Real Bush 'At Odds with Media Caricature' says UK Liberal Democrat

Scotsman ^ | 11/21/03 | Chris Moncrieff

[Pikamax]

Fri 21 Nov 2003

2:10pm (UK) Real Bush 'At Odds with Media Caricature'

By Chris Moncrieff, PA News

US President George Bush is “totally at odds” with his media image, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said today.

Mr Campbell, an opponent of the war with Iraq, spoke out on the ePolitix website about his discussions with the President during the state visit.

He said that they discussed directly issues such as Iraq, the Middle East, Guantanamo Bay, Kyoto and trade sanctions.

“He is personally extremely engaging. He has a well-developed sense of humour, is self-deprecating and when he engages in a discussion with you he is warm and concentrates directly on you.

“He looks you straight in the eye and tells you exactly what he thinks.”

Mr Campbell, stressing that the President was “totally at odds” with his media image, went on: “I was not persuaded by what he said, but I was most certainly surprised at the extent to which the caricature of him was inaccurate.”

He believed that the President’s talks with him and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy was the only time during the visit that Mr Bush actually encountered major criticism.

“I suspect we were the only group of politicians in Britain that he met who were challenging his political views.

“He met the Cabinet, Michael Howard and Michael Ancram (shadow foreign secretary).

“I think the Liberal Democrats proved to be a stimulating alternative.”

Mr Campbell said that both Mr Bush and Tony Blair obviously shared very strong views about how to deal with the issue of terrorism.

“My anxiety is that there is too much evangelism in their approach,” he said.

“I think the Prime Minister and the President, although neither of them used the word, nonetheless gave the impression of being on something of a crusade. It is a word that causes great offence in the Middle East.

“You have to be very careful about language in these things. Otherwise it is too easy for the supporters of terrorism to present these things as if it were a Christian West against a Muslim East.”

Mr Campbell doubted whether the visit had been of any real value to the Prime Minister.

“The visit was worthwhile to President Bush. He got the desirable news pictures of himself with the Queen and Mr Blair.

“But if you do a profit and loss account from the view of Number 10 Downing Street, they would be hard pushed to say they were in the black.”

Asked whether he thought the President had been under siege, Mr Campbell said: “When President Clinton came to visit Britain, the problem was keeping the President away from the crowds.

“This time round, the problem has been keeping the crowds away from the President.”

[onyx]

“He is personally extremely engaging. He has a well-developed sense of humour, is self-deprecating and when he engages in a discussion with you he is warm and concentrates directly on you.

“He looks you straight in the eye and tells you exactly what he thinks.”

Mr Campbell, stressing that the President was “totally at odds” with his media image, went on: “I was not persuaded by what he said, but I was most certainly surprised at the extent to which the caricature of him was inaccurate.”

---

Not bad, for a liberal Brit.

[Last Dakotan]

...and that's why he will win re-election easily.

[RightOnline]

Damned by faint praise. Yawn.

[Conservateacher]

“I think the Prime Minister and the President, although neither of them used the word, nonetheless gave the impression of being on something of a crusade."


No they don't use the term. It's the stinking libs worldwide who keep using it!!!!

[gitmo]

Rush had a great take on this. He said the fact that the Labor Party leaders believed these lies about Bush says a lot more about them than it does about Bush.

[Prodigal Son]

Interesting. He must've made quite an impression.

[Billthedrill]

“I think the Prime Minister and the President, although neither of them used the word, nonetheless gave the impression of being on something of a crusade. It is a word that causes great offence in the Middle East.
“You have to be very careful about language in these things.

Well, I agree, but it is, after all, the speaker here that offered that characterization and not Bush or Blair. Perhaps the physician ought to consider enrolling in his own health plan here.

[Prime Choice]

“You have to be very careful about language in these things. Otherwise it is too easy for the supporters of terrorism to present these things as if it were a Christian West against a Muslim East.”

Why do we have to pussyfoot around that? The terrorists themselves have already declared that their war is against the Christian West.

Why is it that when the terrorists cry "JIHAD!", the Liberals don't get their panties in a wad, but if someone says the word "crusade," it's a massively horrible thing?

Oh yeah...I remember now. The Leftists and the terrorists have a common enemy: the United States of America.

[eddie willers]

“When President Clinton came to visit Britain, the problem was keeping the President away from the crowds birds.

[Cicero]

I never cease to be amazed at the standard, ugly caricature of Bush produced by left-wing cartoonists. You know who it is because they all imitate each other. But it has no resemblance to the real Bush at all, either in looks or in expression.

Standard caricature technique is to take some feature, like LBJ's big ears or Nixon's five o'clock shadow, and exaggerate it. That isn't done with Bush. He's simply unrecognizable. And to a large extent, the same is true of the print caricatures of him that the left churns out. Bush a liar? He's about as honest a president as we've had since the time of Ronald Reagan.

[ladyinred]

The media has been lying about President Bush since day one. It is refreshing to see that once someone actually meets the real person, they realize that. I hope this gets good play in England.

[pabianice]

Yet another kick to the New York Times' nuts...

[pfflier]

Damn! Do you mean the press is not telling the true story?? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

[what's up]

The press also portrayed the supreme commander of the allied forced in Europe as a doddering fool once he reached the White House.

What twisted creeps these press people are.

[Tacis]

The portrayal of Bush as not being very bright is a wonderful advantage and one that, I am surprised, the neocumminists have allowed to continue. In fact, it is the ONLY criticism that the late night comics have. They have to go back to Willie to tell stories of shiftiness, corruption, and deceip and they tell such stories almost every night.

[Constantine XIII]

Ode for July Fourth, 1917

by H.P. Lovecraft

As Columbia's brave scions, in anger array'd,
Once defy'd a proud monarch and built a new nation;
'Gainst their brothers of Britain unsheath'd the sharp blade
That hath ne'er met defeat nor endur'd desecration;
So must we in this hour
Show our valour and pow'r,
And dispel the black perils that over us low'r:
Whilst the sons of Britannia, no longer our foes,
Will rejoice in our triumphs and strengthen our blows!

See the banners of Liberty float in the breeze
That plays light o'er the regions our fathers defended;
Hear the voice of the million resound o'er the leas,
As deeds of the past are proclaim'd and commended;
And in splendour on high
Where our flags proudly fly,
See the folds we tore down flung again to the sky:
For the Emblem of England, in kinship unfurl'd,
Shall divide with Old Glory the praise of the world!

Bury'd now are the hatreds of subject and King,
And the strife that once sunder'd an Empire hath vanish'd.
With the fame of the Saxon the heavens shall ring
As the vultures of darkness are baffled and banish'd;
And the broad British sea,
Of her enemies free,
Shall in tribute bow gladly, Columbia to thee:
For the friends of the Right, in the field side by side,
Form a fabric of Freedom no hand can divide!

[TheMole]

I was just thinking the same thing about the cartoons of Bush! You know it's supposed to be him because that's the way they draw him, but it doesn't look anything lie the actual person.

Here's a typical example from France. Bush tells Queen Elizabeth "I'll have another cup of mass destruction tea".

Of course the Queen isn't drawn too flatteringly either. It's a tough world for leftists these days.

[WaterDragon]

Hilarious that he thinks the visit did Dubya some good -- by getting photo-ops with Blair and the Queen -- but did Blair no good!

Right!

[workerbee]

“I think the Liberal Democrats proved to be a stimulating alternative.”

Oh I'm sure they were, old chap.... about as stimulating as Exlax.