Cenk: Bush Drops Fake Cowboy Shtick (#1 Top Rated Diary At DailyKos Right Now)

[ihavenobias]

NOTE: This has 361 Tips at DailyKos (and counting). How many recs will it get here? I'm not saying anything, I'm jut sayin'. ;)


By Cenk Uygur

George Bush bought his "ranch" down in Crawford shortly before he started running for president. And now that he's done with politics, he is moving out of there as soon as he possibly can. The Bushes have bought (and until recently a ) in Dallas. So, what happened to retiring down to the ranch?

Well, it's what most of us suspected - all total bullshit. He was never a cowboy. That ranch had nothing on it. No cows, no farming, just a lot of bullshit brush that Bush pretended to clear (for what fucking purpose?). The ranch was always a political gimmick. It was purchased so that Bush could play the role of the Texas cowboy when in fact he has always been .

So, that pisses me off a little bit. And his brazen abandonment of the ranch as soon as he is out of office just throws it in everyone's face, as if he's saying, "You didn't really believe all that cowboy bullshit, did you? You weren't that stupid, were you?"

But what pisses me off a lot more is how the press never told the American people the truth. Now, it might seem like a small thing, in light of all the horrors of the Bush administration and how the press hardly challenged him on any of it. But it is truly indicative, and it did matter when it counted - during the elections.

I don't know why the press feels the need to be so credulous, especially when it comes to Republican candidates. Fred Thompson has this he uses whenever he campaigns for office. He instantly puts it away when he's done with that shtick. Why doesn't the press mock him whenever he gets in that stupid red truck that he normally wouldn't be caught dead in? Why did they never challenge Bush on his fake cowboy persona? Why didn't they ask him - hey, what the fuck is this ranch for? And isn't it convenient you bought it right before the election?

Why the hell has our press gotten so timid? And when did they think their job became to reinforce the fake images and storylines of politicians rather than to challenge them? It's like they're playing their role in this scripted movie. It's almost as if they're being paid to go along with the fraud...

-For the rest of the article and to read Kos comments, .

-For a video with Cenk's take on Bush's last press conference, . Or to see Cenk explain why Bush is a psychological mess.

-Then again maybe you agree with Elisabeth Hasselbeck who thinks .

[NNN0LHI]

1. They even had a "set" for the reporters to stand in front of with straw and other bullshit

Western White House my ass. Reminded me of Green Acres.

Don

[ihavenobias]

12. Ha, ha, ha!

:)

[beam me up scottie]

22. "Reminded me of Green Acres" !

:spray:

:rofl:

[beam me up scottie]

23. delete, dupe

[Azlady]

27. OMG! That is great! Green Acres! Thanks for the laugh!

[AlbertCat]

82. But Dah-link...I loved Eva!

Green Acres?....nah. Too nice.

This White House was more like "The Hills Have Eyes" or "Deliverance"

[CherylK]

35. LOL!

:rofl:

[blm]

39. Media knew - they were COMPLICIT. They tore down real heroes as they exalted a FRAUD.

They knew. But that FRAUD was going to give them the legislation they wanted to expand their epires at the expense of the American consumer, small business, the voter, and democracy itself.

Gore wouldn't. Kerry wouldn't.

[navarth]

55. yes. media complicity. NEVER forget. n/t

[alphafemale]

57. You mean that rustic looking shed that was in so many backgrounds as reporters spoke?

As I understand that wasn't even on the BUllSHit Ranch
That was a few miles down the road behind some HS Track or something.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

66. Two words...Green Screen.

Just like the one the weather reporters have.

[Ken Burch]

72. It would've been great if we could have, er, ADJUSTED the image on the Green Screen

So that Dubya or the Fox News correspondbot might have had to speak as characters from "Children of the Corn" appeared behind him or perhaps his message of the day backdrop could have turned into say,

[not fooled]

88. Next 'puke presidency?

Entirely CGI. Mark my words. They won't even need a real person any more. :eyes:

Maybe they will just use Raygun as the template--after all, he was a master at getting morans to act against their self-interest, and that's all the controllers need.

