'Has the place blown up?' (Bush asked Annan @ UN)

[sabra]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050915/od_nm/bolton_annan_dc_1

'Has the place blown up?'

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - John Bolton's reputation as a difficult diplomat gave his boss, U.S. President George W. Bush, an opportunity to tease the new American ambassador to the United Nations.

"How's he doing? Has the place blown up?" Bush asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the president and Bolton arrived at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday for a world summit.

The president's jest was captured on videotape by a U.N. television crew.

Bolton, Bush's choice for U.N. ambassador, failed to win U.S. Senate approval for the senior post and this forced the president to use a rarely used bureaucratic maneuver to send him to New York.

[Mistress Quickly]

1. If it was anyone but bush talking about anyone but bolton

that would be funny.

[sasha031]

4. what an idiot

thought he was being a good ole boy, he is embarrassing and dangerous

[calimary]

13. That is a VERY bad joke. VERY uncalled for. VERY inappropriate

especially in these times.

You joke like that at any airport and the SS will be pulling you out of line and into a small room.

Not a BIT funny. VERY tasteless. Just like everything else about him. For a so-called "patrician," he sure has low-life instincts.

[Sunkiss BlueStar]

35. Absofreakinlutely

This gov has caused a Stupid Panic and he says this shit. We're locking up pre K students for drawing weapons. * is a fucking loser.

[darkism]

32. This would be funny...

...if it weren't the #1 most reckless man alive talking about the #3 or #4 most reckless man alive.

[Tyler Durden]

2. oh my fucking dog.

this is the guy with his finger on the button.

You all do realize that all he has to do is say "LAUNCH 'EM!" and then the only thing between us and armageddon is a mass mutiny of launch crews (which is not bloody likely).

[flamingyouth]

3. A chill just ran down my spine.

:yoiks:

[sasha031]

7. I think about it all the time

what will those lunatics do if they feel they are losing power.

Didn't the pentagon just say it's ok to preemptive nuke any perceived threats?

[m_welby]

5. Now I have new respect for Anon

He actually restrained himself from punching Bush in the nose. I don't think I could have.

[RaleighNCDUer]

52. I would respect him more if he had turned to Bush and said

"Why don't you fucking grow up!"

[defiant1]

6. Jebus....

This guy is detrimental to my health.

:puke:

[mcscajun]

8. He's SUCH A freakin' embarrassment....he doesn't have a clue

how to behave in public among adults.

[peacetalksforall]

9. Too bad he didn't say it at the airport, he might have been arrested.

I would have shouted Hooray!

[Tesla]

12. I would take that wrong if I was Mr. A......

I mean it was like he was snickering at him.

[Dhalgren]

14. To me, it sounded not a little threatening...

[Sydnie]

10. He had better hope that it never does - or the world will want some

answers from him real fast. Don't they tell US not to joke about bombs and things being blown up? Great example, asshat.

[IChing]

11. NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE BATHROOM REQUEST IS IMPORTANT?

We have Bevis and Butthead running this country from the special ed room of the white house

[rkc3]

16. I've been thinking about that cartoon since yesterday - good job.

[IChing]

21. Thanks I did that before the potty news broke

I saw that kind of hand raised before when I taught special Ed. The body posture, the non focused eyes, the drooped shoulder and thought about Gary Lawson and some of the student I taught.

It was more of life imitates art, vs the art imitates life.

[Theres-a]

22. Nice!

:rofl:

[adigal]

50. Very funny - thanks for the laugh, I could use it.

Look at poor Condi, so sad that George did wee wee in his pants.

[pinto]

15. There's something seriously off with that...

Wonder the Sec-Gen'l thought...

[MaineDem]

17. What an embarrassment!

I really can't believe his "wit".

What a fuckwit.

MaineDem to the world....I'm sorry; I didn't vote for him!

[Supersedeas]

18. oh, now Dimson is doing stand-up....very very diplomatic

[Vickers]

19. Did he ask Kofi if he could use the restroom?

:rofl:

What a fucktwit!

[tanyev]

20. I dunno, George.

Did that quip come before or after your bathroom break?

[Javaman]

23. Does moron* live with his foot in his mouth?

Or was he* just born like that?

colossal racist failure*.

[fooj]

24. The guy is a total LOSER!

He is an embarrassment............

peace.

[Meeker Morgan]

25. It's not inappropriate humor ...

... it's a deliberate message.

Sort of like "We will bury you".

[tinfoilinfor2005]

26. Especially inappropriate since Bolton has already thrown his weight

around and angered several members. Annan should have responded with an honest answer to this dopey question, but he has some class and probably didn't want to lower himself to bush's level in front of the press.

