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You are here: Home / Guest Posts / Hail To the Chief

Hail To the Chief

by | 119 Comments

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I don’t know where TaMara found this awesome photo, but I’m gonna use it every chance I get.

Auto Draft 97
So Bright They Had To Wear Shades

Timely guest post, thank you ema!

I have a story I think BJ readers might like:

I live within walking distance of Radio City Music Hall so, yesterday, I thought I should go there and take some pictures of the three Tenors Presidents for BJ. Unfortunately, it was impossible to make it even into the vicinity of the vicinity of the area because of security, the dump trucks were blocking the entire building, and I don’t have a telephoto lens or a fancy camera, so off back home I went, pictureless.

This morning, I step out of my building on my way to work and I see double barricades, a bunch of dump trucks, and a police officer guarding every nook and cranny on the street. This only happens when Bibi is in town for the UN General Assembly and he stays at a hotel up my street. I thought something similar might be happening, the NYPD officer guarding my building confirmed that President Biden was on my street, and off I went to work.

A quick aside: Why do these people insist on staying at that hotel is a bit of a mystery. I mean, it’s a nice place, don’t get me wrong, but it’s definitely not The Mark or The Carlyle. Maybe it has something to do with security arrangements?

Back to the story. I thought by the time I returned home all will be back to normal. Not even close! Just as I reached one end of my street , not only was everything still there, but an officer informed me that there’s a freeze order in place (meaning, nothing moves, you cannot go in/out even if you live on the street because they’re expecting the President to be on the move soon). This freeze can last anywhere from a few minutes to over an hour so I wasn’t too keen on it. Just as I was planning my next move – dig a tunnel, sneak into an adjacent building and rappel down to my apartment? – the motorcade starts moving, the presidential limousine passes by, people are clapping and cheering, and I’m waving with one hand and filming (askew) with the other.

And, since we more or less ran into each other, I took the opportunity to tell the President a few things (using my inner voice, of course, because what am I, a peasant who yells at passing cars and famous people?). This is what I “told” him:

1) Great job.
2) Good luck in November. BJ is working hard to reelect you, keep the Senate and flip the House.
3) Give Ukraine whatever it needs and then some.
4) Help the Gaza refugees.
5) In your second term, enough with appointing Republican AGs and SCs, they’re unprofessional.
6) Go for 15! (h/t Another Scott) Between Thomas’ corruption and Alito’s “Burn the Witches” legal arguments, the public is losing trust in the legal system.
7) Give extra scritches to Major, Commander, and Willow.

What would you tell President Biden if you had a chance encounter with him?

I hope you like it.

ema

I simply can not hear Hail to the Chief without thinking of this scene and hearing Dave’s lyrics.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

119Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    Still fan-girl-ing a bit over the photo.  I love that they are all wearing the same thing – the similar suits, the white shirts, top buttons open, no ties.  Except for Colbert, who wears the tie.

    Well done, boys.

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne:  Yes.  Professionally peering out of the top of his shades, with the bad boy slouch

    I have already watched the Dave shower video 3 times.  “Hail to the chief, he’s the one we all say hail to. He’s got the power, that’s why he’s in the shower.”

    That’s like my lyrics to “oh black kitty, bam ba bam” when I sing to Mr. Bear.

  8. 8.

    Doug R

    So there’s now 2 “The Beast”(s)?

    That’s the presidential limo that’s shaped like a car but built on a truck frame.

  17. 17.

    SuzieC

    Love the photo!  Posted it immediately.  All 3 of Our Presidents are good-looking men, especially compared to the Bloated Orange Beast.

  19. 19.

    Scout211

    @Kent: Who is the 4th man on the left holding the microphone?

    I think that is Stephen Colbert. One of the hosts of the event.

  20. 20.

    zhena gogolia

    So cool, Ema!

    Wow, Bill looks very attractive in that picture. I was always kind of immune to his charms.

  22. 22.

    dr. bloor

    Trump is in his private dining room right now at Grift-O-Rama, throwing plates and ketchup at a life-size print of that photo.*

    *And missing them, but claiming they were “perfect” throws that rivaled the hole-in-one he had last week on a 550 yard par 5 hole.

  29. 29.

    Mousebumples

    Thanks for the post and story, Ema.

    And thanks for the Dave clip, WaterGirl. That, and the American President, are 2 good (older) presidenting movies. Might need to rewatch in the future if I can find my dvds…

  30. 30.

    Tony Jay

    @ema:

    You did the work of curating a solid list. Our job is to show the love.

    You should probably comment more.

  31. 31.

    FastEdD

    Still remember when Colbert trolled Shrub. To his face. A thing of beauty, and I think it jump started his career.

