This happened a while ago. I still think about it and it bothers me. Maybe I'm just unfair because I'm a liberal who thinks Iraq is a stupid mess, so it colors my thinking about Bush.
I thought Bush's joking with the Queen like that was unprofessional (politics IS a profession) and cheeky and it showed a TOTAL lack of respect - as if England is just some tiny cute quaint little thing we can joke about. It made him seem so superior, arrogant and condescending.
His joke wasn't just some quick moment. I thought he really dragged it out a bit and put the Queen on the spot. It just all seemed stupid - like watching an unprofessional grade school play put on by kids (amateurs) when they laugh at themselves, and they think they're cute for it.
I've recently seen the film The Queen, and it made it clear that the Queen takes her job very seriously. Ceremonial functions, done with dignity, is the job of being Queen. If I knew that from a film, why didn't our President know how one behaves during ceremony, and how one treats a British Queen in U.S. public?
Or am I just mad about the U.S. losing another stupid war?
Peter
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Comments: 41
Another angry liberal tearing down a great man
Don H., May 11, 2007, 11:04am ET"
I'm not angry - I'm sad (and I cringe a lot). Bush certainly isn't "a great man". He keeps screwing up. That's not great. That's being "a screw-up", and a smirking screw-up while he's at it.
I still believe his daughters should have shown the ultimate - signed up for the military and serve their country ....hey Prince Harry is over there..and he requested it.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Bush is a bully.
As the rats desert the sinking ship, there are many more stories now coming forward about Bush's delight in putting people in awkward and uncomfortable situations.
He does not have the grace or wit to do otherwise.
Peter, i am not a fan of "the cowboy",but actually i think it was more just a slip of his brain...LOL...and we all know how he likes to go right into "stand-up" comedy mode,so since the Queen went with the flow, i say no harm done....i am also not a fan of the whole royalty pomp and circumstance,but should i ever meet up with any dignitaries,then i would just be my normal courteous self...
i truly do think he missed his calling and should take his act to vegas...hehehe
I used to have a female friend who giggled like a ninny whenever things got tense or tough. Used to make me need to choke her. I think Bush just turns into a bit of a goober in those situations. Sad really, I always thought his father had such poise.
Now, part II: The British Empire and all of those who purport to hail its memory deserves what it gets. Those stuffy tyrants dominated the scene with global oppression for how many hundreds of years? They firmly entrenched slavery in the colonies and pretended that they didn't know about it while they made fortunes off of it and all of us, black and white. They purposely did their best to extinguish entire cultures, accused with shipping food out of Ireland during the Great Hunger where estimates suggest that more than one million people died in the three years from 1846 to 1849 - at least 12% of the population, while two million refugees emigrated to Great Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia as well as the Caribbean Islands and wherever one could get passage to or paid for by some else. Queen Victoria ordered the extermination of the culture where musical instruments were piled high into bonfires and anyone caught speaking their native language was cruelly punished. Churches and schools were closed under British rule, and what is referred to by the Britons as "The Ascendancy," which is code for "we come in, steal your land, kick you out, become your landlords and ruling class" decimated the country. (This ought to answer any questions as to the ongoing state of affairs in Ireland.)
My point? I have a certain respect for the Queen and her parents because of what they did to keep morale afloat during World War II. She is surrounded by no lack of idiots under the guise of family, relatives and in-laws, which is not her fault, however, we did win a war to get rid of those people and Americans are not even supposed to curtsy to the Queen, so...some cultural gap is just the price paid for them trying to squeeze the life out of our great, great, great, great, great grandparents. They always considered the colonies to be overrun with the clueless and the uncouth, anyway, so I seriously doubt that Her Majesty was very shocked.
BTW, I was disappointed to have missed The Queen in the theaters, can't wait to see it on DVD.
Any David Attenborough natural history series?
BBC/ITV costume dramas?
Single dramas?
Taggart?
The Office?
Catherine Tait?
OK, it's too early in my day to think of any others at present!!!
I think most of the country just shook their heads sadly and cringed....
Not necessarily in regards to any real or imagined respect due to a woman such as Elizabeth II,
But in regards to his absolute lack of awareness ...
You put it well: "It just all seemed stupid - like watching an unprofessional grade school play put on by kids (amateurs) when they laugh at themselves, and they think they're cute for it."
That in itself does not have to mean a leader/president is incompetent... There are plenty of other examples for that.... ad nausium ... (nausium indeed)
"You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." --George W. Bush, interview with CBS News' Katie Couric, Sept. 6, 2006
"And I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company." --George W. Bush, defending a plan to allow a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates to manage ports in the United States, aboard Air Force One, Feb. 21, 2006
"The best thing about my family is my wife. She is a great first lady. I know that sounds not very objective, but that's how I feel. And she's also patient. Putting up with me requires a lot of patience." --George W. Bush, Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007
Not only well mannered, but a brillian public speaker! It's not you, hon, honest.
..
U
As to your original question Peter, the Queen did seem to be enjoying herself. Perhaps it was like in "Van Wilder" when Van Wilder partied with the parents or in "Head of State" when Chris Rock danced with the guests. Everyone needs to just kick it and relax at some point. Maybe the interaction with Bush gave the Queen the permission she needed to do that. Or maybe she was just being polite. Only she knows for sure.
Bush Dream
His inspiration =
Hnykel's Dream
too bad, however, that Bush's dreams of world conquest are not fictional