Compiling this year’s pictures, This Blog has grown melancholy over the forthcoming loss of that eternal font of teh goofy, George Bush’s face, that chimp-like countenance which has the unique ability to make you want to both laugh at it and punch it very hard indeed, simultaneously.
What will a Barack Obama presidency bring? A long, long visual drought. An increasingly frustrating series of dignified poses. Sigh. Soon desperation will drive me to learn how to photoshop propeller beanies
and Queen Elizabeth’s hats
onto his head,
and he’ll still look ten times more dignified than Bush at his most dignitudinous. Sigh.
Here’s our look back:
My most popular photo of the year (400 hits from the Netherlands alone), Mara Carfagna, Italy’s “Equal Opportunities Minster” and now government spokesperson:
Our first glimpse of Joe the Plumber:
(Updated:
John McCain informed us that the fundamentals of our economy were strong, and while he may not have been entirely correct about that, one fundamental leading economic indicator remained absolutely steady, no matter what: everything we needed to know about the true state of the economy we could always tell by the expression on Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s face:
Finally, presenting the Picture of the Year for 2008:
Cardinal Jorge Medina of Chile interrupted a mass in order to castigate Madonna (the singer not the mother of that Jesus guy), currently doing a concert tour in Chile, for causing “impure thoughts” with her “incredibly shameful behaviour.” He said that such thoughts, but presumably not massacring dissidents in a soccer stadium – did I mention the mass was in honor of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet? – are “a dirty stain on our heart.” Medina also accused Chileans seeking justice against government officials who tortured and killed during the Pinochet years of being motivated by revenge.
The Catholic Church also pressured Italian tv to run “Brokeback Mountain” without any gay scenes.
Today Bush met Dr. Halima Bashir, a civil rights activist from Darfur and author of “Tears in the Desert.” He said, “The urgency of the situation is never more apparent than when I had the honor of visiting with this brave soul.” Whatever makes it real for you. She hid her face from photographers, for obvious reasons.
Because she was afraid of getting killed in Sudan. Why, what did you think?
IN OTHER WORDS: “We support the mediation process by the A.U.-U.N. mediator. In other words, we recognize in order for there to be peace in Darfur that parties must come to the table in good faith and solve the problems.”
The Blagojevich affair, summarized in a pithy quote from the man himself: “For nothing? Fuck him.”
Caroline Kennedy as senator from NY? Really? My nominee, although he’d have to be dragged kicking and screaming: Paul Krugman (okay, he probably technically lives in New Jersey, but he does occupy one of the most valuable pieces of political real estate on the NYT op-ed pages).
Bush did a kind of before-and–after thing today, first visiting West Point,
then on his return to the White House hanging out briefly with two marines who were blown up in Ramadi. They look pleased as punch to be smooched by President Inappropriate Invasion of Personal Space.
Bush was interviewed for Nightline tonight (link, other link).
IN OTHER WORDS: Asked whether a deal for a bailout of the car companies is close: “It’s hard to tell because there are some pretty strict standards. One is that anything that’s done would as best as possible guarantee the taxpayers get their money back. In other words, there needs to be viability.”
WHAT WE JUST DON’T WANT: “These are important companies, but on the other hand, we just don’t want to put good money after bad.”
The conversation naturally segued from there to the question of whether the Bible is literally true. “Probably not ... No, I’m not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it, but I do think that the New Testament, for example is ... has got ... You know, the important lesson is ‘God sent a son.’”
Bush says he... I was about to say he said he believes in evolution, but thinking about it, what he said was “I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty, and I don’t think it’s incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution,” which is actually only saying that evolution may be true, not that it is.
CAN’T COUNT TO TWELVE: “All I can just tell you is that I got back into religion and I quit drinking shortly thereafter and I asked for help -- I was a one-step program guy.”
Says without his faith, “I’m pretty confident I would have been a pretty selfish person.” Yeah, imagine what that would be like.
Did God choose you to be president? “I just, I can’t go there.” Wink wink.
WHAT THERE’S A SENSE OF IN THE OVAL OFFICE: “There is a sense of calm in the Oval Office, where there are obviously a lot of dramatic moments and a lot of, you know, pressure, but there is calm in the Oval Office.”
WHAT THE VOICES IN GEORGE’S HEAD ARE SAYING TO HIM NOW: “People say, ‘But how do you know that it’s because of prayer?’ And I guess the answer is because of faith is how I know -- I can’t prove it for you.”
