-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
To deflect attention away from the Romney fiasco that his trip to England has become, Charles Krauthammer resurrected an old story: “Obama started his presidency by returning to the British Embassy the bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office.” The inference is that this story demonstrates animus between Obama and Britain. The bust had been loaned to then-President George W. Bush from the U.K.’s government art collection, for the duration of his presidency.
As is common practice at the end of a presidency, the White House curator removed all the art lent to the departing tenant. The bust was returned and is on display at the British Ambassador’s residence. According to White House curator William Allman, the decision to return the bust had been made before Obama even arrived.
It turns out that there are two Churchill busts. Another Churchill bust, also by Jacob Epstein, was given to the White House during the Lyndon Johnson administration. That bust is on display in the White House residence and is seen in this photo of Obama with Prime Minister David Cameron.
While Krauthammer does his best to deflect attention from what the British press have dubbed “Mitt The Twit,” the facts don’t support his assertions. James Barbour, press secretary and head of communications for the British Embassy, said “[t]he Churchill Bust story is a silly diversion.” When the spokesman for the British Embassy refers to Krauthammer’s claim as a “silly diversion,” it should be embarrassing for any self-respecting journalist.
H/T: Dan Pfeiffer, Jake Tapper, The Telegraph, CBS News, A White House Diary (Lady Bird Johnson).
The fact is that the Republicans and conservatives have given up on reality. Instead they prefer to put forward lies and innuendos as political arguments in the hope that they can win elections. The process started under W Bush when the fact that there were no WMDs was made no difference in starting a needless war. They they forgot to pay for it and considered that of little consequence, until a Democrat won the White House.
It used to be that we had a reality based political discussion or debate between two parties. Now all we have is a fantasy based major political party which thinks that they can lie and cheat their way into power and stay there using the same methods.
” it should be embarrassing for any self-respecting journalist.”
OUCH!!
If they ever cast a bust of Krauthammer (German Hammer) it will be used to keep the rats out of the NY Times offices. What an ugly schmuck.
As soon as I see reality in the modern day elections ill vote for them…… Until then……you have to wonder about the immortal words of John Lemon in Imagine……..
The Willard went over to England and showed his true colors. Then in his interview with Ries Morgan he made this big deal of his English ancestory on his Romney side of the many aisles. He does not even know which of his eight granmas is his. He and wifey poo were goo goo and waxing ogles of affection and pride in their litter. The Mayor of London put him in his place. The Willard is a guy from nowhere’s ville.
“The desire to have Churchill’s bust returned to the White House was a sentiment expressed by one of two Romney advisors who spoke anonymously to the British newspaper the Telegraph. The story has since ignited a firestorm of criticism of the candidate, who had vowed that his campaign would not speak ill of the Obama administration while on foreign soil.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/romney-looking-forward-to-returning-churchill-bust-to-white-house/
David,
You know it isn’t fair to expect a hack like Krauthammer to worry about facts! He is busy warning his salary from Karl Rove!
AY,
“the immortal words of John Lemon in Imagine……..”
Is that “turn lemons into lemonade” … or the other one?
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.”
Source provided by the author of this blog post, but, for some reason, ignored.
I saw Charles Krauthammer on the television machine yesterday. It was purely by accident since I usually scroll by Fox as fast as possible. However, he went on for some time about the foot-in-mouth problems of Mitt Romney. He kept shaking his head and said he had “run out of adjectives” to try and explain the Mittster’s behavior and diplomatic gaffes. As soon as Krauthammer had finished his piece, the young woman host came on and lit into Joe Biden for criticizing Romney, saying Biden’s behavior was much worse than anything the Romney camp did.
I must say that I agreed with everything Charles Krauthammer had to say on the subject yesterday afternoon. Did anyone here know that Dr. Krauthammer is a former psychiatrist, and one of the foremost experts on bipolar disorder? When he is at a loss for words to describe his own favored candidate’s bad behavior, it speaks volumes.
Since then, Krauthammer’s employer may have spoken to him about not straying from the talking points and to stay on message.
JTF Jack, the President returned the statue of a famous foreign leader, which was on temporary loan from a foreign museum, and replaced it with the bust of the greatest American President. Oh, the shame of it all. The horror. Think of the children.
OS,
You are right. I was shocked that Obama returned the loaned bust! I am amazed the Right hasn’t called for impeachment..again!
OS,
The horror of it all is if it is replaced with a Bush Bust…… Now that would be a synonym….. Or a metonymy…..Which are an embodiment of the rules of law in this land…..
I’ll give Obama this….. He can’t do worse than Bush…….or at least I hope not…….
Dredd,
That would be a job for an alchemist…..maybe in the like of St. Germain…….
