The best thing about this Bush tape that everyone is talking about is this bit:
t is uncertain, there’s no question about it.
Wall Street got drunk, it got drunk, (it’s one of the reasons I asked you to turn off your tv cameras.) It got drunk and now it’s got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up, and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments.
And now we got a housing issue, not in Houston, and evidently, not in Dallas, because Laura was over there trying to buy a house today. (laugher.. Crawford!)
I like Crawford, unfortunately after eight years of asking her to sacrifice, I’m now no longer the decision maker. She’ll be deciding, thanks for the suggestion! I suggest you don’t yell it out when she’s here. Later, telling her “Hey honey, we’ve been on government pay now for 14 years… so go slow!”
It’s uh.. caused me to lose my train of thought. Anyway.
Now that he doesn’t have to pretend that he is an average everyday guy you want to have a beer with, the Crawford ranch is getting thrown under the bus. How long before it goes on sale (and, no doubt, will be bought, above market value, by one of the Bush/Cheney cronies, as that is an easy way to funnel some loot his way)? A year? Sixteen months?
By the way- government pay is $400k a year for Bush. Just an average guy, you know.
calipygian
He’s gonna make K-Lo cry with that talk:
It really is a photo finish for the title of Stupidest Motherfucker at the Corner.
r€nato
the poor dear. He can’t string two coherent sentences together without tripping a brain fuse.
Conservatively Liberal
Shorter George: “Paraguay, here I come!”
Texas was an assumed image, and that was it. A means to an end, and it worked. Now they are being tossed aside as unnecessary, like so many other things that he has used and abused.
Nothing new, sadly. Same shit, different day.
r€nato
*snort* he would suck ass as a 7-11 clerk.
smiley
No one could ever have predicted. The poor shmucks in Crawford. So proud to be the “home” of George W. Bush back in the day. Soon they’ll be just another backwater. They must be so disillusioned.
Wilfred
Maybe Crawford can be turned into a mainland Gitmo – the George W. Bush Immemorial Detention Center. And Bush could sometimes come to teach civics and Sunday school to aging brown-skinned heathens, who maybe could even build a railroad or something.
Unpaid teaching, of course, but since the ranch would be leased in perpetuity to the government he would still be ok.
harlana pepper
Yeah, the ‘audience’ was laughing. They were lapping it up and laughing their asses off, not just polite twitters. Damn, that housing crisis is just a RIOT and SO ARE YOU, Mr. President!
merl
The fake cowboy is selling his fake ranch. Is anyone surprised?
Napoleon
Too funny, they build the Crawford ranch what, 1 or 1 1/2 years before he makes his presidential run and the press never mentions that its basically a Potemkin Village to make Bush look like a real man, and before he is even out the White House door he is looking to get out of it.
Basilisc
And don’t overlook that “we’ve been on government pay now for 14 years” jibe. Let’s see, the Governor of Texas makes $115345 a year (at least the current one does), the President of the US makes $400000. Median household income in the US is about $48000. So, no, I don’t think GWB’s “regular guy” shtick is operative any longer, if it ever was. More like the human covering is being shed to reveal the evil tentacled beast underneath.
linda
but i thought he loved that remodeled pig farm, er, rootin’ tootin’ texas ranch. you mean it was all for staging his downhome photo ops…
unpossible!
Napoleon
This thread deserves this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkqrI3IibYI
4tehlulz
IM SICK OF HEARING ABOUT THESE LAZY MOTHERFUCKERS LIVING ON GOVERNMENT HAND…..
oh their Republicans, never mind.
zoe from pittsburgh
Wall Street just got “drunk,” eh?
People losing their homes is nothing more than a “hangover”?
Really gets you a windown into the GOP mindset– this a room of people who are still rich regardless of what is happening to the poor and middle class.
Combined with Graham’s “nation of whiners” comment it paints a pretty ugly picture. I’d love to see someone put that together.
peach flavored shampoo
This is so all over the map it’s disturbing. A guy this unable to string together a coherent line of sentences scares the hell outta me.
Jake
OT, but, what the fuck CNN?
They’re running a PUMA story today. Unfuckingbelievable.
Incertus
In many cases, it’s a room of people who are richer because of what’s happening to the poor and middle class.
zoe from pittsburgh
True dat.
The part that gets me is the government paycheck part– because being the highest paid government official makes them poor something? Not to mention that that $400k doesn’t have to go towards food, housing (White House) or travel. Their entire lives are paid for and have been paid for by the American people. Show some fucking respect, asshole.
