Horribly desolate backdrop and eerie blue lighting.

[Bouncy Ball]

Completely empty, no one around him.

No audience, not even the hand-picked, pre-screened, heavily sedated kind he normally has.

No media.

One camera and a big light.

Talking about "armies of compassion" with no one around but him and the statue of Andrew Jackson looking for all the world like his horse was about to trample bush.

Weird, disconnected, going every single direction speech that bewildered and pissed off his racist deluded base and did nothing for the people who already see him for what he is.

Just standing there alone, looking as small as he is, blinking a lot and ratcheting that jaw back and forth.

Invoking everything from the Jamestown colony to God to September 11th to weapons of mass destruction to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, he seemed to be shooting at every target he possibly could, hoping something at some point would stick.

This is the actual sad photograph from the White House website:



Then to end that whole strange "speech" he engaged in a lot of stereotypes about New Orleans, pretending that they are true, maybe because he and his speechwriters don't even realize they are simply stereotypes, no more true than every Texan rides a horse to work or every Alaskan lives in an igloo. The only way he could have possibly been more insulting is if he delivered the speech in a fake New Orleans drawl or if he delivered it in blackface, with Mardi Gras beads on.

Every time I think I have witnessed the oddest thing I have ever seen or heard, he comes along and proves me wrong. That was just head-shakingly surreal and strange. I can't even figure out what kind of effect they were going for with that. Some kind of weird monotone drugged-out "I feel your pain?" How can we believe he feels anyone else's pain when we doubt he can even feel his own?

Was it "I'm the hero, here to save the day?" If so, how odd to have him standing alone in the middle of a big lawn in front of an eerily lit church with not a single soul around.

That was JUST weird.

[Zynx]

1. It looked like Bush was going to call forth the armies of the undead.

[gatorboy]

5. That's what was missing!

Zombies!

[Bouncy Ball]

6. THAT'S what bugged me so much!

It looked for all the world like he might be near a cemetery or something.

[SoCalDem]

12. Must have z o m b i e s ....

:)

[Lisa]

25. well, you have to admit that he'd be quite safe with zombies ...

They eat brains, and would have no interest in him!

[BrklynLiberal]

30. PHOTOSHOP!!!!!

Like that Michael Jackson video with all the undead chasing him...

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

65. Then he should at least have had Bob Novak do a cameo appearance

walking across the field of vision in the background at some dramatic point. Or Barbara Bush, the Queen of the Undead herself.

[Inland]

80. "Arise, ye lost souls, and rebuild your city, I command thee!" LIke that?

[despairing optimist]

2. Rove must have been trying for that Addams Family look

Halloween is coming soon. Maybe it's a subliminal message intended to get us shopping. Anyway, it was perverse, no doubt about that.

[txindy]

28. Or some seriously funky Alamo look

I know that it is in NO, but that structure looks bizarre in that lighting with the dingbat talking to a camera in front of it.

[Imagevision]

63. Cathedral backdrop, palms Jackson statue designed by Hollywood

The cathedral was painted, they brought in government lighting, no people, no reporters, bush reads from teleprompters while flipping pages at the podium. His pledges? nothing more then an attempt to ressurect falling numbers -- promise em the world George, we'll deal with it later

[xray s]

3. Is he gonna rebuild the House of the Rising Sun?

that was chimpy's favorite song when he was in the TANG

[nc_liberal_lady]

19. "been the ruin of many a poor boy and god I know I'm one" n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

49. You know

the idea of George drunk and giving it up to some Bourbon Street hooker is really disgusting. No wonder they anthraxed the National Enquirer.

[MADem]

56. He was probably doing something similar behind the statue

before he pranced across the lawn....

[Fridays Child]

4. Every single one of his supporters is standing behind him, there.

:smoke:

[SmokingJacket]

7. Come on, now you're making me feel sorry for him!

I hate seeing people fall apart.

[Bouncy Ball]

9. It would be terribly hard for me to feel sorry for him.

[SmokingJacket]

21. Well, it's just a flicker of pity.

He's so clearly in over his head.

[goclark]

76. I would drink to him "falling way apart!"

"He" is not really people.

"He" is an alien.

[woodsprite]

8. Looks like he's in front of the Haunted Mansion at WDW. n/t

[sundog]

15. ...

:spray:

[baron j]

40. Or possibly Lestat's home.

[Cleita]

10. So weird and it reminds me of something out of the X-files.

This was so staged and so produced I can't get over it.

