WPost-bush not interested in cultures or people

[rodeodance]

Perhaps this partly explains Laura's popularity?--she is at least curious about other cultures and peoples.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/20/AR2005112001257.html


> The China Opening Of 2005: Don't Ask
> For Bush in Beijing, It's Hard to Get Out
>
> By Peter Baker
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Monday, November 21, 2005; Page C01


......



For the president, it was a rare moment of fun on an otherwise dreary overseas trip. In five years in the presidency, Bush has proved a decidedly unadventurous traveler, an impression undispelled by the weeklong journey through Asia that wraps up Monday. As he barnstormed through Japan, South Korea and China, with a final stop in Mongolia still to come, Bush visited no museums, tried no restaurants, bought no souvenirs and made no effort to meet ordinary local people.

"I live in a bubble," Bush once said, explaining his anti-tourist tendencies by citing the enormous security and logistical considerations involved in arranging any sightseeing. "That's just life."

The Bush spirit trickles down to many of his top advisers, who hardly go out of their way to sample the local offerings either. A number of the most senior White House officials on the trip, perhaps seeking the comforts of their Texas homes, chose to skip the kimchi in South Korea to go to dinner at Outback Steakhouse -- twice. (Admittedly, a few unadventurous journalists joined them.)

First lady Laura Bush usually has more interest in looking around. In Pusan, a bustling port city perched on the sea against the backdrop of woodsy foothills in southeastern South Korea, she went to the Metropolitan Simin Municipal Library to read to orphans and the Pusan Metropolitan Museum to check out an exhibition of traditional costumes and palatial silk flowers. Here in Beijing, she explored the Ming Tombs, the underground chambers where 13 emperors are buried........

[melody]

1. Seeing as how Poppy was our ambassador to China in the 70s

Shrubby must have already spent some time there. Of course they can't mention that because Captain Idiot made a big deal during his first selection of how he'd "never been out of the US" which was an outright lie.

[Trish1168]

7. Barbara stayed home. She did't join her husband (and his lover) in China

George, being a Momma's boy, probably stayed with her.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Bushboy DID visit Poppy in China, but evidently, what he was most

looking forward to was bedding Chinese women.

However, the joke was on him, because it was still close enough to the Maoist era that Chinese women were afraid to get involved with Western men, so poor Bushboy had a boring summer in Beijing.

[melody]

10. I can't imagine Bush 41 or 43 having a lover without my mind barfing

The very idea is just too terrible to consider. I refuse to believe they've ever had actual serious sexual congress with any adult female or male -- if so, I hope the poor person sought serious therapy.

I still contend the goofy girls were a Petrie dish production (to say nothing of President Exidor himself).

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. The puritanism of the late Maoist era saved the women of China

from ever having to experience Bush 43.

[warrens]

11. He spent two weeks there

Described it as "the two most boring weeks of my life."

Brain-dead.

[Fenris]

2. When in Seoul, visit OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE!

A taste of ficitonal Australia in the heart of Asia. Try our bloomin' onion! Outback Steakhouse - No Rules, Just Right!

[bunkerbuster1]

12. That's so sad, but it says so much.

This is the same man who, it is alleged in Al Franken's book, really didn't know as late as January 2003 that there were Shi'a, Sunni and Kurdish Iraqis. That is how numb he is to anything outside of the ordinary; he is willfully ignorant.

So I'm not exactly surprised to read this about Bush in China, but I guess I'm a little surprised to read that none of his staff wanted to do anything remotely interesting, either. Dining at a freaking OUTBACK when in Korea? Gad, that's messed up.

[spindrifter]

3. A sign of insecurity

from the article linked above:

As Bush was led into the temple, he removed his shoes per custom.

"I wonder if my socks have any holes," he fretted.

Dude--who put them on your feet?

[Straight Shooter]

5. A lame attempt at humor, pretending he isn't a privileged snot.

BTW, Condi dresses him ........ afterwards.

[Burried News]

4. Hell if it don't have a label on it and is over 80 Proof there isn't

much he is interested in.

[flordehinojos]

6. what an extremely shallow-empty suit of a man!

...but then, it seems it is a generational thing with the bushes.

According to Webster G. Tarpley's BUSH;THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY:
“Barbara's father, Marvin Pierce, was then vice president of McCall Corporation, publisher of Redbook and McCall's magazines. After his daughter joined the banking oligarchy by marrying into the Bush family (1945), Pierce became McCall's chief executive. Pierce and his magazine's theme of `` Togetherness ''--stressing family social existence divorced from political, scientific, artistic or creative activities--played a role in the cult of conformity and mediocrity which crushed U.S. mental life in the 1950s.”

[ClintonTyree]

8. Being the most hated man in the world.........

has it's drawbacks, doesn't it georgie? Osama Bin Laden could walk down the street and be more popular the bush. That's a sad, sad commentary on his presidency.

Bill Clinton was able to walk among people everywhere he went, anytime he wanted, so it isn't merely a condition of being President.

Bush's arrogance and condescension are not qualities that endear himself to most people. To all those that said he was the person they'd "most like to share a beer with" in the last election cycle, you're not a very good judge of people. People like that are easily fooled and are just the type that Corporate America preys upon to keep the consumer based society going. They're idiots.