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There is really nothing too small or petty that it won’t make these people go batshit crazy(ier).
Original source story:
A bust of the former prime minister once voted the greatest Briton in history, which was loaned to George W Bush from the Government’s art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been formally handed back.
The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if it were ever sold on the open market, enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush’s tenure.
But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: "Thanks, but no thanks."
Diplomats were at first reluctant to discuss the whereabouts of the Churchill bronze, after its ejection from the seat of American power. But the British Embassy in Washington has now confirmed that it sits in the palatial residence of ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald, just down the road from Vice President Joe Biden’s official residence. It is not clear whether the ambassador plans to keep it in Washington or send it back to London.
It appears that President Obama is dissing the Brit’s most famous and stalwart leader by quickly returning the most famous bust of the man loaned to this country by the United Kingdom in the aftermath of 9//11. The return of the bust of Churchill flustered the British government because they didn’t ask for it to be returned. Our best ally was nonplussed and even quickly told Obama he could keep it in the Oval Office where Bush had displayed the piece of art. Obama told them no thanks which made the Brits even more amazed.
[...]
I mean, this abrupt return of the Churchill statue is sort of odd. Would it have hurt anything to keep the thing? After all, it made the Brits feel good and American’s have a connection to Churchill, too (besides WWII). His mother was from our shores after all.
Whatever the case may be, the bust now sits in the home of the British ambassador in Washington D.C.
Now I wonder if anyone in the U.S. media will bother to report on an incident that that has caused diplomatic consternation, an incident perpetrated by the Obammessiah himself.
Norman Podhoretz and Elliott Cohen claimed that 9/11™ * was the beginning of World War IV. I guess this slight by President Hates Whitey heralds the beginning of American Revolution II: The Dissing.
* 9/11 is a registered trademark of Giuliani & Associates.
(Forgotten wingnut version link added.)
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Why do I get the feeling the Brits could give a rat’s ass about this. And have probably never even heard of this grievous diplomatic blunder. (Well, Amy Winehouse might be upset. Either that or she’s misplaced her coke spoon again.)
I seem to recall there was some hint of impropriety about Blair’s loaning the bust to Chimpy McDouchebag in the first place.
Why not? The original Revolution never finished the job!
Our boys could be in Ottawa in a day. With the experience they got in Baghdad, does anyone think that 200,000 Ottawans are going to do anything to stop us? They aren’t going to be bragging about their gun control then, are they?
Not that i would click the link, by where did the wingnut version come from?
Boy, wait ’til they find out that Obama has installed busts of Osama bin Laden, Eldridge Cleaver, and Satan in the Oval Office.
Nope, sorry, don’t care.
Churchill was a bit of a crazyman anyway. Great war leader, but a crazyman.
My British friends, all under forty and a couple of them more conservative than my DFHish self, have mocked me for being a bit of a Churchill groupie. Somehow i don’t think they’ll be outraged.
9/11 was the start of World War IV in the same respect that the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was the start of World War I. The bunch of medevial dip shits that attacked New York and Washington on 9/11 were extremely lucky they picked the administration of the stupidest moron ever to sit in the Oval Office for their attack.
Style question for future reference; my AP Stylebook (which is still pretty good though it’s from the AP) doesn’t have either dipshit or dip shit. What is the accepted usage? Until we get Osama, I really need to know; and then, of course, I’ll need it as long as their are Republicans, so this is a long-term style question.
Interesting bit of context from the Telegraph:
Churchill has less happy connotations for Mr Obama than those American politicians who celebrate his wartime leadership. It was during Churchill’s second premiership that Britain suppressed Kenya’s Mau Mau rebellion. Among Kenyans allegedly tortured by the colonial regime included one Hussein Onyango Obama, the President’s grandfather.
Since the Republicans mau mau Obama every chance they get — let Rush keep it.
The worst faux-outrage nonsense the wingnuts have perped is the United 93 Memorial. It’s still a damn trailer and chain link fence affair, because the loons deemed the winning design was ‘Islamic’ because it was shaped like a crescent and ‘points toward Mecca.’ This goes beyond stupid all the way to angering. If anyone should have a decent monument it’s the people who died that day on that particular flight. It’s debilitating to think these assholes will always be with us, no matter what kind of electoral defeat, shaming and shunning they experience.