[Henny Penny]

53. They couldn't risk a repeat of the Cheney "Go f*ck yourself!"

moment...

or are they trying to portray * as being totally isolated as a damage limitation step before they dump him??

[KittyWampus]

81. interesting deduction. I think you might be right.

[KyndCulture]

11. Armies of Compassion... wtf??? just like the undead....

[Missy Vixen]

13. Get out of my New Orleans, Crusader Bunnypants

Get out of the New Orleans that millions fell in love with and that millions currently mourn the loss of. Get out of the Gulf Coast, where millions suffer tonight as a result of your inattention and incompetence. Go back to the White House. I can only hope that the realization of what you've done (or failed to do?) haunts you for the rest of your days. Don't you have some cake to eat? How about learning "Stairway to Heaven" on your new guitar?

Maybe you can send Pickles out for another photo op in which she shows she doesn't even know the name of the hurricane that destroyed the city you dare to slink into.

Julie

[marions ghost]

50. yeah

:applause:

[NYC Liberal]

14. It's symbolic..he really IS all alone.

[Fire Walk With Me]

16. "Armies of Compassion"? "1000 Points of Light"? When will it end?

SOUNDBITES DON'T CLEAN UP KATRINA DAMAGE.

And as another DUer pointed out, they're even scripting his clothes (blue).

The triumph of the phony is at hand. The day these creeps even mention the word "compassion"...

[nc_liberal_lady]

17. perfect word :"eerie" . . . maybe

I should have watched.

[Imalittleteapot]

18. Magic Kingdom.

Didn't you expect Tinkerbell to light on his shoulder?

[CottonBear]

20. The lawn was mowed & the debris cleared. I can't believe he desecrated

the sacred ground that is Jackson Square and the St. Louis Cathedral.
I love that Cathedral. I was there on my last visit to NOLA. I spent a contemplative hour in the cathedral with my family. That church has been there for 100s of years and it has never looked so forlorn and sad.

God must not be happy with * using the cathedral as a photo op.

If he had any compassion, he would have done his speech in front of NOLA residents in the ruined grounds of the square. Someone should find a picture of the square and Cathedral grounds froma few days ago. The * people must have sent in a 100 person landscape crew to "clean" it up. It looks like Disneyland now, not my beloved New Orleans.

:cry:

[roguevalley]

45. he appealed to the squareheads in his audience in front of the oldest

church around, built in 1718.

[Generic Other]

22. I'm sure the feral dogs of NOLA howled to high heaven the whole time

What a creepy dude.

[QuettaKid]

57. I didn't watch it...

but I heard that stray dogs were visible wandering around in the background.....true?

[alfredo]

23. No Flags?

[DoYouEverWonder]

62. He didn't want people to associate New Orleans

has a part of America?

Glad his plans to turn NO into Fallujah didn't work out.

[alfredo]

72. Well, he's made it his Waterloo

[Beam Me Up]

24. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was at work and couldn't watch but your

description truly gives me an impression. I stopped watching TV in 2000 because I can not stand the sight of this pathetic excuse for a human being. He is utterly fake through and through -- and given all the back drops that have gone before, this is perfect: The Haunted House of Bush.

I've been thinking for some time that his handlers have him on a low dose steady LSD drip. No wonder God talks to him.

:sarcasm:

[expatriate]

26. He's standing in front of a cathedral.

It's St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square. I think he was hoping it would make him look reverent, or holy, or righteous. But the lighting gives it that haunted mansion look, so that fell flat.

The evoking things like jazz funerals will just piss off New Orleanians. Sure pisses me off, though I no longer live there. Jazz funerals are about as rare as Dick Cheney's charitable contributions. They just don't happen much, if at all, and usually when they do, they get news coverage because they're such a rarity.

About the time he started to smarm about the spirit of the Jamestown colonists, I had to turn it off.

[TankLV]

27. Night of the Living Dead - Dawn of the Dead.

I can't ever watch that rat bastard but I had a peek.

"Creepy" is my charitible best.

[BrklynLiberal]

29. Looks like the castle from Disneyland behind him....

Have I mentioned lately how much I detest that man?

[Straight Shooter]

31. That was my first impression when I saw the pic.

How bizarre.

[Oilwellian]

32. Perhaps this is what you were thinking...

The only thing missing is Mickey Mouse.

[bunkerbuster1]

52. Which, for the record, was based on this castle:

built by a truly obsessive weirdo, King Ludwig, centuries after such things were being built. Make of that what you will.

[CitrusLib]

61. Ludwig died an early death

Either an intentional suicide in the lake or someone off'ed the Mad King Ludwig. Still a mystery, I believe.

