generation's being alienated from his son's war and cowboy approach could be a way of establishing "madman-credibility" for George , the Younger. On the other hand, I guess the main way Bush has established "madman-credibility" is by acting like a madman ,and attacking Iraq.
Child of the fifties me:
CB: The "Madman Theory", games and bluffs remind of Mad magazine's Spy vs Spy cartoon theme in which spy-one knows what spy-two knows, but the spy-two knows that spy-one knows what spy-two knows, and spy-one knows that spy-two knows that spy-one knows what spy two knows.......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAD_Magazine#Spy_vs._Spy
Spy vs. Spy Antonio Prohías's wordless "Spy vs. Spy", the never-ending battle between the iconic Black Spy and White Spy, has lasted longer than the Cold War which inspired it. The strip was a silent parable about the futility of mutually-assured destruction, with various elaborate deathtraps designed in Prohías' thick line. Almost always, these traps would boomerang back on whichever Spy had originally concocted it; there was no pattern or order to which Spy would be killed in which episode. A female "Gray Spy" occasionally appeared, the difference being that she never lost. Although Prohías eventually retired from doing the strip, "Spy vs. Spy" continues in newer hands. (It is currently being drawn by Peter Kuper.) The morse-coded "by Prohias" remains in each strip's title, however, paying tribute to the beloved originator.
CB:And oddly George W Bush sort of favors Alfred E. Newman, the cartoon cover character from Mad mad (See the pictures of Alfred E. Newman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mad30.JPG )
Mad 30 (December 1956), the first issue to prominently feature Norman Mingo's paintings of Alfred E. Neuman on the cover.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Alfred_E._Neumann.jpg
CB: George W. Bush has a sort of "What ? Me Worry ? " air about him , too. Evidently the "Me Worry" kid stereotype is earlier than Alfred. I guess it's just the "Gee Whiz Kid", G.W. Kid
"The face is now permanently associated with Mad, and with the "What? Me worry?" motto, often appears in political cartoons as a shorthand for unquestioning stupidity."
CB: That seems to fit. He looks a bit like Howdy-Dowdy , too. Perhaps the Bush makers cultivated this particular American stereo-type image in him.
Alfred E. Neuman Main article: Alfred E. Neuman
Decades before Mad gave him a name, many different images of the "Me Worry?" kid circulated.The image most closely associated with the magazine is that of Alfred E. Neuman, the boy with misaligned eyes, a gap-toothed smile and the question "What? Me worry?" Mad first used the boy's face in November, 1954, on the cover of the comic book's first reprint volume, Ballantine's The Mad Reader. In the comic book, he appeared for the first time on the cover of issue #21 (January, 1955).
The original image of an unnamed boy with a goofy gap-toothed grin was a popular humorous graphic many years before Mad adopted it. It had been used for all manner of purposes, from U.S. political campaigns to Nazi racial propaganda to advertisements for painless dentistry. Decades ago, the magazine was sued over the copyright to the image but prevailed by producing similar ones predating the claimant, back to the late 19th Century. The face is now permanently associated with Mad, and with the "What? Me worry?" motto, often appears in political cartoons as a shorthand for unquestioning stupidity. For many years, Mad sold prints of the "official portrait" of Alfred E. Neuman in a small ad at the front of the magazine. A female version of Alfred, named Moxie, appeared for a very brief time in the late 1950s. The name "Alfred E. Neuman" derived from the 1940s radio show of comedian Henry Morgan which sometimes featured a running gag about Hollywood composer Alfred Newman. Later, Morgan was a contributor to Mad.