[Ken Burch]

59. The bull shit you had to stand on was probably fake as well..in other words, BULLSHIT bull shit

And as to the Green Acres image...y'know, you never see Karl Rove and Arnold Ziffel in the same photograph.

[malaise]

2. K & R

Only the gullible were fooled - I was not among them. :D

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. The gullible and the willing.

I really don't think he fooled anyone who didn't WANT to be fooled.

Surrendering responsibility can be very attractive to some types.

[ihavenobias]

18. I'm guessing most of us weren't.

At least I hope so!

;)

[CherylK]

3. K & R!

:kick:

[formercia]

4. You must mean the Pig Farm.

It never was a ranch.

George W. Bush: The other white meat.

His new neighbors will soon hate him, between the security and all the protesters, 3 million little brown people seeking revenge and anyone else you can think of.

[ihavenobias]

19. Good point about the neighbors. n/t

[yellowcanine]

5. "Brush clearing" was an attempt to be "Reaganesque". And the imitation was even phonier than

the model. Reagan was a phony Hollywood cowboy as well but at least he could ride a horse.

[Wetzelbill]

17. Yeah that's exactly it

Reagan enjoyed riding a horse and his chopping wood routine wasn't much different than Bush clearing brush, but at least he wasn't a coward too scared to even get on a horse. That just totally irritates me, lol.

[ihavenobias]

37. The worst presidents are fake cowboys.

Hopefully America won't forget that lesson.

[bklyncowgirl]

49. In order to ride a horse you have to be smarter than the horse.

That might have been a problem for the Shrubster.

I read a story somewhere that when Putin visited the "Ranch" he took western riding lessons so as not to disgrace the great Russian equestrian tradition by doing something wrong in unfamiliar style of riding. He was disappointed when he learned that there were no horses at the ranch. There's another story that Mexican president Vincente Fox had Bush out at his own ranch and had a magnificent Andalusian brought out for the US president to ride. Bush nearly fell over backward when President Fox's gentle horse stuck out his nose to Bush for a pat. Fox realizing that Bush was afraid of horses had the animals brought back to the barn.

You can bullshit human beings but you cannot lie to a horse.

[ihavenobias]

52. Now how did I know you'd know something about horses. I wonder...

;)

[yellowcanine]

76. "You can bullshit human beings but you cannot lie to a horse."

No kidding. Dogs are pretty good at sniffing out frauds also, but not as good as horses.

[CherylK]

53. You nailed it!

:toast:

[Ken Burch]

60. 50 bucks says that within six months of leaving office, Lil' Dubbikins loses the twang

And goes back to sounding like Thurston Howell the Fourth.

[drmeow]

86. six months? Try on 1/21! n/t

[lib2DaBone]

69. Rates right up there with Rubber Turkey at Xmas and Mission Accomplished...

Life for the Chimp is one big photo-Op

[louis-t]

7. First link is hilarious!

"1999" They wanna have a parade to welcome him back to Crawford. Hey Crawfordites, you don't get it yet? He doesn't need you anymore. You'd think these people would be ashamed to call themselves Crawfordidians.

[Wetzelbill]

51. Is that kind of like a "P. Diddian"?

[louis-t]

85. De-dee, de-deeeeee.

Crawfordonians.

[DCKit]

8. Why the hell even go back to TX?

They've got a whole lot of little brown people down there. I thought he and Pickles were allergic.

[Autumn]

11. No you are wrong

they love "the little brown ones" . Jebs kids if I remember correctly, or the othe bush boy, I get them confused.

[MajorChode]

13. What's not to love?

One of my kids is a Mexican. I hired a guy down at the Home Depot to build a deck, and well...you can fill in the blanks.

At any rate the plus side is the little bastard is a good worker. He was mowing the lawn at 3 yrs old.

[MajorChode]

15. Pickles grew up around them

Her dad had lots of them on the payroll and there's little doubt she never lifted anything heavier than a kilo of grass so long as "Manuel" was around. Hell she probably lost her virginity to one.

