# Bush=Hugs **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 1, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869 "2001-07-01T20:20:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@Mambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mambo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/1 "2001-07-01T20:20:25Z")
**This is not a debate** on George Dubya’s policies or how he got elected. What really has been bugging me about Bush, though, is when I see him on CNN or MSNBC hugging Alan Greenspan or one of the White House aides. It seems so inappropriate for the President of These United States to behave in this manner. Imagine this: Alan Greenspan, the respected and ultra-influential FED Chief, finishes his speech and as he is going to shake the President’s hand he instead receives an awkward, clumsy hug. Am I the only one bugged by this? They want us to see that Bush is trying **real hard** to be a “compassionate conservative.” I mean he’s hugging important men who themselves are conservative, what else does he need to do to prove himself? Are we falling for this, America? Again, I’m not criticizing his policies, per se, but it seems that the President is trying to build his image around polite gestures and nicknames. Otherwise, he’s got nuthin. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/2 "2001-07-01T20:25:16Z")
I think his hugging folks is the very least of my concerns about him. Some folks are ‘huggers’ others aren’t. Personally, I ::shrug:: ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/3 "2001-07-01T20:32:14Z")
You’re right, he’s trying very very hard to come across as someone in touch enough to care about things. His popularity rating continues to slide into the pit, and there’s a growing impression among even the most uninformed citizenry that he’s a heartless, hollow-headed dodo. His advisers huddle in panic and look to recent years for guidance. The solution is readily apparent: Clinton = wildly popular with the common people, Clinton = a hugger, therefore if Bush = a hugger, then Bush = wildly popular with the common people. QED. I can hear it now: “W, we’ve been talking; we think you need to act like less like a frat boy standing in a stinky room. Maybe you should start hugging some blacks and Jews.” ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/4 "2001-07-01T20:41:46Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Mambo_ > \*\ ***This is not a debate** … > > What do you think? > \*\* Well, if it’s _not_ a GD, it’s an IMHO at least. Personally, I don’t doubt Dub’s sincerity. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/5 "2001-07-01T21:53:05Z")
He seems more like one of those friendly, over-eager kids you always meet. ---
**Author:** ![Shera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Shera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shera)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/6 "2001-07-01T22:21:56Z")
Well you’ve heard the phrase “Hug a tree”, why not “Hug a Bush”?..😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mercutio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Mercutio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercutio)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/7 "2001-07-01T23:24:04Z")
Hugs not Bush! ---
**Author:** ![kspharm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ebca7d/32.png) [@kspharm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kspharm)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/8 "2001-07-01T23:56:49Z")
Yeah, you’re right man. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/9 "2001-07-02T00:05:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTA \* > \*\*I can hear it now: “W, we’ve been talking; we think you need to act like less like a frat boy standing in a stinky room. Maybe you should start hugging some blacks and Jews.” \*\* I’m starting to understand the appeal of y’all’s world view. It makes everything so _simple!_ Yeah, GWB’s appointment of blacks to the highest-level national security posts in history (as opposed to a token Cabinet backwater like HUD)–_it’s all an act!_ His well-known friendship with a [prominent black spiritual advisor](http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/07/01/stifgnusa03004.html?)–it’s just a _put-on!_ The one in four Texas blacks who voted for him for governor in 1998–they _just had the wool pulled over their eyes!_ The [60% of Hispanics](http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010621/pl/democrats_hispanics_1.html) who approve of Bush’s job performance are _just being duped_, that’s all! It’s all just a vast right-wing conspiracy! Yeah, that’s the ticket! Believe me, I wouldn’t try to change your attitudes for the world, RTA. If enough of you Bushophobes keep on storing your heads in warm dark places like this, we just may return to an all-Republican government next year. ---
**Author:** ![cykrider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@cykrider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cykrider)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/10 "2001-07-02T00:37:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \* > \*\* > If enough of you Bushophobes keep on storing your heads in warm dark places like this, we just may return to an all-Republican government next year. \*\* Well, if that’s the case, then I’m going to book my tickets to Canada now. ---
**Author:** ![robgruver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@robgruver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robgruver)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/11 "2001-07-02T01:06:25Z")
I don’t think it’s all a game, at least I refuse to beleive it. I am a hug person. I would rather give someone a hug, than a handshake. Mebee Bush is like that. I am willing to give him the benifit of the doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/12 "2001-07-02T01:24:11Z")