Many in England during Churchill’s time in office (PM twice) did not know that he was part Iroquois. They knew that his mother Jenny Jerome was from New York but the Indian ancestory was a bit hush hush. Which brings us to the bust story. The bust was loaned on a promise to return it and Obama could not very well be an Indian giver and hold on to it.
JTF Jack:
Not ignored, not relevant for two reasons. First, from the story it is unclear if this is an actual quote or a turn of phrase. If an actual quote it is unsourced. Second, it is attributed to the “White House,” not Obama. The “White House” could mean the White House curator who already said the decision to return the bust was made before Obama took office.
And if the Brits had known in May of 1940 when Churchill ascended to the Prime Miinstership that he was part American Indian the mob would have been demanding a birth certificate. May 10th or thereabouts, right after the Frogs gave in and let the Krauts overrun their defenses.
Quotes from Churchill: I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.
Dredd Blog
Quotes from Churchill:
Dredd Blog
The conservative Daily Mail slammed Romney as ” devoid of charm, offensive and a wazzock.”
“Mitt the Twit,” declared The Sun tabloid, trashing Romney as a “wannabe president.”
“Is this guy really prepared to be president?” one Sky News reporter asked in his Thursday night report about Romney’s day in London. The reporter trashed the GOP candidate’s comments as “just daft.”
The Independent headlined their take on Romney’s trip, “Romneyshambles”—accusing him of not only committing a diplomatic gaffe but later “the cardinal sin of U.S. politics, flip-flopping” on his criticism.
I think the Republicans should send Michele Bachmann over to help out poor Willard.
Let John Goodman do it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102216/
Republicans and the GOP have all but institutionalized untruth, misdirection, misinterpretation and highlighting words and writing out of context. Using facts and truthful arguments is the great exception. One would think they have a fear of turning to stone if they told the truth. If this were advertising for a product they would be blatantly breaking the law.
I’ll bet no one in the British Government has a bust of George W. Bush or Mildred “Mitt” Romney in their offices.
Taser, You are absolutely correct, Republicans have cornered the market on dissembling. Democrats are forthcoming, direct, and just plain wonderful.
This was written by an independent who undersatands both parties are full of feces. Anything I read from Taser in the future will be w/ the aforementioned hoeseshit in mind.
Blouise,
What the heck is a “wazzock”?
raff, wazzock is British slang for “an idiot.” A clueless, daffy person. Definitely not a compliment.
What? Krauthammer was just trying to show there are bigger twits than Romney out there, right?
Mission accomplished.
Thanks OS! I had a hunch itwasn’t a compliment!!
Now we know what George Zimmerman REALLY said on that tape:
“F*cking Wazzocks!”
Hilarious Malisha! GZ is a wazzock!
raff, George might or might not be, but it is safe to say those who have been taken in by his pleas for money are surely wazzocks in the purest sense of the word.
An interesting bit of history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolute_desk
When the Willard gets to Israel they may just take to him. They have a common bond with other folks who were, by virtue of their ethnicity, targeted for genocide by the Nazis. The Romneys are of Romani descent or what are commonly referred to as gypsies. Here is the rap from the Michigan Toilet, an old weekly rag that is out of business in Detroit:
The Romanis are the gypsie people of India who migrated to various parts of the middle east, europe, and points east and west. Those Romani who migrated to the United States, first went to England and are denominated as the:
Romanichal, in the United Kingdom, emigrated also to the United States and Australia;
The Romney family admits to have emigrated from England to the United States in the late 1600s. What the Willard fails now to acknowledge is the history behind the vary storied gypsie name of Romani and the exact family name of Romney which is of course directly from that name. The gypsies moved from Romania, to central Europe and thence to England. The Romani or gypsie tribe is known for nomadic behavior. The English expelled the Romani or gypsies, as best they could, in the late 1600s. A family of romani gypsies emigrated to the North American contintent to the English colonies. The name Romney was thence appelled. Thereafter, a section of this family became what is now described as Mormons. They adopted the family name: Romney. There is no doubt that this family is of Romanich or Romani genetic origin. There is no doubt that the present family of Willard Milton Romney is of Romani or gypsie stock. Once a gypsie, always as gypsie. The Mormon thing was a dodge at first so that they could continue their secretive ways. The next generation took to it. Especially the eight wives thing.
Didn’t know that about the derivation of the name Romney. In Europe the Gypsies were known to be excellent horse-traders. In WWII some of them functioned very well as a sort of traveling Underground; some remarkable stories, in fact.
I was just looking at the close up of Romney as he left the PMs. He looks like he’s suffering rather severely from jet lag.
Mr. Turley, you may be right, but then you need to ask why the Bush team didn’t send the statue back at the end of the term, instead of leaving it for Obama. Standard practice is to leave things in order when you leave. I’d certainly be surprised to find that Bush left things in the White Hose that had to be returned. He might have left any number of items that were on PERMANENT loan though, and he must have accumulated many during his 8 years.
