Libertarian Girl

Lew Rockwell writes:

“Today? The president moves about like Caesar Augustus, with a vast, graded court of civil and military aides, doctors, secretaries, valets, hairdressers, makeup artists, bodyguards, drivers, baggage handlers, cooks, food tasters, Praetorian guards, snipers, centurions, bulletproof limos, a portable hospital, and an armored rostrum. And that’s when he travels in the United States.

When Bush visited Ottawa, members of Parliament were refused entry into their own legislature by the massed power of the Secret Service, in violation of Canadian law. When Bush visited London, 5,000 additional police were assigned to protect him. Parks and streets and neighborhoods were closed. Riflemen thronged the roofs. The queen was horrified by the trashed condition of the grounds and great rooms of Buckingham Palace, but that meant nothing as versus the security of the emperor.

He counts far more than any other human being on earth. So, of course, every event is staged to the extreme. The president is spoken to by no regular person…”

A regular person speak to Bush? That gave me my laugh for the day.

While Bush apparently needed 5,000 police officers during his stay in London, in Israel starting today he will be protected by 10,500 Israeli police officers.

The Guardian writes of Bush’s visit: “… Hundreds of hotel rooms across Jerusalem have been booked for Bush’s group… Eight truckloads of equipment have already arrived in advance of his two-night stay. All the hotel’s rooms will be taken by his entourage - tourists have had their bookings cancelled.”

What an innovative way to maintain good relations with the world! Cancel all the tourists’ bookings in your own hotel, then snap up all the rest of the hotel rooms so they can’t come at all! I for one am glad we have a goodwill ambassador like Bush doing this great work for us, aren’t you?

(Credit to Lew Rockwell.com for the graphic.)

UPDATE: The Economist writes: “As for the White House’s wish to be ‘well perceived in the world’, the less said the better.”

Tags: Bush’s entourage, Bush entourage, Bush Secret Service, Bush Israel, Bush 10,000 Israel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 11:41 am and is filed under Foreign policy, W, bureaucracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.