A Guest at the White House
THE SCRAPBOOK is not often called upon to tutor 60-year-old men in basic manners. But we feel compelled to offer a few friendly words of advice to the newly elected senator from Virginia, James Webb.
It seems that the senator-elect, attending a reception last week for new members of Congress at the White House, found himself in the presence of its occupant. Extending his hand toward Webb, who had had many harsh things to say about the president during his campaign, George W. Bush inquired: "How's your boy?"
A reasonable and compassionate inquiry, in THE SCRAPBOOK's view. Webb's son is a Marine corporal serving in Iraq; Webb wore the boy's combat boots throughout his campaign, which he removed and held aloft in triumph when he won election; and Bush is commander in chief of the armed forces.
Webb: "I'd like to get them [sic] out of Iraq."
Bush: "That's not what I asked you. How's your boy?"
Webb: "That's between me and my boy."
Webb's staffers let it be known around Washington that the senator-elect was so angered by Bush's inquiry that he was tempted to "slug" the president, and Webb later told the Washington Post, "I'm not particularly interested in having a picture of me and George W. Bush on my wall." He further explained: "Leaders do some symbolic things to try to convey who they are and what the message is."
In recounting this episode, columnist George F. Will moved swiftly to the heart of the matter, pronouncing Webb a "boor" and adding, by way of admonition, that "in a republic, people decline to be led by leaders who are insufferably full of themselves."
As always, however, THE SCRAPBOOK prefers to be prescriptive. And our counsel to Senator-elect Webb would be that, if the prospect of shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries with the president of the United States in the White House is too painful to bear--if, that is, it conveys the wrong message about who you are--it would be altogether fitting and proper to decline the president's hospitality and stay home. Surely somewhere in Webb's training as an officer and gentleman at the United States Naval Academy, he was taught that important lesson?
Oh, and speaking of Annapolis: We would further advise the senator-elect to avoid discussion of "slugging" George W. Bush when Webb's best-known experience in the ring involved losing a boxing championship to his Naval Academy classmate (and fellow Marine) Oliver North.
The "Dirt on Churchill"
Elsewhere in this issue, Harvey Mans field takes note of the many obstacles to teaching young people to appreciate greatness. "Any American education in greatness," he writes, "could begin by appealing to the admiration most of us already have for those who initiated the society we now enjoy. I know, of course, that such an appeal is not as easy as it ought to be" (an elegant understatement, as we shall see). Mans field continues: "It must overcome or bypass the denigration of the Founders by the social scientists, today's version of the democratic historians, enemies of greatness, that Tocqueville warned against." It so happens that a particularly vivid example of the denigration of greatness landed in our lap last week. A friend who belongs to the online ChurchillChat group (incongruous-sounding, we know, but you can find it at groups.google.com) pointed out this entry from a student trolling for help on a final paper:
I'm enrolled in a history class and part of the final is to find the "dirt" on famous people in history. I was assigned Winston Churchill. Short of finding some info on his fondness for alcohol I'm having difficulty. The problem is finding credible sources and not just someone's conjecture. It's a 2000+ word paper so I need as much "dirt" as you might be aware of, I don't like to put a lot of fluff into my papers. Not looking for anyone to do the paper for me just for some instances that you might be aware of. Maybe he kicked cats when he was a kid, was fond of collecting pictures of old time movie stars, whatever. Biggest thing is I need to be able to reference the "dirt" and the references need to be credible.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Perhaps needless to add, this sparked quite a long set of rejoinders from the group's members. (One can't discount the possibility that the message is a deliberate provocation.) We're with the one who said, "Sorry you got this assignment; there isn't enough 'dirt' on Churchill to get a 50 word paragraph, let alone a 2,000 word essay."
You Can't Make This Stuff Up
Important scientific research, as summarized by reporter Andy Bromage in the New Haven Advocate:
A collective "I told you so" will ripple through the world of Bush-bashers once news of Christopher Lohse's study gets out.
Lohse, a social work master's student at Southern Connecticut State University, says he has proven what many progressives have probably suspected for years: a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush.
Lohse says his study is no joke. The thesis draws on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse's study, backed by SCSU psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, found a correlation between the severity of a person's psychosis and their preferences for president: The more psychotic the voter, the more likely they were to vote for Bush.
But before you go thinking all your conservative friends are psychotic, listen to Lohse's explanation.
"Our study shows that psychotic patients prefer an authoritative leader," Lohse says. "If your world is very mixed up, there's something very comforting about someone telling you, 'This is how it's going to be.'"
The study was an advocacy project of sorts [you don't say!], designed to register mentally ill voters and encourage them to go to the polls, Lohse explains. The Bush trend was revealed later on.
No word on how their get-out-the-vote drive turned out.
Satire Alert
From our good friend Scott Ott at Scrappleface.com: Bush Orders Preemptive Redeployment to Iran, Syria
(2006-12-01) -- Just days before the Iraq Study Group releases its top-secret report, President George Bush today ordered the Pentagon to preemptively redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq to "neutral neighboring countries including Iran and Syria."
"I've said that I won't order our troops to make a graceful exit from Iraq," said Mr. Bush, "But I never ruled out making a graceful entrance into Iran and Syria where I expect our partners in peace to welcome us with open and raised arms." . . .
But Mr. Bush said the Iraq Study Group, Kofi Annan and other Democrats have convinced him that engagement with Iran and Syria is crucial to finding a "holistic solution" to the Iraq situation.
"At the very least," said Mr. Bush, "Redeploying our troops to Iran should help Iranian weapons manufacturers save some money on shipping."