Protecting the Little Coward from the Mean People

This boy ain't in a bubble. He's in a friggin' mobile fallout shelter. Anyone who uses "George W. Bush" and "bravery" in the same paragraph should have their pen taken away.

THIS is the very definition of being "divorced from reality."

German protesters call Bush 'No. 1 Terrorist'

Some 7,000 protesters, some carrying banners saying "Bush go home," "War Monger" and "No. 1 Terrorist," marched through the German town of Mainz on Wednesday but were kept away from the visiting U.S. president.

The largely peaceful rally never got within a kilometre (half mile) of U.S. President George W. Bush, who is on his first German visit since the 2003 Iraq war, which was deeply unpopular in Germany.
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German police confiscated one poster that read: "We had our Hitler, now you have yours."

A force of 10,000 police officers staged one of the biggest postwar security operations. Frogmen searched the Rhine for explosives, 1,300 manhole covers were welded shut and thousands of residents were displaced.

For Bush's 8-hour stay there was also a strict ban on air traffic within a 60-km (40-mile) radius of Mainz, barges on the river were halted and motorways in the region closed. Factories, businesses and schools were shut.

Bush's visit contrasted with that of his father to Mainz in 1989 when large crowds cheered Bush senior for his calls for the Berlin Wall to be torn down.

Other U.S. presidents have also been given a hero's welcome in Germany.

"When John F. Kennedy came to Germany he drove through cheering crowds," said Mark Reichelt, 20, a student. "Now Bush is here and will drive through empty streets."

We're far from done. Germany's homeland newspaper Der Spiegel finally finds out the truth that we in America have known for four years.

With a Hush and a Whisper, Bush Drops Town Hall Meeting with Germans

During his trip to Germany on Wednesday, the main highlight of George W. Bush's trip was meant to be a "town hall"-style meeting with average Germans. But with the German government unwilling to permit a scripted event with questions approved in advance, the White House has quietly put the event on ice. Was Bush afraid the event might focus on prickly questions about Iraq and Iran rather than the rosy future he's been touting in Europe this week?

This article is too good to just highlight. Read the rest of it by clicking the link below. Finally, the world knows what kind of frightened chimp we have for a president.

The much-touted American-style "town hall" meeting the White House has been planning with "normal Germans" of everyday walks of life will be missing during his visit to the Rhine River hamlet of Mainz this afternoon. A few weeks ago, the Bush administration had declared that the chat -- which could have brought together tradesmen, butchers, bank employees, students and all other types to discuss trans-Atlantic relations -- would be the cornerstone of President George W. Bush's brief trip to Germany.

State Department diplomats said the meeting would help the president get in touch with the people who he most needs to convince of his policies. Bush's invasion of Iraq and his diplomatic handling of the nuclear dispute with Iran has drawn widespread concern and criticism among the German public. And during a press conference two weeks ago, Bush said Washington is still terribly misunderstood in Europe. All the more reason, it would seem, for him to be pleased about talking to people here.

But on Wednesday, that town hall meeting will be nowhere on the agenda -- it's been cancelled. Neither the White House nor the German Foreign Ministry has offered any official explanation, but Foreign Ministry sources say the town hall meeting has been nixed for scheduling reasons -- a typical development for a visit like this with many ideas but very little time. That, at least, is the diplomats' line. Behind the scenes, there appears to be another explanation: the White House got cold feet. Bush's strategists felt an uncontrolled encounter with the German public would be too unpredictable.

To avoid that messy scenario, the White House requested that rules similar to those applied during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit two weeks ago also be used in Mainz. Before meeting with students at Paris's Institute of Political Sciences, which preens the country's elite youth for future roles in government, Rice's staff insisted on screening and approving any questions to be asked by students. One question rejected was that of Benjamin Barnier, the 24-year-old son of France's foreign minister, who wanted to ask: "George Bush is not particularly well perceived in the world, particularly in the Middle East. Can you do something to change that?" Instead, the only question of Barnier's that got approval was the question of whether Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority might create a theocratic government based on the Iranian model?

The Germans, though, insisted that a free forum should be exactly that. Wolfgang Ischinger, Germany's Ambassador to the United States, explained to the New York Times last week: "We told them, don't get upset with us if they ask angry questions."

In the end, the town hall meeting was never officially dropped from the agenda of the trip -- instead it was dealt with in polished diplomatic style -- both sides just stopped talking about it.

