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Ref. : Civic Events
Ref. : Arts & Education Events
Ref. : Public Service Notices
05.17 Why American Colleges Are Becoming a Force for Inequality
05.17 Why Private Schools Are Dying Out
Ref. : Letters to the editor
05.20 Climate Change Denial is Costing us Trillions, Threatening Farming, Fishing, Animals (Video)
05.20 Blinding Us From Science
05.20 The Baltimore Lead Study [3:17 video]
05.19 A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit
05.18 Four Examples from the Last Week Prove Obama Is Full of Hot Air on Climate Protection
05.17 The Murky World of Hospital Prices
05.17 New Jersey Hospital Is the Costliest in the Nation
05.17 Angelina Jolie has done something extraordinary
05.17 Obama must Make Fighting Climate Change National Project, or Die the death of a thousand Scandals
05.17 Study: Why Pot Smokers Are Skinnier
05.16 What Will It Take for Us to Recognize That the Way We Live Could Be Destroying Life as We Know It?
05.16 How Drug Companies Keep Medicine Out of Reach
05.15 Don't Look Now, but Our Medicare Spending Projections Are Plummeting
05.15 No Benefit Seen in Sharp Limits on Salt in Diet
05.15 Why the world faces climate chaos
05.14 US Supreme Court finds for Monsanto in seed patent battle (Update 2)
05.13 Austerity and the Unraveling of European Universal Health Care
05.13 Global Warming: Halfway to a Mass Extinction Event?
05.13 Coming Corporate Control of Medicine Will Throw Patients Under the Bus
05.12 The giants of the green world that profit from the planet's destruction
05.11 Psychiatrists under fire in mental health battle
Video Health Care Systems in Less Corrupt Countries
05.11 Ongoing rule: Once a demon, always a demon!
05.11 FCC: Fronting For Corporations?
05.11 FCC: Fronting For Corporations?
05.11 The news media is even worse than you think
Daily FAIR Blog
The Daily Howler
05.18 Senator wants U.S. in oil price-fixing probe
05.18 Timothy Geithner Is Key To IRS Scandal
05.16 Why Won't the SEC Rein In the Firms That Tanked America's Economy?
05.16 Elizabeth Warren to Obama Administration: Take the Banks to Court, Already!
05.15 The IRS should do more, not less, scrutinizing of political groups
05.15 Did the IRS illegally target the Tea Party? Seven questions answered.
05.14 IRS kept shifting targets in tax-exempt groups scrutiny: report
05.12 Authorities Announce tax Haven Investigation
05.17 The Great American Descent into Plutocracy
05.17 The Real Benghazi Scandal
05.16 Take Politics Away From the I.R.S.
05.16 Should 501(c)(4)’s Be Eliminated?
05.16 What We Mean When We Say 'Race Is a Social Construct'
05.12 The Assault on Food Stamps Takes Legislative Form, and Jamie Dimon Profits!
05.11 The Military’s 40-Year Experiment
05.11 Student Debt Slows Growth as Young Spend Less
05.11 'Purity' culture: bad for women, worse for survivors of sexual assault
05.11 At Least 71 Kids Have Been Killed by Guns Since Newtown
05.11 Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford Commencement Address [15:05 video]
