George W. Bush's pork preoccupation
The president's one track mind was on display in Germany this week, at a formal news conference preceding a wild boar roast.
I understand I may have the honor of slicing the pig," Bush said at a news conference earlier in the day punctuated with questions about spreading violence in the Middle East and an intensifying standoff with Iran about nuclear power.
The president's host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, started a serious ball rolling at this news conference in the 13th-century town hall on the cobblestone square of Stralsund. But Bush seemed more focused on "the feast" promised later.
"Thanks for having me," Bush told the chancellor. "I'm looking forward to that pig tonight."
This 13th-century setting and formal news conference may seem an odd stage for presidential banter. The 21st-century problems that Bush confronts often prompt him to attempt to defuse the tension in the room with a dose of humor.
Reporters from Germany and the U.S. peppered him with questions about the standoff in Iran, violence in the Middle East and flagging democracy in Russia. He answered all in earnest but leavened it all with pig talk.
"Apart from the pig, Mr. President, what sort of insights have you been able to gain as regards East Germany?" a German reporter asked.
"I haven't seen the pig yet," Bush said, sidestepping the question about insights gained from his two-day visit to this rural seaside region that once rested behind the Iron Curtain.
And when an American reporter asked whether Bush is concerned about the Israeli bombing of the Beirut airport and about Iran's failure to respond to an offer for negotiations, Bush replied with more boar jokes before delving into the substance of the questions.
"I thought you were going to ask about the pig," said the president. "I'll tell you about the pig tomorrow." [Chicago Tribune]
Watch The Daily Show clip.:
Yes please, a follow up on the pig tomorrow, Mr Bush..
Shit, can I punch his face? Please??
Posted by: farang | July 15, 2006 at 02:13 PM
I can only imagine what it's like for foreign dignitaries to share a stage with this man and have to pretend that he's not a buffoon.
Posted by: ballgame | July 15, 2006 at 02:20 PM
Pork: The other red state meat.
Sorry, farang; no punchee-punchee. There are laws against cruelty to animals.
Posted by: John Lucid | July 15, 2006 at 10:26 PM
Well, not to defend the Buffoon-in-Chief, but roast wild boar is astoundingly delicious!
As for the Middle East, Bush's pig obsession can't have won him any friends there!
Posted by: The Continental Op | July 15, 2006 at 11:57 PM
In German culture, the pig is so integrated into the culture that to have a lucky day is, literally, to have pig (Schwein haben.)
But German culture is prejudice against the technically incompetent. Example: car ads in the U.S. appeal more to social or sexual appeal, whereas in Germany they more often read as a list of engineering capacities. Another example: German executives tend to have non-business degrees in the fields of their businesses, e.g. engineering, chemistry, etc. So someone like Bush comes off looking like an ass who ruined a number of businesses and then ruined a country, invaded a non-threatening nation, let a major cultural center city sink in inaction and drown into ruin, etc. In Germany more than the U.S., the thinker and not the doer is the hero, the scholar rather than John Wayne.
So what you do THINK they think of our president? I am no conservative but I would probably prefer a Republican chosen randomly out of the membership rolls of the Hagerstown, Maryland Chamber of Commerce over this deliberately stupid man.
Posted by: Crablaw | July 17, 2006 at 12:04 AM
Pig?
Why does Dubya have to keep talking about himself ALL the time...?
Posted by: Pazu Eteve | July 17, 2006 at 12:42 AM