-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 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.
Quotes from Churchill:
Dredd Blog 🙂
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 🙂
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.
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.
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.
Dredd,
That would be a job for an alchemist…..maybe in the like of St. Germain…….
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…….
OS,
You are right. I was shocked that Obama returned the loaned bust! I am amazed the Right hasn’t called for impeachment..again!
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.
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.
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.
AY,
“the immortal words of John Lemon in Imagine……..”
Is that “turn lemons into lemonade” … or the other one? 😉
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!
“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/
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.
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……..
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.
” it should be embarrassing for any self-respecting journalist.”
OUCH!!
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.