Letterman presidential bloopers
 

See, it's about character.

I never knew why, in poll after poll, the overwhelming majority of Americans think Bush is a "likeable" guy.

I look at this video clip of Bush cleaning his glasses on an unsuspecting female stranger's sweater and think "this guy is an arrogant SOB." Others may think he's just a wacky, crazy, funny, former frat boy. Maybe I should get a sense of humor.

What do you think? Is Bush a jackass here, or a funny guy?
http://www.bushflash.com/unb.html

I didn't put this in the "Politics" thread, because it's not politics. It's more of a celebrity sighting.

Americans don't like know-it-alls.

"The more learned and witty you bee, the more fit to act for Satan will you bee"
-John Cotton

I find it very hard to believe she didn't notice. Which makes me think that he possibly asked her beforehand if he could. Or maybe he didn't, in which case I would say yes, he's being an ass. But I don't think you can tell from the clip one way or the other.

"Do you mind if I wipe my glasses on your clothing?"

I guess that's slightly more polite than not asking.

Very slightly.

........But surely they'd prefer a know-something....?

This reminds me of something I read about Bush when he was governmor Texas.

I cant recall the name of the woman now, but there was a woman who had committed a double murder I think. Husband/boyfriend and his lover...something like that anyway. I recall semi following her case as it hit the media ( the prominent cases make it to the UK sometimes, if it appears to be provoking a political response especially) she'd been born again whilst awaiting her execution I think and as such had garnered a lot of support amongst some sections of the Christian community who campaigned alongside the anti capital punishment people.

Anyway....where was I? ...oh yah. Bush was having this intimate li'l dinner party and was clearly being quite a hoot for his guests...jokes and sparkling smiles all around. Then the subject of the executed woman came up. She'd finally lost her fight to not be executed and had died ( I think) the night befoe or certainly within that week.

George's response was to laugh about the video whichthe woman had recorded in which she made her plea to him, as final arbiter of the laws of Texas and the only man on the planet with power of life and death over her.....He described in detail in his wavering high pitched mockery of her voice how she begged him..."Oh pleease pleeeeease! dont kill me"........Gosh.....this man's a riot. A real card..

Now....I doubt it would come as any surprise to anyone who has read any of my posts that I am against capital punishment.....but it strikes me that if you do subscribe to such a manner of justice;if you do accept that for the most heinous crimes in our society there should be the ultimate sanction...surely it disgraces the gravity and the dignity of such a responsibility that it be treated so casually by one with such power.

Depends.. which class do you put Bush in?

:D I dont consider Bush and class go in the same sentence:P

DanaC, I remember that woman's case. Texas' long-standing history of capital punishment aside, there are some other circumstances about the case that may not have made it in the news all the way across the ocean.

There were many people who believed her sudden newfound religion was nothing but another in a long line of cons this woman had perpetuated to get what she wanted. This was not some nice lady who had simply been consumed with passion upon discovering some infidelity. It was entirely premeditated along with her co-conspirators, and she maintained, even at the end, that she had had an orgasm every time she'd driven the pickaxe into the bodies of her victims.

Did she deserve to die? Depends on what side of the capital punishment fence you sit. But did she deserve to get mocked? Personally, after seeing the interviews with her, I didn't buy her spiritual rebirth for an instant. She was met with derision by a whole lot of people at the time, not just Bush.

Those details did make it over yes. I think they made the debate all the more interesting. Its easy to look at someone who has done something in a flash of anger and found themselves on death row and wracked with remorse and think ...."Its wrong to kill that person." Less easy to accept, is why someone who has thrilled to the kill and then tried to con their way out of the system by playing on the emotions of the devout, should not be killed.

The fact that people saw her conversion as fake and directed their derision at her for it ....isnt really something I have a problem with. Its not how I would respond to someone in extremis, however they arrived at that point....but each to their own.

Bush however is not just one of the people he was the man who had the right to let her live or die. That is an enormous amount of power for one individual to hold in law over another. When he mocked her pleas, he was not mocking the back and forth wrangle of her attempts to have her sentence commuted. He was mocking the direct plea made by a fellow human being to him for her life to be spared. If I believed in God I would be outraged at a spiritual level as it is I am outraged at a human and political level.

I dont subscribe to the death penalty, but I can conceive of living within a society that did and I would hope if that were the case that the people chosen to discharge such a final judgement at the very least gave the appearance of taking it seriously and recognising the gravity of their duty. I suspect that the Judge who sentenced her held it a grave task to do so.

Actually, Dana, the governor of Texas has rather limited rights in regards to stopping executions (Source).

Re: Letterman presidential bloopers
 

It may be the cheap scotch talking but I find Bush about as likeable as I found Clinton charming. Not very. I really can't bear to watch these dog and pony shows.

I remember when this execution came down. There were a bunch of fundies who support the death penalty asking for clemency. That was obscene.

Ahhh. So he couldnt have prevented her execution then?

Only if the Board of Pardons and Paroles would have recommended clemency.

I stand corrected *smiles*
I still however think laughing at the pleas of a condemned woman is uncouth and lacking in basic human kindness.