News rags that normally love bomb the Bush administration were at pains to sift through their discomfort at the image of their beloved leader strolling through the Crawford underbrush, hand in hand with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah on Monday. I know it's wrong to gloat, but who can help it? These pictures are as steamy as those US Weekly snaps of Brad and Angelina gettin' saucy in the sub-Saharan!
The NY Post pulls an "Us Weekly" by putting the snoggers on the cover under the headlines "High price of oil":
April 26, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — President Bush yesterday held hands with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and took him on a stroll through a field of bluebonnet flowers at his Texas ranch in a pitch to get the Saudis to pump more oil.
They embraced and traded air kisses on both cheeks after the prince, clad in flowing robes, arrived nearly 30 minutes late for his second visit to the Bush ranch in Crawford. The president firmly held the hand of his guest, who's in his 80s, and guided the Saudi ruler through the field of blooming bluebonnets as they headed to an office for a few hours of meetings.
"[My] personal relationship with the crown prince is important," Bush told reporters
just before Abdullah arrived.
The Chicago Sun Times played it straighter, delving into the cultural meaning of the hand-holding in the second half of their story, cleverly entitled "Bush to Saudis: Give us a hand" and even calling on James Zogby, brother of the pollster:
When Bush and Abdullah held hands walking into their meeting, the gesture prompted questions about two men showing that kind of physical intimacy. Fred Jones, the National Security Council spokesman, said hand-holding is an Arab expression of ''friendship, respect and trust.'' The gesture goes further than a symbol of friendship, according to James Zogby, of the Arab American Institute, a Washington-based Arab civil rights organization. ''The president and Crown Prince Abdullah were also sending a real political message that they are partners and friends and intend to remain that way,'' Zogby said. ''To the Saudi people, the message was that their leader has the respect and support of the American president. And the fact that President Bush confidently took the crown prince's hand and held it all the way into the office said to Americans, 'This is my friend and I am going to walk with him,' " Zogby said.
Not to be outdone, the Freepers invite their readers to caption the lovey-dovey pic. Best shot: "The love that dares not speak its name." Another keeper: "What happens in Crawford stays in Crawford." The alarmist take: "Good grief. They look like a couple of pansies. Why would our president do this?" Great stuff. Who says Freepers aren't funny? Although during the election, this thread would have been pulled immediately, and the poster banned as a troll...
Over the Moonie ...
The Wash Times declines to describe the passionate hand holding, but does present an ode to that wonderful conservative birds and bees maxim: true love waits:
CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush yesterday pressed Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah to increase the flow of crude oil from his nation's vast reserves, but failed during their meeting to win any short-term relief for Americans pummeled by
sky-high gasoline prices.
Instead, Bush administration officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley, touted long-range plans already
offered by the Saudis to increase capacity and production by several million
barrels per day by the end of the decade.
...
A joint statement by the two leaders reflected continued tensions over the issue of democratic change, but did not criticize Saudi Arabia's poor human rights record.
It said: "The United States considers that nations will create institutions that reflect the history, culture and traditions of their societies; it does not seek to impose its own style of government on the government and people of Saudi Arabia."
Ah, love in the springtime, when a boy finds his prince! |
