Irish Political News

White House --

President and Mrs. Bush will welcome British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mrs. Sarah Brown to the White House on April 17, 2008. The United States and the United Kingdom share a special partnership that enables our countries to more effectively confront the key strategic challenges facing our two nations.

Beyond saying Thanks a lot for Basra, dude, it's not clear how much time George will have to devote to his special friend Gordon, since Pope Benedict will be in town. Sure, the main business between Bush and the Pope will have been done on the previous day, but Benedict will still be whizzing around Washington and the Methodist Bush will still be in one of his hazes from his chat with him the night before. Don't doubt for a moment that Bush looks for Signs in all sorts of ways --

[to eastern european reporter] Are they still talking about the "rainbow speech"? Were you there for that?
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: It was an amazing moment, wasn't it?
Q Yes, it was amazing moment, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: I was giving a speech in the town square where Ceauşescu had given his final speech. And it was raining, and just as I got up to speak a full rainbow appeared.
Q Yes. And about bridge to a new Russia.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q You remember that?
THE PRESIDENT: I remember the rainbow most of all. It was a startling moment.

Can Benedict, let alone Gordon, match that?

Bertie said it's worth more than Bear Stearns.

UPDATE: More Bertie captioning here and here.

Photo: AP Photo/Ron Edmonds

Bush could really use the gift depicted this year.

Stability-ites

which he defines as --

people who say, you just got to worry about stability.

as opposed to --

And I'm saying, we better worry about the conditions that caused 19 kids to kill us in the first place.

Such as the lack of freedom in the home country of 15 of them, Saudi Arabia? But then there's that pesky oil market, which needs "stability", if you will. It's all very confusing. But that's why we need a strong leader --

you know, I guess the best to describe government policy is like a person trying to drive a car on a rough patch. If you ever get stuck in a situation like that, you know full well it's important not to overcorrect -- because when you overcorrect you end up in the ditch. And so it's important to be steady and to keep your eyes on the horizon.

And not worry about who's getting crunched underneath the car.

UPDATE: Bush's speech was sufficiently disastrous even by his standards that Gail Collins devotes a column to it. But he loved his car line so much, he used it again in the radio address.

George Bush --

President Bush Attends Kuwait-America Foundation's Stand for Africa Gala Dinner
Residence of the Ambassador of Kuwait
Washington, D.C.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Mr. Ambassador, thank you for the invitation. You've got a beautiful place here. (Laughter.)

Isn't that what Saddam said about Kuwait in 1991?

Also, an insight into Bush-style parenting --

So the guy comes to see me, and he says, I want to marry your daughter. I said, done deal. (Laughter.)

Which, according to one recent biography, is about the level of parenting that Bush himself received. Little consolation for the rest of us.

It's true as a rule that Americans haven't embraced text messaging the same way as Europeans. But the criminal complaint that forms the basis of the Eliot Spitzer scandal shows, among other things, that the "classy" prostitution business is a text-message intensive operation.

Young people move to Washington DC, share a house, and use the Internet a lot.

Apparently this is the epitome of style, judging by the prominence it gets in Sunday's New York Times.

Apparel not likely to be seen on the US campaign trail anytime soon, especially on the Republican side: former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, defeated in the election following the 11-M bombings, campaigns for his party successor Mariano Rajoy sporting a pink V-neck and quite a mane to go with it. One wonders if his US neocon friends would interpret attention to casual style as a sign of weakness in the face of Islamo-fascism.

Photo: REUTERS/Eloy Alonso

Straight Talking Maverick^TM John McCain has a new index of progress in Iraq --

He said Monday that his close friend and supporter Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, had just returned from Iraq, where he flew over Baghdad and counted “50 soccer games going on.”

A previous Lindsey Graham trip had seen him exult over getting "5 rugs for 5 bucks". But surely all the military sleuths out there have some work to do on this one. Having time to count 50 soccer matches means helicopter, not airplane transport. Is Baghdad airspace safe enough for a helicopter to hang around long enough to count to 50? Or was he in one of those Blackwater helicopters that every so often likes to rake the traffic below with machine gun fire just to keep everyone in line? It's time for some straight talk, my friends.

