"She can be my date," the president said, reaching out his left hand to touch Rice's arm...

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Laura Stand-in For Bush in Aussie: Condi
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Stands in for Laura Bush at Dinner in Australia

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3560862

By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer
SYDNEY, Australia Sep 5, 2007 (AP)

Condoleezza Rice has been President Bush's foreign policy tutor, sports buddy, national security adviser and his secretary of state.

Bush came up with a new designation Wednesday at a dinner in his honor.

"She can be my date," the president said, reaching out his left hand to touch Rice's arm as they stood before the cameras at a dinner hosted by Prime Minister John Howard and his wife Janette at their residence, Kirribilli House .

First lady Laura Bush had stayed back in Washington, saying a pinched nerve prevented her from taking long flights.

[Buzz Clik]

1. Frat boy humor. When will he grow up? (rhetorical question)

[Forkboy]

2. Love is in the air!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNC0kIzM1Fo

[peace13]

3. She should wash her arm!! n/t

[soothsayer]

7. pickles should smell his fingers

[dipsydoodle]

14. He'd only use his usual excuse -

been eating prawns.

[Waya]

4. Awwwwwwwww...........

:puke:

[Rick Myers]

5. What happens Down Under stays Down Under, eh George?

:grr:

[Netbeavis]

6. and her heart went a flutter....

boom chicka bow wow...

[philosophie_en_rose]

8. Uh oh. Camilla Rice, Duchess of Stonewall.

Look out, Laura.

[Buzz Clik]

9. Would Condi be attracted to a man with just half her intelligence?

I figure she took the Secy of State job to get away from him.

[JVS]

10. We've misunderestimated him. He's a political genius

With his dumbfuck routine he can get away with anything and keep it hidden in plain sight. Now I have my doubts as to whether he and Rice are romanitically (or perhaps I should say conjugally) involved, but what the hell would the world do if they were? Not a damned thing! Clinton couldn't have ever pulled off this kind of stunt. He was hounded by scandal and I can only imagine the bedlam that would have broken out had he joked about dating.

[Hydra]

11. He's probably spending nights with Jeff Gannon

But nary a whisper from the religious right.

Gotta love selective hating.

[AnneD]

hidden in plain sight...

you win the prize. Too true.

[woodsprite]

12. Bet Laura's gonna pinch HIS nerve when he gets back....

I don't like the whole family, but can you imagine how she feels. Cuckholded in public by your hubby, the frat boy pres. I only wish one thing - I wish it were Jimmy Jeff instead of Condi ;)

[Eurobabe]

13. Is Laura still residing at the Hay-Adams?

She should do herself a favor and cut that asshole loose.

Oh, but wait, he's gonna clean up on the lecture circuit reading My Pet Goat. :D

[avrdream]

16. Extra payment if he reads it upside down and backwards!

My first response to the news was "ick".

[soothsayer]

19. thought it was the Mayflower

[Doctor_J]

15. Ah, just imagine if Big Dog has made a crack like that

Comes the revolution, when we take back the media, stuff like this will be played ad nauseum.

[ProudDad]

17. You just know

condi and bushie are getting fucked up on shooters and pretzels and getting it on in like bunnies in heat every chance they get!!!

[Prince Paul]

18. Lil' Bush

Lil' Condi's dream came true.

[calimary]

20. What a thoughtless, inconsiderate putz. And he reaches out to touch

her arm, I'm sure, for the photographers.

My dad cheated on my mom. He even waltzed his strumpet around on his arm when traveling (with her, not with my mom) to old hometown stomping grounds and parading around in front of many of their mutual friends - who OF COURSE would call my mom after it was over to tattle on him. And my mom burned over it. She was on a constant slow burn for YEARS. I took the heat for it because he was always gone and I was the only one home. laura, I'm sure, is hellbent on keeping up appearances, denying the reality, denying the facts. Every time bush gives contradicta a hug or a peck on the cheek (like we have so many photos of him doing), her perfume rubs off on his collar or skin, and he brings it straight home to laura at the end of the day. Believe me, she picks up on it. He's probably not even doing it deliberately to "get" her, either. He's just so fucking arrogant and selfish and thoughtless and self-involved that he probably doesn't even think about how it's going to go over at home. It probably isn't even in his mindset. He's never been trained to think about how someone else would feel, or how what he does might adversely impact somebody he presumably cares about. He just doesn't have that kind of mindset. That kind of shit is nurtured from VERY early on. He came that way when laura was out husband-shopping.

She's going to do a slow burn on this - probably for WEEKS. Because deep down, she's going to see this as having been publicly cuckolded by THAT WOMAN. As much as she'll rationalize and try to get beyond it and try to deny it or put it on ignore, at the end of the day, when she climbs into bed alone while he's still overseas, and puts her magazine down and turns out the lights, she'll lie there staring at the ceiling, alone. Knowing. Knowing that, at the very least, even if he kept his pants zipped, the very fact that he was so thoughtless and inconsiderate of how she might feel about seeing that or hearing about that - "she can be my date!" - she'll be burning.

And it's a MUCH bigger, more highly-evolved, more forgiving woman than she's probably capable of being, who can honestly be unphased by that. Unless she's long since had enough of this, and the love has died, and she just doesn't give a damn anymore.

NOBODY is counting the minutes until the end of this regime as ardently as laura bush is. NOBODY.