2008
So, How Was It For You?
George W. Bush couldn’t make it to the Republican National Convention Tuesday night because, you see, he had to be at the White House, of course, where he was closely monitoring, um, Monday morning’s storm. (Gustav, not Bristol.) This, of course, is total bullshit. The White House goes wherever the president goes. The White House is wherever the president is. Bush was at the White House because 1. he’s making amends for Katrina, and 2. it was better for John McCain for the wildly unpopular president to be elsewhere tonight.
Now about Katrina: the problem during that earlier hurricane wasn’t that the president wasn’t at the White House, but that the president was on vacation when the storm hit and stayed on vacation in the immediate aftermath. And for days George and rest of the Hee-Haw gang had no idea what was happening in and to New Orleans—something they would have realized if, like the rest of the country, they had bothered to watch five seconds of the news.
Now about the president’s absence tonight: George W. Bush is the first sitting president to miss his party’s convention since LBJ in 1968. Hm… what does George W. Bush have in common with LBJ? Oh, right: Like LBJ was in ‘68, Bush is wildly fucking unpopular. He’s toxic.
It’s really remarkable that Bush wasn’t physically present in St. Paul tonight. Yes, yes: he was there on that screen, larger than life. But the symbolism was clear: Bush was exiled from the RNC, kept at a distance, practically held with tongs. Bush’s wife was there in person, and so were his mother and father. But Bush himself? Oh, that bad boy was grounded, stuck at the White House, sulking away the hours in the family quarters. George W. Bush had to watch what should have been his night at the RNC—the night devoted to celebrating him and his (dubious) achievements—on television, like the rest of us, and he was denied the adulation and grateful send-off that, as a two-term president, Bush no doubt feels he deserves.
Sucks to be him, huh?
Finally, what’s it like to stand in that crowd. Words fail me.
Comments (26)
Yes, he "wasn't at" the convention.
So the video feed came from Washington...to your tv set or lcd monitor...instead from St. Paul...to your tv set or lcd monitor.
It's called topology -- like a donut and a coffee cup are one in the same, manifold wise.
Posted by John Bailo | September 2, 2008 8:40 PMThe cognitive dissonance sets in when you realize that the electorate is so obsessed with the personalities and "character" of the candidates that a substantial number of those people who hate G.W. don't make the connection that McCain's policy positions are virtually identical. It's like they think if it's a different guy trying to put out fire with gasoline, maybe it will work this time.
Posted by flamingbanjo | September 2, 2008 8:44 PMOh yeah, McSame thinks for himself...
He just happens to agree with whatever the Flat Earth crowd tells him.
http://tinyurl.com/McBush08
Posted by Karlheinz Arschbomber | September 2, 2008 9:01 PMgood analogy, flamingbanjo.
or...maybe they think he's just disingenuously mouthing the bush line to win the election, and will revert to true "maverick" status when he wins, just like bush mouthed a more moderate stance when he was running and then switched to full-throttle right-wing radical action after he got elected.
Posted by ellarosa | September 2, 2008 9:05 PMIt's really quite sad. The man has been a failure at whatever he has tried. It's nothing unusual to fail when starting out - that's how most of us learn - but he was never given that chance. The only thing he's ever had to fall back on is that cushion of money that his odious family had, and his Daddy's buddies.
Failed at school....the Bush mattress caught him and bounced him to Yale
Failed at college... the Bush mattress caught him and bounced him to the Texas National Guard
Failed at military...the Bush mattress caught him and bounced him off to Harvard for an MBA
Failed at his MBA...Daddy's buddies set him up in "bidness"
Failed at bidness...Daddy's buddies gave him a baseball team, that he promptly ruined.
Failed at sport...Daddy's buddies gave the the Texas Governor's manse.
Failed at being the governor of a ridiculous state, Daddy's buddies gave him....the White House.
He's failed at this. What's next?
Posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay | September 2, 2008 9:08 PMOh dear -- I actually watched this embarrassing night for the repukes on the tee vee. My God. Could they really be this stupid? Even Pat Buchanan calls the Palin/McCain show "slip-shod"
They must be stopped -- And they pose a real threat. These idiots could win. We MUST stop them. Don't be fooled -- a lot can happen in 60 days. GET YOUNG VOTERS REGISTERED AND TO THE POLLS!!!!! Please.
Posted by jj | September 2, 2008 9:09 PMThe real reason the feds did nothing leading up to Katrina: they really believe science is just an arbitrary bunch of assertions, just like their own religions are. Hence when scientists tell them a storm is coming, the don't believe, refuse to believe, ridicule the idea, point to all the false positives.
Posted by kinaidos | September 2, 2008 9:22 PMThe NWS predicted Gustav's landfall three days in advance to within 40 miles and it's strength to within 15 mph. But you know that in the Bush Whitehouse there are still christo-nutbuckets who are laughing at the *false* forecast, feeling vindicated in their poo-pooing of climate change, and feeling smug in their own willful assertions of absurdities like dinosaurs walking with men, an earth younger than the last ice age, and that a four cell blob is a full blown human being.
Was that really a video feed? It seemed pre-recorded to me.
Posted by DOUG. | September 2, 2008 9:35 PMWhat frightens me most (well almost) is that McCain and his party are still considered competitive. Grampa Munster's numbers SHOULD be as low as Dubbya's. The fact that they are not tells us more about the 'lectorate than it does about either John or George.