From a New York Times account of Bob Geldof's journey with George Bush on his recent African trip --

There was, for instance, the flight on Air Force One. Not in the crowded press cabin in the back, mind you, but up front in presidential splendor. There, by Mr. Geldof’s account, he and the president swapped stories about life on the road (Mr. Geldof was particularly interested in how the White House handles presidential laundry) and talked policy.


Unfortunately, Bob was probably sworn to secrecy on the answer.

William Kristol says "Democrats Should Read Kipling".

From the same essay which Kristol draws Orwell's praise of Kipling, at least in terms of one virtue, he sets up his analogy --

If I may vulgarize the implications of Orwell’s argument a bit: substitute Republicans for Kipling and Democrats for the opposition, and you have a good synopsis of the current state of American politics.

OK, let's substitute Republicans for Kipling and read the whole thing --

It is no use pretending that Kipling's view of life, as a whole, can be accepted or even forgiven by any civilized person. It is no use claiming, for instance, that when Kipling describes a British soldier beating a "nigger" with a cleaning rod in order to get money out of him, he is acting merely as a reporter and does not necessarily approve what he describes. There is not the slightest sign anywhere in Kipling's work that he disapproves of that kind of conduct — on the contrary, there is a definite strain of sadism in him, over and above the brutality which a writer of that type has to have. Kipling is a jingo imperialist, he is morally insensitive and aesthetically disgusting. It is better to start by admitting that, and then to try to find out why it is that he survives while the refined people who have sniggered at him seem to wear so badly.

Indeed. Kristol's real attraction is probably not based on the above quote, which he selectively excerpts, but Orwell's later reference to "pansy-left circles", because this was the increasingly curmudgeonly and, yes, reactionary, Orwell.

One more note about George Bush in Tanzania. One of those moments where things that he's in denial about briefly break through. Such as how his time is passing --

[reporter] And then to President Kikwete, I'd like to ask you about American politics. There seems to be a lot of excitement here in Africa, and in your country about Barack Obama. And I wonder what you think it says about America, that we might elect a black President with roots in Africa?

PRESIDENT BUSH: It seemed like there was a lot of excitement for me, wait a minute. (Laughter.) Maybe you missed it.

George Bush departs for his visit to Africa, despite having warned earlier in the day --

And this bill comes to the House of Representatives and it was blocked. And by blocking this piece of legislation our country is more in danger of an attack.

Hopefully, My Pet Goat is included in the Air Force 1 reading material.

Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Remember those Iranian speedboats of mass destruction and ensuing competition among current and aspiring future Republican presidents to say how close the incident had come to war, and indeed how close it would be to war the next time the same thing happened?

The chief of US naval operations today downplayed the low flight of a Russian Tu-95 over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the western Pacific Ocean.

The Tu-95 flew over the Nimitz at about 2,000 feet while another bomber flew nearby Feb. 9, but both were escorted by U.S. aircraft and the event did not even warrant a call to “general quarters” or for crews to man battle stations, Navy Adm. Gary Roughead said.

In fact if one reads further down in the story, there were actually 4 Russian bombers in the vicinity of the carrier. But as the Pentagon says --

“It is free and international airspace,” he said, “and we're just trying to now go back and look what message was intended by this overflight.”

The scariest speedboats ever were also in international waters. Perhaps the difference is that they Philippino Monkey's radio doesn't broadcast that far.

The White House has provided National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez with the resignation letter of George Bush's chief speechwriter, William McGurn.

When historians are trying to figure out whether the personality cult around George Bush was something that only manifested itself in the distant masses who voted for him, this letter will be the definitive proof that the cult extended all the way inside the cocoon. Maybe that's how one gets to be in the cocoon. The key excerpts --

When it became clear that our country was under attack [on 9/11], I returned home. My wife came out to meet me as I pulled into our driveway. I remember looking up at the sky and wondering what kind of world our girls would inherit. And i remember saying to Julie, "Let's be thankful George W. Bush is President". ...