George should go jump in a lake.

[BrklynLiberal]

58. Exactly!

[shanti]

33. his eyes looked weird and glassy

hard to describe...

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

34. Looking at this I can't help...

...but wonder if Chimpy's handlers have turned on him. This was not well conceived at all.

[allalone]

35. that background was way creepy

other posters nailed it. Where are the undead? well beside cheney that is.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

36. Looks like Frank N. Furter's mansion in Rocky Horror Picture Show.

But I don't think I want to see El Shrubbo in mesh stockings and a leather teddy.

[Bouncy Ball]

37. Oh GOD.

Now I need Clorox for my mind's eye.

[geomon666]

38. Better make it CLR

[Digit]

43. I REALLY did not need to see that....

Warn people next time, would ya?

[dxstone]

44. Sounds like you have an aversion to reality, my friend...

I'm sorry, but the following shock treatment really IS for your own good.



And if you'd like to see some MORE stuff you'd really rather NOT see, come to
http://presidentevilonline.com

...IF you DARE!... BWAAAA-HAAA-HAA-HAAAAA!!!

"Humans are such easy prey."
--Dick Cheney

[electron_blue]

78. Hey -don't rule out anything anything yet. This show ain't over.

[baron j]

39. I suspect that they framed him with the Andrew Jackson statue because

a rider calmly reining in a rearing horse is symbolic of an able and commanding leader who can control a chaotic nation... :eyes:

Keep dreaming, Dumbya.

[Skidmore]

55. Framkly, it just reminded me of Laura's

horse milking joke.

[InkAddict]

41. It was a dark and STORMY night.......

speechwriter's caught in the act of shredding their drafts in favor of a personal stereotypical suck up to Ann Rice's sooooo....effective creepiness! Delivered by Count Alacard himself.

You are absolutely correct...WTF was that!

[InkAddict]

42. It was a dark and STORMY night.......

speechwriter's caught in the act of shredding their drafts in favor of a personal stereotypical suck up to Ann Rice's sooooo....effective creepiness! Delivered by Count Alacard himself.

You are absolutely correct...WTF was that!

[Tesla]

46. "Count Bonehead" is more like it!!

They wanted Freepers to think it was a church behind him.


I have one question, can he afford anything but BLUE SHIRTS!!!

Is that the same one, or did he bring a whole suitcase of blue shirts!

[marions ghost]

47. thanks for the observations bouncy...

yeah, this whole production was downright eerie. As somebody else here called it, "The Haunted House of Bush" (...the unsmirking zombie count haunts his ruined castle...more Tales From the Crypt).

Maybe it was supposed to suggest a nanosecond of "Mourning"?

But did this performance provide any kind of solace to ANY segment of our society? Or was the 'starting from scratch' theme invoking Jamestown (!?!) pitched primarily to developers and corporations standing to make a fortune from the tragedy? It was hardly comforting to anyone else.

Could the message be: This is IT for mourning. No time for grieving irrevocable losses (the "moving on" paving-over mindset does not DO grieving). Right now would be a good time to stop and take stock of what has occurred at ground zero in Waterworld. Nah, let's get on with the Great Erasure.

Bottom line: Get Over It.

[pepperlove]

48. No one around him?

Heck, they knew if someone got close enough for a shot....well....

[lyonn]

79. In other words,

they couldn't find A Person to cheer him on -appreciate his caring ways?

Kings are like that ya know.

[GinaMaria]

51. The lighting was so weird he looked superimposed

It was an eerie feel watching him take the podium. It looked like it was two shots put together poorly. Freaked me out. When he first stood at the podium it looked like his upper body was too far forward and magnified a bit. More creepy than usual. He was also overpowered by the podium. Really strange stuff.

Wonder how much they paid to clean up that swatch of property for him to speak from. So glad the WH brought in electricity for their own use but none for the people of NO.

Anyone think he'll get a blip in the polls from this?

[bunkerbuster1]

54. I'm sure the effect was supposed to be calming, yet somber.

Frankly, it didn't bother me--it seemed appropriate enough.

And the speech's rhetoric was OK, although the 800# gorilla in the room whenever a Reep talks about funding a program of any kind is, "Well, how are you planning to pay for this? you... aren't, are you?"

Yeah, he'll get a modest blip. He didn't screw up, and there's little in there that the "opposition" (yeah, right!) party can complain about too ferociously.

Nice of him not to mention that Rove is in charge. Had he done that in the speech, his approval ratings would've sunk another five percent.