As an ersatz for the town hall meeting on Wednesday, Bush will now meet with a well-heeled group of so-called "young leaders." Close to 20 participants will participate in the exclusive round to be held in the opulent Mozart Hall of a former royal palace in Mainz, giving them the opportunity for a close encounter with the president. The chat is being held under the slogan: "A new chapter for trans-Atlantic relations." The aim of the meeting is to give these "young leaders" a totally different impression of George W. Bush. In order to guarantee an open exchange, the round has been closed to journalists -- ensuring that any embarrassments will be confined to a small group.

The guest list for the Wednesday afternoon gathering has been handpicked by several US organizations with offices in Germany. In recent days, the Aspen Institute and the German Marshall Fund have sent lists of possible guests to the German Foreign Ministry. The requirement was that all of the nominees had to be in their twenties or thirties and they must already have been in a leadership position at a young age. In other words: there won't be any butchers or handymen on the elite guest list, but rather young co-workers from blue chip companies like automaker DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Bank or the consultancy McKinsey. The fact that two American organizations are the ones managing the guest list suggests that the chat won't be overly critical of Bush.

One participant in the Bush round is 31-year-old Katrin Heuel of Berlin, an employee of the conservative Aspen Institute. Just a few days ago, she received an invitation from the Protocol Office of the German Foreign Ministry. She's a bit nervous about the encounter -- after all, Bush isn't someone she's likely to encounter in her daily life in Berlin. She says she hasn't heard anything about questions being scrutinized in advance or of any kind of script for the event. "I will ask very open questions about Iran, North Korea and Russia," she said, adding that she's excited to see how the president will react to the young people's questions.

Foreign Ministry sources said Berlin wasn't planning any briefing on the course of the chat prior to the event. And it's unknown whether the American staff will make any suggestions to the young leaders. Then again, the day's issue -- a new chapter for trans-Atlantic relations, seems to ensure that things won't get out of hand -- after all, this event is supposed to focus on the future and not dwell on prickly questions about the past.

Thanks, PJ...

Comments

[Barry Champlain]

German police confiscated one poster that read: "We had our Hitler, now you have yours."

I would like to personally thank the German police for confiscating that sign, and in so doing, making it "acceptable" to reprint its message in news wires all over the world (including maybe a few in our media, where, tsk tsk, sech uppity talk is verboten, if I may mix my dialect humor...)

Baby steps!

[lost_horizon]

it wasn't just the airplanes and the protesters: everybody was singled out of the presence of the american Braveheart. It was spooky... like in that movie were only 3 people survived the end of the world.

Many people were not able to go to work because the streets were closed down some hours earlier than announced.

And what for? Just to let that grinning liar tell his lies into the faces of people that can hardly hide their disgust and disbelieve for the amount of rubbish coming out of this dumbass.

[Andrew A. Gill]

Germany's homeland newspaper Der Spiegel finally finds out the truth that we in America have known for four years.

No. From my German contacts, they've known it for years.

[SV]

Bush will now meet with a well-heeled group of so-called "young leaders."

I swear, the first time I read that sentence my mind filled in the words "Youth League."

Maybe because I'm in the middle of reading 1984, but there's something about an audience of privileged young finks pre-screened for ideological purity that makes my blood run cold.

[lost_horizon]

I'm watching german TV news right now:

they even closed down several highways! our holy Autobahn! And at 10 pm there still are heavy traffic jams around Mainz.

And they even cancled 150 flights!! A spokesperson from the airport said this had cost some million euros.

Why that idiot president has to disturb people that don't want him around?

[boudicca1]

If we are told anything at all about the Bush visit to Mainz, we will probably hear about "thousands turning out to greet Bush." And no pictures. I don't think he even knows how much he is hated.

[Maia, Ottawa]

Been there done that! When he came here a few months ago (I've blocked the date from my mind)it was the same thing - traffic disrupted, buses re-routed, shades drawn in the government building he was visiting, etc. - and we the citizens will be paying the tab for sometime to come. I'm still trying to figure out where the crowd was that he thanked for waving to him "with all five fingers." Buckfush

Can we real people in the US pay Germany or any other country to take Bushit and his asswipes off our hands? I will gladly pay the first dollar! Sorry I forgot no other country is STUPID enough to take him!
Our hipwaders need to be neckwaders to get out from all his Bushit.

