so people like this can go and do these sorts of things while being "the king" or "the duke of Crawford" and be self-important while not actually running and ruining the country. It'd be a place to stash all the families with aristocratic ambitions, and it'd help the gossip rag industry a ton! Look at the UK.

I think I'm pretty much as ardent a basher of privilege, and particularly the Bush brand of privilege, as the next person, but this feels like a cheap shot.

A Trifle is an English dessert, composed of layers of fruit, cake, and custard and/or cream. A Mousse is a creamy whipped dessert, often chocolate flavored.

That said, the menu looks quite impressive. I suppose that a better man than bush would be reluctant to partake of such luxurious fare when soldiers are in harms way, but "life goes on" (at least for those who haven't been killed fighting the war).

I think Bush should be impeached and (though probably not possible) jailed for getting us into the Iraq War. I think he's the worst present in generations. However, can we just assume that, though he got us into this war, he and the White House staff can be allowed to celebrate Christmas with the pomp that Presidents normally do? Do we (liberals opposed to the war) really have to try to argue that Bush should be eating army rations as penance. Does this not make us look foolish? Also, relatedly, can we just agree that since Bush cannot make his daughters serve in the Army, that the fact that they do not wish to does not impunge him? It is this sort of argument that makes many moderates/independents think liberals are foolish.

I'm not quite sure what the point of this is. Check and you'll find that the White House had fancy receptions even during the dark days of WW2.

This entry should be read with Jethro Tull's "Christmas Song" playing in the background.

Leaving aside the whole conspicuous consumption thing:

Chicken fried beef tenderloin? Granny Clampett wouldn't do that to beef tenderloin. God these people are just so relentlessly tacky in their efforts to appear like "just folks." I wonder how much time Karl Rove spent editing the menu to appeal to Nascar dads who go bass fishing and make more than two hundred thousand a year.

I think our soldiers who are risking their lives should see that list. They need to see how the president and the wealthy are suffering while our soldiers are underpaid, soldiers are sent overseas without proper body armor, benefits for veterans are cut, families of military serving are standing in line for handouts in North Carolina, many reservists are working on their third tours, and thousands of soldiers are coming home every year missing body parts.

I am sure many of the Halliburton officers will be eating similar spreads at their Christmas get togethers.

In this time of war, shouldn't the Bush's tone down their celebrations? They won't but maybe they really should.

If I was invited to a party anywhere outside of the Deep South and/or one that was not hosted by well-known fun-loving eccentrics which had this menu, I'd think the hosts had lost their minds.

Let me say right now that I come from very modest circumstances (to say the least), that I've traveled extensively in and love the South and that this is not coming from a place of snobbery. There is also no shame in regional cuisine or taste that is dictated by economics. But this is the friggin' White House and they're serving this trashy fare? It's like a hillbilly cartoon of what "fancy" people would eat. Do they have both Ma and Pa Kettle running the kitchen now?

I wouldn't think it possible, but these no-class idiots actually make one yearn for the days of Nancy Reagan.

Halliburton X-mas Suprise! That they have to wait in line 2 hours to get. That they have to wash down with $8 cokes. Merry Christmas, boys.

Well, all I can hope for is that Dick Cheney will have a little of everything followed shortly thereafter by the Big One (cardiac-wise).

I don't get it.

Is this too fancy and too nice, therefore unfair that everyone in the universe can't also partake, or too redneck and not classy enough, therefore should be even more upscale so as not to tarnish the reputation of the white house?

Or maybe it doesn't matter as long as we're all Bush-bashing?

at your house this year, Tim? Or will you be too racked with grief over the casualties to choke down a single bite?

This is a pretty low blow.

I didn't think it was possible, but Tim has actually managed to make me feel sorry for the cretin-in-chief with this pathetic story.

I don't know about "trashy" tastes, but the spread sounds absolutely amazing. Fancy food is my weakness and I've been known to shell out big bucks for meals at some of the top joints in the country, even though I am by no means a person of means. What gets my goat though is that I can't think of a single establishment where I could go and get a similiar spread at any price. There are some really nice holiday buffets around, but not this amazing. Instead you have to be very rich or very powerful to eat like this, and those people saddly are all jaded and will doubt be complaining that the shrimp were bigger last year, and why did they cheap out and use Beef Tenderloin for the chicken fried steak instead of filet mignon.

You're on a roll today. A little puffy refrigerator roll served with some chutney marmalade oyster sauce. Aggggh!

...before I got to the end.

Here I thought you were going to comment on the fact that the menu is not very friendly to those who might prefer to keep Kosher for Hanukkah.

that would be George Allen? We know he didn't give up pork, at least the legislative variety!