The day will come when my girls are no longer children -- and look out on a world where people from Baghdad to Beijing enjoy the liberty that Providence intended for them. And each will tell her children, "When I was a girl, I knew the man who believed in this future when so few others did - George W. Bush

In a crack of dawn appearance, on a Friday, before the Conservative Politcal Action Conference (CPAC) pirahnas (and with his two appearances before them coming when he was furthest removed from an election i.e. 2001 and 2008), George W. Bush had this interaction with the audience --

We believe people should be held responsible for their actions and we know that people can change their behavior. Sometimes all it takes is the help of a loving soul -- somebody who puts their arm around a troubled person and says, I love you, can I help you. We also know that --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: ([I love you]) (Laughter and applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: My soul is not that troubled, but thank you. (Laughter and applause.)

In what will quickly be cited as the speech he should have given on the campaign trail, Mitt Romney offered a unique rationale to the Conservative Political Action Conference for suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination: that if he continued to campaign, it could help the Islamist terrorists by distracting John McCain from a national campaign against Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, since they want to surrender to the terrorists.

The fact that suspending the campaign will save Mitt's dwindling fortune from further futile depletion was not mentioned.

Powerline's Hindrocket yesterday --

John McCain will not be a perfect Presidential nominee. Then again, we didn't have any perfect candidates this year. (Funny how often that seems to happen.) How odd, though, for conservatives, of all people, to be the ones to hold out for perfection in human affairs.

Powerline's Hindrocket two and a half years ago --

It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can't get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.

Hyperbolic? Well, maybe.

AP Photo/Fars News Agency, Hassan Ghaedi

Powerline's "Hindrocket" --

As I've said before, I think the Islamic terrorists are the most purely evil force in world history.

So all those arguments about whether Hitler, Stalin, or Mao are the most evil turn out to be over who's in 2nd place.

One anyway. Steve Sailer (via John Derbyshire) --

Will McCain, who finished 894th out of 899 at the Naval Academy and who lost five jets, return competence to the White House?

This is also good.

When will the media stop with the "Maverick" shite?

Karl Rove, who for some reason is being given space on the Wall Street Journal opinion page --

Both Democrats and Republicans are in spirited and, at times, heated contests. The difference is Democrats are running a nasty race that has as its subtext race and gender. The Republican race, on the other hand, is a serious debate about serious ideas. Over the last several months, we have been seeing men who represent different strands within the GOP battle each other.

The logic appears to be that since the Democrat race features a white woman and a black man, there's a "subtext" of race and gender, while since the Republican race is all white guys in suits, those issues by definition can't arise.

There's not much to say about George Bush's final state of the union address. The cognitive dissonance of his Congressional Republican peanut gallery was impressive: a standing ovation for permanent tax cuts, followed quickly by a standing ovation for balanced budgets. But the primary incoherence of Bush policy continues to be the Middle East.

Just one example: Lebanon yet again listed as a country where "the people" and their western-backed government are struggling against terrorists seeking to block their progress towards democracy. You would not know from the speech that 2 days ago, it was the Lebanese government shooting protestors in the streets -- protestors wondering why it is that power cuts always seem to be in Shia areas of Beirut. And then they wonder why Iran has a following in these countries.

White House photo by Eric Draper

Tim Russert (immediately to Bush's right), man of the people (since he's Irish-American and from Buffalo, at least that's how he thinks of it) eagerly scribbles down the presidential utterances. Russert never asks any follow-up questions on his Sunday show (such as letting John McCain away with a ridiculous attack on Mitt Romney yesterday) so no doubt Bush finds him a polite guest.

Jonah Goldberg --

First I love that even White Nationalist trash recognize that Hitler was a socialist.

Heh Indeed.

