At least he didn't call her Queenie
Ah .. my heart just swells with pride for that man .. Our Uniter .. Our Decider .. Our Commander Guy...
Poor Queen Elizabeth II .. she comes to Jamestown and first off gets saddled with Dick Cheney (who at least didn't wear his formal NFL-fan faux-fur trimmed parka), and then she comes to the White House and has to put up with Commander Guy and Pickles.
She probably wished she was still in Kentucky knocking back mint juleps ...
We hoped that Bush would be on his best behavior and not say anything stupid to the Queen. But we should know better .. because the past encounters Bush has had with dignitaries all seem to be marred by something.
Hmm .. on second thought, maybe there ARE national security reasons for not having official diplomatic contact with countries like Syria, Iran, North Korea, etc. after all…
In his speech he mispronounced Edinburgh .. and he still hasn’t figured out how to pronounce “terrorists.” For goodness sake, can't he go five minutes without talking about "terrorism" "freedom" and "liberty" .. does he have to push the BushCo agenda every time he opens his mouth?
In contrast, when Queen Elizabeth spoke, she said her fifth journey to the United States over 50 years was an occasion to "step back from our current preoccupations."
I wanted her to ask Bush why his kids aren’t fighting "terra" like her grandson is .. it might have wiped that smirk off his face. The Queen has more vet-cred than the entire Bush administration.
He called the Magna Carta the “Magna Carter .. and listed all the things that are great about the Queen, like how she honors fallen soldiers by comforting their families. All things he doesn’t do.
He spoke about how the settlers of Jamestown planted the seeds of freedom and democracy on American soil. Nothing about genocide and slavery .. but who’s counting?
And gave the audience a laugh when he said the queen had dined with 10 U.S. presidents and had helped the United States “celebrate its bicentennial in 17… ” but caught himself and corrected the date to 1976. Then said something about her looking at him as a mother would her child. And winked at her .. yes, winked at her. She managed a "reserved chuckle" and an icy stare at the same time.
Some think this gaffe was planned, to have him come off as cute and folksy. It is sort of Rovian.
I could hear her thinking “We are displeased by the utter banality of the American president, and we are extremely pleased to be rid of the colonies.”
I had a lovely mental image of her hitting him repeatedly with her purse, Ruth Buzzi-style.
We'll have to wait for the White House Formal Dinner gossip to leak out. Laura told reporters that he balked about a white tie affair .. that she and Condi had to talk him into it. Hmm .. maybe those two could be the go-betweens for him and the Democrats.
Hopefully, he didn't sneak up behind the Queen and give her a neck massage (Angela Merkel) or grab her by the jacket sleeve like he did that Japanese diplomat.
And hopefully Cheney didn't accidentally shoot the Queen's equerry..
I wonder why Poppy and Barbara weren't invited?
