Posted on 11/22/2004 1:30:55 PM PST by GretchenM
The [APEC] summit in ... Chile, was the site of a ... kerfuffle... over the weekend, as the Chileans picked fights with the U.S. Secret Service and lost. The first ... involved Nick Trotta ... in President Bush's security detail. As the president ... entered ..., "Chilean officers, who appeared to be waiting for the moment, stepped in front of Trotta, blocking him from entering," ...
U.S. officials said Chilean police had been chafing for a week about a demand by Secret Service agents that they control the president's space...
... amid a flurry of half nelsons, one Secret Service agent wound up jammed against a wall. "You're not stopping me! ...I'm with the president!" an unidentified agent can be heard yelling on videotape...
... The president, who is rarely alone ...turned and walked back to the front door unaccompanied, facing the backs of a sea of dark suits. Bush, with his right hand, reached over the suits and pointed insistently at Trotta. At first the officials ... did not realize it was the president intervening. Bush then braced himself against someone and lunged to retrieve the agent, who was still arguing with the Chileans. The shocked Chilean officials then released Trotta.
Trotta walked in behind Bush, who looked enormously pleased with himself. He was wearing the expression that some critics call a smirk, and his eyebrows shot up as if to wink at bystanders.
The Post quotes Marcelo Romero, a Chilean reporter: "All of us journalists agree that President Bush looked like a cowboy. It was total breach of protocol. I've seen a lot of John Wayne movies, and President Bush was definitely acting like a cowboy." Apparently some journalists think that's a bad thing.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Oh, I see, in the manner in which John Wayne used it. How apropos!
Some journalists are idiots, plain and simple.
LOL
Hey Chillayins! We aint Played Cowboys and South Americans Yet! Partner
Here I thought Chile was a somewhat sensible country (they got some commendable social security reforms accomplished, after all).
But no more Chilean grapes for me. Too bad, they were pretty good.
From the same Summit
You can put a cowboy in a suit and tie, but he's STILL a cowboy.
WE LOVE OUR COWBOY!
YUP, that's our newly re-elected and mandated President alright. Deal with it Chile. Bwahahahahah!!
Prairie
Bush often looks like a cowboy, he's self-confident Texan who is physically fit and works outside.
Chile calls cowboys Gauchos, right?
Gauchos wear ponchos.
And who looked most fitting in his?
Geez... I mean, where's Pinochet when we really need him, eh? ;0)
The bad guys were foiled. AGAIN.
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Now thats a MAN!
You are exactly correct! I fervent hope is that this episode is being examined up one side and down that other and even tighter demands will be made by SS before the President goes to any other countries.
If they cannot accept that the US President has special security needs and if the leader of that country won't agree to metal detector screenings at minimum for state dinners, then they have NO business holding these summit meetings.
Prairie
To our Chilean friends - when you're dealing with idiots, someone has to take charge. He's our cowboy and we like it that way. BTW, to call someone a cowboy is a high honor.
"I've seen a lot of John Wayne movies, and President Bush was definitely acting like a cowboy."
I do not believe you senor Romero. You have seen the post modern leftwing critiques of John Wayne movies, not the movies themselves.
If you had, you would love the way our President took charge...just like a cowboy!
"I've seen a lot of John Wayne movies, and President Bush was definitely acting like a cowboy"
May I humbly point out that he is OUR cowboy?
Oh, really. Chileans can't face the fact that GW smacked them hard. The US President will not take crap. That's the bottom line. Get used to it.
(John) Wayne addresses people as "Pilgrim" in several films. In THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962), he used that response with James Stewart. And in the chaotic mudpit battle in McLINTOCK, Wayne acknowledges screen tough Leo Gordon as "Pilgrim" ... and then clobbers him.
He's cute and he's sweet and loving, and an amazing, talented, strong and decisive cowboy at the same time.
As a couple they're indomitable and there's a lot more to Laura than many realize.
Great pic. I take.
Exactamente.
I try to understand how other nations feel. Imagine if you lived in a country where, no matter how hard you and your people tried, hardly anyone outside your borders ever gave much thought to your country, your nation's needs and accomplishments, etc., because of the Big Guy up North overshadowing everything?
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