GEORGE!!! I'LL WASH THAT MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP!!!
Posted on 07/27/2006 2:40:34 PM PDT by beckett
Why does the president call the secretary of state "Condi"? And what exactly is his philosophy?
Thursday, July 27, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
Why does President Bush refer in public to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as "Condi"? Did Dwight Eisenhower call his Secretary of State "Johnny"? Did Jimmy Carter call his "Eddie," or Bill Clinton call his "Maddy," or Richard Nixon call his "Willie" or "Hank"? What are the implications of such informality?
I know it is small, but in a way such things are never small. To me it seems a part of the rhetorical childishness of the age, the faux egalitarianism of the era. It reminds me of how people in the administration and Congress--every politician, in fact--always refer to mothers as moms: We must help working moms." You're not allowed to say "mother" or "father" in politics anymore, it's all mom and dad and the kids. This is the buzzy soft-speak of a peaceless era; it is an attempt to try to establish in sound what you can't establish in fact.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Count me now among those in the president's own natural constituency who, as Noonan reports, are "no longer confident about what he does...no longer fully comfortable in their judgment of his policies and actions, or the root thoughts behind them."
If anyone can tell me the president's political philosophy, I'd be fascinated to learn what it is. Is it intellectually coherent? Or is it, as all the evidence of actions seems to indicate, just a situational hodgepodge sprouting from his own personality, subject to strong influence from the better read intellects surrounding him?
George W. Bush once joked at a dinner for William F. Buckley that at Yale, Buckley wrote a book, and he, the president, read one. He never jokes about such matters anymore. He knows, I think, that advertising yourself as a lightweight thinker is not only unseemly for the most powerful man in the world, but also harmful to the nation's prestige for so high an office to be filled by a man who doesn't have an honest intellectual grounding in the political philosophy he purports to espouse.
It's a term of endearment. They are personally very close.
Ya know, Libs just don't have a sense of humor or an understanding of friendship and informality. Sad.
It's the same way we all talk about Rummy.
this LIBERAL needs to get a life.
It's the same way the British talked about Field Marshall Montgomery ("Monty"); or the Americans talked about Eisenhower ("Ike").
My idea of hell would be to have to read a book by Peggy Noonan, full of this kind of crapola.
She appears to have a life. She also has an opinion. I don't think it's out of line to say what one thinks. If you disagree, great, tell us why.
susie
I would point out that Jimmy Carter doesn't call himself James, so what's the relevance?
Peggy, honey bunny, he uses first names and nick names for many people that he works closely with or likes. Obviously, you're not one of them. Get over it.
Peggy Noonan isn't a lib, she was a special assistant to Reagan. She wrote some of the President's speeches during the campaign. In fact, she wrote the wonderful speech Bush gave before the video presentation at the 2004 Convention, the one Fred Thompson narrated.
However, that being said, I'm convinced that lately she's suffering from some sort of menopausally induced angst.
Noonan is hardly a liberal. And she happens to be right about this. Do you think Secretary Rice refers to the President as "George"?
ML/NJ
I have to say as a recovering intellectual and wannabe philosopher, I sympathize. But leaders and philosophers are different creatures. I think Churchill—a great reader, writer, and leader—would have loved Bush.
If you really like guys who read a lot, you would have loved Adlai Stevenson (but I'm going to guess you didn't).
The idea, as Peggy (excuse me—"Margaret") Noonan says in her column that Buckley carried the intellectual heft of the conservative movement is way overblown. Buckley was pro-contraception and claimed to be a Catholic. Buckley in his later years won't back the War on Terror, but backed the Vietnam War (and I agree with him there).
Buckley is a very smart man, but in the end, is primarily a media creature. He's wonderfully wise considering that, but sorry, he's dead wrong on the War on the Islamo-Nazis, and dead wrong on Bush.
I love the Bush quote about reading a book at Yale . . .
You are correct. Bush is terminally stupid. Maybe even a tool of the neocons/trilateralists/bilderbergers/fillinyouownconspiracynutgroup.
Here is a place you can appreciate: http://democratsunderground.com or http://dailykos.com
I, for one, am sick of Noonan's mewling and free flow punditry.
LOL it's not her fault how it turned out.
susie
Noonan (dare I call her Peggy?), used to have something to say. Now,she writes like Andy Rooney talks: "Did'ya ever notice that Dubya calls the Secretary of State 'Condi'? Why is that?" I could almost hear Joe Piscapo reading the column in a Rooneyesque voice.
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