Elroy's Lunch
Molly Ivins wouldn’t have been. “All hat, no cattle…”
Incertus
They’ve got to do something to try to keep this race close, and manufacturing a controversy is one way to do it.
edub
“Wall Street got drunk” and now they’re puking all over the rest of us.
Great analogy, George.
scarshapedstar
Personally, I think a better analogy would have been that Wall Street has been on a coke binge and now they’re all out of cash and 8-balls, and we’d better keep the snow falling on them or else they’ll get really down and start shoving lit firecrackers up frogs’s asses.
I can’t imagine why George didn’t use that one.
Conservatively Liberal
PUMAPUNTA is against Obama and is composed of Democrats (and a good dose of ratfuckers), so they are news to be fed and nurtured by the press so they can milk any story out of it they can hype up. How about asking PUNTA about the $10 million that they claim they raised for Hillary to help retire her debt? If that is the case, why did she go deeper into debt?They are small people with small minds, and that is the extent of it. If they are Democrats, they are Democrats that the party can do without. I will bet their ranks are populated by more than a few Democrat racists. Reading their screeds makes it more than clear that many of them hate Obama for his skin color and little else.
Liberal press? Bullshit.
peach flavored shampoo
Wow, is that article sad. It’s like those interviews with people who think they can contact dead relatives. They’re grieving, they’re completely irrational, and ultimately, they’re idiots.
2 of the PUMAs said they’d vote McCain. Okeedokeee.
scarshapedstar
Conservatively Liberal, if you’re trying to call the PUMAs whores, you should be aware that “punta” is spanish for “point” or “dot”. I believe the word you’re looking for is “puta”.
Unless PUNTA is supposed to stand for something more clever than I thought, in which case, disregard and maybe explain a little.
Punchy
Dobbs and Tancredo are feverishly trying to uncover your identity, and then complete your illegal alien deportation papers.
Adios!
Conservatively Liberal
PUNTA = DOT
DOT = PERIOD
PERIOD = MISOGYNIST
I figured that sooner or later someone would get it.
Oops, I used a period! Bad boy!
PUTA would not be appropriate, too many ratfuckers. :)
Tsulagi
Sorta brings back memories. Almost eight years ago remember telling some who were trying to get me to vote Bush that he was not very bright, seemed like a brat, and was language challenged.
Usual reply was yeah, but that’s why Cheney is on the ticket, to backstop him. But did some checking then on Cheney; he was a disaster as Halliburton CEO. Damn near bankrupted the company. Given that company, that was no easy feat.
Now I can see I way, way overestimated those two.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Puto maybe?
In other news, Ron Paul’s alternative convention in Minneapolis just upgraded to the Target Center. Will the MSM actually compare the attendance of the anti-Obama brigade to the Paul-heads at their respective conventions?
Nylund
SMU in Dallas is Laura’s alma mater (and I think Karen Hughes and some other cronies went there as well). This is where the GWB presidential library is going to be built. The same library where donations to its construction could land you meetings with high level Bush administration officials (as we learned last week). It will also house a brand new conservative think tank called “The Freedom Institute” (really, what else could Bush have named it?). And no, its mission is not to study French. This is not the Freedom Fries / Freedom Toast meaning of the word. This is the version of Freedom thats defined as sustained bombing campaigns. Point being, its been well-known for some time that W and Laura would be relocating to Dallas so he can we can work at his brand new and still shiny conservative think tank. I think its meant to be the Texan version of Stanford’s Hoover institute, and I am sure they will give the president quite a nice salary to work there.
chiggins
I thought we’d agreed that “The Bus” was off limits for the throwing of things under. Come on, man, The Bus has had enough. It’s seen so much action that the Scrapheap and the Dustbin are running out of unemployment benefits.
LEAVE THE BUS ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!
The Moar You Know
Not an alcoholic, no sirree.
The Moar You Know
Isn’t that where she
murderedt-boned her ex-boyfriend’s car at an intersection with about a mile of visibility in all directions?Joshua Norton
It’s got so much crap under it that it’s about 10 off the ground now.
Joshua Norton
Hell, that train isn’t lost. It jumped the track years ago.
Notorious P.A.T.
The question is how long will it sober up, and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments.
Je
sus
Christ.