  33. 33.

    smith

    @FastEdD: I greatly appreciated how he trolled the whole rightwingosphere for years. A lot of them never figured out that he was mocking them.

  40. 40.

    eclare

    @FastEdD:

    A friend of a friend was at a taping of The Colbert Report before the WH Correspondents’ Dinner.  In the pre-show Q&A, someone asked Colbert what he planned to do at the dinner.  “I’m going to mock the president to his face.”

    And boy, did he.

  41. 41.

    mwing

    Once there were strange sidewalk  arrangements being made at the bar 3 doors down from my apartment, so I asked the local shopkeepers what it was, and it was Joe Biden visiting the Banshee.
    I think this was just before the 2012 election.

    The funny thing is, the Banshee is very well known as a soccer (sorry, football) bar- and so is very  much attended by soccer fans from around the city who are, disproportionately, not citizens and can’t vote.

    Semi-drunk people smoking on the sidewalk at 10 AM on a Saturday, with their faces painted blue, and I’m like oh, I suppose Scotland is playing?

    To be fair to the Banshee, this all works out quite well, it is a good, nonviolent bar.

  42. 42.

    sab

    @Scout211: My guess is that the aviator glasses all around was his idea,  although the WH internet folks are also that creative. After all, didn’t they invent, or at least embrace Dark Brandon?

  45. 45.

    sab

    OT We moved Dad to a new better nursing home yesterday. Today he had no cable yet, so he went out in the main room and watched the dogs sleep in front of the fireplace.

    Have I mentionned that this memory care unit is much better than the prior one.

    They also have a lovely white fuzzy cat.

  46. 46.

    pluky

    I would guess the Secret Service likes going to the same hotel. They already know the layout, the staff, and what need be done to secure the place.

  49. 49.

    Dan B

    @Another Scott: My partner was driving the limo for a dignitary  -VP?- years ago.  The dignitary was in a very ordinary car and my partner realized that an assassin would target his limo.  He didn’t like that.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    Did I ever share the growly little song I used to sing to my Hamish? (Almost totally black cat, but there was definitely some Siamese ancestry there. He wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the Crayola box, but I’ve never had a bigger lovebug.)

  53. 53.

    Anotherlurker

    Off topic, by a long way.  I was watching the Mets game today and Keith Hernandes was talking abut his kitty, Haji.  Haji is now 21 years old!

  57. 57.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Yutsano: I’ll take either Director of the USPTO or ambassador to the Netherlands. Or ambassador to any country with good bicycle infrastructure. :)

  61. 61.

    HeleninEire

    @Baud: Oh yes. My bad. Thank you for the job

    ETA: Have you seen the American Ambassador’s residence in Ireland? It is a mansion in Phoenix Park.

  64. 64.

    WaterGirl

    @HeleninEire: I was going to be Baud’s Valerie Jarrett if he had won last time.  Wondering about my role this time around.

    Biden doesn’t even have a Valerie Jarrett!  What is he thinking?!

  69. 69.

    Chetan Murthy

    @WaterGirl: Reading a little about her history, perhaps Biden had someone like that earlier in his career?  But he’s pretty old, so whoever it is might be long-retired, or even have passed on.  Jarrett seems to have been a senior figure in both the Obamas’ lives from early-on (before they were married).

  70. 70.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Dan B:

    My partner was driving the limo for a dignitary -VP?- years ago. The dignitary was in a very ordinary car and my partner realized that an assassin would target his limo. He didn’t like that. 

    Was he just driving an empty limo?

  72. 72.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @TBone:

    Where do they find the time? I saw a day or two ago that Moscow was also responsible for most of the disinformation about the Princess of Wales in the last few months.

  73. 73.

    Chetan Murthy

    @TBone: [Echoing Adam S.] We’ve been at war with the fucking Russkies since before 2014; we just didn’t want to admit it.  Maybe this will wake us up.  Sigh.

  76. 76.

    Chetan Murthy

    @SiubhanDuinne: I imagine they can do a lot with all the Russians who aren’t employed manufacturing, installing, maintaining all that sewerage and indoor plumbing infrastructure for the entire Russian population outside the big cities.

  80. 80.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    This was “The Hamish Rap.”  I used to growl it to him and give him nuzzles and scritches when he was flopped out in my lap.

    I like your face and I like your nose.
    I like your paws and I like your toes.
    I like your back and I like your fur.
    I like your neck and I like your purr.
    I like your tummy and I like your tail,
    And I like the place where you used to be a male.

  82. 82.

    TBone

    @Scout211: thanks, I’ve always been suspicious about these reports (suspected they were real because I’m biased).  But I need hard evidence.  I’ll be following this closely.