[melody]

27. our Shrub, such a kidder

Will someone please find a ballgag for this asshole?

[hiley]

28. the dictator is such an

embarrassment.:eyes:

[0007]

29. And the freepers wonder what's wrong with the rest of the world?

I expect junior to get more testy as his poll numbers keep plummeting

[Robeson]

30. The hubris of this ruling junta is unbelievable.

[Arkansas Granny]

31. I am so embarrassed to think that the President of the United

States is such a clueless idiot. What an impression he must make on intelligent people who have to deal with him. What a representative for our country. (shakes head)

[quiet.american]

33. Especially wrong to say, considering the death of Sergio Vieira de Mello

Not only is it completely inappropriate for POTUS to joke about buildings blowing up in NYC -- hey, Georgie, remember the WTC? -- but also because the U.N. Envoy was one of those killed (by a bomb) early on in Bush's Folly.

The U.N. special representative in Iraq and at least 16 others died Tuesday in a bomb explosion that ripped through the organization's headquarters in Baghdad.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/08/19/sprj.irq.main/

[hardrainfallin]

34. Didn't the UN have the option of REJECTING Bolton?

If so, this is what I'm talking about when I say THEY are being too fucking passive and pansypants w/ re this admin.

Sure, old Europe, bitch and complain about how the US can't get a grip on it's own politics.... but don't offer any sort of "reinforcement" for us either.

As I recently said to some Germans I've been talking to:

Well, let's see how you fare next week (elections): if you--with your itsy-bitsy little country, your universal health care, your six week paid vacations, etc., with the economic miracle we helped make happen after we got rid of Hitler for you--cannot manage to keep the Bushevik Merkel out of office, shut the fuck up about how politically incompetent we Americans are, and don't come asking us to bail you out either when the Bushevik Schmevolution hits your town!

[bobbieinok]

37. at times I've gotten so fed up with German 'knowitalls' looking down on US

[hardrainfallin]

38. I've had it with them. I lived over there for ten years

I speak German so fluently I'm not recognizable as a non-native speaker.

Talked to an old "friend" yesterday....just can't even begin to go into it.

Have been "listening" ( in my inbox), for DAYS on end now to their blather.

They just don't fucking GET that this is NOT Europe.

uh...gee...well, why aren't you all marching on Washington DC.

Uh....well, I can tell you why at least 50,000 of us aren't: let me put it this way: If you can't afford BUS ticket (esp since there is virtually NO public transp. infrastructure) to get out of the way of a CAT 5 hurricane bearing down on you, uh, how do you think you're going to
A) be motivated to put --go to Washington to protest--on your "to do" list
and
B) afford to GO there

Europeans just do NOT get it. At least Germans don't. I'm so fucking tired of them....

Verpißt Euch, wenn ihr hier mitliest!

[donco6]

40. A German protest is a day trip.

Get on any train on a weekend and you'll run into any number of protesters. Then they load back up and go back home to Munchen or Koln or wherever. They don't know what it's like to cross a vast country that has no public transport.

It is irritating.

[hardrainfallin]

42. and that's only ONE of the things they don't get....

god don't get me started.....

[melody]

41. Many Europeans don't understand our attitude toward government, too

We're terrified of these bastards, and for good reason. When you're raised in a society that instantly confers upon you strong human rights, you feel an entitlement to express displeasure. We're taught from a very early age here that we have no entitlements. We don't march en masse unless we are very politically active, but we may have sentiments that echo or exceed those held by the activists.

It's easier to hate a people than it is to understand them...Europeans have bigots just like we do.

In the words of Kris Kristofferson, "everybody seems to need somebody to look down on...if you can't find anyone, then help yourself to me."

It says more about the ignorance of the people saying those things than it does about "us".

[bobbieinok]

46. yrs ago, Germans: ' why not use pub transp?'... no concept of size of US

even green types here often don't get it.....how are you supposed to not use a car if you live 50miles from a grocery store? (many parts of the west)

....or live in small towns in the midwest where the towns have lost many businesses and Reagan's deregulation allowed Greyhound etc to take them off their route

[melody]

54. country size consciousness

I once had a Dutch friend ask me to "drive up and help a friend in San Francisco" within a half hour time frame. When I pointed out to her that from where I live to San Francisco is a good six hours with *good* traffic, she was stunned. Apparently she had the perception that LA and San Francisco were quite near each other. You can travel through countries in Europe in that time frame. She was amazed to learn that it takes less time to fly from NYC to London than it does from where I used to live in the northwest to NYC. Naturally, I'm talking about western European friends, as Russian folk have a greater sense of how long it gets to "get there from here".