[yk]

Even the German media downplayed the empty streets and the protests. At least the MSM in Germany did. But the people are putting up a fight in complaining about the chaos that Walking Eagle created by coming here. One of the comments: "All this mess for this ONE idiot. Normally, EU meetings with other European leaders go on without any major disruptions". I wonder if Kerry had become president...ahhhh, never mind! Lufthansa is considering suing the German government for cancelling flights at the last minute for this Bushit!

[Lee. St Paul MN]

Bloody Hell!! What a dirty little coward.

[Daughter of Viet Vet]

I've just had it.

You know, sane Americans look to other countries to set the standards now, both in media integrity and personal integrity. What in the hell is wrong with Germany (besides the six million Jews they slaughtered sixty years ago)?

Why does this Crackhead get a lifetime "Feel Free to be an Idiotic Asshole" pass? What does he have that makes people in positions of power behave this way?

I am ranting. It's just that I read this on the heels of reading a mongoloid's letter to the editor in my hometown paper, where he decries the "liberal media jumping all over" what Shrub does and says. Oh, and he helpfully points out, where is the reporting on "all of the people Saddam Hussein murdered"?

I wonder if that media he is ranting about includes Jeff Gannon.

[Ken]

Tyrant Bush and his cronies are a direct menace to the survival of the human species. It's not due to his unconstitutional, illegal and immoral warmongering but due to his actions that are hastening global warming.

His messianic vision of himself bringing forth rapture is insane but has the backing of those who want "all the money" before the "piper must pay his due".

He is like Hitler in the Bunker. However, Hitler's Wehrmacht was being ground into the ground by a two front war and his industrial base was being bombed incessently. Whereas Bush has the American military and industrial might to back up his "vision" for the world.

While the first world countries of France and Germany can give lip service to the deluded and religious fanatic Bush, it is proof that both those countries leaders are on an independent path from our illegal leader via the European Union.

Military might of "force makes right" may be the old way it is the economic power to coeirce a nation. If there is a way to bring to heel the madness of Tyrant Bush then it must be done through economic and political means by a united world that stands for survivial of the species.

Even the U.S. military planners have written about the dangers of global warming that is a direct threat to American national security, but the tyrant is oblivious to the danger to America and all of humanity.

It is up to the people of this nation and world to hasten the end to this morally bankrupt reign by Tyrant Bush.

[RaginBlue6]

Being a resident of St. Simons, Island, Georgia, I know exactly how the Germans feel. We had to suffer through the G-8 this past June. God, what a disaster!

I guess we have to endure Bush's portable police state, which preceeds him wherever he goes, but I'll be damned if I know why other counties invite him to screw up their citizens' lives for days on end.

We hapless Americans would be much better off if he stayed home and kept his mouth shut; it is safer and more cost effective for us.

To our European friends, if we have any left, I can only say again, I am sorry. I voted for Kerry.

[BK]

At least the European press has the guts to print the truth about what the citizens actually feel.

[T. D., Richmond, VA (yes, I know, a red state)]

"Little coward" definitely fits the bill for this litte wastrel. We had to know it would be bad when back in 1999 Mama Bush was on the Today Show defending her little puddin'head against all those mean old folks who said he just wasn't very smart.
To the German people from a U.S. democrat: I'm sorry that Bush shut down your highways and airports! The little creep did the same thing here on inauguration day, and told people who work in Washington DC to "take the day off, take a personal day or a sick day" - like everyone who works in Washington DC is well off enough to be able to AFFORD to take a day off!

[Sue B. North Kingstown]

"well-heeled young leaders"...read jack-booted Brownshirts. This is what Walking Eagle has in mind for the New American Century folks. Prepare yourselves. I think it only appropriate that every leader of every country that visits the U.S. insists that the same immense disruption of daily life and commerce in particular occur when THEY visit too. It might make people think twice about the portable bomb shelter (love that phrase BTW) this fake pResident takes wherever he goes. He disgusts more than half of this country too, but Democrats don't own election equipment companies.

[DJGreenLTia]

W in the W-House illustrates, in the worst possible way, how scum floats to the top. And Bush43 is scum floating on more scum---only way to get rid of a mess like this is to tip the whole frigging barrel over & dump it into a trench (as in field-latrine).
But it ain't gonna happen: this swamp-crapper barrel of Bushit is surrounded, protected and supported by a Cabinet, Judiciary, Congress and Supreme Court controlled by neo'cons who are likewise scum of the same ilk.

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