# I am incredibly embarassed by our president's rude and disrespectful behavior **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 24, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960 "2003-11-24T06:51:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![suezeekay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@suezeekay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suezeekay)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/61 "2003-11-25T06:55:40Z")
I’m guessing that the chef was there so they didn’t have to test the food for poison. Of course, he could have brought a taster instead. Kidding aside, not that I think this incident was that important if you want to prioritze his mideeds, its just that the total arrogance of the whole thing just pushed me over the edge. As far as directly blaming Bush, I wasn’t. I worked for the feds for 15 years and you are always sparing to get in the good graces of your boss for the purposes of promotion, cash awards and plain recognition. In other words, the underlings actions reflect what is acceptable to the boss. They must have thought this wouldn’t bother him. He is such a complete buffoon and an ignorant, inflated, ass. His administration is taking away my freedoms one by one and our country isn’t any safer than it was before 9/11. I had to wait 1/2 hour to have my Mazda 323 scanned by a wand to get into the base to go to the commissary. I was out on a whale-watching trip on a sailboat and when a Navy ship came in for our fourth of july celebration, we had to tie up with the fishing boats and climb up a 20 foot ladder because the sailing boat wasn’t allowed to get within X yards of the vessel. What a friggin waste of time. I don’t think the terriorists are training for 5 years to blow up a small frigate with a couple of hundred sailors in northern Maine. It was like a reinactment of The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. If you don’t love and respect animals or value plants that have survived since the Victorian Age then you will have no comprehension how someone could be that upset. Did you know that reporters are not allowed to know how many of our sons and daughters are being killed and how they are dying? They are not allowed near the site of incidents and are not allowed near the transport planes bringing the bodies in. I went through Vietnam and I cannot bear another war watching our young people come home traumatized or dead. Every year I watch the Vietnam Vets marching in the parade; they have never gotten over that horrible war. So those of you who think this war is just another video game, take a good look at the mother’s crying at their son’s or daughter’s grave. Enough. ---
**Author:** ![HerMajestyLorna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7cd45c/32.png) [@HerMajestyLorna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HerMajestyLorna)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/62 "2003-11-25T07:07:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Paperback Writer \* > \*\*Oh, Her Majesty is in a dither. The royal flamingos are in a state! Egads! ::snicker!:: \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fang \* > \*\*I suppose it’s better than vomiting all over Her Majesty. \*\* Ha, ha, ha. **HerMajesty** is not amused. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/63 "2003-11-25T07:12:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MinniePurl \* > \*\*My message to the Queen: Hey, it could be worse. He just wrecked your garden and your home; he’s wrecking our entire country. \*\* Imagine then **Minnie** , how much more genuinely aggrieved you’d feel if you were an Iraqi living in downtown Baghdad. Because, no disrespect to my American friends here on the board, but no matter what you say, there’s no way that any single place in all of the United States come’s even close to the current levels of violence and corruption and lawlessness which exists in Iraq at this present moment. It’s a country ruled by anarchy with 22 million souls being policed by just 150,000 odd foreign troops. You’d do well to remember that next time you try to play the sympathy card. ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/64 "2003-11-25T08:08:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by suezeekay \* > \*\*As far as directly blaming Bush, I wasn’t. I worked for the feds for 15 years and you are always sparing to get in the good graces of your boss for the purposes of promotion, cash awards and plain recognition. In other words, the underlings actions reflect what is acceptable to the boss. They must have thought this wouldn’t bother him. He is such a complete buffoon and an ignorant, inflated, ass. \*\*Let’s see if I got this straight. You had a job in the government. Your job in the government directly corresponds to the jobs of those immediately surrounding the highest person in the government. Therefore you know what the precise motivations and reasoning are behind the decisions made for state visits by the Prez. Nope, don’t see it. Just because you worked in a shitty environment where performance recognition is based on sucking up doesn’t mean that’s the way things work in the White House. Your comment looks like you can’t find a way to blame Bush directly, so you go through more contortions than a gold medal winning gymnastics act to make the blame fit. Furthermore, as has been pointed out previously in this thread, it’s highly doubtful that the British were unaware of where the Prez and his entourage were planning on landing, and if they had problems they should’ve said something before they arrived. Also, as has been pointed out previously in this thread, you got your info from a tabloid, and one with a particular ill repute at that. > [@](#): > > \*\*His administration is taking away my