Beware of the cornered beast

On a number of occasions (e.g., here), I have warned that when the president and his team of thugs begins to be backed into a corner you need to beware of the cornered beast. Cornered beasts don't act rationally. They lash out without measuring the cost.

Today, Glenn Greenwald makes the same sort of comment in response to Bush's plummeting approval ratings:

The reason Bush violated the law when eavesdropping is the same reason Lithwick cites to explain his other lawless and extremist measures -- because he wanted purposely not to comply with the law in order to establish the general "principle" that he was not bound by the law, to show that he has the power to break the law, that he is more powerful than the law. This is a President and an administration that are obsessed first and foremost with their own power and with constant demonstrations of their own strength. Conversely, what they fear and hate the most is their own weakness and submission to limitations.

For that reason, the weaker and more besieged the administration feels, the more compelled they will feel to make a showing of their power. Lashing out in response to feelings of weakness is a temptation most human beings have, but it is more than a mere temptation for George Bush. It is one of the predominant dynamics that drives his behavior.

...

The most dangerous George Bush is one who feels weak, powerless and under attack. Those perceptions are intolerable for him and I doubt there are many limits, if there are any, on what he would be willing to do in order to restore a feeling of power and to rid himself of the sensations of his own weakness and defeat.

The other side of this coin, however, is that, with his popularlity in the tank, I think there are some things Bush simply can't get away with. I would include among them the possibility of his using the military to support him in a coup d'état to stay in power once his term has expired. I just don't think the military would buy into to that with a President whose approval is almost a low as Dick Nixon's was when he went down.