Soul searching

May 8, 2006

I’m glad the president has hit it off with German Chancellor [tag]Angela Merkel[/tag], but I really wish [tag]Bush[/tag] knew well enough to avoid describing others’ souls.

President George W. Bush said on Sunday he gained a glimpse into German Chancellor Angela [tag]Merkel[/tag]’s soul when they met in Washington last week.

Bush told ARD television that Merkel had described her youth in communist East Germany at a White House dinner on Wednesday.

“She spoke of her childhood, of her father who was a pastor, of the (communist youth group) young pioneers, of her school life. And I have to say I got a glimpse into her soul, into how she feels,” he said.

Bush’s soul insights have proven to be somewhat unreliable. You’ll recall, of course, that Bush met Russian President Vladimir [tag]Putin[/tag] in Slovenia in 2001, and in praising Putin, famously said, “I was able to get a sense of his soul.”

The Reuters report noted that Bush’s remarks about Merkel were “translated…from a German transcript of the ARD interview.” Is it possible the president was misquoted? Apparently not — the official White House [tag]transcript[/tag] has him saying the same thing as the Reuters report.

Given the infamy of the comments on Putin, doesn’t Bush realize he should shy away from this kind of “soul searching”?

Does he look so carefully because both people were born in communist countries? Is he trying to reasure himself or his theocratic reactionary base that it is alright to talk to these people?

Frankly, I’m not really sure Boy George II is the best judge of character or soul. The people he embraces and works with seem to me, by any objective standard, to be pretty bad people. If you can judge a person by those who surround him, what do you say about Boy George II when he hangs around Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, I. Scooter Liddy, and Claude Allen, just to name a few.

But as for using that “seen his soul” comment again, expecting Boy George II to stop using it would be expecting him to practice a little Introspection, which we know he refuses to do because heavy thinking hurts his alcohol and other recreational substance damaged brain.

  • I wish he could see my sole, after it’s been driven through his sphincter and past his lips.

  • bubba,

    Your comment takes me back about 35 years ago to when my scoutmaster would threaten a trip to the hospital to anyone who misbehaved at scout camp. The catch was that two people would go to the hospital–the misbehaver and the scoutmaster (to have his size 11-D shoe and foot freed).

  • I thought one needed a minimal amount of empathy to see into another’s soul.

  • Guys, this is just the usual meaningless diplomatic flattery. I’d rather Bush make up stupid sounding shit about seeing into people’s souls than for him to act like boorish Cheney and the latest flap with the Russians. Wars aplenty have started because diplomats choose to act like louts.

  • Au contraire, Mr. Flibble.

    Bush literally means that he has glimpsed the soul of the German Chancellor. The all-seeing eye that was installed at the White House last year continues its search for souls, so that the President has a variety of toppings for his breakfast cereal.

  • If “seeing into the soul” of aother means being able to assess their character quickly, then the sorry record of all Bush’s family, friends and appointments speaks rather poorly for the Regal Moron’s ability, however much he believes in it.

  • Apparently Bush didn’t realize she was a former DDR apparachik:

    Bush and Merkel showered each other with compliments. The president praised the chancellor for her “strength and resolve” on the issue of Iran. He described Merkel as a “clear thinker” and a “fascinating person” with a “unique approach to problems,” owing to her experience with the “iron hand” of communism.

    No one—least of all Bush himself—seems to have noticed the irony of this statement. Merkel, who grew up in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) of eastern Germany during the Stalinist era, was not among the critics of the Stalinist regime. She had her experience with the “iron fist” not as a regime opponent, but as a functionary who clenched her raised fist in loyalty to the party line of the Stalinist youth organisation. It was only when the GDR regime was on its last legs that she joined an right-wing opposition group and then scrambled to make herself a career in Helmut Kohl’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

    See: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/merk-m08.shtml

  • With Bush’s proven ability to be weaseled by anyone with a straight stare and a good rap, I hope his handlers keep him away from the Shopping Channel. The national debt would triple overnight!!

  • Condi has picked-up on using stupid cliches with foreign leaders by calling every nation that doesn’t boo her out of the country “our best friend in the world. ”

    Did Bush nickname Merkel “Merky Merk?”

  • Colin (#10): He probably did know about her apparachik past. As the Anti-Christ, when Bush looks into someone’s soul he rejoices at the evil there.

    Petorado: The exact quote Condi uses over and over again is “We have no better friend than (fill in your country’s name here).” Condi’s no fool. That language has been vetted for cross examination. She loves all these countries equally!

  • The Plank catches the best quote from Bush:

    “I admire the two Popes. These are strong, capable men who challenge the concept of moral relevancy.”

    The two Popes? Against moral relevancy? If it were anyone else talking, I’d blame a mistranslation, but this is classic Bush. . .

  • Who was the German minister who said that Shrub was wagging the dog in 2002 and 2004 with the Iraq war, and that this was nothing new, since Hitler did it?

    That person certainly saw into Shrub’s “soul”, if anyone has.

  • Does any of this soul examination sound like dog whistle politics to anyone? Is this the kind of code that gets his religious base activated? Maybe Merkel is in on the end of days scenario for the start of the rapture, or some other claptrap. … Maybe she just likes Bush’s Oval Office rug.

    • Comments are closed.