Nat'l Review: "Forebodings" on Bush*s Trip

[kskiska]

This is not a prediction but a terrible foreboding. I fear that President Bush's imminent state visit to the United Kingdom is shaping up as one of the worst media debacles of his presidency.

President Bush is scheduled to travel Sunday to Britain to spend three days in Buckingham Palace as a guest of Queen Elizabeth. No doubt he and Prime Minister Blair have much to discuss at this critical juncture of the war on terror. Nevertheless, we have to face some unwelcome facts. President Bush is not widely popular in Britain. He will not receive a warm welcome from the larger British public. Meanwhile, a vociferous and often violent minority is planning massive protests in central London.

(snip)

Presidents always attract protests of course, and no president should ever be deterred from necessary travel. On the other hand, as we move into an election year, the people around the president ought not to be putting him into situations where he is unlikely to look good, except for the very most urgent and pressing reasons. And it’s hard to see what those urgent and pressing reasons might be in this case.

On the other hand, at the risk of sounding paranoid, let me suggest that there might be people around the president who have an interest in making him look bad.

(snip)

So ask yourself this. Suppose you were a senior State Department or CIA official interested in jolting the president away from the “destabilizing” policies you oppose? You might try to stir up public and congressional against him by carefully placed and timed press leaks. But if those subtle did not succeed, you might be tempted to squeeze harder. And what could hurt an American president worse than plunging him into three consecutive days worth of Chicago 1968 style mass protests? Then, on the planeride home, perhaps somebody might soothingly insinuate that his terrible reception really ought to be blamed on those hawkish advisers of his ....

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http://www.nationalreview.com/frum/diary111203.asp

[grytpype]

1. Presidents always attract protests of course

Really? Clinton used to wade into adoring crowds.

[Skittles]

9. Clinton gets mobbed in England

they love him

[eileen from OH]

2. Actually, besides the obvious Bush ass-kissing. . .

and the Machiavellian intrigue/conspiracy theory, he's right. The press WILL have a field day with this and it is a HUGE media blunder. I personally cannot wait, heehee.

Although, remember my prediction. . .something Vitally Important will Come Up and it will, sadly, just have to be cancelled.

eileen from OH

[grytpype]

3. Worst media debacles of his presidency.

Worse than Mission Accomplished?

Worse than "Bring 'em on?"

That would be nice. Can't wait to see that go down.

[monarch]

4. Will he really go?

Has anyone done a poll on whether people think he'll cancel the trip and on what excuse he'll use?

[ClintonTyree]

5. He'll go..............

his ego wouldn't let him cancel. He is afterall, America's "Royalty". He sees himself on par with the Royal Family even though he's a pseudocowboy, boots and all.

[Skittles]

8. he reminds me of that vulture in a Far Side cartoon

the vultures are picking a cowboy clean in the desert and one of them has donned the cowboy's hat and boots and announces HEY EVERYONE LOOK, I'M A COWBOY, HOWDY, HOWDY

[Lisa]

12. Good call Skittles!

I never even thought of that .... and it's one of my favorite Larson cartoons.


Re: the visit, I wonder if the Queen will offer to take him out riding? And Bush will have to think up some excuse ... the Queen is excellent with horses and even if the Shrub had been taking lessons (which he hasn't) she could ride circles around him.

[pinkpops]

6. "...vociferous and often violent minority is planning ...protests"

"Meanwhile, a vociferous and often violent minority is planning massive protests in central London."

minority of what?

[tibbiit]

7. Or are they LOWERING expectations for Bush again???

So the trip, even if mediocre becomes a triumph?
This is likely too imo.
tib

[OldCurmudgeon]

10. too good to pass up...

Georgy Bush takes a trip o'er to Buckingham
to talk of Iraqis and ****ing'em.
While soldiers were dying,
he's spinning and lying.
His response to our questions is ducking 'em.

[grannylib]

11. This is stellar limerickery *lol* Beautiful!

[baby_bear]

16. Excellent, OldCurmudgeon!!

I hope it's okay if I share it with a few friends outside DU...

:toast:

s_m

[hatrack]

13. This quote really stood out for me:

" . . . the people around the president ought not to be putting him into situations where he is unlikely to look good . . ."

You mean like addressing joint sessions of Congress? Appearing before the UN? Riding around on Air Force One? Holding "press conferences"? Appearing on the same stage as Kofi Annan or the Pope? TAKING UP SPACE IN THE WHITE HOUSE?

[Grins]

14. That's what I was thinking

You're dead on! "...the president ought not to be putting him into situations where he is unlikely to look good . . ."

He should to places that are more hospitable, and that share his political philosophy. You know, like...China, for example!

After all: "We," said the president, "see a China that is stable and prosperous, a nation that respects the peace of its neighbors and works to secure the freedom of its own people."
<http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2003_11_02.html>

Just like BushUSA. But, don't bump into any of our spy planes! (By the way, what has the right forgotten that little slight? Hmmmmm?)

[mistertrickster]

15. No wonder these wack-os were so afraid of "communists." They

see an evil plot in everything. Imagine Humphry Bogart as Captain Queeg on the witness stand, his hands rolling steel balls obsessively, "they were all out to get me, see? They were all against me. Every last one of them, they knew I'd find out who ate the ice cream, see, so I got all the keys on the ship . . ."

George Bush is hated in England because they have a good school system that teaches people how to think and an independent media that reports the truth.

He's going to look bad there because, surprise!, he's the WORST * PRESIDENT * EVER. He looks bad wherever he goes . . . duh.

Being the party of personal responsibility, they blame it on the State Department. yeah, that's right, the State Department, "they were all out to get me, see . . ."