I think he’s calmed down a good deal. When he was Governor of the Great Statuh Texas, he used to lick visiting dignitaries like a big old puppy dawg. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/13 "2001-07-02T04:59:16Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Mambo \* **How he got elected?** [QUOTE] Well, I voted for him along with many other people. I was afraid of Gore, so still do not regret my vote. > [@](#): > > \*\*Otherwise, he’s got nuthin. What do you think? > \*\* What concerns me the most is how worried everyone is about **Cheny**. I go back so far that I can remember **Truman beating Dewey** (I was a little kid, but I remember). His **VP** I don’t remember. What I do remember is that no one would have gotten excited if any **Vice President** went to the hospital (although I don’t remember any that did). Kennedy would have had a private party if **Johnson** had health problems and it would have been no big deal if any of the others had health problems. I don’t mean that the public wouldn’t have wished him well and hoped he got better. I mean it would not have effected the stock market or gotten written up as a special feature in **TIME**. I also imagine if any of the **Vice Presidents** had been as sick as **Cheny** is that there would at least have been talk of replacing him. No one has even whispered that! It is all **“Can he remain as Bush’s adviser?”**. So I wonder: **Is Bush doing the hugging while Cheny runs the country?** ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/14 "2001-07-02T05:09:10Z")
I don’t know how this has managed to persist in MPSIMS for so long; all I can advise is get some sleep **kniz**. ---
**Author:** ![tclouie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@tclouie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tclouie)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/15 "2001-07-02T06:05:04Z")
What if Bush, striving to prove himself a nature-lover, hiked into the Alaska wilderness and got a lethal hug from a big ol’ grizzly? or a Kodiak. How about getting chased and mauled by a black bear down in the Lower 48? Black bears are more dangerous than grizzlies, cause they don’t stop when you play dead. What? me? Ghoulish bad taste? Fantasizing about someone’s death via bear-hug? Yes, I’m one sick puppy, but as governor of Texas Bush has done more people to death than I have ever fantasized about. And I bet you anything he never "reviewed’ any of those cases. Now that’s sick. Damn, there goes my White House tour… ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/16 "2001-07-02T11:27:11Z")
Crap. I dunno what to do with this thread. Since the OP claims this isn’t a debate and asks for _opinions_, let’s try IMHO and see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/17 "2001-07-02T11:57:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tclouie \* > **What? me? Ghoulish bad taste? Fantasizing about someone’s death . . . ?** Um, er, ahem, how can I put this . . . if I were you, I might be a little more careful about expressing sentiments regarding the mortal fate of the President, no matter what I thought of his policies. > [@](#): > > And I bet you anything he never "reviewed’ any of those cases. That’s good. “I bet you anything”? That’s research and informed opinion in action. Good to see the spirit of fighting ignorance kept alive. ---
**Author:** ![spathiphyllum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@spathiphyllum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spathiphyllum)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/18 "2001-07-02T13:27:00Z")
While I oppose the DP (I am trying to live by [a consistent life ethic](http://www.seamless-garment.org/), personally) I **do not** think ANYONE, President or otherwise, deserves to die for favoring it. In fact, isn’t it a bit hypocritcal to say, “So-and-so deserves to die for thinking criminals deserve to die” ? In the current pro-DP political climate (yes, support is falling, but a majority still favors it), I’m sure many politicians fear speaking out against the DP should their opponents accuse them of being “soft on crime” (as Dukakis experienced). Clinton and Ann Richards also participated in the DP, and [would Gore have been any better?](http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/goreWatch.html) ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/19 "2001-07-02T18:10:52Z")
I think the hugs are part of Dubya’s (lame) attempts to get his way. To wit: “Hi! I want to snowball ya and sell ya on an agenda o’ mine thatyou definitely won’t like, but I hope that if I give ya a hug and a hearty backslap and give you a friendly nickname, you’ll want to be my best bud and agree to whatever cockamamie scheme I’ve got in mind!” I think it’s a bit insulting, actually; unless it’s someone who he already knows and is close to, hugging someone IMO is an attempt to engage a level of intimacy and/or closeness that isn’t there. The fact that Dubya is hugging everyone in sight suggests to me a sort of quiet desperation to win approval. ---
**Author:** ![Mambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@Mambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mambo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869/20 "2001-07-03T03:44:47Z")
I saw today on Headline News that GWB made a round outside the White House (I think, maybe a monument) to meet and greet visitors. They also said that this is the first time he has done this since becoming President. This is just one day after new polls showed his popularity had dropped to 50%. Coincidence? Look at this–\> [http://www.theonion.com/onion3713/bush\_regales\_guests.html](http://www.theonion.com/onion3713/bush_regales_guests.html) What I was trying to say in the OP is that pretty much _everyone_ knows that Bush is not exactly the most learned leader in modern times but we were promised in the campaign, by his handlers, that he was a charming diplomat. Fast forward to today: his charm involves clumsy hugs and his diplomatic skill is his ability to give people nicknames. I think rjung is right and it is a “quiet desperation” on Bush’s part to show that although he he doesn’t have the brain he’s got the heart. Unfortunately it hasn’t been working. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-hugs/70869.md?page=2)