Willful blindness

Atrios catches the news of growing insider concern about Bush's self-imposed news bubble:

There is rising concern amongst senior officials that President Bush does not grasp the increasingly grim reality of the security situation in Iraq because he refuses to listen to that type of information. Our sources say that attempts to brief Bush on various grim realities have been personally rebuffed by the President, who actually says that he does not want to hear "bad news."
...
Our sources are firm in that they conclude this "good news only" directive comes from Bush himself; that is, it is not a trap or cocoon thrown around the President by National Security Advisor Rice, Vice President Cheney, and DOD Secretary Rumsfeld. In any event, whether self-imposed, or due to manipulation by irresponsible subordinates, the information/intelligence vacuum at the highest levels of the White House increasingly frightens those officials interested in objective assessment, and not just selling a political message.

This isn't the first time we've heard this, but it sounds like it's getting worse as Bush gets more confidant (and one can picture the positive feedback loop there!). How anybody can hope to direct complicated policies when not able/willing to find out whether things work is beyond me, crazy reality-based entity that I am...

Knowing ignorance is strength; ignoring knowledge is sickness.

-- Lao-Tzu,
philosopher (6th century BCE)

(quote via A.W.A.D.)