I dare say all the contenders at Belmont Park today have better manners than this creature.
Update: You’ll like this — John Hooper writes for The Observer:
He really is priceless. Other world leaders see the Pope with their advisers and the Vatican’s peerlessly punctilious protocol experts, making sure they do not commit the slightest gaffe. But George W. Bush can outwit them all. On the plane to Rome, he was already struggling.
The Pope is addressed as ‘Your Holiness’. Roman Catholics refer to him as ‘The Holy Father’. But somewhere in the tumble dryer that is the part of the US President’s brain set aside for words, the two concepts got tangled and he told Associated Press: ‘I think His Holy Father will be pleased to know that much of our foreign policy is based on the admonition to whom much is given, much is required.’
No doubt Pope Benedict, whom Bush later described as ‘very smart’, was able to deconstruct the rest of the sentence. But before he got down to cases with Bush, the Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles and Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church had the unusual experience of being called ‘sir’. ‘It’s good to be with you, sir,’ said Bush as he sat down. But it was just one of those days for George W. Even the car broke down.
His visit to Rome had been preceded by the biggest security operation this bodyguard’s nightmare of a city had ever seen. The Tiber was dragged. The sewers were searched. Squares were cleared and roofs occupied. Yesterday the presidential cavalcade hurtled along its route preceded by a swarm of more than a dozen motorcycles, scooters and even motorised three-wheelers carrying tough-looking armed police riding pillion.
But when it got to Largo Poli, near the Trevi fountain, Bush’s car ground to a halt. It remained perilously immobile for a minute and half. The President and Laura Bush were hustled into another car. That was denied by a White House official, who said the reasons for the breakdown were ‘unclear’. Just as unclear was how the wide presidential limo could get through the gates of the US embassy. It couldn’t. The presidential couple had to walk in.
“You can dress him up, but you can’t take him out”.
Headline, “Pope receives Dope”.
Like the ‘Beverly Hillbillies” on crack.
We just can’t wait for 2008.
Raised in a barn…. 🙂
It reminds me of the movie Arachnid Phobia, were John Goodman plays a sloppy and uneducated exterminator( like Tom Delay). He introduces a Doctor of Entomology to a third party by referring to him as a colleague..oblivious to the disparity of their accomplishments.
Who knows?..maybe the Holy See will slam down a couple of brewskis with Bush and tell him some war stories on how many B-17’s or B-29 Liberators he knocked out of the skies over Berlin.
I’ll tell you something- perhaps the nicest thing I could say about Bush is, “He was disrespectful to the pope.”
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Ah, come on. Leave the poor guy alone. I understand he was recovering from the flu.
“..governed by by the admonition, ‘to whom much is given, much is requireded’.
We are unfailrly expecting too much of W. On the day he was created, not much was given. Sadly, we elected the bumpkin, so we will have to bear the blame for his continual gaffes.
Perhaps a Constitutional Amendment requiring an IQ test for presidential candidates?
Seems like cities everywhere should get a vote on whether george is welcome to visit because it means the end of life as you know it – nothing to do but stay home and watch TV when the decider guy is in town.
I’m all for annual psychiatric evaluations of the prez and VP, just put it on the homeland security budget.
I’m all for annual psychiatric evaluations of the prez and VP, just put it on the homeland security budget.
Interesting idea. Although the evaluators’ impartiality would be questioned by everyone. We’d probably end up with Dr. Phil and Dr. Joyce Brothers.
But no matter. It doesn’t take a PhD to evaluate Bush’s other much-discussed moment, slurping a “low alcohol” beer with Angela Merkel. He’s still trying to get into her pants.
OK, I’ll say it first: eeyew.
But no matter. It doesn’t take a PhD to evaluate Bush’s other much-discussed moment, slurping a “low alcohol” beer with Angela Merkel. He’s still trying to get into her pants.
I’m not certain Bush wants to have a roll in the hay with Angie. I think he just wants to charm her into being a love slave like he’s done with Condi and Harriet. Bush fashions himself as a modern day Rasputin. Harriet seems to be the most captivated with Bush’s enchantments..I thought she was going to pass out from passion when Bush complimented her internal beauty in public during her Supreme Court nomination. There’s no doubt that Harriet is in Bush’s stable.