"Who cares what you think?"

From: "Bill Hangley, Jr." Subject: His Gift To Us Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 19:05:38 -0400

So when the President was here on July 4, I had the opportunity to shake his hand. I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not but I did it anyway, and said to him, "Mr President, I hope you only serve four years. I'm very disappointed in your work so far."

He kept smiling and shaking my hand but answered, "who cares what you think?" His face stayed photo-op perfect but his eyes gave me a look that said, if we'd been drinking in some frathouse in Texas, he'd've happily answered, "let's take it outside."

A nasty little gleam. But he was (fortunately) constrained by Presidential propriety.

But that was the end of it, until I turned away and started scribbling the quote down in my notepad, so as to remember The Gift forever. When he saw me do that he got excited and craned his neck over the rubberneckers to shout at me, "who are you with? Who are you with?" 
People started looking so he made a joke: "make sure you get it right." But he kept at it: "Who do you write for?" 
I told him I wasn't "with" anybody and pointed to one of his staff people, who knows me a little, and said, "ask him, he'll tell you." Then I split.

Half an hour later, my boss (who had helped organize the event we were at) came up to me and said, "did you really tell the President that he was doing a 'lousy fucking job'?" No way, I said, I was very polite, I just told him what I thought. Fortunately, he believed me. He wasn't happy with me, but he believed me.

But anyway, if you ever wondered if the Prez really was kind of a jerk, I'm here to tell you, he is, and I got The Gift to prove it. I'm thinking of making up t-shirts so we can share The Gift with everyone:

"Who cares what you think?" - President George W. Bush, July 4, 2001 - - - - - - bh

(And by the way, if you think that the Prez needn't give the time of day to long-hairs, tree huggers, Democrats or anybody else, then The Gift works for you too. Hell, so would the t-shirt).

This is a Usenet post (one of the music groups) from Bill Hangley, Jr., from Prague, who is a journalist and a musician. In the early days of Prague post revolution, his was the Band of Jerkeys. He's been back in the States since the end of 1999.  ...."John V. Scialli"

"I'm tired of your agency shit sliding off in my lap, and you telling those Pinko Communist reporters every Goddamned thing they want to know"... "JEB" Bush

7/14/01 AllenP writes:

In his 7/12/01 column for the Tallahassee Democrat, PR worries common for politicians, Bill Cotterell referred Governor Bush having been "clearly frustrated" at all the good stuff that he's done not getting out. He wrote that Jeb Bush used a word that "his father once termed 'deep doo-doo'"  at a meeting of department PR people recently.  

(Top) 

Kitty set to beat around the Bushes  

'WHEN GOSSIP grows old, it becomes myth," said one Stanislaw Lec.

Kitty Kelley took the cake the other night on Larry King's show about the British royals, specifically Diana's boys. The infamous biographer of the world-famous was wearing a huge white corsage that continuously brushed her cheek, and when she mentioned working on a book about the Bush family dynasty, the genial host was more or less dismissive, asking her to stick to the subject at hand.

But this column is interested in Kitty's work-in-progress, which will go all the way back to W's grandpa, Prescott Bush, and move through two presidencies plus attendant relatives, such as the also-famous Jeb, governor of Florida. There is the shuddering thought, too, of her treatment to come of the twin daughters of the president and first lady.

Kitty's publisher and her editor, the distinguished Peter Gethers, have yet to see one written word of Kitty's new obsession, which is still untitled. But as this book is expected to be published before the next presidential election, it is a matter of some concern to avid Bush supporters and the GOP. After all, Kitty Kelley has, in the past, unearthed unnerving details about Jackie Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan and the British royals. (Kitty doesn't fool around with nobodies or semi-celebrities.)

So this will be one of those in-depth, no-holds-barred books about a dynasty that has been described as one of the underanalyzed families of the 20th and 21st centuries. In many ways, from an influence standpoint, the Bushes are perhaps more important and have exercised more effect and sway than the juicy, gossipy, sexy Kennedys. Kitty should be the first notable author out of the gate, and as she is an intrepid reporter who usually burns her bridges, her work will have impact.

The Bush dynasty has somehow kept itself rather well-shrouded in secrecy, going back through Skull & Bones at Yale and on through the CIA and, of course, they've put two men in the White House. Kitty will no doubt attempt to unshroud this famous and very popular family. Wait for it!
.... from Liz Smith, NY Post 8/16/01