Bush, Merkel dine on roast pig at homely fest

Expatica's German News in English ^ | July 17, 2006

[snowsislander]

TRINWILLERSHAGEN, GERMANY - US President George W. Bush dined on a roast pig shot in his honour as hunting horns sounded on the final evening of his visit to Germany on Thursday.

Bush himself cut the first slices of piping hot meat at a barbeque held at a defunct collective farm popular with East Germany's communist leaders in the village of Trinwillershagen.

The president, dressed in an open necked blue-checked shirt, appeared in a jovial mood, mingling with guests and drinking what seemed to be beer.

It was not clear whether this was real beer or a non-alcoholic beverage, as the president is known as a strict non-drinker.

Merkel, who the president praised earlier in the day as a "fine chancellor who I'm proud to call a friend," was also dressed casually in a dark jacket and light blue jeans.

Some 800 policemen protected the gathering, more than the entire 780 population of the village, which was once home to the model communist collective farm "LPG Red Banner."

Around 60 hand-picked guests attended the barbeque after the number was increased following complaints that the guest list contained too many supporter's of Merkel's right-of-centre Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Harald Ringstorff, premier of the leftist government in Mecklenberg-West Pomerania, where Trinwillershagen is located, boycotted the event, complaining he had been invited only at the last moment and was not really welcome.

The president greeted well-wishers after he stepped out of his helicopter. He lifted two babies from the crowd in a classic political pose, although one of the infants burst into tears and the president quickly handed the baby back to its mother.

On his way to the restaurant the president stopped in front of a brass band playing marching music and took the leader's baton and began conducting.

The pig was shot on Monday by Olaf Micheel, an enthusiastic hunter and owner of the restaurant where the barbeque was held.

Trinwillershagen, a short distance from the resort of Heiligendamm where Bush is spending the night, was popular with the communist East German elite like leader Walter Ulbricht back in the 1960s.

Officials said that bringing Bush to Trinwillershagen was meant to underline the long march towards freedom and democracy as well as Merkel's biography as a former East German scientist turned politician after the collapse of communism.

Bush ends his 36-hour visit to Germany on Friday morning and flies to Russia for a summit of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial nations in St Petersburg.

[snowsislander]

I am not sure why Expatica dated this story in the future on July 17th.

Also, there was another version of this story with some more details at Yahoo!:

Bush, Merkel slice into roast pig at German barbecue

By Steve Holland Thu Jul 13, 2:11 PM ET

TRINWILLERSHAGEN, Germany (Reuters) -
President Bush put Middle East tension, violence in Iraq and Iran's nuclear program behind him on Thursday to feast on a wild boar roasting on a spit.

"Laura and I come from Texas," Bush told his host German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a warm summer evening. "One of the greatest compliments you can pay a guest is to have a barbecue."

The barbecue was a much-anticipated highlight of Bush's visit to Merkel's political home base in northeastern Germany, a grilling he had been looking forward to all day.

Merkel greeted Bush wearing faded blue jeans as the U.S. president and his wife, Laura, arrived in the tiny Baltic town north of Berlin aboard the Marine One helicopter.

They walked past a red-coated band playing a medley of songs like "Hooray for the Red, White and Blue," and Bush plucked the conductor's wand from his hand and led the band for a few notes.

Then he and Merkel posed for pictures with the band as its members played on, Bush startling a woman playing a flute by poking her on the shoulder.

Nearby, three creatures were turning slowly over flaming beds of coals, one of them a wild boar hunted down by restaurant owner Olaf Micheel.

After both leaders spoke to the crowd, Bush said: "Thanks for having us. Let's go eat."

Someone handed Bush a long knife and fork and as he prepared to pierce the meat, members of another band lifted their horns and began to play on cue.

Bush cut several slices from the shoulder and Merkel did the same from a haunch, and the eating began.

At a joint news conference with Merkel earlier in Stralsund, Bush kept mentioning a wild boar, slaughtered and roasted the traditional way, that he planned to share at the dinner.

"I'm looking forward to the feast you're going to have tonight. I understand I may have the honor of slicing the pig," Bush told Merkel.

A few minutes later -- after discussing Iran, the Middle East, the merits of press freedoms in Russia and progress on the Doha round of free trade talks -- Bush returned to the boar.

"Thank you for having me," he told Merkel. "Looking forward to that pig tonight."

Bush answered a few more questions but kept coming back to the boar for a third, then a fourth time.

Pictures from the 13's "A Day in the Life" thread

This German Chancellor seems to be an improvement over the previous one.

[MinorityRepublican]

Now I want to eat that pork.