[FiveGoodMen]

9. The brush-clearing thing should have been a dead give-away

Even with all the non-reporting from the M$M, people who watched the puff pieces should have thought to themselves, "Since when does any President do manual labor?"

If the brush needed clearing, someone would have been hired to do it.

Such obvious fake photo-op bullshit should not have fooled anyone.

[ihavenobias]

33. Good point. n/t

[MajorChode]

10. What we're seeing is the rise of phonyism

It seems to go hand in hand with the rise of neo-conservativism. Bush lost his first election in Texas because he was correctly painted as a carpetbagging Yankee, but that was when Texas was governed by mostly Democrats.

There are countless other examples of this.

Bill O'Reilly is the standard bearer of "conservative family values" despite the fact he was caught coercing a subordinate into one-sided phone sex as he bragged about his dildo collection.

Michael "Savage" Weiner is the standard bearer of homosexual bigotry despite the fact he is a homoerotica fiction author.

Ted Haggard, David Vitter, Rush Limbaugh, and the list goes on and on.

Just so long as you say what the wingnut fuckwads want to hear, they will put you on a pedestal and consider you unimpeachable.

[Kansas Wyatt]

14. Around the 2004 Election...

It was very obvious for a period of about a year that it was a fake ranch with few props. The media would always do their reports from there in front of the only bale of hay on the ranch. And, anyone who has ever been around a farm or ranch knows what a bale of hay looks like that has been sitting around for well over a year. For Christ's sake... His only bale of hay was even rotten.

Too bad the "Liberal Media" wasn't smart enough to pick up on this clue, during the 2004 Election. Nope, parroting lies from known liars was much more important.

[Wetzelbill]

16. Ok, I know real cowboys, I used to ride bulls

but I wouldn't say I'm an actual cowboy, I was an athlete. But I know serious people who make their living as real cowboys. Bush made me sick. That guy didn't even have a horse on his "ranch." He's scared of them. Please, Republicans are so phony, I can't see how anybody could believe that shit. Reporters are insanely gullible too. It's embarrassing.

[mcg]

20. "Homeless on the range", fake cowboy shoes

http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/2008/07/homeless_on_the.html

[Aristus]

26. Nobody should be allowed to do that to the Presidential Seal.

I'm not saying we should outlaw defilement of the Seal, anymore than we should ban flag burning. But a person should choose not to wear the Seal like that.

[mcg]

31. What would people in the middle east think of it, given their view of shoes?

At least he didn't have it put on the sole, but still, it is just wrong
and shows his improper attitude, he has viewed the Office of the President
as his plaything.

[tblue37]

62. Remember that _Vanity Fair_ article by the young man who

used to watch movies with Bush? The first time the fellow met W, the dweeb was wearing a track suit with the presidential seal on the pocket. I bet he even has the seal stamped onto his boxers.

[nyc 4 Biden]

87. Well, he did have the seal put on his socks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102403.html

[road2000]

80. He defaced the flag, too,

by autographing it.

[ihavenobias]

45. Now I have my Halloween costume for next year.

;)

[lutefisk]

46. He wore the boots, yet he feared horses - maybe it was some sort of therapy...

:shrug:

Most ironic President ever.

[not fooled]

89. Pleeeze tell me that's Photoshopped!

It's not?:puke:

[fed_up_mother]

21. In Texas, many folks with a few acres "in the country" call it a ranch; sometimes a "ranchette"

Ranchette just cracks me up. Somehow, I doubt real cowboys worked on a "ranchette!" :rofl:

[Cha]

24. The corporate press never tells

the truth about anything and neither did bush.

It's like David Rees wrote in his final GYWO in Rolling Stone..paraphrasing.."..It's like the bush admin has been staying up late working towards those shoes every single god damn day since 9/11. The towering piles of money, blood, torture and bullshit--all so that when some random Iraqi throws not one but TWO of his grimy ass loafers at bush, basically everyone on Earth gives him a standing Ovation."...

Thanks, ihavenobias, for your continuously bringing us news.:fistbump:

[OhioChick]

25. K&R

:kick:

[Seldona]

28. "Clear the set!"