  89. 89.

    Another Scott

    @TBone: I won’t be watching, myself.

    2020 National Academies Report.

    NIH Studies from 2024:

    The researchers note that if the symptoms were caused by some external phenomenon, they are without persistent or detectable patho-physiologic changes. Additionally, it is possible that the physiologic markers of an external phenomenon are no longer detectable or cannot be identified with the current methodologies and sample size.

    ForeignPolicy.com – Cheryl Rofer:

    Here’s the problem. Aside from the reported syndromes, there’s no evidence that a microwave weapon exists—and all the available science suggests that any such weapon would be wildly impractical. It’s possible that the symptoms of all the sufferers of Havana syndrome share a single, as yet unknown, cause; it’s also possible that multiple real health problems have been amalgamated into a single syndrome.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  90. 90.

    TBone

    @Baud: I used to troll Rump relentlessly when I was on social media.  Copy and paste, and paste, and paste, over and over… didn’t spend anything but time and giggles.

  92. 92.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @eclare:

    I was in the room at the 2008 1988 DNC in Atlanta when Bill gave his famously interminable nomination for Michael Dukakis*, and I just melted. Pretty sure I released an ovum during his speech.

    He.was.just.that.attractive.

    *Best line was a week or so later when he was a guest on the Tonight Show. Carson observed, “It wasn’t exactly your finest hour,” and Clinton shot back, “Hell, it wasn’t even my finest two hours.”

  102. 102.

    Scout211

    @SiubhanDuinne: In 2006, I was actually on the same stage as Bill Clinton for a campaign event (you know, those people who stand behind the speaker and cheer at appropriate times).  He definitely has charisma, or as the cool kids say these days, “the rizz.”

    But what I was most impressed with was his skills as a speaker.  He kept the audience captivated and spoke for a long time with no notes.

  104. 104.

    eclare

    @Scout211:

    As Barack said, Bill is the Secretary of Explaining Stuff.  I remember when he spoke at the 2012 Democratic convention, breaking down exactly what block granting Medicaid meant.  Brilliant.

  105. 105.

    Josie

    My middle son was on a Constitution team in high school that went to nationals in Washington, D.C. President Clinton met with them on the tarmac and spoke to each individually. Kyle came home in a daze. He said the man looked you directly in the eyes as he spoke with you and made you feel that you were the most important person to him at that moment. He was and is not easily impressed with politicians, but that was an outstanding experience for him.

  107. 107.

    Jeffro

    @WaterGirl:Biden doesn’t even have a Valerie Jarrett!  What is he thinking?!

    Clearly you are not up on all the latest and greatest RWNJ conspiracy theories!

    EVERYONE (except trumpov) is Biden’s Valerie Jarrett!  And also NO ONE is!  Unless Obama says so!  But Biden is also totes way gone with dementia.  Plus he’s a worldwide super-criminal mastermind!!  (argle bargle times infinity)

  109. 109.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Josie:

    That must have been a terrific experience for your son, and for sure that’s one of Clinton’s greatest political attributes, the ability to make any given person feel like the most important person on the planet in that moment. A lot of politicians fake it, and some get pretty good at it, but the real thing is a priceless gift.

  110. 110.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @eclare:

    Bill is the Secretary of Explaining Stuff

    I’ve always loved that line, and I seriously think it should be a Thing. If Pete Buttigieg weren’t doing such a fine job wrangling Transpo and Infrastructure, he’d be a shoo-in for that rôle.

  111. 111.

    Craig

    @eclare: 20 years ago I happened to be working at a very small fund raising event for an organization channeling money from Indian tech entrepreneurs into education opportunities for poor people in India. Clinton spoke to a room of 40 people, mostly women. During the meet and greet afterwards my friend and I just marveled at the eye lines of people in the rooms. Every woman from 20s to 60s kept looking at that dude with a ‘Imma fuck that man’ look. I’ve rarely seen such raw charisma.

  115. 115.

    Soprano2

    We stayed at the Intercontinental Barclay hotel that’s near Radio City Music Hall last summer when I sang at Carnegie Hall, so I was close to you! It was a nice hotel. Pricey bar, though.

  116. 116.

    Soprano2

    @sab: I saw your posts this morning. I’m glad you have a better placement for your father.  It’s a cautionary tale for sure. It’s so hard to know what’s the right thing to do.

  119. 119.

    sab

    @Soprano2: I know. We should have moved him months ago, but I was afraid he would hate a change. Had I known it was inevitable we would have been long gone.

    His aide is still with him, and she is also much happier. It takes a lot of pressure off her to have him in a safer place.

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