freedoms one by one and our country isn’t any safer than it was before 9/11. I had to wait 1/2 hour to have my Mazda 323 scanned by a wand to get into the base to go to the commissary. I was out on a whale-watching trip on a sailboat and when a Navy ship came in for our fourth of july celebration, we had to tie up with the fishing boats and climb up a 20 foot ladder because the sailing boat wasn’t allowed to get within X yards of the vessel. What a friggin waste of time. I don’t think the terriorists are training for 5 years to blow up a small frigate with a couple of hundred sailors in northern Maine. It was like a reinactment of The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. \*\*You mean security is tighter around military bases and vehicles? Ever heard of the Cole bombing? Forgive me for not having any sympathy because you had to wait half-an-hour to get Jiffy peanut butter tax free. Terrorists flew a plane into our military’s headquarters, so I wouldn’t be so sure that they weren’t targeting less visible targets simply to make the point that they’re capable and willing to hit us where we least expect it. > [@](#): > > \*\*If you don’t love and respect animals or value plants that have survived since the Victorian Age then you will have no comprehension how someone could be that upset. \*\*Yeah, the Queen and her grounds crew should have told Bush he couldn’t land there. > [@](#): > > \*\*Did you know that reporters are not allowed to know how many of our sons and daughters are being killed and how they are dying? \*\*Actually we’re fully aware of how many of our sons and daughters are dying. Here’s a [link](http://www.antiwar.com/ewens/casualties.html) to the number killed, and if you want to know how each individual died you can do a Google search for the details. > [@](#): > > \*\*They are not allowed near the site of incidents and are not allowed near the transport planes bringing the bodies in. I went through Vietnam and I cannot bear another war watching our young people come home traumatized or dead. Every year I watch the Vietnam Vets marching in the parade; they have never gotten over that horrible war. \*\*This I agree with you on. We are told how many died, and how, but we’re not allowed to see their coffins, or their wounds. If the war is worth fighting for, and if the people are behind it as much as Bush and Co. claim, we should be able to see those images. And above all else we have the fucking right to see those images. > [@](#): > > \*\*So those of you who think this war is just another video game, take a good look at the mother’s crying at their son’s or daughter’s grave. > > Enough. \*\* Find me one person on this board who thinks this war is a video game, and find me one American on this board who is not disturbed by the loss of American life. Heck, except for a few twits most of the people on this board are disturbed by the Iraqi loss of life. That comment was a blatant appeal to emotion (and that’s a fucking argument fallacy, something many people around here forget) and an irritating one at that. I’m sure you could find a picture of a mother of a WWII soldier crying over her son’s casket, and a corresponding quote condemning the U.S. govt. and FDR, but that doesn’t make the war unjust. I agree that the _current_ war is unjust, I’m just pointing out that a parent’s grieving has no bearing on how just or unjust a given war may be. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/65 "2003-11-25T08:55:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*The chef thing strikes me as really rude too…and that _can_ be blamed squarely on Bush. \*\* Doesn’t every president travel with his own chefs and eat the foods they prepare? Marc ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/66 "2003-11-25T11:00:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Revtim \* > \*\*Yeah, but it is a _British_ palace… No matter matter good the chefs are, it’s still British food… 😉 \*\* Ah yes, the ol’ “All British food is terrible” argument. Coming from the country whose primary contributions to international cuisene are the hamburger, the hotdog and the pretzel. Anyway, at least you guys can vote out your head of state. We’re stuck with the Queen, God rest her inbred little soul. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/67 "2003-11-25T11:28:34Z")
Oh she’s not THAT inbred. She’s got some German in her, and certainly during the conception of her children she had some Greek in her too - howsoever fleetingly. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/68 "2003-11-25T11:44:59Z")
and a bit of Russian, I suppose, Phil being connected to the Romanov lot. Nut what I want to know is - did she use the flamingos for playing croquet? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/69 "2003-11-25T11:47:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Celyn \* > \*\*and a bit of Russian, I suppose, Phil being connected to the Romanov lot. > > Nut what I want to know is - did she use the flamingos for playing croquet? \*\* Damn you, [beat me to it](http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/People/rgs/alice32a.gif) by 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/70 "2003-11-25T12:13:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wakimika \* > \*\*[One chef](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/11/15/nbush15.xml) and four cooks says the Telegraph. Damn, that is a big entourage. Do Presidents routinely travel with 250 Secret Service agents? \*\* I’d guess so. When Clinton was over here he had a very very big cavalcade. I also remember standing in College Green listening to him speak and looking at the sharpshooters with spotters standing beside them on the top of Trinity College. There was talk of Nigella Lawson(yummy) cooking for Bush at No.10 ( [cite](http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20031117-065452-5558r.htm) ) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/71 "2003-11-25T12:22:24Z")