How the fucking fuck did I miss WWIII? Was that Grenada? Gulf War I? Vietnam? WTF are they talking about? Russia’s shift from a dictatorship to a dictatorship? Joe Torre going to LA?
Not that i would click the link, by where did the wingnut version come from?
I found a version in Newsbusters.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/w…..media-miss
I think WWIII is the War on The Middle Class that Republicans have been waging for 25 years. Unfortunately, I think they are winning.
And Mr. Tbogg, I would hope you are preparing some demonic snark for the list of 25 greatest conservative movies evah over at NRO. Talk about a target rich envrironment.
Exactly. The folks running the Torygraph are about the biggest Churchill-boosters remaining in the UK.
WWIII was the Cold War with the USSR, at least in wingnut mythology
ehh, fish from a barrel never taste as good.
Digg it!
as long as you are going all AP stylebook on us, “as long as their are Republicans” should definitely be “as long as there are Republicans”
or were you just checking to see if we were on our toes?
The Copy Desk
I thought the Iraq war against Islamic Terrorist Radicalism was WW111.
I can understand why President Obama would not care too much for keeping Tony Blair’s little love memento to GW Bush in the Oval Office.
If there are in fact hurt feelings across the Atlantic, well, after all, Churchill was an amateur artist, so maybe BHO could ask for one of his lesser oil paintings and hang it in a hallway somewhere in the White House.
In return, he could send the Brits a bust of The Worst President Ever, and let them figure out the most diplomatic thing to do with it.
The ball would be in their court.
It appears that President Obama is dissing the Brit’s most famous and stalwart leader by quickly returning the most famous bust of the man loaned to this country by the United Kingdom in the aftermath of 9//11.
Churchill may be great, so was Pitt the Younger (Napoleonic Wars).
The Brits have had more than one great Prime Minister.
*****notice*****
tech crew is going to be taking the lake down in about 5 minutes for no more than 10 minutes.
“The bunch of medevial dip shits that attacked New York and Washington on 9/11 were extremely lucky they picked the administration of the stupidest moron …”
Actually, I believe they knew the moron part, and played to it.
OK, Suzanne. Battening down the hatches…
Will this affect TBogg as well as the mothership? Guess I’ll find out soon enough.
Oh boy. That is a bust I would have given back at the first opportunity. That would scare the children.
Now, there’s an idea I can get behind! Since no one in the USA is paying any attention to Bush the Youngster anymore, maybe the Brits can pay him some heed.
and we are back
I never even saw you blink!
On second thought, it would be a waste of good marble, or bronze, or whatever. Let’s make it a cardboard cutout.
That was painless!
I have to wonder if anyone will ever produce a bust of Dear Leader shrub. Perhaps Rush will have one mounted above his pill cabinet, or the Dallas city fathers will dedicate a 300 foot tall sculpture of the great man.
I don’t think Chimpy can do much for Rushie anymore…. any Rush is leading the Repuke Party nowadays anyway. It’s all just so downright freaky, dontcha know. How did the Republicans sink so low?
They can pile bullshit that high?
Well hell yeah it’s Texas!
Churchill was a warmonger. Sometimes, you need a warmonger. He was a great warmonger during all that warmongering, when it was needed. Thanks, Mr. C!
A loan is a loan, and it was decent to notice that the Brits might want it back, but be too proper to ask for it directly. The offer of its return was the civil thing to do, and the Brits saying, oh well, it’s OK if you want to keep it for a while longer is the civil reply upon it’s being properly returned. Remember when we all had manners?
I’m surprised The Shrub didn’t assume it belonged to him now, and taken it to Dallas until he could have kept it all his forever in his “library” as a tribute to himself.
Churchill deserves much praise for rallying the Western Powers to oppose Hitler. But he was also a colonialist who fought doggedly to preserve the British Empire.