Get a list of these and when they were returned by Obama, and you’ll have support for your theory. But if Bush returned them, then your explanation doesn’t hold water.
BarknDog, in his most eloquent voice, proposed that “Once a gypsie, always as gypsie.”
That’s what the Nazis said about Jews. They probably said it about Gypsies too, which may be why they killed them in the same death camps. Congratulations, you’ve found your level.
fmcfm,
Be nice. Maybe he was talking about lawyers.
fmcfm, you say the Nazis claimed, “Once a Jew always a Jew.”
Well, OK, but as I understand it, that was not a big bone of contention because most Jews agree with that theory. What we DO NOT agree to is, “Once a Jew kill it,” which came closer to the Nazi philosophy.
Perhaps the issue is that there are some folks running around converting dead gypsies and dead Jews from many generations back so they can all get together in a homogeneous heaven some day, and Mitt Romney might have done some of that. If so, I think he may be guilty of posthumous genocide himself. I mean if life begins at conception, when does it end? If you can commit a crime against someone not yet born, can you commit a tort against someone already dead whose religion you took away in the afterlife? I mean think of it: someone is a good person all his life and follows his religion to the letter and spirit of the law and dies and gets into heaven based upon his righteousness. Part of HEAVEN in his religion is the right to continue to worship god, as an angel or whatever (I’m not hip to all the heavenology stuff).
Then somebody he has never met converts him and he can’t veto that? He all of a sudden can’t keep worshipping any more because now he’s a dead Mormon?
DO NOT LIKE IT!
If Mitt Romney would do this to a dead gypsy, why wouldn’t he do it to YOU?
Malisha,
According to the Mormons you can’t get into heaven unless you’re a Mormon or are prayed into heaven by a Mormon.
Chuck fires a return salvo: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-busted-mr-pfeiffer-and-the-white-house-blog/2012/07/29/gJQA8M46IX_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
junctionshamus,
Thanks for the link.
However, Krauthammer does not address that it was White House curator William Allman’s decision to return the bust, and this decision was made before Obama even arrived. He was too busy trying to score points against Dan Pfeiffer, which he did successfully. Pfeiffer took the wrong tack.
Here you go.
http://listverse.com/2008/02/04/top-10-bizarre-mormon-beliefs/
Malisha, Admittedly I don’t know if Nazis used the phrase “once a Jew always a Jew” , but the hostility is evident when someone uses this phrase about Mormons or anyone else they disagree with. The first sentiment expressed on the road to actually wiping out some group is to make disparaging remarks, and this was clearly hostile when taken in context.
The issue of converting the dead has me perplexed. Are you really concerned that someone will do this to you when you pass away? That could mean you believe in Mormonism. In that case why be concerned? You’ll be converted to something you believe in.
If on the other hand Mormonism isn’t based in reality, then nothing can happen to you. But if it is, and depending on your beliefs about an afterlife, I can understand how you would be upset to find yourself being converted to Mormonism. Especially if you don’t believe in that sort of thing. But if it happens, I would try to make the best of it, since it would seem that the powers that be offer no other choice.
fmcfm,
Nobody is going to be converted to anything.
What is your choice?
An explanation, from 2009, and I would advise Mr Turley to pay close attention:
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.”
…
A British Embassy spokesman said: “The bust of Sir Winston Churchill by Sir Jacob Epstein was uniquely lent to a foreign head of state, President George W Bush, from the Government Art Collection in the wake of 9/11 as a signal of the strong transatlantic relationship.
“It was lent for the first term of office of President Bush. When the President was elected for his second and final term, the loan was extended until January 2009.
“The new President has decided not to continue this loan and the bust has now been returned. It is on display at the Ambassador’s Residence.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/4623148/Barack-Obama-sends-bust-of-Winston-Churchill-on-its-way-back-to-Britain.html
Or, as they sometimes say, RES IPSA LOQUITUR.
fmcfm,
Professor Turley didn’t write this post, I did.
Your link was included in the original post and discussed here.
fmcfm,
You certainly speak for yourself. Do you know why the Mormon religion still exists? Because the U.S. government decided not to kill you when you were trapped at Salt Lake.
Nal, sorry I read pat that. Since it’s your post I offer you the same information.
Matt Johnson, I have to plead ignorance. Never having been in Salt Lake or Utah, I can safely say I’ve never been trapped there. I’m not even Mormon, I’m Catholic (of the cradle variety), About which I do remember being taught as a kid that Catholicism was the “one true religion”.