05.11 The Good, the Bad and the Crazy [6:05 video]
05.20 Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills
05.20 Is EVERY Market Rigged?
05.19 Can two senators end ‘too big to fail’?
05.18 Pope blames tyranny of capitalism for making people miserable[1:00 video]
05.18 A Simple Graph That Should Silence Austerians and Gold Bugs Forever [graph]
05.18 The Savings Heist
05.18 Sheila Krumholz and Danielle Brian on How Money Rules Washington [20:31 video]
05.14 10 Scenes From The Economic Collapse That Is Sweeping Across The Planet
05.14 The Vicious New Bank Shakedown That Could Seriously Ruin Your Life
05.14 Neo-liberalism – the antithesis to democracy [charts]
05.14 Bloomberg: "Coup d’Etat to Trade Seen in Billionaire Toxic Lead Fight"
05.13 Mel Watt, Nominee to Head FHFA, Opposes Administration by Voting to Deregulate Derivatives
05.12 IRS Blunder Gives Republicans Ammunition in Effort to Defund the Agency
05.12 Visualizing the World’s Tax Havens [Infographic]
05.11 A New Era for Worker Ownership, 5 Years in the Making
Ref. : Susan Crawford on Why U.S. Internet Access is Slow, Costly and Unfair [25:35 video]
Ref. : Nurses vs. High-Speed Traders
Ref. : We’re More Unequal Than You Think – Graphic: Unequal rise in income
05.19 Italy coalition: Thousands rally in Rome against cuts [graphic]
05.18 Hans Rosling: the man who's making data cool [3:19 video]
05.18 Washington gets explicit: its 'war on terror' is permanent
05.17 Egypt 'suffering worst economic crisis since 1930s'
05.16 Catholic Church Finally Decides That Austerity is Bad
05.15 Retirement: How They Do It Elsewhere
05.15 Europeans disillusioned and divided by debt crisis, survey finds
05.14 Interview: NATO Supreme Allied Commander on Syria and Soft Power
05.14 Spain is officially insolvent: get your money out while you still can
05.14 Cayman Islands Spars With Sachs Over Hedge Fund Directorships
05.13 Cornel West: 'They say I'm un-American'
05.13 27% of Spaniards are out of work. Yet in one town everyone has a job
05.11 U.S. Currently Fighting 74 Different Wars ... That It Will Publicly Admit
05.11 Tax evasion still crippling Africa as rich countries fail to deliver support
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PERSPECTIVE:
Bush's Disdainful Presidency
Animal House in the West Wing
So, when U.S. News cited “a top insider” describing how Bush likes to fart in the presence of junior White House staffers as a joke on them, the item was given the boys-will-be-boys title: “Animal House in the West Wing.”
According to U.S. News, Bush was just “a funny, earthy guy who, for example, can’t get enough of fart jokes. He’s also known to cut a few for laughs, especially when greeting new young aides.” Bush was described, too, as someone who “loves to cuss [and] gets a jolly when a mountain biker wipes out trying to keep up with him.” [U.S. News, Aug. 20, 2006]
But Bush’s behavior could be viewed in a less sympathetic light. Given his famous thin skin whenever he feels slighted, his eagerness to demean others could be interpreted as a sign of his dynastic authority, a modern-day droit du seigneur in which he can humiliate others but they can’t return the favor.
Indeed, this tendency to assert his superior position over others by subjecting them to degrading treatment has been a recurring part of Bush’s persona dating back at least to his days as an “enforcer” on his father’s presidential campaigns.
Later in the campaign, when Newsweek ran a cover story with the image of George H.W. Bush on a boat with the headline, “Fighting the Wimp Factor,” a furious George W. Bush enforced a year-long punishment of Newsweek by barring the magazine’s reporters from access to key campaign insiders.
As Texas governor, Bush would mock people on Death Row. In a famous interview with conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, Bush imitated condemned murderess Carla Faye Tucker’s unsuccessful plea for clemency. “Please don’t kill me,” Bush whimpered through pursed lips, mimicking the woman he had put to death.
In another example of Bush’s put-down humor, the Texas governor lined up with a group of men for a photo and fingered the man next to him. “He’s the ugly one!” Bush laughed, before realizing that the incident was being observed by a reporter. [NYT, Aug. 22, 1999]
Other times, Bush showed how prickly he can be when facing criticism. During a campaign stop in Naperville, Ill., Bush groused to his running mate, Dick Cheney, about what Bush considered negative coverage from New York Times reporter Adam Clymer. “There’s Adam Clymer – major league asshole – from the New York Times,” Bush said as he was waving to a campaign crowd from a stage in Naperville, Ill.