About sums it up.

[AlbertCat]

84. "Clear the set!"

One never "clears" the set.

In film it's "Wrap the set" or more likely "That's a wrap"

In Theatre it's "Strike the set".






In Bush politics it's "What set?"

[pleah]

29. K&R

[Generator]

30. The New Yorker had a good article last year on Crawford

The gist-they couldn't stand Bush and knew he was a fake. They didn't start out with animosity towards him but it didn't take long.

[Pastiche423]

50. This article?

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/13/081013fa_fact_colloff

Exile on Main Street

George W. Bush’s weary neighbors

by Pamela Colloff
October 13, 2008

Keith Lynch lives three miles down the road from President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, and, like many of his neighbors, he comes from a family that has worked cattle on this land for more than a century. His great-grandfather Will Simpson came to McLennan County in 1857, forty years before Crawford was incorporated as a town, and the hand-tooled saddle he rode on during sixteen cattle drives up the Chisholm Trail to Kansas sits in Lynch’s living room beside a reliquary of Simpson’s keepsakes (a pair of reading glasses, a wide-brimmed Western hat, a threadbare illustrated King James Bible). Lynch, who used to rope calves at local rodeos for prize money, is sun-weathered, soft-bellied, and partial to a white straw cowboy hat that he removes for Sunday-morning worship. At seventy, he still raises cattle on his family’s ranch, nearly a thousand acres of blackland prairie that is Simpson’s hard-won, if modest, legacy.

The prairie here, west of Waco, is flat and monotonous. Temperatures routinely break a hundred degrees in the summertime, and drought and grass fires are common. Wealthy Texans like to have their retreats elsewhere: in the wide-open, rugged grandeur of West Texas, near the Chinati Mountains; on South Texas’s lush coastal plain, where Dick Cheney once famously went quail hunting; or in the bucolic Hill Country outside Austin, where Lyndon Johnson was born and grew up, and where, on visits home from Washington, he pioneered the role of Rancher-in-Chief. Until Bush’s arrival, Crawford was not a desirable place to have a weekend home, or a town that most Texans could have located on a map. Cheap land and remoteness seem to have been its selling points. And, for the son of a President eager to reinvent himself as an outsider, there was no better place to manufacture a new persona. The plainspoken Dubya—who cleared brush, drove a pickup, and, by implication, was rooted in rural America and red-state values—deflected attention from a patrician life story that had been shaped as much by boarding school and the Ivy League as by his early years in Midland. Crawford gave him home-town credentials. In the summer of 1999, Bush, who was governor of Texas at the time—and a Republican front-runner for President—bought fifteen hundred and eighty-three acres of riverfront property for an estimated $1.2 million.

-snip-

Lots more at above URL

[4_TN_TITANS]

32. Same with Lamar Alexander's flannel shirts

that he wore while campaigning for gov of TN, the image most people think of when you mention Alexander. Nobody here ever sees him in the Armani suits that he wears in DC.

Unfortunately, the bullshit works with the average American.

[newtothegame]

34. Did anybody consider that he's abandoning the ranch...

because he's had protesters outside it the last 8 years? I'd get the hell out of there.

[ihavenobias]

48. That's giving him too much credit and sense.

;)

[Rosa Luxemburg]

36. what happended to his property in Paraquay?

[juno jones]

38. They have extradition agreements now.

He will wind up like Rumsfeld and Kissinger. Rich as croseus and unable to leave their house.

[ejbr]

40. K & R n/t

[ShadesOfGrey]

41. K&R

[sohndrsmith]

42. Love Cenk. Love TYT... n/t

[ihavenobias]

54. I can't argue with that.

:)

[valerief]

43. The press knows better. But like actors following directors, they do what they're told. nt

[ihavenobias]

68. Sadly, that's probably true. n/t

[SpiralHawk]

44. "Smirk." - Commander AWOL (R)

[snot]

47. Hold it, last I heard, he was keeping the ranch bec. Laura demanded

separate homes (her in Dallas, him in Crawford) as a condition to not divorcing him.