[hsalaw]

There's an interesting article by Fred Barnes in the Weekley Standard about Pres. Bush's favorite foreign leaders, and Chancellor Merkel is on the list - according to Barnes, she's a straight talker and stands by what she says, and that's something Pres. Bush appreciates. She also sounds like she has a sense of humor, which has got to be rare in a foreign leader.

[coconutt2000]

Oh woe is me... How insensitive of the President to partake of the filthy pig, and risk offending those Muslims.

[PAR35]

Bush answered a few more questions but kept coming back to the boar for a third, then a fourth time.

Sounds like he was trying to send a clear message to some Muslims.

[dennisw]

That was not pig ... was roasted wild boar that was shot by the restaurant owner who put on the feast

[dennisw]

Bush answered a few more questions but kept coming back to the boar for a third, then a fourth time.

Sounds like he was trying to send a clear message to some Muslims

I agree. The Muslims will take notice of this happy chow down on wild boar

[snowsislander]

Now I want to eat that pork.

Same here. I like cooking pigs whole, and this one looks nicely done.

There was a Spiegel International story which had this bit about the innkeeper:

In the small town of Trinwillershagen in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, reporters from the country's tabloid press have converged to witness the big hunt. Local innkeeper Olaf Micheel is on a mission shoot the perfect deer and wild boar to serve next week when United States President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel descend on the town, and its 1,000 residents, for a barbeque. Tiny Trinwillershagen is part of the intinerary of the president's three-day trip, which will also include the other former East German cities of Rostock and Stralsund.

However, I didn't care for the rest of the tone of that piece, so I didn't include it.

[raisincane]

I noticed at the press conference, that he mentioned he was looking forward to eating "pig" two or three times. I also thought the President was rubbing the Muzzies face in it with his remarks, cowboy that he is!

[snowsislander]

Bush answered a few more questions but kept coming back to the boar for a third, then a fourth time.

Sounds like he was trying to send a clear message to some Muslims.

Perhaps, but it wouldn't surprise me if trips two, three, and four were a testament to what to appears to be some very good food.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

"Hey, Hezbollah-got pork?"

[Darkwolf377]

Funny, haven't seen Ted Kennedy lately.

You don't think....?

Nahhhh... (?)

[Jeff Chandler]

Funny, haven't seen Ted Kennedy lately.

It was a boar, not a boor.

[TYVets]

Funny, haven't seen Ted Kennedy lately.

It was a boar, not a boor.

You two owe me a keyboard !

[RetSignman]

[The president, dressed in an open necked blue-checked shirt, appeared in a jovial mood, mingling with guests and drinking what seemed to be beer.]

New York Times Frontpage: " Bush, drunk and slovenly dressed, staggers around laughing hysterically annoying guests at a pig roast"

[Darkwolf377]

Hey, I'm just SAYIN!

Cuz one place he isn't is at the Big Dig accident site--you know the Big Dig? Above which is a garden fatso got named for his mother, Rose, which is bordered by John Fitzgerald Way or Street or whatever? He seems to really care about the important stuff involved with this--getting his family immortalized thanks to tax-payer money. His constituents getting killed due to shoddy workmanship isn't important enough for the fat bastard.

[Revelation 911]

someone say bbq?

[snowsislander]

New York Times Frontpage: " Bush, drunk and slovenly dressed, staggers around laughing hysterically annoying guests at a pig roast"

Your comment made me curious; I hadn't bothered to look at the New York Times since I assumed, like you, that it would indeed slight our president at this pleasant event, but surprisingly, the only coverage that I found was inside another story, Bush Gives Qualified Support for Israel’s Strikes:

Mr. Bush made his comments after a ceremony with Mrs. Merkel where he was presented with a traditional local gift in the town square here, a barrel of herring, and hours before he was scheduled to go to a barbeque with a freshly slaughtered wild boar served in his honor.

In his question-and-answer session with reporters, Mr. Bush joked about that dinner, kidding in response to a double-barreled question on the growing crisis and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“I thought you were going to ask me about the pig,” Mr. Bush said.

I did find that the Washington Post's Mr. Froomkin was less civil:

The Pig and the Fish

White House Brieifing [sic] reader Andrea Bernstein e-mailed me this morning: "Is it just me, or is the 'leader of the free world,' far more interested in the pig for dinner than the world that is falling apart at the seams? Is that really possible?"

Well, it does remind me a bit of my May 8 column , in which I wrote: "Is it possible that President Bush doesn't really enjoy his job?

"Asked by a German tabloid to name the most wonderful moment of his presidency, Bush on Friday said it came while he was on vacation, fishing on his private lake."

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

WHERE'S PETA? THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! < /S >

[Matchett-PI]

"Funny, haven't seen Ted Kennedy lately."

He's still around.