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So what's so unusual about about what Bush did? Sounds like someone who is acting like many Texans do. Informal relationship. I guess you think he should be like the British and keep a stiff upper lip.
Here is something that will make you wince, no matter what your opinion of Bush:
Bush summons Canadian leader with a "Yo Harper!"
Mon Jul 7, 5:18 AM ET
TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday kept up his tradition of informal relations with fellow world leaders by summoning Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper with a brusque "Yo Harper!"
Bush and Harper, a rather stiff and shy figure, are in northern Japan for a summit of leaders of the Group of Eight major industrialised countries.
Television footage of a G8 lunch with African leaders showed Bush talking to Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua and saying "Yo Harper! The president of Nigeria."
At a G8 summit in 2006, Bush landed ally Tony Blair in some trouble by calling out "Yo Blair!"
Critics said the greeting showed what they described as the unequal nature of Bush's relationship with Blair, then the British prime minister.
And at the same summit, Bush shocked German chancellor Angela Merkel by briefly massaging her back as he walked behind her chair.
Harper's ties with Bush are sensitive, since critics of Canada's right-wing Conservative government regularly accuse it of taking orders from Washington.
It was not the first time that Bush has surprised Harper in public. In July 2006, after the two men met at the White House for the first time, Bush publicly called the Canadian "Steve".
Analysts said at the time this might actually help Harper dispel questions about the closeness of his relationship with Bush, since no one who even slightly knew the somewhat wooden Canadian leader would ever think of him as "Steve".
Bush has since referred to Harper in public as "Stephen".
Asked for a reaction to the "Yo Harper!" comment, Harper's spokeswoman said she had not been at the lunch.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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Bush is a nice guy. A horrible president, but a nice guy. In any other capacity I would probably like him, as long as he wasn't in charge of my money.
(sigh)
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushclock.htm
So what's so unusual about about what Bush did? Sounds like someone who is acting like many Texans do. Informal relationship. I guess you think he should be like the British and keep a stiff upper lip.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gets all the shoulder massages to herself though.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gets all the shoulder massages to herself though.
Just think of what Clinton would have done. He liked his a little on the chunky side.
Did he fist bump any of them?
Naw, that is reserved for Obama and his wife. But we cant talk about it.
dubya is an adolescent jackass, frozen at frat rat stage emotionally, and 4th grade stage intellectually.
This is just re ed.
Aside from the massaging incident, it's all just nitpicking.
Mind you, I have no love for Dubya, but this is just ridiculous.
Dubya says "Yo!", Obama says "Sweetie" or some like that, McCain can't stop saying "My Friends" . . .
Really, who really gives a about any of this?
Talk about making a story out of nothing....
agreed, it's trivial but dubya totally misreads the formality and serioiusness that other national leaders operate with. dubya's "yo" bull betrays him as a silly jackasss. He really is miles below the other leaders in intellect and political skills.
An embarrassment to USA.
One does not address a head of state with "Yo" in public. It is disrespectful to the country involved.
Do whatever you want in private, but when in public, you must realize that they represent an entire nation and should be accorded dignity and respect accordingly.
I give it about an 12 out of possible 100 on the giva scale. This is very minor, given the monumental stupidity of the rest of this administrtion, but is just "icing on the cake".
I just posted it because it literally made me wince when I read it.
more evidence of the "dumbing down" of America
...Oh, it gets worse.......
Yahooooooooooo!TOYAKO, Japan - Sorry about that, Silvio.
An embarrassed White House apologized on Tuesday for an "unfortunate mistake" — the distribution of less-than-flattering biography of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi at the Group of Eight summit. Still, the gaffe led to headlines in Italy.
The summary of Berlusconi was buried in a nearly inch-thick tome of background that the White House distributed at the summit of major economic powers. The press kit was handed out to the White House traveling press corps.
The biography described Berlusconi as one of the "most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for government corruption and vice."
It was just last month that Berlusconi welcomed Bush to Rome, calling him "a personal friend of mine and also a great friend of Italy." And Bush responded then: "You're right. We're good friends."
Berlusconi is easily the most corrupt politician in Europe. He spends most of his time passing legislation to prevent him and his friends from getting prosecuted for corruption. Which is probably why the Bush administration gets along with him so well....
Modern lib s would've hated Harry Truman.
Be fair. He *was* a weird little human.
If today's Democrats were more like Truman and less like some crazy-ass-batwing-aluminum-hat-wearing-global-warming-believing conspiracy nutjob, I'd probably be a Democrat today.
Ditto. I don't consider myself either, to be honest, but you misunderstood me, I think. My post was actually a (wait for it) reference to (here it comes) a song from Animaniacs about all the presidents (I'm lamer than FDR, aren't I?) in which Truman was described as a weird little human.
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