Bush to visit Britain

[dArKeR]

President George W. Bush will pay a two-day state visit to Britain in November, his second trip this year to Washington's closest ally on Iraq, Buckingham Palace has said.

"The President of the United States has accepted an invitation from the Queen (Elizabeth) to pay a state visit to the United Kingdom," the palace said in a statement on Thursday, confirming the dates for the visit as November 19-21.

"The President will be accompanied by Mrs Bush and will stay at Buckingham Palace."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/24by7panews/page.cfm?objectid=13447906&method=full&siteid=50143

I dream that UKers can gather a million demonstrators against Junior and Blair!

[Bozita]

1. Dumbya wants to help out Blair's poll numbers.

This oughta do it.

[smirkymonkey]

8. This will sink Blair like a rock!

Most Brits hate *W! What is he thinking? What is the queen thinking? I have heard that she is a boozer too, maybe they are just getting together for a lock n'load at Buckingham Palace...;-)

[pansypoo53219]

11. maybe

she'll give him a nuggie.

[saigon68]

24. AAH ---THE CHIMPANZEE AND HIS LAPDOG POODLE

Together again. Its going to be a real festival of self-congratulations

[bif]

2. Is he going to do a pub crawl?

n/t

[Enraged_Ape]

3. I wonder if Tony will turn all the lights off in his house...

and pretend he's not home.

[Dead_Parrot]

14. He'll go to the UN

And see if anything's happening there!

Seriously, I wouldn't be suprised if he goes on a fact-finding mission to Mombassa. If he joins the fun at Buck House, there will be a riot.

(At any rate, a very small riot involving me, the cat and a bottle of vodka)

[Spentastic]

4. Yay

I get to shout at the idiot. He won't like it here much.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

13. Best news ever!!

I've been looking for an excuse to visit some London mates for a while now!!

[Divernan]

Query to our Brit members of DU.

How will Londoners respond to having large swaths of areas around Buckingham Palace, or other areas of The City blocked off as no-demonstration zones? Will all protestors be packed off to Hyde Park? What's the usual protocol/practise for visiting heads of state? What happened when (if?) President Clinton visited? I wish the Queen would offer Bush a little parade in one of the royal carriages through the streets.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

45. Here's another. Can you duplicate this:

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. I've been wondering

what the Queen has been up to. She's been way to quiet this year. Especially considering that she never did address her nation when England invaded Iraq with the US in March. I don't know a lot about British politics, but it seemed odd that she didn't make a public, televised statement on the eve of war.

Now all of a sudden, she's invited the Bu$h's to Buckingham Palace? Is she trying to save W's ass or is she gonna beat it a pulp as soon as she gets a chance?

[Gin]

6. Wonder if he will wear his cowboy boots and belt buckle

while dining with the queen. Blair needs this like a hole in the head.

[legin]

7. Her only real foray into this issue

Was giving then Mayor Guilani an honarary knighthood which I have to say really rather annoyed me.

This looks like a prop bush*'s poll numbers up exercise.

'Strike two' for the queen.

[pippin]

18. actually. . .

regarding your question: "is she trying to save W's ass or is she gonna beat it a pulp as soon as she gets a chance?"

I doubt she'd be trying to "save" him--she can't and probably won't. Much of the Buckingham Palace invites are purely ceremonial. Some of the royals (if they were ordinary folks) are said to be equivalent to our liberal progressives, notablay the queen and old Charles aka Jug Ears, while others including the late queen mom would have been considered ultra right ( although she was pretty accepting of the gay crowd who worked for her). Others like the late duke of windsor were openly pro Hitler Nazis.

The last Repub series of faux pas when visiting Buckimgham palace occured during Queen Nancy Reagan's visit. She arrived with a larger entourage than the Queen, demanded more attention and was more queeenly than the queen. True to Repub ways, I suspect Dubya will show the characteristic lack of class and act like the truly tasteless yob (the British term for oafs) while the queen (who has a sense of humor) maintains her standard public elan.

[emad]

28. Sorry Pippin, you're wrong on the D of W:

Not only was he not openly (or covertly) pro Hitler or pro Nazi, it is a matter of public record that Hitler tried to assasinate him and his wife Wallis, because they had documentary evidence of his financial links with Catholic Church money laundering conduits.

Both Wallis and her husband successfully sued and won substantial damages from various assholes who repeated that myth. As have the beneficiaries of their estates. The documents of Hitler/Catholic Church collusion were verified by the courts and have been lodged in secure vaults since 1986. There have been numerous attempts to locate and destroy them.

[The White Rose]

36. I hadn't heard that.

Fascinating, if true. Do you have any links?