Trying to commute to Washington DC from the west coast is ill-advised unless you're relatively well-heeled, young and healthy, have friends nearby and/or are certifiably insane. It's three thousand frickin' miles away.

[hardrainfallin]

56. yep. n/t

[manic expression]

47. Are you serious?

"old Europe"? That's just ridiculous.

Anyway, the Soviets were the ones that actually got rid of Hitler, like it or not. They actually worked for their universal health care, six week paid vacations, etc...they deserve those great things. They actually understand democracy and good policies, they actually know a fascist when they see one; we do none of those things.

Even IF the UN could reject Bolton (although I'm not sure it can), it is most likely a ceremonial process, and it would be uncalled for to reject any representative, as it is that country's responsibility to choose its own representation.

[melody]

53. understandings and misunderstandings

I didn't make the post, but I believe the poster meant "old Europe" in the sense of "good, old boys" or "old King Cole", etc, not Old Europe. At least that is how it read to my mind.

We're all equally human - our countries all have a similar number of problems of different kinds. We just happen to have more of them now and all of them active.

I've traveled through Europe, I love Europe and most Europeans. Forgive us if we bitch a little. We're dealing with a monster in our living room - for you guys, he's still down the street aways.

Just as there is ignorance in many Americans about some of Europe, there is ignorance in many Europeans about some of the USA, and a mutual lack of understanding of our respective cultures, et al. (I mean "cultures" as not in two, as we probably have as many co-existing cultures as Europe does).

[hardrainfallin]

58. yes, and the other point

"he's still down the street aways."

that "aways" is getting closer, and closer ... it's like a rapidly approaching ICE and they don't see it, or don't comprehend the SPEED at which this train is headed straight for Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, etc.

[hardrainfallin]

57. How long did you live in Germany?

and I'm not necessarily saying the Europeans dont' DESERVE those things, I think EVERYONE deserves them, and there are enough resources in the world for everyone to have them

My point about Europe is that they don't seem to GRASP the implications of NOT having those little luxuries and the effect this NECESSARILY has on political involvment.

Maslow's Scale of Human Needs.

[AuntiBush]

36. He's a Stinkin MADMAN!

Complete idiot! If I were part of those "powers to be," I'd be right embarrassed by now. My DOG could do better.

Someone has to get this bunch out, yesterday!

[Peace Patriot]

78. "Someone has to get this bunch out, yesterday!" We did! We did! But

Diebold and ES&S, and the Republicans who rubbed their hands gleefully, and the Democrats who sat in silence and accepted all the lavish lobbying perks, as Bushite companies took over our election system with SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code in their electronic "voting" machines, and the war profiteering corporate news monopolies, who doctored their own exit polls (Kerry won) to fit the "official result" derived from Diebold's and ES&S's secret formulae (Bush won), had other ideas.

But that was yesterday.

Today, we have the Herculean task of unpeeling all this corruption in our election system, county by county, state by state, election theft machine by election theft machine, as we throw this colossally fraudulent election system, bit by bit, into 'Boston Harbor'! (--or a Louisiana levee!).

Got to get this done--or American democracy will be history.

[DELUSIONAL]

39. Make that dumb ass remark while waiting at a security check point

and you are in big trouble.

bushie is an incompetent half human jerk.

[Spinzonner]

43. A remark like that would get some people arrested

for making a terrorist threat

[DawgHouse]

81. That's what I was thinking! nt

[Endangered Specie]

44. You have got to be fucking kidding me...

thats about as bad as "bring em on" and looking for WMD under the sofa.

[eek]

45. say: aren't we supposed to rat out people we think are behaving

suspiciously?

Better call Operation TIPS !!!

[Toucano]

48. Doesn't Bush realize that HE is in the process of blowing places up?

His inappropriateness just leaves me speechless.

[adigal]

49. HAR HAR HAR!!!

That George is such a card!!! He shows the world the sophistication and intelligence of the 'merican people.

[cwydro]

51. NO WAY!

How can he keep getting stupider? Oh no, guess he isn't. How awful.

Loved that cartoon and pic, btw.

[yorkiemommie1]

55. he is a crude, vulgar and ignorant

FOOL.

[OKNancy]

59. kick

[yurbud]

60. REUTERS: "Has the place blown up?" Bush to Annan at UN

This is a very short piece. Bush's comments were about his new UN ambassador who said someone should blow up the top ten floors of the UN.

Given the Bush administration and conservatives contempt for the UN shown in their lies about Iraq to them and violating international law at will makes this comment seem less like a joke, and more like he was asking for a progress report.

We are the most powerful nation in the world, but we still need other countries help and cooperation from time to time. We are less likely to get it if we rub their noses in our ability to slap them around.

