Who says "Cowboy Diplomacy" is dead?
Last week there was much ado about President Bush letting loose the "s-word" while miked. When I first saw the mildly amusing video (shown here at YouTube.com) I was surprised more by what I saw than by what I heard.
To this day I belive that Karl Rove's greatest accomplishment has been selling George W. Bush - a silver-spooned, prep-high, Ivy-league aristocrat - as a homegrown Texas cowboy. In any case, Mr. Bush was in rare form at the G-8 summit last week, showing that while his administration's diplomacy may be dead, the cowboy still lives.
Slouched in his chair, President Bush butters up his roll and then tosses it deep down the hatch where his molars take over. After taking a few chomps with his mouth wide open, he leans over to Tony Blair and spits out the controversial sentence while still chewing on his cud.
Now I understand that blogs could be filled with posts about the frivolity of etiquette, and the hyper-analysis of eating behavior. Yet I believe that most of us would probably sit up straight and chew with our mouths closed at a company dinner.
When President Bush says, "Yo, Blair!" with his mouth full at the G-8 Summit, he makes himself ripe for a cheap pot-shot. And that's all this post is meant to be.
posted by Doug Spencer @ 7/26/2006 05:08:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
"molars take over"
I like that.
Do you really think that Rove had to do much work to get the Yale out of him? I'm not sure there's an deviously smart ivy-league intellectual hiding anywhere behind the cowboy facade. If there is, then WOW, he's good.
Chris,
I wasn't saying that Bush exhibited the stereotypical "Yalie" seater-vest, tennis-playing lifestyle (no offense intended J.D.). I was referring to the fact that in 2004 John Kerry was seen as a rich, elitist snob from New England, while George Bush was a gun-slinging outlaw from Texas.
Dubya may chew with his mouth open, but he was raised in a super rich, super powerful family in Connecticut.
And speech foux pas aside, I believe Bush is smart and quite ept.
I would also add that probably no one becomes president without using the S word.
In the words of CCR, Bush certainly is a "fortunate son"... but I'm not sure I'd ever describe him as "a silver-spooned, prep-high, Ivy-league aristocrat"... maybe more of a spoiled, drunk, fratboy who finally grew up in his forties (kind of). Seeing Bush unscripted on the world stage was truly a sight to behold... beyond the Blair incident, massaging Merkel, "yo-ing" Blair, and slicing that pig all made for a true spectacle.
Posted by Marc