Clinton’s cavalcade was about a mile long. It stretched all the way round Stephen’s Green in Dublin, even while the head of it was driving down Camden St. I should point out that during Clinton’s visit, College Green in Dublin was crammed with 50,000 - 100,000 well-wishers, and he stood on a podium (no bullet-proof glass or teleprompter) and gave a speech that was greeted warmly by the cheering crowds. Can’t imagine that happening with _cough_ certain presidents I could mention. ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/72 "2003-11-25T12:38:09Z")
Well, Chirac’s in London at the moment. How do the arrangements compare? If there ever was a real threat of the anti-war protesters having a go at Bush, are the same concerns being voiced for the pro-war lot having a go at Chirac? ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/73 "2003-11-25T12:46:37Z")
Heh. Every day is pretty much an anti-French rally in England 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/74 "2003-11-25T14:54:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*I should point out that during Clinton’s visit, College Green in Dublin was crammed with 50,000 - 100,000 well-wishers, and he stood on a podium (no bullet-proof glass or teleprompter) and gave a speech that was greeted warmly by the cheering crowds. Can’t imagine that happening with _cough_ certain presidents I could mention. \*\* Yeah, it’s not like certain other outside factors regarding security and threats have changed since that time. Otherwise, that would be a silly and time-wasting comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/75 "2003-11-25T15:02:20Z")
Yes, 'cos back then we never got terrorists. Especially not in Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/76 "2003-11-25T15:07:57Z")
Hey, the reporters and protestors did it, according to the BBC reporter’s logs: > [@](#): > > One man has just been arrested outside Buckingham Palace after he apparently stole a policeman’s hat. > > The incident started when the protester ran from one side of the crowd to the other waving a policeman’s hat in the air. > > A number of police officers rugby tackled the man - prompting howls of protest from the other demonstrators. > > After a noisy five minute stand-off, police officers led the man away with no further incident. The main casualty appears to be the Queen’s flower beds which have now been thoroughly trampled. [Cite.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3279581.stm) Blaming only the American security when there were tons of people swarming over the palace for hours? Riiiiiight. And you do know that one of the most cherished part of the White House is our own Rose Garden? And that helicopters routinely land near it without uprooting anything? And I still don’t belive that the Queen of England doesn’t have cable. Digital. With HBO and Cinemax and ESPN II! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/77 "2003-11-25T15:13:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mullinator \* > \*\*Yeah, it’s not like certain other outside factors regarding security and threats have changed since that time. Otherwise, that would be a silly and time-wasting comparison. \*\* Interestingly, the last US Prez to do that in Ireland got a bullet through the chest and head in the US a few months later, so I think they’ve known about the security concerns for a while… Didn’t notice any huge demos while Slick Willie was in town, either. But yeah, timewasting comparison, so presumably a timewasting response too? **Mehitabel** , wrong. The reporters and protesters weren’t allowed _into_ Buck House gardens - any mash up there was down to the people actually allowed in. Personally, I couldn’t give a flying fuck about the queen’s garden. This woman has fucking flamingos in her private garden, for fuck’s sake, with their upkeep no doubt paid for by the British taxpayer. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/78 "2003-11-25T15:23:02Z")
I find it pretty silly that the Queen - who has a net worth of something like **17 Billion Dollars** - filed a claim with her insurance company for a few thousand dollars worth of garden repair. That’s like me filing a homeowner’s claim for a red wine spill on a sofa cushion. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/79 "2003-11-25T15:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by occ \* > \*\*Yeah, you might, but nobody’s provided a reliable cite that this actually happened – remember? > > I’m betting any damage to the gardens was minimal, or otherwise considered acceptable within the scope of the visit. > > I bet the Queen wasn’t “furious”. > > I bet the head gardener didn’t cry. > > If someone has a better cite, then lay it on us, brother. Otherwise, I’ll file this with other dubious tabloidery. \*\* Read 'Em And Weep. [Royal Flush…](http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13652625_method=full_siteid=106694_headline=-GROUND%2DFARCE%2D1-name_page.html) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960/80 "2003-11-25T15:27:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Personally, I couldn’t give a flying fuck about the queen’s garden. This woman has fucking flamingos in her private garden, for fuck’s sake, with their upkeep no doubt paid for by the British taxpayer. Where’s your sense of majesty? When I go to bed and dream of someday becoming a princess, there’s _always_ flamingos in the garden. Without the queen’s garden to serve as an example how would I, and millions like me, know what to dream? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-embarassed-by-our-presidents-rude-and-disrespectful-behavior/214960.md?page=5)