UPDATE: Spelling from the intellectual: Keynians, Keynsian.

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

Only Ron Paul shows any willingness to work outside the simple pattern and all red or all blue tie being worn by candidates and panelists this evening.

Actual name of Irish tour bus company. One wonders if that's what upset the vandals.

Jonah Goldberg, explaining some of the material in Liberal Fascism --

nationalism and socialism are almost always synonymous terms. Hugo Chavez is a nationalist who is nationalizing his country's industry. Or you could say he's a socialist who is socializing his country's industry. The two words are interchangeable: socialized medicine is nationalized medicine.

So socializing = nationalizing. National Socialism. Nazi. Geddit?

More seriously, Goldberg still won't explain why he has classified Mussolini as being on the left when Mussolini did such a good job of preserving Italy's institutions -- the monarchy and the Church -- under his rule.

The White House has made the decision to have members of George Bush's staff use the web to log their impressions of his trip to the Middle East. A "web-log", or "blog", if you will. Here is chief speechwriter, longtime Rupert Murdoch operative Bill McGurn (in between commenting on how big his hotel room is) adding what he views as a necessary detail about Bush's speech in Abu Dhabi --

Like most foreign crowds, people here did not interrupt with applause during the speech but clapped at the end.

Or to put it less politely, the crowd was not the usual rubes at a Bush event who applaud the same red meat that they've been given 10 times over. Those Arabs expect some actual content!

UPDATE: From a press briefing by National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley --

Q And what was their -- what was the response in UAE to the President's presentation of the importance of the freedom agenda? Did they say anything? Did they ignore it? What did they say in response?

MR. HADLEY: Heads nod. Heads nod.

REUTERS/Larry Downing

Not much to do but make a list --

With his favourite prop -- the troops in uniform, in Kuwait:

I appreciate what this Third Army did in World War II. I hope you do too, as well. After all, you're members of Patton's own. Played a vital role in the destruction of the Nazi war machine. They helped liberate about 12,000 towns; at least that's according to the history of the Third Army. From their noble ranks came soldiers with some of our nation's highest directors*

He meant to say "decorations" but he always has the corporate hierarchy on his mind.

The history will say, it was when you were called upon, you served, and the service you rendered was absolutely necessary to defeat an enemy overseas so we do not have to face them here at home.

Did we mention that he spoke in Kuwait?

When you get to emailing your family, you tell them I check in with you. (Laughter.) And you're looking pretty good. (Applause.) It looks like you haven't missed a meal. (Laughter.)

Just the light-hearted approach that a war which has killed 150,000 Iraqi civilians needs.

In Bahrain --

Your Majesty, I appreciate the fact that you're on the forefront of providing hope for people through democracy. Your nation has held two free elections since 2000 -- and in 2006, your people elected a woman to your parliament.

This is his briefing book talking point that he got mixed up with Kuwait, which has zero women MPs. Bahrain has infinitely (in percentage terms) more.

Back now to a brief session with the travelling press corpse in Kuwait --

Q What about the political benchmarks? Do those no longer matter?

THE PRESIDENT: Of course they matter. They matter to the Iraqis a lot. It's a sign of reconciliation. I just mentioned they passed a pension law, which, of course, got a huge yawn in our press. But that's -- well, that's okay. (Laughter.) We can't pass -- we can't reform our own pension system, like Social Security, but they did.

Social security reform and a civil war: exactly the same.

THE PRESIDENT: I think the only thing I can tell you we're on track for is to follow through on that which he [Petraeus] recommended last September, and that we'll be on track getting down to 15. And that's what we're on track for. My attitude is, if he didn't want to continue the drawdown, that's fine with me, in order to make sure we succeed, see. I said to the General, if you want to slow her down, fine; it's up to you.

Note that the policy decisions about Iraq have been completely delegated to a general -- yet any criticism of that general is declared off-limits. Bush's language is also strangely casual ("slow her down"), as if the general is driving a car. Or playing a video game.