Letters to the Editor
ScottyRVA
Published Letters: 47 Editor's Choice: 11
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oh really
[Read the article: Peggy Noonan is a serious "grown-up"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Mr. Bush is the triumph of the seemingly average American man. He's normal. He thinks in a sort of common-sense way. He speaks the language of business and sports and politics. You know him. He's not exotic. But if there's a fire on the block, he'll run out and help. He'll help direct the rig to the right house and count the kids coming out and say, "Where's Sally?"
He's responsible. He's not an intellectual. Intellectuals start all the trouble in the world. And then when the fire comes they say, "I warned Joe about that furnace." And, "Does Joe have children?" And "I saw a fire once. It spreads like syrup. No, it spreads like explosive syrup. No, it's formidable and yet fleeting." When the fire comes they talk.
Bush ain't that guy. Republicans love the guy who ain't that guy. Americans love the guy who ain't that guy.
Mr. Bush is the triumph of the seemingly average American man
Because that’s what we want from our leaders, average? God forbid that we would want people with talent and incite and a skill set that prepared them for the role of leader, Peggy’s America wants a president who won’t make them feel inferior by using big words or bring up difficult questions.
He's normal. He thinks in a sort of common-sense way. He speaks the language of business and sports and politics. You know him.
Oh really?
"Tribal sovereignty means that; it's sovereign. I mean, you're a -- you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities." --Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004
"I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah." --at a White House menorah lighting ceremony, Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2001
"I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president." --as quoted in Bob Woodward's Bush at War
"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe -- I believe what I believe is right." --Rome, Italy, July 22, 2001
"Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled." --explaining his plan to save Social Security, Tampa, Fla., Feb. 4, 2005
But if there's a fire on the block, he'll run out and help. He'll help direct the rig to the right house and count the kids coming out and say, "Where's Sally?"
OK wait, if there’s a fire on the block here’s what happens. Bush freezes up at first and then he kind of panics and runs around while others handle calling the fire department. Soon Bush is seen standing on his front lawn ordering people around and wearing a firemen’s coat and boots. He tells people he used to be a fireman or wanted to be or some such nonsense while the fire crackles away in the background. The old dilapidated fire truck finally arrives. It might be remembered that Bush convinced the block to spend money on an elaborate earthquake prevention machine that now sits rusting in his backyard and cost a hundred times as much as the smoke detectors that Bush said the block also didn’t need. But that’s for the intellectuals to debate.
As the first weak jets of water begin to play over the fire which spreads like syrup. No, it spreads like explosive syrup. No, it's formidable and yet fleeting, sorry I know, Intellectuals start all the trouble in the world. So at this point Bush runs to the Fire-Marshall and orders him to direct his hoses on the broken down shack of a fellow Bush has been quarreling with for years. It’s across the street and it’s not on fire but it does sit on some land that Bush and his friends have had their eyes on for years. A number of people point out that the shack isn’t on fire and that all the children aren’t out of the burning house yet, “where IS Sally”? But Uncle Dick is now on the scene and he says that the best course would be to burn the shack before it catches fire, and before you know it the block is ablaze...
Some the folks on the block are mad at Bush for ruining the block and making the other neighborhoods in the area mad at all of them. They have books that say don’t set your house on fire and that show you how to prevent it from happening by accident, they have long memories and they pool their knowledge and experience of past disasters to try and avoid new ones. One guy steps up and suggests that maybe Bush shouldn’t be allowed to bully the block into doing stupid, counter productive things, that someone more thoughtful and trustworthy should be in charge… But of course his hair is too nice, or he windsurfs, or he’s a she or black of something…
Bush ain't that guy. Republicans love the guy who ain't that guy. Americans love the guy who ain't that guy.
End of tutored analogy. Actually it wasn’t tortured; we don’t torture analogies in America