You can always count on George W. Bush to say a stupid thing at the wrong time. The man who spent the weekend showing up late for the Pope and late for his D-Day ceremony, took time off today to diss Reagan in an interview with Tom Brokaw:
"Bush refused Brokaw's invitation to label himself a 'Ronald Reagan Republican.' Bush said he thinks of himself as 'a George W. Republican.'"It's a small slight that you could easily have overlooked (I did, until my friend Joe pointed it out), but it's an important and telling one.
What could Bush have possibly been thinking? His response is arrogant (is he somehow better than Reagan, or at the very least ashamed or angered by being compared to Reagan?), and downright rude (considering the man just died 12 hours before). As my friend Joe pointed out, there were lots of possible correct answers to the question, including:
1. We are all Ronald Reagan republicans.
2. I like to think there's a bit of Ronald Reagan republican in us all.
Or my suggestions:
3. I should be so lucky as to have the honor of calling myself a Ronald Reagan republican.
4. There is only one Ronald Reagan.
You get the picture.
But for Bush to take a softball question that's intended to give him an easy chance to praise Reagan, say "no," and then turn the question around and making it all about himself? Whatever you personally think of Ronald Reagan, for the current Republican president to respond that way, that's just fucked up. So why did he do it?
1. Because he's a moron. And I mean that seriously. Bush can't think on his feet and probably had no clue he was being fed a softball question, let alone did he have a clue how "normal" people respond to such questions.
2. Because he's an arrogant ass. For all of his failings, Bush thinks pretty highly of himself, and I get the impression he bristles at any suggestion that he's not "the man." Thus, it's quite probable Bush found the question insulting, since HE'S the president and NOT Ronald Reagan. Who is Brokaw, he must have asked himself, to diminish Bush's importance by suggesting he's just copy-catting Reagan, especially after Bush just met with the Pope and then a big ole bunch of European leaders in Normandy? Did Reagan just meet the Pope? Did Reagan catch Saddam? I don't think so.
In the end, this could all be explained by a big case of presidential pique. Bush plans his big adventure to Europe, he's waiting for the big photo op at Normandy where all of America will see him standing side-by-side with all the other big boy leaders of the world (remember: this guy thinks he's another Churchill or Roosevel), and Reagan goes ahead and steals all Bush's thunder by dying and hogging all the news. So rather than being asked about how presidential he looked in Europe, Bush is being asked how he stands up to Ronald Reagan, a "real" Republican God. Big surprise that the boy-who-would-be-president would stomp his feet and respond "me, me, me!"
What a loser.
