Five Years Ago, Bush Was Just Awesome:


A trip down memory lane, offered with little comment, although a bottle of cheap tequila and a few dramamine might be necessary, probably like the President before he took off:

David Gergen on Fox "news" with Greta Van Susteren: "Well, it was a stunning backdrop. I don't -- you know, Greta, I've watched the choreography of presidential events for a long time and participated in a few. I can't remember an event as spectacular, as stunning as this, as impressive as this, since Richard Nixon returned from China 30 years ago."

Newt Gingrich on Fox "news" with Sean Hannity: "Well, somebody reminded me this afternoon of the movie Independence Day, which has a fighter pilot who becomes president of the United States. And in a sense, this afternoon you were reminded that this is a man who has served as a fighter pilot in the Texas National Guard, who has been prepared to fight for his country. Landing on the carrier must have reminded him of his father's career, also, having been, I think, the youngest pilot in the U.S. Navy in the Second World War."

Miles O'Brien on CNN: "Chris Burns, I don't suppose the president was wearing a G-suit. I don't think they're going to run him through his paces too much. But a flight suit, nevertheless. I suspect he's going to have a fun day. This is about as -- it's a good day to be a president, isn't it?"

And O'Brien with Kyra Phillips in deep dialogue:
PHILLIPS: He looks like a fighter pilot.
O'BRIEN: Yes. He's got the look, doesn't he? Yeah. That's ...
PHILLIPS: He sure does. Look at the stroll.
O'BRIEN: I'm telling you, that is the fighter pilot strut if I ever saw it. He's got it going.
PHILLIPS: Tom Cruise look at him.

Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC's Hardball: "He's earned this, Chris. As you said. he flew jets in the reserves back in his college years. And so the problem is, when people accuse him of taking too much advantage of it, the mind reels back to what other presidents could have done this? Certainly his predecessor could not have done it. Bill Clinton never served in the military. Probably had a little too much beef on his bones to fit in one of those cockpits. And you just can't imagine him walk out of one of those jets on to that deck. So, the guy has earned it. He did prosecute a war successfully. And it is all show business, that's absolutely true. But you also can tell that this president really in his heart does feel joined with those people serving on that aircraft carrier."

And, in a sample of the kind of dialogue the Rude Pundit is sure goes on in Hell, from that same episode of Hardball, here's Chris Matthews and Ann Coulter wondering which Democrats running for president might have been able to fly in that fighter jet:
MATTHEWS: OK, let me run through the names, Ann. Lieberman -- can you see him in this picture? Ann?
COULTER: What about him?
MATTHEWS: Can you see him getting into an F-18...
COULTER: Oh, no!
MATTHEWS: ... an flying onto an aircraft carrier?
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Joe Lieberman, can you see him there?
COULTER: No possibility. I -- I have...
MATTHEWS: Can you see John Edwards doing it?
COULTER: No possibility.
MATTHEWS: Can you see Dick Gephardt doing it?

Finally, for the latent homosexual take on it, Pat Buchanan on MSNBC: "It was one of those acts of symbolism and dash and daring that call to mind, frankly, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan at their best. It was class. It was beautiful...it's neat...It makes you feel young again...Well, America can not help but be thrilled by what you saw today...That's a president with nerve. That's a president with nerve...Upcoming folks, should Scott Peterson get bail tomorrow?"