Is the ranch for sure for sale?

[matthewf]

56. k&r

[Ken Burch]

58. The best revenge would be to turn it into a wildlife preserve.

(Of course, that would mean IMPORTING wildlife onto the place, but still...)

[CherylK]

93. I like that idea!

:toast:

[Ranting_Wacko]

61. An old Texas favorite song comes to mind...

I'm an old cowhand from the rio grande
But my legs ain't bowed, and my cheeks ain't tan
Well i'm a cowboy who never saw a cow
Never roped a steer 'cause i don't know how
And i sure ain't fixin' to startin now
Oh, yippee-i-o-ki-ay, yippee-i-o-ki-ay

I'm an old cowhand from the rio grande
And i learned to ride before i learned to stand
Well i'm a ridin fool who is up to date
I know every trail in the lone star state
'cause i ride the range in a ford v-8
Oh, yippee-i-o-ki-ay, yippee-i-o-ki-ay

I'm an old cowhand from the rio grande
And i come to town just to hear the band
I know all the songs that the cowboys know
'bout the big corral where the dogies go
'cause i learned them all on the radio
Oh, yippee-i-o-ki-ay, yippee-i-o-ki-ay

I'm an old cowhand from the rio grande
Where the west is wild round the borderland
Where the buffalo roam around the zoo
And the indian make you a rug or two
And the old bar-x is the bar-be-cue
Oh, yippee-i-o-ki-ay, yippee-i-o-ki-ay

[Laura PourMeADrink]

63. Are you sure this is true? I read that he will keep the ranch. Just sayin.

[ihavenobias]

67. Maybe he will because he's realized how bad it looks.

Either way, the rest of the evidence proves him guilty, including the fact that he conveniently bought this ranch RIGHT before the 2000 election.

:)

[OhioChick]

64. Kick

:kick:

[TexasObserver]

65. Cowboys have the shit on the OUTSIDE of their boots, not the inside.

Bush is scared of horses and cows, which is why you've never seen him with either.

Lap dogs are his style.

[mcg]

71. When Bush has boots on the ground is protected. nt

[lonestarnot]

73. Real cowboys don't give a fuck about a little shit.

[ihavenobias]

74. Are you a *real* cowboy?

:)

[lonestarnot]

75. No, but Poppie had handmade boots, and trust me bushitler would have been a serial killer to him too

:P

[ihavenobias]

77. Easy now, I was just checking.

;)

[lonestarnot]

83. LOL

:D

[Rhiannon12866]

70. K&R. Of COURSE he's not a cowboy! He's askeerd of horses!

My favorite comment on Bush*'s cowboy shtick came from David Letterman. He said that if Bush* wanted to wear a costume, he should vary the outfit, like Sherlock Holmes or Spiderman... :rofl:

[ihavenobias]

92. That's great, I'd never heard that before!

:)

[pipi_k]

78. Well, there IS a purpose in clearing brush... however...

I suspect that Georgie's handlers had it imported from other places...probably from some fake branch manufacturing company that makes plastic leaves and branches and shit...just to give W some meaningful busywork to do while the "adults" ran the country....

:7

[ihavenobias]

95. Not a bad idea.

:)

[LibDemAlways]

79. There's a good reason the press never published a photo

of the "ranch" house and grounds. The house is large, modern, and sleek. There's a lavish pool area nearby.



The WH went to great lengths to make the public think chimp was operating out of some rustic farm-like environment. Image Google "Bush House Crawford" and what comes up most frequently is a small ranch-like dwelling that I believe is used by the help. The press has been totally complicit in this charade.

[Wapsie B]

81. Too bad Google can't have a close up shot of the "ranch."

Like was said upthread he only fooled those gullible souls willing to be fooled.

[not fooled]

90. "Estate" is the appropriate descriptor

but wouldn't sound so good to the rednecks.

:eyes: :puke:

[ihavenobias]

96. Yep.

That sounds about right.

[lonestarnot]

91. Kick!

[20score]

94. Good one!