James Lileks: What Would John Wayne Do?

Under normal circumstances, there is a word for people who attempt to separate the president from his Secret Service agents, and that word is "dead."

So perhaps the Chilean security agents who detained an agent attached to President Bush should be feeling as if they have a new lease on life, no? Probably not. Some inexplicable spasm of machismo led the Chileans to turn a simple walk to a photo op into a rugby scrum. You can well imagine how the president felt when his ever-present bodyguard evaporated. He was all alone and open to harm, so what did he do? No, Terry McAuliffe, he did not re-enlist in the Texas Air National Guard. He went over to the jostling knot of chest-bumpers and hauled his agent out.

And that's why they hate us! Seriously. So it seems. Said Marcelo Romero, a reporter at Santiago's newspaper La Cuarta: "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."

Again, we must remind the rest of the world: "Cowboy" is not quite the insult you believe it to be. It's like calling a Frenchman a gourmand and expecting him to shrink back in shame.

But distaste for Bush is a global phenomenon. Ask anyone who's been abroad. They hate him.

I have been abroad - extensively - and I beg to differ. There is a very, very large undercurrent of people who are absolutely delighted that Bush has told the entire goose-stepping left that has a stranglehold on world media and academia to pound sand. They're as tired of this would-be ruling class as we are. And his re-election was a monumental "go to hell" pronounced by 61 million Americans, and the American components of that ruling class still can't believe it. Make no mistake about it, their non-American counterparts can't either. They hate Bush because they're afraid of what he means to their own ascendancy.

I don't know about that! Apparently, there is a recent book out about JW. I can't remember the title. However, I don't know if you or how many others ever saw the movie: "Alegenney Uprising"(sp?)? It was a story that took place in the sixteen years between the F&I War, and the AR. There was a charactor of a high British officer played by British actor George Sanders.

Anyway, to make a long story short; apparently GS actually made a snippy off-screen comment about the American effort in the Revolution. Well, JW heard it; and there was almost a fistfight over it!

The story was relayed by an actress that played the love-interest to Wayne's character. She said that the two nearly came to blows over it! But several other people stopped JW, and calmed him down, by saying that although they understood how he felt; they needed to be professional about it, and be civil. JW saw the reasoning, and didn't proceed with his fight with Sanders. They did indeed act civilly to each other, but there was tension between them.

I didn't realize that there was still a little animosity between some people that went on all these years, even in spite of the two sides being allies! But JW was ready to go to "war" over that remark! Most of the people in the production were pretty friendly to each other. They would pal around, and eat lunch together. But George Sanders kept to himself, and didn't hang out with them. I guess some of them didn't like him much. They thought he was being 'snooty' with them.

This lady, Claire Trevor, said something that made me think that Hollywood was still pretty much patriotic at that time. But she also said that going into the 60's, and to his death; JW's brand(her's and some others)of patriotism wasn't much appreciated anymore in Hollywood. This was expressed with some sadness.

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