“Yeah, big time,” responded Cheney. Their voices were picked up on an open microphone.
During a presidential debate in 2000, Bush was back to making light of Texas executions. While arguing against the need for hate-crimes laws, Bush said the three men convicted of the racially motivated murder of James Byrd were already facing the death penalty.
“It’s going to be hard to punish them any worse after they’re put to death,” Bush said, with an out-of-place smile across his face. Beyond the inaccuracy of his statement – one of the three killers had received life imprisonment – there was that smirk again when discussing people on Death Row.
At a press conference at his Crawford ranch on Aug. 24, 2001, Bush called on a Texas reporter who had covered Bush as governor. Bush said the young reporter was “a fine lad, fine lad,” drawing laughter from the national press corps.
The Texas reporter then began to ask his question, “You talked about the need to maintain technological ...” But Bush interrupted the reporter to deliver his punch line: “A little short on hair, but a fine lad. Yeah.”
As Bush joined in the snickering, the young reporter paused and acknowledged meekly, “I am losing some hair.”
Bush’s joy in mocking bald men didn’t stop with reporters.
At a joint White House press conference May 16, 2006, with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Bush slipped in a couple of zingers about Howard’s bald head and supposed homeliness.
Bush joshed, “Somebody said, ‘You and John Howard appear to be so close, don’t you have any differences?’ And I said, ‘yes, he doesn’t have any hair.’”
Getting a round of laughs from reporters, Bush moved on to his next joke: “That’s what I like about John Howard,” Bush said. “He may not be the prettiest person on the block, but when he tells you something you can take it to the bank.”
Howard played the role of gracious guest, smiling and saying nothing in response to the unflattering comments about his physical appearance.
In a generally flattering portrait of Bush in the 2003 book, The Right Man, former Bush speechwriter David Frum acknowledged that Bush often used sarcasm to dress down his subordinates as well as his political opponents.
Bush is “impatient and quick to anger; sometimes glib, even dogmatic; often uncurious and as a result ill informed,” Frum wrote. When referring to environmentalists, Bush would call them “green-green lima beans,” according to Frum.
Other times, Bush’s harsh humor has complicated U.S. foreign policy, including the tense relations with North Korea. During a lectern-pounding tirade before Republican leaders in May 2002, Bush insulted North Korea’s diminutive dictator Kim Jong Il by calling him a “pygmy,” Newsweek reported. The slur quickly circulated around the globe.
While many Bush backers find his acid tongue and biting humor refreshing – the sign of a “politically incorrect” politician – some critics contend that Bush’s casual insults fit with a dynastic sense of entitlement toward the presidency and toward those he rules.
In a round-table discussion on Dec. 23, 2001, Russert joined New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and First Lady Laura Bush in ruminating about whether divine intervention had put Bush in the White House to handle the crisis. Russert asked Mrs. Bush if “in an extraordinary way, this is why he was elected.” Mrs. Bush disagreed with Russert’s suggestion that “God picks the President, which he doesn’t.”
This hagiographic treatment of Bush might have been intended to boost his confidence in the face of a national crisis. But the flattery instead seems to have fed an egotism that devoured any remaining self-doubts.
The swelling of Bush’s head was apparent in his interview for Bob Woodward’s Bush at War, which took a largely flattering look at Bush’s “gut” decision-making but reported some disturbing attitudes within the White House.
“I am the commander, see,” Bush told Woodward. “I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being the President. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they need to say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.”
So, Bush had come to see himself as beyond accountability, much as ancient royalty viewed their own powers as unlimited under the divine right of kings. In the traditional droit du seigneur, a nobleman had the right to deflower the bride of a male subject on their first night of marriage.
Now we’re told that George W. Bush has another way of demonstrating his supremacy over subordinates: when new White House aides are brought in to be introduced to the President of the United States, the President farts.
Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent.
This story was published on August 28, 2006.