This was at approximately the same time that JFK was running for president,and I clearly remember the charge that he would have a “direct line to the Vatican” installed, were he to be elected. It seems that history repeats itself.
fmcfm,
I’ve been to Utah. Several times.
I just read the link you included and your rationale for discounting it. It seems like a quote to me, not a “turn of phrase”,. Here again is the quote from “a British embasy official”.
“The bust of Sir Winston Churchill by Sir Jacob Epstein was uniquely lent to a foreign head of state, President George W Bush, from the Government Art Collection in the wake of 9/11 as a signal of the strong transatlantic relationship.
“It was lent for the first term of office of President Bush. When the President was elected for his second and final term, the loan was extended until January 2009.
“The new President has decided not to continue this loan and the bust has now been returned. It is on display at the Ambassador’s Residence.”
Of course there’s no sense arguing the issue until someone can ascertain the facts.
fmcfm,
My goodness. Who’s link? You are an extra special gentleman.
fmcfm — I got confused by your message to me, sorry. I never meant to derogate anybody’s religion or to insult anyone, much less to “fire the first shot” on the way to eliminating any group by first mocking them. Heaven forbid, as some say.
What I was doing was tossing around a few jokes. Damn, I’m dying in this room! But no, really, here’s how it went:
First somebody said “once a gypsy always a gypsy.” I don’t remember what that meant.
You then jumped in with “once a Jew always a Jew” and attributed it to the Nazis, so I had to prank on that.
I tagged “once a Jew always a Jew” to the practice of post-mortem conversion, which is practiced by Mormons. I KNOW THIS because some of my best friends are Mormons. I am not making this up. My kid is the only Jew I have ever met who was best man at a Mormon wedding!
OK, but then I joked around about post-death conversion and threw in pre-birth stuff and so forth — after all, I couldn’t get to my Monday night comedian show tonight and I had to do something, not to end up in withdrawal.
That’s all. Joke fell like a lead balloon, sorry.
PS: Anybody who wants to convert me to ANYTHING is free to do so as soon as I die. Before I die, though, no faith need apply.
Matt Johnson, I think this is the link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/4623148/Barack-Obama-sends-bust-of-Winston-Churchill-on-its-way-back-to-Britain.html
fmcfm,
Read the article. Tell it to the President.
Malisha, I agree, if I’m dead, they can go ahead and convert me. I’m more worried about who gets my baseball card collection.
For those of you who are “Moroniphobic,”* I’d suggest staying clear of south and central ID, southwestern MT, northeastern AZ, upstate NY and the Defense Language Institute. While not agreeing with some of the policies and procedures, I find it hard to fault the work ethic of a people who made a whole lot of something out of a whole lot of nothing. We can find fault with any and every religion, but to me, there’s a difference between a religion and a theology.
As for me, when I die, my choice is to be converted to a fist full of ash.
*Moroniphobia – Fear of the Angel Moroni, son of Mormon. Moroni is the figure you see with the trumpet atop tabernacles – And yeah, I made up the phobia, has nothing to do with Morons, morons…
http://www.dumasaphobia.com/
junctionshamus 1, July 30, 2012 at 11:01 pm
For those of you who are “Moroniphobic,”* I’d suggest staying clear of south and central ID, southwestern MT, northeastern AZ, upstate NY and the Defense Language Institute. While not agreeing with some of the policies and procedures, I find it hard to fault the work ethic of a people who made a whole lot of something out of a whole lot of nothing. We can find fault with any and every religion, but to me, there’s a difference between a religion and a theology.
===========================
Okay, now you’re being unreasonable. What’s wrong with upstate NY?
And I thought it was about Dumas, Texas. Wikipedia says the city was the inspiration for “I’m a Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas” by Phil Baxter and Carl Moore. I thought the only song written about the city was “I’m Proud to be from Dumas (Dumb-Ass), Texas, performed by Timothy P. and the Rural Route Three.
I know I’ve made this reference before; I just like saying “Dumb-Ass, Texas”…
@Matt Smith – Where it all began… the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, New York.
You know Matt, you seem to have been a lot of places…You in the Witness Protection Program or something?
junctionshamus,
How come the last part of your name is shamus?
I am not in the witness protection program. And I have never lived in Texas. I’ve only been there a few times.
It all began in Maine. You don’t know that, but it did.
“It all began in Maine. You don’t know that, but it did.”
———————————————
@Matt – Now I have one more bit of semi-useful knowledge to add to the database, just waiting for the day Alex Trebek calls, and says, “Bob, come on down, eh!” Other than that, you’ve just written a classic opener for a pulp fiction/film noir story.
junction = Grand Junction, CO
shamus = A pulp fiction name for a private investigator
No one is going to turn me into a marmot when I die! I have already decided to be reincarnated as a badger.
What? A Mormon? Really? Oh.
Never mind.