Monday, 20 December 2004
Bush From Down Under
After four years of America-style media saturation, it's interesting to be in Australia. I'm used to the media treating George Bush as either an awe-inspiring demigod or the devil incarnate.
Here, he is neither. They seem to treat him the way Kevin used to treat his older brother Wayne in The Wonder Years. He knows Wayne is mildly retarded, but he lives in constant fear of a beating so he has to be subtle.
I've seen more than a few articles this over the past few days. Nothing blatently offensive, but pretty clear nonetheless:
In Washington, there are plenty of ways to say "no comment," but US President George W Bush offered his own formulation today when he refused to "negotiate with myself in public".
Bush used the phrase to deflect a question on the future of Social Security at a televised news conference.
"Now, the temptation is going to be, by well-meaning people such as yourself and others here, as we run up to the issue, to get me to negotiate with myself in public," Bush told the questioner.
"To say, you know, "What's this mean, Mr President? What's that mean?
"I'm not going to do that. I don't get to write the law.
I'll propose a solution at the appropriate time," Bush said.
In essence, this Bushism means the president will discuss options on such issues as Social Security with members of Congress who write the law, but not with the media.
Asked to explain one facet of his Social Security policy, Bush agreed but said, "I will try to explain how without negotiating with myself. It's a very tricky way to get me to play my cards. I understand that."
Posted by SmooveJ Zao on December 20, 2004 at 08:25 PM in Funny Bush | Permalink
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