Nations War; Bush Chimps it Up

Aping his role as Chimp-in-Chief (the www.smirkingchimp.com website is so aptly named), George W. Bush used the G-8 summit to show the world that he:

--Chomped and slurped his food with mouth open.
--Boorishly smirked and laughed inappropriately.
--Joked repeatedly about looking forward to the pig (pork) meal he was about to have.
--Then he condescendingly used a press conference to lecture Putin on "democracy" by pointing out our installing it (or a pretense of it) in Iraq. Putin returned the favor by suggesting sarcastically that every one wants to be just like Iraq. The international press broke out in laughter. We are a laughing stock, but Bush supporters don't notice. Or, they chalk it up as one more offense, their poor boy taking it on the chin in the face of such mean, mean people.
-And if that was not bad enough, George W. Bush gave an extraordinarily inappropriate neck rub to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, as she cringed and pushed his hands off. As political commentator, Larry Sabato, said, "Almost every male alive today knows that you don't offer uninvited messages to any female, much less the chancellor of Germany." Not, apparently our nation's CEO.

But international relations depend upon protocol, diplomacy, intelligent discussion, and real problem solving. On these aspects of his job, George W. Bush shortchanges Americans every time he shows up. At G-8, it seemed that Tony Blair was instructing George W. Bush. Perhaps we've all be wrong about Blair's relationship with Bush. It may be one-up rather than one-down.

This isn't the first, nor likely the last, time a nation and the world cringe at Bush's inappropriate behavior. It's tempting to think he doesn't "get it." But it appears that Bush just doesn't care. It's impossible to be such a boor without meaning to. We continue to be sucker-punched as Bush just keeps monkeying around with our country. And perhaps the sorry joke is on us. As the smirking chimp site says in its masthead, "Ask not for whom the chimp smirks; it smirks at you."