'Has the place blown up?'

Thu Sep 15, 2:13 PM ET

John Bolton's reputation as a difficult diplomat gave his boss, U.S. President George W. Bush, an opportunity to tease the new American ambassador to the United Nations.

"How's he doing? Has the place blown up?" Bush asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the president and Bolton arrived at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday for a world summit.

The president's jest was captured on videotape by a U.N. television crew.

just a few more paragraphs at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050915/od_nm/bolton_annan_dc_1&printer=1;_ylt=AuT6UxkeNttcQypsbQ2EMBkZ.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-


Text

[wtmusic]

61. Tell me this is not true

Tell me this is not true Tell me this is not true Tell me this is not true Tell me this is not true Tell me this is not true Tell me this is not true Tell me this is not true Tell me this is not true Tell me this is not true








:grr:

[sakabatou]

62. Fucking sociopath

[niceypoo]

63. Ass, meet hole.

[whatever4]

I wonder if he tells off-color jokes too, bet he does nm

[yurbud]

65. "Want some cream in your Kofi? Just pulling your leg UN boy, heh heh..."

[wtmusic]

71. This would be tantamount to Kofi joking about 9-11

WTF was he thinking (oh that's right, he wasn't).

Let's get a resolution demanding an apology. Joking about a terrorist act? Unconscionable.

[MellowOne]

66. Does he really have to be our president??

Somebody somewhere, please, please impeach this clown.

[Gman]

67. The US has been a renegade nation since 2003

I find it interesting how all these nations in the world found it necessary to offer to send humanitarian aid to the US under the Bush regime just like we send humanitarian aid to stricken countries under dictator regimes. Apparently, these nations now see the plight of the American people in the same light as we once saw other less fortunate people in once lesser countries.

[ernstbass]

68. Asswipe

Actually I guess Condi is the wipe and * is the ass!

[Love Bug]

69. Ya know, if the averge citizen were caught on film making

such a statement, they'd be hauled in under the Patriot Act for making a terroristic threat. I'm just sayin'.

[info being]

70. Interesting that Reuters is trying to undermine him

drip, drip, drip.

[Dhalgren]

72. The US isn't "the most powerful country in the world".

Not anymore. Six years ago we were pretty close to being the most powerful, but now we are simply the most dangerous. And our growing weaknesses make us more dangerous as each day passes. Like the cartoon said, "We are the most powerful third world country on earth" - that's true; but should we be proud of it? I am ashamed of being an American, even more than during the Vietnam War, or during our deplorable, murderous involvement in the Iran/Contra putrescence. We have sunk so low, have become so criminal, and so detrimental to the world, to the Earth, that I believe that the only thing we can hope for is a complete collapse of this nation. It is the world's best chance of surviving in a livable environment...

[yurbud]

74. still top strictly in terms of military power--or moral & economic stock

is plummeting.

[American in Asia]

73. geez - do we HAVE to be represented by such

an utter prick??? How humiliating! I mean, I enjoy the pee story. I kinda enjoy Chavez being so disrespectful to him (love the insisting on speaking as long as Bush). It's a perverse reaction, really - 'cause at the same damn time I am entirely furious that this evil man has cost us so much international respect and prestige.

Yeah - he's a real funny guy....

[seafan]

75. This statement by * is thinly veiled hostility. Nothing *funny* about it

Don't forget, * deliberately shoehorned Bolton into the UN in a stealth recess appointment, against the will of the Senate. The world knows how Bolton got into the UN.


And now, * gleefully plunges that knife deeper.




I maintain that there will be a heavy, heavy price for George W. Bush, the Republican Party and the entire bigoted cabal of *conservative ideology*.

The prognosis is grave.

[CJCRANE]

76. If it blew up

Bush would be there three days later standing on the rubble with his arm around some-one talking about how he was gonna build a bigger and better UN.

on edit: not to mention that it's more likely to get blown up on his watch seeing as he doesn't seem very effective at stopping things from getting razed to the ground.

[yurbud]

79. "you know I used to do some partying at the UN before Bolty blowed it up."

[yurbud]

64. REUTERS: "Has the place blown up?" Bush to Annan at UN

This thread has been combined with another thread.

Click here to read this message in its new location.

[Skittles]

77. just an endless source of embarrassment to America

un-freaking-real

[frankly_fedup2]

80. Bolton, Brown, Kissinger. Clinton with Poppy Bush so Poppy Bush

can stay public even though everywhere Clinton and Poppy Bush go, Clinton grabs Poppy's hand and pushes or pulls it in the direction he needs to go. So Clinton is now an official baby sitter. They laugh behind his back the whole time. What's wrong with Clinton??? He does not need these people as friends.