Posted on 09/15/2009 5:43:14 PM PDT by Steelfish
New Book Claims George W Bush Said Barack Obama 'Has No Clue'
George W Bush believed Barack Obama was "a cat" who "has no clue", dismissed Sarah Palin as a nonentity and insulted Hillary Clinton's posterior, according to a new account of life in the White House under the former president.
Alex Spillius in Washington 15 Sep 2009
George W Bush believed Barack Obama was "a cat" who "has no clue", according to a new book.
For all his politeness in public, Mr Bush is alleged to have privately mocked fellow big name politicians, claims his former speech writer Matt Latimer, whose book Speech Less: Tale of a White House Survivor has been awaited with some anxiety by members of the previous administration.
In extracts published by GQ magazine, Latimer writes: "He came in one day to rehearse a speech, fuming. 'This is a dangerous world,' he said for no apparent reason, 'and this cat [Obama] isn't remotely qualified to handle it. This guy has no clue, I promise you'."
Latimer, who was appointed in the last months of Mr Bush's presidency, had intimate access to the workings of the administration. Of Mrs Palin, then Governor of Alaska and the vice-presidential nominee for his own Republican party, Mr Bush allegedly said: "I'm trying to remember if I've met her before. What is she, the governor of Guam?"
In his dealings with the press, and in accidental recordings with other world leaders, Mr Bush often displayed what has been called a patronising, "frat boy" sense of humour.
Latimer reveals that Mr Bush always believed the former first lady, Mrs Clinton, would win the Democratic nomination but thought she may have underestimated the job at hand.
"Wait till her fat keister is sitting at this desk," he said, using slang for backside.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Well, he was right about Hillary’s @$$ and the cat.
0 may not have Clue, but he likes to play battleship with components of the US economy.
Wait till her fat keister is sitting at this desk,” he said, using slang for backside...
____________________________________________________
Geez George, if Bill had a pair he might look you up for that insult...don’t worry Hillary has the pair in that family!
The Palin/Guam remark has already been refuted. Bush and Palin had met each other in Alaska three weeks before Bush supposedly made this comment.
Well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
>>> “...in accidental recordings with other world leaders...” <<<
What is the author’s first language?
From CNN political ticker:
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A former aide to George W. Bush and Sarah Palin is dismissing a claim by onetime Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer that the former president was clueless about Palin when she was tapped as John McCain’s running mate last August.
Latimer writes in a new book — scheduled for release in October — that Bush wasn’t even aware of Palin when she was picked.
“‘What is she, the governor of Guam?’” Bush reportedly asked. Latimer also writes that Bush told aides that the then-Alaska governor was “not even remotely prepared” for the national stage.
But Jason Recher, who served as special assistant to President Bush and as a traveling aide to Palin during the campaign, said the former President was well aware of Palin — especially since the two met in person in Alaska just three weeks before Palin was added to the Republican ticket.
During a stopover in Fairbanks on the way to the Beijing Olympics last August, Recher said Bush met with Palin and even made a knowing reference to her rising reputation in the Republican Party.
“The president was fully aware of who Sarah Palin was,” Recher told CNN. “Even so much that when he greeted the governor and Todd in Fairbanks during a re-fueling stop on the way to the Beijing Olympics, he threw open his arms and said “Madam Vice President!’”
“He was very aware of her rising-star status and who she was and everything about her, even down to the fact that she recently had given birth to Trig,” Recher said.
After Palin became the vice presidential nominee, Recher said the White House loaned out both he and Laura Bush’s photographer Shealah Craighead to the McCain campaign to help staff Palin and her family.
Recher said Bush and Palin had a warm relationship and talked multiple times throughout the campaign, including after a large campaign rally near Orlando in September and after the Vice Presidential debate in October.
“There is no air, no space between them,” Recher said. “Sarah Palin is a big fan of George Bush, and she has said publicly she was proud he was Commander-in-Chief when her son Track was in Iraq.”
Recher, who traveled with President Bush nearly every day for the final three years of his presidency, questioned just how plugged-in Latimer was at the White House.
“I think that most people that used to work at the White House would be hard pressed to pick him out of a lineup,” Recher said. “Nobody knows who he is. When people heard he was writing a book the most common reaction has been, ‘Who?’
And from NRO:
At NRO, Dana Perino also pushes back:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=N2U2MjBhYmMzNTE2YjI1NjVlZTE2NTNkYzQzZjdjYTM=
For example, he writes that President Bush didn’t know who Sarah Palin was. That’s rubbish — Bush had just met Palin the previous month in Alaska, and he mentioned that to me literally two seconds after McCain made his announcement.
It sounds like some research into the author may be in order. Is he shopping himself out to the highest Democrat bidder for a job?
Or more likely he’s looking for a payday and some shocking “insider” gossip from the Bush White House would be a great way to sell books to outraged Obama and Clinton supporters looking for more material to hate on Bush with/for.
bump
In truth, Obama isn’t a terribly bright guy. He seems about average to me. Anyone who was a living witness to the last quarter of the 20th century and still thinks socialism can work must be pretty stupid
exactly ... looks to me like someone trying to cash in on “Bush Derangement Syndrome”, and there are prolly enuf of that variety of deranged moonbats around for him to make a buck.
Nevermind whether the allegations are true or not ... that is irrelevant to the task at hand.
W may have said it in jest. Unlike Bambi, he does have a good sense of humor.
“Cat” as in “p***y”?
Was he talking about Bush 41? Perhaps the author is being purposely misleading, in order to rocket his book sales.
That just makes Bush's comment worse, he stupidly and pointlessly dismisses fellow Republican Sarah Palin.
“”Wait till her fat keister is sitting at this desk,” he said, using slang for backside.”
No. Is that really what “keister” means?
Did he have to say “there is no air, no space between them”? That wasn’t exactly a helpful remark.
Saying she wasn’t prepared for the nat’l stage right after she was picked isn’t really a criticism of her anyway. No one is prepapred for the nat’l stage. She had just gone from obscurity to the most talked about and reported on person in the world out of 6 Billion + people. WHo would be prepared for that?
Besides, it’s more than obvious he knew who she was and as has been reported they had been together only weeks before and he had met her before that on trips to the WH as part of the Governor’s Association.
Are we really supposed to believe the man who was the leader of the GOP for 9 years running and was a former GOP Governor himself didn’t know a woman who was mentioned as one of the party’s up and coming young leaders and had been mentioned numerous times in connection with the VP position? That the GOP President didn’t know who a GOP Governor was? And of a state with vital strategic, military and energy programs and resources no less? Bush knew every GOP Senator, Congressman, Governor, etc... That as a normal heterosexual male he simply forgot about the 3+ times he met her including only weeks earlier? Please.
A lot of the quotes just ring false. I doubt Bush would ever call Obama “this cat”. People just don’t talk like that anymore. Certainly a multimilionaire who has spent his adult life in Texas, was a product of an Eastern prep school and Yale and Harvard, and is a member in good standing of the Establishment. I think the writer was watching one too many mod squad reruns or listening to too much Miles Davis.
I also don’t see him insulting Hillary’s weight or using the word keister. Even those opposed to him concede he’s a decent guy and not hurtful or mean. Especially to the Clintons who he’s friendly with.
‘That just makes Bush’s comment worse, he stupidly and pointlessly dismisses fellow Republican Sarah Palin.’
How, since those comments have been refuted by Bush staff members?
The anecdote from Latimer is a lie. Duh!
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