Audio
Imperial President
In St. Louis to toss out the ceremonial first pitch in Monday's season-opening baseball game between the Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers, George w. Bush was steered by an aide toward an Associated Press reporter who had a question about the Iraq imbroglio.
"So who's the AP person?" demanded Bush.
"I am," the reporter replied.
"You are?" grumbled Bush. "Well, ask it."
"Sir, uh, in regard to...," the reporter began.
Bush stopped the journalist at mid-sentence. In a scolding voice, he demanded to know: "Who're you talking to?"
The AP quickly corrected himself. "Mr. President," he said.
Bush--who in 2002 acknowledged that "If this was a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator"--was satisfied that he had been properly addressed. He then allowed the reporter to continue. However, his reply to the question was typically short and perfunctory.
Perhaps, the reporter would have gotten a better answer if he had just said, "Your Highness..."
http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/ind...bid=1&pid=1360
Arrianna -
Now I know our president isn't the biggest reader in the world, but does he know about that other war we fought, the one about how we didn't want to be governed by a king? Luckily, Condi Rice and Donald Rumsfeld didn't have anything to do with the planning for that one. Because we won. We're not a monarchy (the fact that our leader is the son of a former leader and wasn't really elected notwithstanding).
And it's not as if the AP reporter was being disrespectful. In fact, here's some of the replies he might have said to the question, "Who are you talking to?"
- A citizen.
- A person who's no more above the law than the homeless man sleeping in Lafayette Park.
- My employee.
- A civil servant.
- A failed businessman.
- A convicted drunk driver.
- A person who used connections to get out of fighting a war he claimed to support.
- You.
Sure, those aren't entirely respectful, but they're all true. And as I read the constitution, they're all legally protected. As Thomas Jefferson said, "[It is] the people to whom all authority belong, not George Bush." I added that last part, but I have a pretty strong feeling TJ would have agreed.
As it happens, there was actually a debate among the founding fathers as to what to call the new president. John Adams wanted "His Highness the President of the United States and Protector of Their Liberties." But James Madison fought it, and it died when President George Washington expressed his opposition "to bedizen [him] with a superb but spurious title."
Got that, Mr. President?
http://www.ariannaonline.com/blog/?postid=37