HE SHOULD REALLY TEACH SUNDAY SCHOOL AFTER HE LEAVES OFFICE: “For me, it’s not a crutch, for me it’s the realization of a power of a universal God and recognition that the God came manifested in human and then died for sins.”
This morning, Bush hosted a Christmas reception for children from schools on military bases (because only children whose parents are willing to fight and die in the War on Christmas deserve Christmas).
He was very excited. Perhaps a little too excited. “And we’re excited you’re here for a couple of reasons: One, we love to see the wonder in people’s eyes when they get to see the majesty of the White House at this time of year. And I’m looking in your eyes and I’m seeing wonder.” Just like the wonder he saw in Vladimir Putin’s eyes. Kids, if an old guy tells you he wants to look in your eyes and see “wonder,” run away as fast as you can. This has been a WIIIAI public service announcement.
George got an early Christmas present: a bald head to rub. Just what he always wanted!
By the way, I just got a Christmas card from my dentist. Emphatically a Christmas rather than a more generic holiday/seasonal card. I find that rather obnoxious.
Bush gave an interview to Dubai-based Arab satellite tv station MBC.
IT’S INTERESTING HISTORY HERE: “It’s interesting history here, and I think one thing that your viewers might be interested in knowing is that the first decision I ever made as President -- but I was actually President-elect -- was, what color rug do you want?” Arab viewers would be interested in knowing that, all being rug-merchants.
A UNIVERSAL GOD: “And I tell people this, that I do believe there is a universal God, and a gift of that Almighty to all of us -- whether we be Methodists or Muslims or nothing -- is freedom. And so freedom is a great alternative.” Isn’t it nice of the Almighty to give a gift to people who are Methodists or Muslims or nothing? I’ll bet the nothing people didn’t get Him anything.
MOMS CAN GROW UP: “If you believe there’s an Almighty God, and a gift of that Almighty to everybody is freedom, then I think you have to -- if you can do something about it, that you have to act on that -- so that moms can grow up in a society that is hopeful for their children, you know, that their children are -- can realize dreams.”
WHAT THE VOICES IN GEORGE’S HEAD ARE SAYING NOW: “And I hear people say, George Bush doesn’t like Muslims; he wants to fight Muslims.”
WHAT WAS A TERRIBLE DISAPPOINTMENT: Asked if, looking back, he would do anything differently, he said, “I’m sure there will be” – that is, he might be able to come up with something when he actually does look back, but he hasn’t looked back yet. So he decided to turn it around and respond with an answer to a question that hadn’t been asked, one which didn’t require him to admit fallibility, saying, “there’s been some disappointments.” For example, “Well, like, Abu Ghraib was a terrible disappointment. And admittedly, I wasn’t there on the site, but I was the Commander-in-Chief of a military where these disgraceful acts took place that sent the absolute wrong image about America and our military.” Yeah it would have all been totally different if he had been there on the site to, like, supervise.
Other disappointments: “You know, parts of Iraq -- it’s taken longer than I thought it would. On the other hand, I am pleased to see a multiethnic society begin to emerge.” I’m pretty sure they had more than one ethnic group before we invaded them.
WHAT GEORGE LOVES TO HEAR: “I talked to the leaders of Iraq yesterday and today and congratulated them on doing some hard work. And I love to hear their spirit in their voice.” They only have the one voice, I guess.
WHAT PEOPLE WILL SAY: “I believe when people objectively analyze this administration, they’ll say, well, I see now what he was trying to do.”
NORMAL: Asked what he would miss about the White House, he repeated that he’d miss being Commander-in-Chief of the cannon fodder, and like Laura he’d miss the servants: “But, you know, the White House is full of incredibly gracious and kind people who work hard to make family life as normal as possible.” You know, for most of us, a “normal” family life doesn’t involve lots of servants working hard to make it normal.
IN OTHER WORDS: “I’m grateful that at the Annapolis conference all Arab nations were represented -- which is an important signal, because I learned a lesson in studying previous efforts for peace, that there must be regional buy-in. In other words, the nations in the region must stand with the Palestinians, in particular, and say this is -- we support you.”