In addition to the repression of the Mau Mau, Churchill also inveigled Eisenhower to use the CIA to overthrow the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammed Mosaddeq, in order to restore British control over Iranian oil after Mosaddeq nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC, now British Petroleum). Mossadeq took this action after AIOC refused to share the profits 50/50 from Iran’s natural resources.
With the end of democratic rule in Iran, the Shah became increasingly autocratic. Oppression and torture by SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police, led to a religiously-based revolution that overthrew the regime in the 1970s. The Iranian Revolution resulted in a conservative Islamic theocratic rule that spread throughout the Middle East.
So you can argue a direct causal link between Churchill and our current problems in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. But only if you pay attention to history. Which our previous president never really did.
Oh thank you President Obama
Considering what is known about Churchill–his racist contempt for “colonials”, his economic mismanagement as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his role in getting USA embroiled in Vietnam, etc. etc. etc, I have LONG believed that this ghastly Churchill worship was usually a sign of historical illiteracy at best, or moral degeneracy at worst.
The anglophiles among us seem to forget that USA was formed by folks who believed colonialists like Churchill were so annoying, that the appropriate response was to take arms and kill as many of his legions as possible.
It seems that one benefit of growing up in Indonesia is that Obama got to see fresher evidence of the evils of colonialism. So ship that damn bust home! There simply MUST be better examples of an Englishman that Churchill!
Some people would say that it wasn’t in response to the nationalization of the petroleum company that we joined the British plot.
As a matter of fact, most of our State Department and CIA people involved attribute our involvement to fear of further USSR encroachment into Iran.
We had several times indicated to Britain that her stance vis-a-vis Iran on distribution of oil money was rapacious.
How do you feel about John lennon?
EXCELLENT suggestion.
Engrave the lyrics of “Working Class Hero” on the bust’s base!
correct usage: one word: dipshit
really, I was taught by an English jewess who swore very pointedly, knew all the variations and their best applications.
p almost feel sorry for the wingnutz
imagine having to work yourself into a hissy fit over such a small issue
it must take real dedication, or medication, or something …
“* 9/11 is a registered trademark of Giuliani & Associates”
LOL, good one!
I personally think that Obama could have held a bit of an official ceremony for this and point out Churchill’s contributions before returning it (or moving it to a public area perhaps with this quote underneath it).
“”…the great principle of habeas corpus and trial by jury, which are the supreme protection invented by the British people for ordinary individuals against the state. The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him judgement by his peers for an indefinite period, is in the highest degree odious, and is the foundation of all totalitarian governments….
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy. This is really the test of civilisation.”
[Winston Churchill in a minute about the Mosley family to the Home Secretary, 21 November 1943]
http://whatreallyhappened.com/…..chill.html
I would point out that the “repression of the Mau Mau” was one that expanded to all members of Kikuyu society and other groups as well (Obamas gf was Luo). The Mau Mau were, in fact, terrorists, who killed civilians (mainly other indigenous Kenyans) in quite nasty ways and left their remains as symbols of what happens to people that did not give them aid and comfort. But the rebellion was used as an excuse to suppress all the liberation and anti-colonialist groups. It was, in fact, recognized as a serious error to do this…and most of the trials actually went nowhere since the British couldn’t show any linkage at all between 95% of the people they arrested and the Mau Mau movement. It also gave the people tried a springboard to more widespread fame…Julius Nyerere and Jomo Kenyatta were both tried. Both wrote works about their jailing and the repression of the British colonialists (of which the reaction to the Mau Mau played a central part).
Lordy, there’s a lot of good stuff here this morning, but this one reaaly made me laugh out loud.
Why not go ahead and suggest rejoining the Empire?
It would make McMegan happy.
and George Lucas also.
Hoo boy – if they’re getting rid of the Churchill bust, they must be gearing up to do a big bunch of appeasing, those Dhimmicrat traitors.
If they ask for a bust of Neville Chamberlain, watch out!
So, Obama replaces a statue of a foreign leader with that of an American president (a Republican, no less) and these people are complaining? Why does Warner Todd Huston hate America? Has he no bukkit?