He'll always have Albania
Don't they have TV in Albania?
"TIRANA, Albania, June 10 — His poll numbers may be in the basement, but when he zipped through this small, relentlessly pro-American nation on Sunday, President Bush was treated like a rock star.
....The United Nations Security Council is considering a plan for independence, but Russia objects. On Saturday in Rome, the president agreed that there should be a deadline to end the United Nations talks, saying: “In terms of a deadline, there needs to be one. It needs to happen.”
But on Sunday, Mr. Bush tried to backtrack when asked when that deadline might be. “First of all, I don’t think I called for a deadline,” Mr. Bush said, during a press appearance with Mr. Berisha in the courtyard of a government ministry building. He was reminded that he had.
“I did?” he asked, sounding surprised. “What exactly did I say? I said deadline? O.K., yes, then I meant what I said.” The reporters laughed.[..]"
Gah .. into the near-beer again? I really don't think it's too much to ask the president of the United States to take his own policies seriously enough to actually know what they are.
I saw the unusual footage of Bush in Albania being manhandled by townspeople along a two-lane main street. No protesters anywhere with their "Stop American Imperialism" bullsh*t. He was kissed, cheered and bowed to by a nation which .. obviously doesn't read US news.
I wonder if Albania had to weed out any evil liberals and progressives as Busies do in his public appearances here at home. In fact, the NY Times said that a two-day effort to find anyone of prominence who might have something snarky to say about the US turned up just one name .. and that person was out of the country.
It was almost as if Bush has moved out of the worthy-of-contempt phase and into the worthy-of-pity phase. Clinton at the end of his term was weakened but well liked .. Reagan at the end of his term was weakened but in the first stages of deification. Bush is ignored when he isn't being ridiculed .. even by his own side.
The softer side of me was glad to see an American president being received with such warmth. I hope the Bushies took a lot of footage for whenever he's feeling dissed about his low US approval ratings. He'll always have Albania.
Just don't tell the Albanians that Bush was very ambivalent about US involvement in Kosovo during the 1999 campaign. He criticized Clinton for not pulling the US military out quickly enough:
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is." George W. Bush, 4/9/99
"I think it's also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn." George W. Bush, 6/5/99
Heh .. I know, ironic innit.
Another thing I found out about Albania -- Thousands of young Albanians have been named Bill or Hillary thanks to the Clinton administration’s role in rescuing ethnic Albanians from the Kosovo war.
Of course, now there will be a rash of babies named George Bush Mohammed Whozit.