RSA
Oh, yeah. How long will George Bush sober up? A bar fly makes more sense at 1:00 in the morning when he’s asking someone to buy him another drink.
Original Lee
Ah, remember the early days of W’s presidency, when the press was aghast that he was punctual? Then they gradually got used to his…ummm….telegraphic speaking style, and they don’t even comment on it any longer. Heck, I’ve gotten so used to it that I think I know what he was trying to say, which is scary.
Jon H
“government pay”
Cause you know if he wasn’t slumming in government he’d be CEO of GE, and CEO of GM (get those slackers running right!) and running a hedge fund on the side.
Cause, you know, he’s an MBA.
maxbaer (not the original)
Are we sure that Laura isn’t looking for a place for herself? Maybe leaving Bush to chase tumbleweeds at the ranch.
Zifnab
You know what? It doesn’t actually matter. Ron Paul is sapping up all the young support for the GOP. He’s gobbling up the base’s kids. Ten years from now, he’ll own it. The guy has down for the GOP what Howard Dean was doing for the Democrats. The only difference is that we made Dean head of the DNC. The GOoPers are trying to cast Paul out as a lepper.
This can only be good.
For Hillary!
Davis X. Machina
Wasn’t the name of the Crawford stage set “Prairie Chapel Ranch”?
Did you ever see a more transparent example of ‘take the word that focus-grouped #1, the word that focus-grouped #2, and the word that focus-grouped #3, and string them together?
Punchy
Wha? She killed someone in college?
rachel
Wall Street got drunk,” …and W. poured it a few more shots for the road just before he handed it its keys.
MasterD, damn yankee
“drunk”
“hangover”
Say what you will – I’m convinced this is an area where President Bush knows what he’s talking about…
—
The Moar You Know
High school, sorry.
Hey, if the Repukes think they can slander the Clintons with the death of Vince Foster, I see no reason not to repay them, with interest.
lotus
makes for an interesting epilogue to the movie “Crawford”…people there were wondering how long he would be a resident there after his term.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZBc0zBfb80
Heshe
I see a sitcom here, a new “Dallas.” But instead of JR and his wacky family, it would star GB and his crew. (Possible cameo appearances for Cheney and Scalia!) It would give him something to do.
It’s my idea, so don’t anyone steal it. I want royalties.
RSA
I thought that was Mark Foley’s responsibility.
Dreggas
O/T but So much for that Jewish problem
maxbaer (not the original)
Was Larry Kudlow one of these genuises? Yep, good just like Bush has been.
Jay B.
I think most in Crawford will be happy when he leaves — whereas the amoral swells who pollute Dallas and Houston have been dealing with callow idiots like Bush for so long, they don’t even recognize what his problem is. He’s one of them. Don’t forget the editor of the local paper endorsed Kerry, I believe, and no one much gave a shit.
And if the good people of Crawford miss the batshit crazy conservativism of the Bush era, they can always drive down the road to Baylor University. Just by jumping into any class at random should give you a fill. Or, if they miss the cultlike devotion of the bitter enders, they can always drive by the remains of the Koresh ranch — it’s practically on the way to town.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Oh, no disagreement here: I’m with you on all counts. My point is how much coverage is being spent on Paul’s legitimately ideological movement, and how much is being spent on the mewling band of merry haters. This was the first I had even heard of Paul having a counter-convention.
Halteclere
I now want a bumper sticker that say “Laura Bush’s car has killed more people than my gun”. Then, the next time I see an SUV with a “W” sticker I can place it over their “Ted Kennedy’s car has killed more people than my gun” bumper sticker.
The fun part would be to see how long it will take the owner to notice.
gbear
OT. Robert Novak was stopped this morning for hitting a pedestrian with his Corvette and then driving away. A bicyclist who saw the accident chased Novak down and called the cops. Another witness said that the pedestrian rolled off the windshield, but Novak says he never saw anything.
Mary
I bet Robert Novak wishes he had the excuse he was drunk. Or maybe not.
OK, different pedestrian, but I simply have to remember [bodily orifice] the next time some car comes this close to side-swiping me in the freaking bike lane.
Punchy
He’s nearly pushin daisies. I believe him.
ON a serious note, after reading the article, it looks like a textbook hit-and-run. He ought to go to jail. He, of course, wont. But he should, if this story is accurate.
Zuzu's Petals
Right, on Rove’s advice he bought the fake ranch just months before the 2000 primaries.