IN OTHER WORDS: “I share the vision that the only way there’s going to be peace is where those who assume that violence is necessary to achieve peace cannot be a part of the process. In other words, people have to renounce violence in order to have peace. It’s contradictory to say, I am going to use violence to achieve my objectives, and oh, by the way, I’m for peace.” Say, did I mention that the US refused this week to sign the treaty against cluster bombs?
IN OTHER WORDS: “Well, I think we’ve left [the Palestinian peace process] in good shape. We’ve left it with the vision intact. In other words, a lot of people now share the vision of two states.”
A LOT OF DEBATE: “There was a lot of debate on the SFA and SOFA, and there were people that were -- you know, a lot of people were saying, well, this will be bad for Iraq, and others say this will be good for Iraq.”
WHAT PEOPLE SAY: “We tried to avert it [the invasion of Iraq]. I know people say, oh, George Bush likes to use the military.” He’s right. People do say that. I’ve heard them.
COMPETE WITH HEZBOLLAH? “I believe a Middle East with Saddam Hussein in power today would be different, much different than the one today. I think you’d see a man with a lot of oil wealth willing to use terrorist connections to try to compete, for example, with Hezbollah.”
When the interviewer mentioned the US incursion into Syria in October, Bush interjected, “Allegedly, yes.”
And how would he like to be remembered by people in the Middle East? “I would hope they would remember me as George W. Bush, as a man who respects their religion, respects human rights and human dignity, and prays for peace.” Well, they probably will remember him as George W. Bush. That’s one out of four, which is higher than his average success rate, so well done, George W.... um, what was your name again?
George Bush went to Philadelphia today. The Union League of Philadelphia unveiled their new portrait of President Doesn’t Know What to Do With His Arms.
He said of it, “I’m confident this portrait will stand the test of time.” And then the first dart hit it.
Then he went to the Army-Navy game. And while they graciously let him feel up some of the players,
and even kick a football,
somehow, he really seemed more at home with the cheerleaders.
Today, Bush used the R word (“Today’s job data reflects the fact that our economy is in a recession.”) and gave one of his “legacy” speeches summarizing his Middle East (cough) accomplishments. It was a victory speech: “the Middle East in 2008 is a freer, more hopeful, and more promising place than it was in 2001”.
Shrub of Arabia says he has “had the privilege to see the Middle East up close. I have stood on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and I’ve hiked the cliffs of Masada. I’ve enjoyed dinner in the desert of Abu Dhabi, and prayed at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.” And he has learned one thing: don’t eat dinner in the desert of Abu Dhabi, the sand tends to get in your food.
I’LL BET HE SAW INTO THEIR SOULS: “I have looked into the eyes of courageous elected leaders from Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories.”
WAIT, THERE WAS AN EASY OPTION IN IRAQ? “When Saddam regimes -- regimes fell -- when Saddam’s regime fell, we refused to take the easy option and install a friendly strongman in his place.”
SOME OF THEM EVEN STILL ATTACHED TO HANDS: “We see the new story of the Middle East in Iraqis waving ink-stained fingers”.
WHAT’S GROWING LOUDER: “Across the region, conversations about freedom and reform are growing louder.” Conversations about figs tend to grow louder, and end in gun-fire: it’s the freaking Middle East.
I’m not going to quote this thing extensively. If you want to learn about how we brought about a new enlightened age of democracy and religious freedom, stared down Libya and Iran, etc etc, read the transcript. I will just end with these words of smug, totally unearned self-congratulation: “Yet the changes of the past eight years herald the beginning of something historic and new. At long last, the Middle East is closing a chapter of darkness and fear, and opening a new one written in the language of possibility and hope. For the first time in generations, the region represents something more than a set of problems to be solved, or the site of energy resources to be developed. A free and peaceful Middle East will represent a source of promise, and home of opportunity, and a vital contributor to the prosperity of the world.”
So, yay, we won.
(Update: Juan Cole, naturally, has a detailed demolition http://www.juancole.com/2008/12/arguing-with-bush-one-last-time.html of the speech.)
The fortune cookie with my lunch imparted this bit of wisdom: “The best way to get rid of an enemy is to make him a friend.” Although the fastest way involves a blunt object and burial in a deserted quarry. Fortune cookies would be so much more practical if they gave them out at Italian restaurants rather than Chinese ones.
Can anyone suggest more examples of Italian fortunes?
General Motors’ president, Fritz Henderson, says of his demand for a massive government bailout, “There is no Plan B.” For more than 30 years, the American car industry has never managed to come up with more than one plan, think a new thought, that’s the whole problem.