Posted by Andy Niable | September 2, 2008 9:51 PMThey should plug Fallout 3 into that monitor.
Posted by stinkbug | September 2, 2008 9:57 PMIs it just me, or does that giant image of great leader's head look a little...Orwellian? I could only watch bits and pieces of tonight's "must-see" tee-vee. I haven't seen that many old white people looking bored out of their minds since...well, ever.
Posted by bozemanmt | September 2, 2008 10:00 PMCatalina Vel-Duray @ 5,
Posted by Original Andrew | September 2, 2008 10:07 PMNext we're gonna get the George W Bush Peace Institute, or the George W Bush Center for Constitutional Rights, you know, just enough to blow the rank-and-file Rs delusions into a full blown psychosis.
Dan,
I hope you're enjoying St. Paul, MN. Regarding the "presence" of Bush via video link, I couldn't help but think the GOP and McCain will reap a benefit from this convention. I believe Cheney is no where in sight. And, of course W. technically isn't there. One of the big arguments the Obama campaign is using in this election is McCain's association with Bush and Cheney. Thanks to a tempest named Gustav, that association is slowly being eroded without the literal presence of Bush and Cheney at the RNC. I've also noticed the demonstrations outside are being underreported or don't shed a positive light on the demonstrators. And, what I did see wasn't flattering to them (I saw one photo of the destruction of private property). So, far, both Bush and Gov. Bobby Jindal are getting some kudos, for the response to Gustav.
Regarding the Hurricane Katrina response fiasco, there will never be an effective defense of the Administration, FEMA (Mike Brown), then Gov. Kathleen Blanco and finally Mayor of New Orleans, C. Ray Nagin. Curiously, Nagin remains mayor but still puts his foot in his mouth. He was criticized for exaggerating the threat of the storm (Gustav) calling it the "mother of all storms" then today calling it "the mother-in-law" or "ugly sister" of storms. Sensitive fellow. Many people not just Bush and Brown should take responsibility for the Katrina fiasco. Nagin should be held (his police chief, Ernest Compass resigned after Katrina) accountable. The order of administration for that disaster is Mayor, Governor and then President/FEMA. It was a tragedy that remains a black mark on the administrations of Nagin, Blanco and Bush respectively.
Posted by lark | September 2, 2008 10:24 PM8 whole minutes. Thats all he could manage. And pre-recorded too, it sounded like (he never responded to any applause or audience feedback).
Pathetic.
Posted by Reverse Polarity | September 2, 2008 10:49 PMDan, I can't imagine sitting through all of that bullshit and mental illness. I can barely sit through the 3 second clips of Fox News that appear on The Daily Show. I am in awe of your strength and composure.
Posted by Sean | September 2, 2008 11:16 PM@1 - A donut and a coffee cup are one in the same; add a saucer and you get the Hot Cop Trinity; but what if it's a donut and a mug; add a joint and you get Top Pot Breakfast. And is 'manifold' what the Japanese call 'origami'?
Added bonus for you Jeopardy! fans:
Willow is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of the Anchorage, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2000 census the population was 1,658.
Willow is also a child of Sarah Palin and the once and future capital of Alaska, didju know?
Posted by RHETT ORACLE | September 2, 2008 11:45 PMBailo: a doughnut and a coffee cup are not similar at all topographically speaking. When you use mathematical terms without understanding what they mean, you look like a fucking asshole. Hello!
Posted by Fnarf | September 2, 2008 11:51 PMSorry to cut-and-paste, but Roy Edroso at Alicublog put it best:
Republicans, as previously noted, were delighted when they thought Bush wasn't going to attend the Convention. Then Gustav blew over, and they had to face the terrible prospect of Bush endorsing McCain on national TV. So they split the difference and had him call in from whatever sports-bar the Secret Service have dragged the White House set to, and ran his speech outside of prime time, showing him only on tape delay.
Posted by Ed | September 3, 2008 2:44 AM@17 - Funny, I find he looks like a fucking asshole regardless of what terms he uses.
Posted by Wowza | September 3, 2008 5:46 AM@ 10: ZOMG I'm so stoked for Fallout 3
Posted by Nixor | September 3, 2008 6:58 AMDan, I missed Bush last night, was busy cleaning the bathroom. But did he break out singing "Movin' on up"? That would have been so appropriate for him and you know which video on Youtube I am talking about.
Posted by Cato the Younger Younger | September 3, 2008 7:17 AMConvention-goer interviewed on her impression of the Palin pick: I like her, I can relate to her, I like to hunt too.
It is dreadful watching the sea of old, white faces in that pathetic convention hall and enduring the Lieberman speech. It was also mentioned that Lieberman as had more face to face meetings with Palin than McCain.
Posted by It gets better | September 3, 2008 9:01 AM@17: Fnarf, as much as I hate to agree with John Bailo (wanker!), you are wrong. One of the most basic examples of topology is the equivalency of a coffee mug and a donut.
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/CoffeeMugToDonut/
Posted by Greg | September 3, 2008 9:42 AMWhich does not make John Bailo's (wanker!) argument any less fatuous.
Posted by Greg | September 3, 2008 9:58 AMcismzdy dvinqfpz wqxfhlvc eygowi tgok ptnm askrxi
Posted by zfcsltkru ajktvl | September 6, 2008 4:27 PMcismzdy dvinqfpz wqxfhlvc eygowi tgok ptnm askrxi
Posted by zfcsltkru ajktvl | September 6, 2008 4:29 PMComments Closed
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