Monday, November 01, 2004
Did you know....
...that the current Bush administration has never hosted a state dinner? Now, let me clarify one thing - this news came from a rather unique source. I took a cheese and bread making class at a local dairy yesterday, and it turns out that they have supplied cheese to the White House chef for the past two administrations. Since the Bush's have the same chef as the Clinton's did, nothing has changed. Except entertaining.
Now, stop and think about this for a moment. Every president has allotted a certain amount of time for entertaining at state dinners (Bush Sr. was a BIG fan of hosting dinners). Yes, they're political and I'm sure they're as much fun as your company Christmas party; still, they build and strengthen necessary bonds between allies and potential allies. They put a human face on politics and (I'm sure) lead to many "behind the scenes" deals.
If you were a card carrying Republican, I suppose you could argue that we are a nation at war, and hosting such unnecessary events as dinners is a frivilous luxury we can't afford. I'm not buying it. Could it be that we host no state dinners because:
1) We're running out of allies to attend? "Hey Laura: the German, French, Belgian, Canadian, Greek, Austrian and Mexican ambassadors all have dentist appointments and can't make tonight's soiree. That leaves us and the Blair's again; wanna do the usual take-out Chinese and rental-porn-wife-swap thing?"
2) George Bush really can't be trusted to interact with world leaders without his handlers? Think about it; in times of crisis, it's not Bush deep inside the bunker - it's Dick Cheney.
And vacations - don't get me started on vacations. Has any president had as much down time as Bush? Where is he awaiting the election results? You guessed it; Crawford, Texas. Do you get the feeling that Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, et. al. want him out of sight and out of Washington as much as possible? Can't let the president get in the way of running the country, now can we...
My wife's got a great theory, and it's probably the only reason I'm not moving to Canada if Bush gets re-elected. She thinks that a year or so into the administration, Cheney will resign for "health reasons". The guy's got a bad ticker and knows he'll never be president (which is, anyway, a step down from his current position as dictator). She thinks that the ace up the Republican's sleeve will be Rudy Giuliani.
The irony? I'd vote for Giuliani in a heartbeat. He's tough, he's fair and he's intelligent - all the things I want in a president. It's a damn shame he's not running this year, because I'd feel a lot better voting for a candidate I admire instead of one that just sucks less than the other.
Think it's too late to start a grass roots write in campaign for Rudy?
Now, stop and think about this for a moment. Every president has allotted a certain amount of time for entertaining at state dinners (Bush Sr. was a BIG fan of hosting dinners). Yes, they're political and I'm sure they're as much fun as your company Christmas party; still, they build and strengthen necessary bonds between allies and potential allies. They put a human face on politics and (I'm sure) lead to many "behind the scenes" deals.
If you were a card carrying Republican, I suppose you could argue that we are a nation at war, and hosting such unnecessary events as dinners is a frivilous luxury we can't afford. I'm not buying it. Could it be that we host no state dinners because:
1) We're running out of allies to attend? "Hey Laura: the German, French, Belgian, Canadian, Greek, Austrian and Mexican ambassadors all have dentist appointments and can't make tonight's soiree. That leaves us and the Blair's again; wanna do the usual take-out Chinese and rental-porn-wife-swap thing?"
2) George Bush really can't be trusted to interact with world leaders without his handlers? Think about it; in times of crisis, it's not Bush deep inside the bunker - it's Dick Cheney.
And vacations - don't get me started on vacations. Has any president had as much down time as Bush? Where is he awaiting the election results? You guessed it; Crawford, Texas. Do you get the feeling that Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, et. al. want him out of sight and out of Washington as much as possible? Can't let the president get in the way of running the country, now can we...
My wife's got a great theory, and it's probably the only reason I'm not moving to Canada if Bush gets re-elected. She thinks that a year or so into the administration, Cheney will resign for "health reasons". The guy's got a bad ticker and knows he'll never be president (which is, anyway, a step down from his current position as dictator). She thinks that the ace up the Republican's sleeve will be Rudy Giuliani.
The irony? I'd vote for Giuliani in a heartbeat. He's tough, he's fair and he's intelligent - all the things I want in a president. It's a damn shame he's not running this year, because I'd feel a lot better voting for a candidate I admire instead of one that just sucks less than the other.
Think it's too late to start a grass roots write in campaign for Rudy?
// posted by John Patmos @ 4:56 AM 
Comments:
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Hey bitterapple - thanks for posting & I'm glad to see you are well. Did you ever sell your bike, or are you still riding?
First, LB was a role I played in a drama that ended a long time ago. I have no involvement with FC anymore and prefer to keep it that way. Yes, you can cut and paste my blog and post it on FC (as someone has done in the past), but I'm asking you not to.
It's possible my information was mis-stated, but it came from a pretty direct source. The dairy owner is friends with the White House chef, and the comment was straight from the chef himself. I'm sure Bush has hosted dinners, but I'm guessing they were for fundraising or political appreciation - sort of a "pat on the back" for Republican fundraisers or loyal party members.
The thing with Bush and vacations is personal, I guess. Yes, I know he works at Crawford and I know (all too well) how easy it is to be accessible on the road. Still, you never hear much about Cheney, et. al on vaction. Perhaps I've been reading too much conspiracy theory, but I stand by my opinion - the people actually RUNNING the country don't want Bush to get in the way.
The bread and cheese thing? It sounded like a cool way to spend a Sunday morning. I learned quite a bit (for example, that the modern cow is descended from an Asian animal called the Oryx), but came to the realization that I'll continue to BUY cheese, not make it.
First, LB was a role I played in a drama that ended a long time ago. I have no involvement with FC anymore and prefer to keep it that way. Yes, you can cut and paste my blog and post it on FC (as someone has done in the past), but I'm asking you not to.
It's possible my information was mis-stated, but it came from a pretty direct source. The dairy owner is friends with the White House chef, and the comment was straight from the chef himself. I'm sure Bush has hosted dinners, but I'm guessing they were for fundraising or political appreciation - sort of a "pat on the back" for Republican fundraisers or loyal party members.
The thing with Bush and vacations is personal, I guess. Yes, I know he works at Crawford and I know (all too well) how easy it is to be accessible on the road. Still, you never hear much about Cheney, et. al on vaction. Perhaps I've been reading too much conspiracy theory, but I stand by my opinion - the people actually RUNNING the country don't want Bush to get in the way.
The bread and cheese thing? It sounded like a cool way to spend a Sunday morning. I learned quite a bit (for example, that the modern cow is descended from an Asian animal called the Oryx), but came to the realization that I'll continue to BUY cheese, not make it.
Darth: I was going for the same point (in a humorous way) with my take out Chinese and rental porn comment.
Looks like I had a swing and a miss at the plate...
Looks like I had a swing and a miss at the plate...
Bikeguy, the cheese and bread making class is something the lemmings will never understand- too educational and no ball involved (except for a dough ball).
I'm lamenting the loss. We'll see where we all end up in four years....
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I'm lamenting the loss. We'll see where we all end up in four years....
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