Laura always made her preferences for Dalls known, according to this 2005 Vanity Fair article:
And what do his neighbors – you know, the actual ranchers – think?
High Noon in Crawford
dslak
You don’t need to see somebody to know that you’ve hit them. That’s particularly true with a car such as a Corvette.
Marshall
I (and many others, I am sure) predicted years ago that he would sell his 10,000 square foot home in Crawford instantly upon leaving office. Bet we never see him clearing anymore brush, either.
Zuzu's Petals
Mr. Novak suggests we keep things in perspective here: “He’s not dead, that’s the main thing.”
Brachiator
Dubya has fooled more people than Keyser Soze about his origins. The Bushes lived very comfortably in Dallas from 1988 until 1995, when he was elected governor. When he decided to run for president, Bush’s advisers persuaded him that he needed to fool the nation into believing that he was a sho nuff ranchifying Texan by setting up that Crawford movie set, uh, ranch.
Bush was just reminding us of what he learned from his momma:
Ah, sweet noblese oblige.
Ella in NM
You all know what this is really about, right? It’s not about Laura’s “My Turn” moment at all.
It’s about all the friggin UFO’s that have been spotted flying over the Crawford ranch going 900 bajillion mph. Seriously!!!
http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/story/756596.html
Marshall
Wha? She killed someone in college?
In High School. She ran a red light and killed Michael Dutton Douglas, 17, who was in her High School. I have heard that they had recently broken up, but I have no good reference for that.
No charges were ever filed.
smiley
In 10 years Ron Paul will be, what, 86?
BombIranForChrist
There are so many infuriating aspects of Dubya, but this is one of the worst: his whole “rancher” thing. I hope the idiots who still support him think deep and hard when he sells his fake ranch as soon as he is no longer in politics. He’s afraid of horses, people. How can you possibly be this deeply retarded?!?!?! Oh, right. You’re Americans.
Kevin
Hilarious! What I loved on that page is the “related content” box with a video capture of Larry King and a caption of “UFOS: TARGET TEXAS?”
Joshua
Not just $400,000 a year, but free room & board, free meals, free transporation. That government salary is pretty much just pocket money.
Not that that has anything to do with it. The media has since day fucking one played along with Bush’s regular guy shtick. They worked themselves into knots building that story. Remember when being a Skull & Bones Harvard man was so snobby and elitist for Kerry but it really didn’t mean anything for Bush?
Brachiator
Uh, Skull and Bones is Yale. I know it’s hard sometimes to distinguish between your arrogant elitists without a program, but still…
Lux et Veritas
Tony J
.
The image of a leather-clad, wrapparound-shades wearing Irish rock-tosser furiously peddling his green-machine through the mean streets of DC hollering “Oy! Get back ‘ere y’ lousy bastard!” will stay with me for a long time.
Sure they will. Then they’ll come back with “Nuh! I guess when Obama Hussain ditches the Chicago ghetto for a nice place in the country you guys will be all over him for it. Don’t think so. Typical lib belly-aching and hypocrisy.”
Nature of the beast, and all that.
Zuzu's Petals
Not just that, but all the family money, plus the nice chunka change from selling his baseball team (used to buy the uh, “ranch”):
Tony J
Uh, That first quote and response. Different thread.
Me so solly.
Brachiator
Pay attention, people. This is how the rich take care of one another.
When Bush originally bought the ranch, a 1999 New York Times story estimated its value to be about $1.3 million. According to a 2002 story available on the web
Now, if Bush sells it for something close to $5 million, it might suggest that a friendly buyer was inflating the value so that Bush could be rewarded for his service.
This sounds like a glorified Christmas tree lot. Again, a cynic might suggest a tax shelter organized to maximize current deductions or future capital gains.
And you wonder why Bush is hot to make his tax cuts permanent, which give a huge advantage to investment income over wages and other ordinary income.
Zuzu's Petals
Well to be fair, he did build a house and put in a pool. And cleared a whole lotta brush.
Wonder if he’ll leave all that fancy satellite equipment etc. ?
Zuzu's Petals
Yeah, that was the the timber company he didn’t even know he owned:
here4tehbeer
Crawford’s where they ought to drop the damned Bush library. Woudn’t have to clear much brush to make it fit either.
PeterJ
Just want to point out that Crawford has a democratic mayor and that the district that Crawford is part of is represented by a democrat, Chet Edwards, in the House.
It’s not their fault that Bush decided that their town was a good place for his Potemkin ranch…