[pippin]

44. o.k. but take a look at this

http://foi.missouri.edu/foideclassification/hitlersawduke.html

please let me have the source of the info on the duke's successful law suit.

[Bozita]

9. Will there be "Free Speech Zones" set up in London?

That'd really shock the Brits.

[T_i_B]

10. "I dream that UKers can gather a million demonstrators"

Well there is a big anti-war march in London on saturday, but as it is calling for complete withdrawal of troops rather than handing over control to the UN I will not be attending.

As to demostrating Bush, depends what I'm up to then as to whether or not I join in.

[0007]

12. I hope the UK gives junior something to think about!

these crooks are a disgrace to humanity and must be dismantled and sent to the Hague.

[underpants]

15. Isn't Bush related to the Queen somehow?

Ooops he is an "every man" I forgot

Seriously I do think the two families have a connection oging way back. Inbreeding has its priviledges.

[The White Rose]

34. Distant cousins I believe.

We're governed, on the whole, by a very small clique of families. I even read somewhere that Bush and Clinton are relatives! Certainly, the number of U.S. presidents that have come from related families is extraordinary.

[starroute]

35. The ambassador is both a Bush family friend and pals with the queen

Bush, like millions of other Americans, does have a drop or two of royal blood, if you trace his ancestry back to the 14th century, but that doesn't count for much. The more significant connection is the US ambassador to Britain, William Stamps Farish III, who is both Bush Sr.'s closest confidant and a personal friend of Queen Elizabeth.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/03/06/loc_horse_breeder_tapped.html

Mr. Farish has a long-standing relationship with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who is an avid horse breeder and racing enthusiast. On four occasions, the queen has visited Mr. Farish's stables in Kentucky, staying with Mr. Farish and his wife each time. During the visits, the queen matched her mares with Mr. Farish's stallions.

Farish's grandfather, William Stamps Farish Sr., was a pal of Prescott Bush's. He was also the president and CEO of Standard Oil of New Jersey who got into major trouble after the start of World War II for not only doing business with the Nazis but conspiring with them to conceal patents for artificial rubber from the US.

Farish's grandmother, Martha Botts, was connected with several prominent Houston families (her father was the original Botts of Baker and Botts), and his mother's father was a fixture of the McCarthyite right back in the 1940's and 1950's. His wife is a DuPont heiress whose great-uncles funded fascist groups in the 1930's and plotted to overthrow Franklin Roosevelt.

I don't trust anything having to do with the Farish family. As ambassador, Farish has gained a reputation for hobnobbing with the elite while making himself almost invisible to the British people. The fact that Bush would be staying at Buckingham Palace stinks to high heaven.

[Atlant]

16. Didn't Britain just have a *HUGE* cocaine bust? Check his luggage!

Didn't Britain just have a HUGE cocaine bust?

I'd suggest we check Bush's luggage VERY CAREFULLY
on his way back into our country. He just might have some
contraband in there.

Atlant

[Dead_Parrot]

17. Ananova article

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_822195.html

Tony Benn, a vcritic of the war in Iraq, said the people of Britain would be outraged by the news.

"President Bush will not be welcome in Britain. His war has killed thousands of people and left Iraq in chaos and now Iraq's assets are to be sold off on the world market," he said.

"I hope that when he comes public opinion will express itself against those policies again."

Tony Benn: The greatest PM we never had...

[JohnyCanuck]

19. Brit activists to bare buttocks at Bush.

A week or so ago I came across a link to an activists web site in England whicb was was reacting to rumours of a Bush visit by organizing a campaign for people to write letters to British newspapers etc. stating their intention to moon the Pretzeldent in Chief at any opportunity they got. The intention would be to try to spoil as many photo opportunities as possible with rows of shiny naked asses pointed in the direction of the Chief Ass himself. I didn't save the link and now I can't find it on Google. Darn it.

[underpants]

22. He'll think he's looking in a mirror

:bounce:

[snippy]

33. Links

. . .
If you hear of a visit to your part of town or happen to see George W Bush, bare your arse in his general direction. Don't be afraid to wiggle it about a bit and maybe even spread your cheeks; this is a political statement you're making and you don't want to do things by halves, now do you?
. . .

http://www.bloggerheads.com/can_weblogs/bush_bum.asp

Bare-cheeked protesters plan to bushwhack Dubya

http://www.sundayherald.com/36689


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=113232

[JohnyCanuck]

38. Thanks for the links.

If Dubya's handlers were ever stupid enough to let him come to Canada for a visit, I'd like to think I'd be on the front lines of the bare bottomed honour guard.