Today is World AIDS Day (thus the humongous ribbon), and George (and Laura) Bush went to a forum on the subject, with Pastor Rick Warren.
WHAT GEORGE FELT: “I insisted upon measurable goals because I felt that lives needed to be saved. And if you don’t have measurable goals, lives might not be saved.”
AN ATTITUDINAL CHANGE: “But rather than being paternalistic about our help -- which basically says, we know better than you on how to achieve our goals -- we expect you to be a partner in achieving the goals. Which was an attitudinal change basically saying to African leaders, in this case, we trust you; we think you’ve got the capacity to be a good partner.” Unless you allow abortions, in which case no condoms for you. Oh, and you have to push abstinence-only education too. But other than that, we trust you, really we do.
IN MANY WAYS: “the interesting thing about people who are volunteering in Africa to save lives is they’re actually saving their own life, in many ways. They may not be saving it, but they’re certainly strengthening it.”
WHEN WE’RE A BETTER NATION: “We’re a better nation when we save lives.”
WHAT GEORGE WISHES THE AMERICAN PEOPLE COULD SEE: “And I wish the American people could see what we have seen after this PEPFAR initiative has kicked in and brought results. I mean, people literally lining the roads in Tanzania, all waving and anxious to express their love and appreciation to the American President who represents the American people.” Oh, and not dying, I guess that’s kinda important too, but really it’s all about the waving.
IN OTHER WORDS: “And it’s very important for America to be humble in our aid, in this sense. In other words, we can’t say, okay, we’re spending so much money, we demand this, or, we’re going to make you do this. And that will end up making us not liked.”
HEY PAL: “And you can look at that any way you want to look at it. One way to look at it is, hey, pal, you’ve got a lot of influence -- and you can use your influence for human liberty, for decency, and for justice all times, all places.”
LOADED: He said people who oppose his focus on abstinence “must not be results-oriented people. ... Look, I mean, abstinence is a loaded word here in Washington, D.C. ...” Um, yeah, loaded, about to go off at any second...
GRIEF-COUNSELOR-IN-CHIEF: “Remember when we went to the school in Rwanda? So these were children whose parents had died because of AIDS. And I just happened to walk by and said, ‘God is good.’ And without hesitation, they said, ‘All the time.’” MRS. BUSH: “And that was so sweet.” THE PRESIDENT: “And it was a very powerful, very sweet message.”
IN OTHER WORDS: “And so the first question that people ought to ask is, what’s the funding been like? In other words, funding equals commitment; sometimes it equals, you know, effective programming, but it -- at least the funding levels will give you a sense of how committed the country is.”
Obama has announced his national security team (of rivals), and he has an adjective he’d like you to remember about them: “I assembled this team because I am a strong believer in strong personalities and strong opinions.”
Tonight, ABC will air the interview Charlie Gibson conducted with George and Laura Bush last week.
WE’RE IN: “the American people got to know that we will safeguard the [financial] system. I mean, we’re in. And if we need to be in more, we will.”
FAITH AND CONFIDENT: “I’ve got faith that the economy will recover. As a matter of fact, I’m confident it will recover.”
WHAT THE QUESTION IS: “And the question is, is it worth it to save the system, to safeguard the system? And I came to the conclusion, along with other smart people, that it is.” Other smart people? OTHER smart people??!!
DURING I ARRIVED IN PRESIDENT: asked if he feels responsible for the financial meltdown: “You know, I’m the President during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived in President, during I arrived in President.”
PRESENT COMPANY EXCEPTED: Asked how high unemployment will go: “Too high. I mean, anybody unemployed is too much.”
MOVIN’ BIG: “And on the other hand, though, when you’re the President and somebody says, we better move big, Mr. President, otherwise we could have a depression greater than the Great -- we’re moving big.”
IN OTHER WORDS: What the presidency has been like: “Some days we’re not so happy, some days happy. Every day has been pretty joyous, though -- that when you have a purpose in life, that no matter what it may look like from afar, that we’re a highly motivated group of people that are honored to serve. In other words, I think people look at the White House and say, oh, man, what a miserable experience it is to be President.”
Later, he clarified the joyous thing: “I don’t want people to misconstrue. It’s not -- I don’t feel joyful when somebody loses their life, nor do I feel joyful from somebody loses a job. That concerns me.”
