Letters to the Editor
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"A hard little man . . ." (George2)
A few years back there was a famous photographer on Charlie Rose. (Forgive me -- I forget his name.) This man had taken iconic shots of everyone of celebrity or infamy from Winston Churchill on. If you've ever been a photographer or a videographer, you know what an intimate process shooting someone is.
Every single person interested this photographer. Even the villains. He grokked and savored their uniqueness.
This was back in Charlie Rose's era of having swilled the WMD-9/11 terrors koolaid. If not quite a toady for the Bush Administration in that timeframe, he, like Ms. Miller, was a bit of a chalabi. (If I may update quisling.)
This was a confection show as was appropriate. A lot of stunning portraits. Tabloidism at a caviar level.
Friskily with a certain sychophance like a Golden Retriever puppy, Charlie asks Mr. Photo, "You shot a portrait of our (sic) President when he was governor of Texas?"
All the air went out of the room. The amusing flock of anecdotes all fell out of the sky like dead birds. There was a long silence, ghastly on TV. Mr. Photo's voice lost all its buttery over-&-undertones, and he said with flint, "He's a hard little man."
The president, George W. Bush was the only figure of the past 54 years that this observant photographer had not either loved, liked, or been interested in. It was that moment, I think when I felt the rising menace of this cold and colorless of soul Administration most starkly.
Mr. Photo, pressed for more comment, said, "We were alone in a room in the Governor's mansion and as I was setting up the shots, Governor Bush just watched me warily through slitted eyes. He is a hard little man."
Mr. Photo did not say it except between the lines. But Mr. Bush was right to be wary. As many tribes in less modern lands knew, a photo can show your soul. Awkward if you don't have one.