[MADem]

59. I thought it missed the mark, totally

The venue was completely wrong. He would have been better off doing it on a street in the Quarter, but the danger was that PEOPLE might be around...and they had to clear all the people out of the area before they could let him come in....

The apology should have come first, but it was buried in the speech. His affect was poor, though he didn't bumble as much as he often does. I thought it didn't do the job.

He probably would have gotten a better reception if he did it from the WH in a suit behind his DESK...where most Presidents WORK.

He looked like the guy who arrived too late for Mardi Gras...or the last guy to leave DisneyLand. It did not resonate.

60. He was dressed in a blue shirt and they had blue lighting

Someone pointed out before that he has been wearing blue, representing blue collar, and also blue is a soothing color. It is just weird that they go to such lengths with psychological tools. They don't know the meaning of being real.

[Bouncy Ball]

74. Well, the fact that he matched the lighting

just made the whole scene even spookier.

[Lisa]

82. what was the name of those villains -- "The Blue Meanies"?

From that animated Beatles movie.

[FlaGranny]

64. I thought it was extremely weird

for him to walk completely alone for all that distance across the grass from behind some bushes. What was THAT about?

[Bridget Burke]

66. There was a porta potty in the bushes....

Now, his handlers always ask him to "go" before a "public" appearance.

[txindy]

68. ROFL!

[Bouncy Ball]

75. My husband laughed and said "watch him trip."

They must have had him dry out a bit for that speech. His slurring wasn't as bad and he walked several feet.

[GinaMaria]

84. mu husband said the same thing!

[pepperbear]

67. but my how that shirt matches

the building behind him

[Imagevision]

69. It was a carefully designed set and YOU paid for it...

PS. The government provided it's own generators-lighting.

[mtnester]

70. There used to be beautiful banana trees on the Mississippi side

entrance into Jackson Square, right on either side of the wrought iron gate. I wonder if they are still there? It disturbed me that he was standing there like that and did not invite ANYONE from the city to watch. (Like he gives two shits about anyone there anyway)

We got our pics out to compare during the speech (because no matter how badly hubby and I wanted to hear what he said, this time I could not focus on him at all and we mostly heard "work work gonna gonna rebuild rebuild I I I I I I"), and it seems a LOT of the large growth trees are missing.

This is just so sad...we love New Orleans and were considering it as a place we would like to retire to. Not so sure now. It was one of the last ten places we had narrowed down to. We did decide last night no matter the circumstances, we will be back next May for our annual weekly visit so that we could fall in love with the city all over again.

So, If Molly's ever wants to sell...give us a shout.

[Redstone]

71. Excellent commentary, BB. You still got it!

Redstone

[bluedog]

73. right out of "The Day after.1983

*********note....My daughter had a very hard time getting this movie last year..she had to go online and get it from a dealerin another country.**********this movie is one that is very hard to forget......and the lessons are so real........






Plot Summary for
The Day After (1983)

The frightening story of the weeks leading up to and following a nuclear strike on the United States. The bulk of the activity centers around the town of Lawrence, Kansas.

It is the mid-1980s. An aggressive Soviet leadership orders troops marched to the border of West Berlin, and then decides to invade West Germany with multiple armored tank & troop divisions. In Lawrence, Kansas - on the border with Missouri - a family is preparing for the wedding of their eldest daughter, and Dr. Oakes (Jason Robards) is keeping busy in his role as chief of surgery in the small University Hospital at Lawrence.

These people go on with their daily lives but are drawn closer to the possibility of a nuclear war, as the Russians use a nuclear ballistic missile against a West German city, and then attack a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf.

The Americans strike back by hitting a Soviet ship, and then the Russians hit NATO regional headquarters with a nuclear warhead! People start creating makeshift fallout shelters in their basements, but many are caught off guard when, 1 at a time, nuclear missiles are launched from their silos along the Kansas - Missouri border. USAF officers then announce that 300+ ICBMs are inbound to the U.S., and 2 of them strike Kansas City, Missouri!

Many are killed outright, but still more must face the danger of radioactive fallout. Now, the characters we follow are living in a barren, devastated world - devoid of electricity, safe drinking water, and food - and filled with radioactivity, starvation, and disease...in the horrific aftermath of 'The Day After'...


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085404/plotsummary

[electron_blue]

77. reminded me of when Scarlet first sees Ashley's house after the war

All blown out, barely standing. Wtf?

[Kurovski]

83. Bay Buchanan on CNN today also referred to it as "eerie".

Maybe she follows the Bouncy balls posts? :-)