IN OTHER WORDS: “And the President ends up carrying a lot of people’s grief in his soul during a presidency. One of the things about the presidency is you deal with a lot of tragedy -- whether it be hurricanes, or tornadoes, or fires, or death -- and you spend time being the Comforter-in-Chief. But the idea of being able to serve a nation you love is -- has been joyful. In other words, my spirits have never been down. I have been sad, but the spirits are up.” Well that just makes the hurricanes and tornadoes and fires and death all worth while.
A VERY SPECIAL DOUBLE REVERSE IN OTHER WORDS: “Well, I think I was unprepared for war. In other words, I didn’t campaign and say, ‘Please vote for me, I’ll be able to handle an attack.’ In other words, I didn’t anticipate war.”
Did McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin help or hurt him? “I think it helped John. It energized the party. It -- I can remember when she first was named, young women in our office were saying, isn’t it great that a woman is in a position to serve on the ticket now, to maybe be Vice President of the United States.” I know it sounds like he’s completely forgotten about Geraldine Ferraro but, to be fair, for most of 1984 he was really really drunk.
IN OTHER WORDS: “I think most people voted for Barack Obama because they decided they wanted him to be in their living room for the next four years explaining policy. In other words, they made a conscious choice to put him in as president.”
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD: “I think one of the big disappointments of the presidency has been the fact that the tone in Washington got worse, not better.”
Asked what the country thinks of George now, Laura said, “I think they think he’s somebody that kept them safe for eight years.”
WHAT GEORGE’S BIGGEST REGRET IS: “the biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq. A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein. It wasn’t just people in my administration; a lot of members in Congress, prior to my arrival in Washington D.C., during the debate on Iraq, a lot of leaders of nations around the world were all looking at the same intelligence. And, you know, that’s not a do-over, but I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess. ... That is a do-over that I can’t do.”
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Asked, what is your “Greatest accomplishment? The one thing you’re proudest of?” BUSH: “I keep recognizing we’re in a war against ideological thugs and keeping America safe.”
Greatest disappointment? BUSH: “Well, I mentioned one, and that is no weapons of mass destruction.” So disappointing.
WHEREIN GEORGE BUSH SAYS SOMETHING I TOTALLY AND UNRESERVEDLY AGREE WITH: “I’d like to live life without the limelight for a while. I don’t -- I think it’s going to be real important for me to get off the stage.”
IN OTHER WORDS: “Steve Hadley and I were sitting around... I said, wouldn’t it be interesting for baby boomers not to retire in nice places, but to retire -- during their retirement, go help people deal with malaria or AIDS. In other words -- and I’m not suggesting that’s what I’m going to do, but it is the kind of thing that intrigues me.” Oh God, don’t they have enough to deal with, with the malaria or AIDS?
BUBBLE BABBLE: “Oh, I don’t know. I mean, you’re going to have to be in a bubble during this here because the enemy would like to do nothing more than do you in. So, I mean, that’s a necessary part of the job. You know, yes -- I mean, believe me you understand what’s going on in the world. This idea about how the president doesn’t understand this, that, or the other, just simply is not the case. I mean, there’s a lot of information that comes through the White House.”
THE COMFORTER-IN-CHIEF IS ALWAYS THE COMFORTED PERSON: “Well, I’ll miss being Commander-in-Chief. ... And I’ll miss -- and it’s going to sound strange to you -- I’ll miss meeting with the families whose son or daughter have fallen in combat, because the meetings I’ve had with the families are so inspirational.” So it’s all been worth while, as long as their deaths are so inspirational for you, because it’s all about you, you callous fucking egomaniac. “They -- I mean, obviously, there’s a lot of sadness, and we cry, and we hug, and we occasionally laugh. And we share -- I listen to stories. But the Comforter-in-Chief is always the comforted person. Believe it or not, I’ll miss going to the hospitals as the Commander-in-Chief, and looking a kid in the eye, and have him say, heal me up, Mr. President, I want to go back in.” Believe it... or not. Actually, I can believe it, you... did I already call you a callous fucking egomaniac?
Laura says she talked to Michelle Obama about closets but not about the job of First Lady: “she didn’t ask for any advice like that, and I didn’t give her any.” But if Michelle had asked, what advice would Laura have given her? Answers in comments, please.
