Art Pottery, Politics and Food
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
 

I was drawn to a particular sequence of events, noted during the telecast of President Bush’s lengthy speech this morning in Annapolis, Maryland, as additional redundant proof of our inept leader’s calculated ruthlessness.
As the speech built to its emotional conclusion, Mr. Bush, after a lengthy and noticeable windup, turned on a heavy dose of Bush waterworks as he, again, misconstrued a young soldier’s understanding of duty with his own poor execution of presidential responsibility:

There is only one way to honor the sacrifice of Corporal Starr and his fallen comrades -- and that is to take up their mantle, carry on their fight, and complete their mission.

With these words and the practiced sob of theatrical emotion President Bush has found so occasionally useful since September 11, the midshipmen dutifully burst into applause and TV’s switched to wide shots.
When the cameras returned to Mr. Bush all traces of emotion had vanished and the President, sideways and through the slits of his eyes, appeared to be watching the reaction of his live captives.
In fact, before he continued speaking in a suddenly perfectly normal speaking voice, the President appeared to nod and smile to himself as if offering congratulations for a sell properly delivered.


My impression, as a viewer, is of a long, dull speech similar to many others by Mr. Bush spiced only by a rather over-the-top NeoImperial Prisoner of Zenda stage setting.

Modified Images: Reuters
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