[emad]

20. Are you sure its's not 31 October: Halloween?

Uncle 'Stamps' Farish 3 must be rubbing his hands with glee! Dubya in Windsorland, a state visit, two nights in the Adolf Hitler Memorial Suite at Buck House - as decorated by her eminence the late Queen Mother....Laura on a 'private' visit to Princess' Di's grave at Althorpe, followed by a little gentle petal strewing at the forthcoming Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in London's Hyde Park,....Dubya to open the Frank Lowy 9-11 Shopping Centre in Belfast's Lower Falls Road......dinner with Tone and Cherie at a new Terence Conran restaurant modelled on the former Banco Ambrosiano London branch staff dining room......photo opportunity with a Dubya football kickabout with svengoranerikson and David Beckham......prayer meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury on prime time breakfast tv.....and of course, Uncle Stamps and his charming wife Sarah Sharpe hosting a gala reception at Winfield House in Regent's Park ...hopefully poining out beforehand just WHY the view opposite the Residence looks like one massive slag heap of builders' rubble and detritus....

But then, Dubya knows EXACTLY why the famous Nash villa Hanover House has remained a bomb site for the last 40 years... (a great web site opportunity for the villa's owner to remind Dubya of his extremely well-documented English history!) Sorry if that's a bit too esoteric for some - will keep you posted on this long-awaited saga....

Yep: You can be sure we'll have something REALLY special for this state visit.

[The White Rose]

37. Esoteric ain't the word!

I've been away too long! :-)

[Mari333]

21. Mari To Brits: Put Him in the Tower of London!

Keep him there! Please!

[AP]

23. Did Clinton ever stay at Buckingham Palace? I know he stayed at Chequers.

Where did he stay in London?

[kskiska]

25. He's following a time-honored tradition

When things are hot in the U.S., take a trip abroad and hopefully get some good photo-ops. His African trip didn't work out so well, though.

[Spentastic]

26. Apparently

David Blaine is finding it hard to cope with the fact that the British tend not to like arrogant show offs.

Bush is going to be protested everywhere he goes.

[underpants]

27. Maybe W can actually do something constructive

and replace Blain in the box. If you thought they were throwing eggs and driving golf balls before you ain't seen nothing yet.

[T_i_B]

30. Why stop at Bush?

Stick Blair in there too I say.I would gladly lob things at that!

[E_Zapata]

29. I hope the Queen Mom throws him into the dungeon!

I can see the headlines:

Queen Mum Saves the Day!

[T_i_B]

31. Queen mum snuffed it last year

[emad]

32. That shouldn't trouble Dubya

[phoebe]

39. probably something to do with the bank account they share

i.e. Carlyle + Coutts (sp?)share the same bank manager I believe.. going to look at their bank statements and celebrate..

[muriel_volestrangler]

40. According to the official royal website

There hasn't been a state visit (ie the full formal thing) by an American president since 1952. Very surprising.
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page376.asp

So it's quite possible that Clinton (or any other president) didn't stay at Buck House. If their trips weren't 'state visits', they're more likely to have stayed at Chequers, or the American embassy.

The area outside Buckingham Palace is quite good for demonstrations, I'd have thought. Those roads often get closed anyway due to state things, and there's 2 public parks for people to congregate in and disperse to. Not sure how many people would go as far as mooning Bush when the Queen's with him, though - they might wait till it's him and Blair. Still, the thought of him needing a woman approaching 80 to act as an emotional bodyguard to save him embarrassment makes me chuckle.

[booksenkatz]

41. Will he give the Queen

a keen leather jacket with a big ole "Queen of England" emblem on the left breast pocket?

I may be in Britain in November, haven't booked anything yet, but I may have to pay closer attention to the dates now...! My mother-in-law (who lives there) is an avid protester from way back. She once chained herself to a gate when Reagan was rolling his nukes through the English countryside. Sure would like to learn from a pro like her!
:kick:

[nostamj]

42. I eagerly await Steve Bell's cartoon!!

[rjbcar27]

43. My quick letter to Blair:

Dear Mr. Blair,

I cannot object strongly enough the proposed visit to Britain of the illegitimate, illiterate pResident of the United States. Although I have a great repect for the office of President, I and I'm sure a majority of Britains, have no respect for George Bush. He's a warmongering fool and is not welcome here. I have never protested against anything before, but I assure you I will be attending any protest aimed at this visit.

I urge you (although I'm sure you won't care) to cancel this visit as it will be sure to cause massive resentment here in the UK in what must be a very difficult time for you and your government.

Yours sincerely,

[T_i_B]

46. Good stuff

Let us know if Blair deigns to give a reply.