"I, ah...I ah prefer the phone to the internets"
(Bush is at a speaking event, when a protester calmly gets up and says something along the lines of, “Never have I been so disappointed in my president. You have given up on the American people. You have slashed the middle class so deeply. You have sent our soldiers into an unnecessary war that can’t possibly be won. You have created an everlasting feast for the fat-cats at the expense of the rest of us. You are shameful. You are awful. You should be ashamed of yourself. Are you ashamed of yourself deep down? - and it went on like this.
Bushies’ response, “Okay, so I’m not your favourite guy.”)
This week, what do I hear as I watch the late-night shows (specifically David Letterman)? I hear a Bush joke, a natural act in any late-night hosts repertoire. No doubt Bushie provides the fuel that keeps the satirical steamer running – in fact, he probably didn’t have to do much – just opened his mouth. Which is problematic for him. He’s not a media-darling, nope! Old Bushie stumbles, hems and haws, and one can literally see his face squirm (so he’s thinkin’ real hard) when a pretentious Wall Street journalist asks a pivotal ( but simple enough) question on, let’s say, the war.
For years, one could be forgiven for thinking that Bushie’s safety zone was three words, “Stay the course.” Although, even Bushie (and his courtiers) decided to retire this phrase after it became less credible than a “Kiss me, I’m Irish” bumper sticker. And so, Bushie was left without words. Instead, he now looks like a frightened child (at times, a drunken teenager) at press conferences - and lets not forgot that weasel laugh (lord knows Jon Stewert doesn’t).
The thing is, Bushie has become so pathetic, such a national and international joke, that the media has started to ignore him altogether. Sure, Letterman made a typical Bushie joke the other night, but that was squeezed in as time-filler between the infinite McCain jokes (Obama seems off the hook for now…and for reasons I’ll likely get into with a future piece). When one is talked about, whether negative or positive, one is still relevant. But poor old Bushie…we’re just not interested in listening to his political stances or ideas (really Cheney’s ideas). Instead, we’ve all moved on to everybody’s favourite “Odd couple”, half ’n’ half and Methusalah. Cheney and Bush, well, they’re not so much an odd couple as they are the dark knight and the joker (as in a playing card deck, not the homicidal brilliance of Heath’s version, though some might argue Bushie is homicidal).
Richard Nixon used to take solace in the notion (somewhat Machiavellian) that one should hope to be respected rather than loved. Certainly the left lost respect for Nixon (if they ever had it), but his base (the right) did not exactly abandon him, if only create a slight distance. This does not seem to be the case for Bush. So respected or loved? In Bushies case, what happens when you’re neither?
Anne
