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Bush "Who cares what you think?"

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by SamFisher, Mar 19, 2004.

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SamFisher Member

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http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/03/19/bush_encounter/print.html
"Who cares what you think?"
That's what President Bush shot back at me when I told him what I thought of his performance. As November approaches, I have to thank him for pointing me toward exactly the right question.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Bill Hangley Jr.

March 19, 2004 | It has been almost three years since I spoke with the president of the United States, and I still get mail about it.

It was July 4, 2001, and we were both at one of those things that the late historian Daniel Boorstin would have labeled a "pseudo-event": A church picnic in Philadelphia, designed to help George W. Bush promote his faith-based policies. I was working at the time for a local nonprofit that had helped set it up, but I had some serious misgivings about the president's performance up to that point, and being a part of the whole operation had left me feeling a bit like a pseudo-person. So when I had the chance to shake Bush's hand, I said, "Mr. President, I'm very disappointed in your work so far. I hope you only serve four years."

His smiling response was swift: "Who cares what you think?"

In retrospect, it's an excellent question. I made a list, and it's pretty short: My family cares what I think. My friends care. My various employers have cared at various times, as have a generous handful of teachers and mentors. But that's about it. In the big picture, I'm nobody from nowhere, and the marketplace for my ideas is pretty slim.

A president, of course, is in the opposite position. Everybody cares what he thinks. Huge numbers of people devote themselves to shaping his thoughts and putting them into action. Most of my thoughts evaporate in conversation. His change lives around the globe. So I can understand the pleasure that flashed in his eye when he spoke to me. Mine was an easy lob; his was a smashing return.

But it was an unexpected return, to say the least, and as soon as our handshake was done, I stepped away and pulled out my notebook to write it down. This he noticed, and I heard him call out, "Who are you with?" I turned to see him 10 or 12 feet farther down the handshake line, craning his neck above the crowd -- he's shorter than I had expected -- and looking right at me, asking again, "Who are you with?"

Maybe he thought I was a renegade journalist; the press corps was expressly forbidden to interview people or mingle with the crowd. Or maybe he just wanted to know who was responsible for me, since nobody could get into the picnic unless they were with one of the organizing groups. But I wasn't trying to speak for anybody, and I certainly wasn't trying to goad a story out of him, so I stammered that I wasn't "with" anybody. As people started to notice, he grinned again and drawled, "Make sure you get it right."

The entire exchange probably took less than a minute. I slipped back into the crowd and he moved on, shaking hands and clapping backs, a powerful man at ease on a beautiful summer day.

And that would have been that, if it wasn't for the Internet. The next day, I sent a casual e-mail to about 20 friends, telling the tale and suggesting that "Who Cares What You Think" would look great on T-shirts. Within days, the story had been forwarded all over the world. Hundreds of people wrote back to thank me, or call me names, or find out if the story was true. It leaked into the press in various guises, but at my (now former) employer's request I never went on the record with it, and I never made T-shirts. Reporters asked the White House about it, but the best they got was what spokesman Scott McClellan told the New York Daily News: "I don't think I'm going to dignify something so ridiculous with a response."

But three years later, the e-mails are still coming in, and what they've always told me is that neither Bush's supporters nor his detractors find the story ridiculous at all. Bush-lovers hear an unflinching, confident leader putting a rude whiner in his place. Bush-haters hear a blinkered aristocrat callously dismissing an aggrieved constituent. Both sides, though, have always tended to agree that this sounds like the real Bush. Three subsequent years of uncompromising politics can only have hardened their convictions.

And now, as November approaches, I have to thank the president for pointing me toward exactly the right question. The voters won't go to the polls thinking only of war or taxes or moral clarity. They'll be asking themselves, "Does Bush care what I think?"
Click to expand...

I must disagree a bit with the writer. The Bush administration does care what we think, which is why it lies (Iraq, jobs, deficit, fake news reports), uses Orwellian Newspeak, and commits other crimes (Plame) in order to manipulate us.

#1 SamFisher, Mar 19, 2004

Jeff Gundy Member

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Sam Fisher-

I'm very disappointed in your starting of liberal threads, with no substance. I hope you stick to the Hangout forum.

#2 Jeff Gundy, Mar 19, 2004
Manny Ramirez The Music Man

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Originally posted by Jeff Gundy
Sam Fisher-

I'm very disappointed in your starting of liberal threads, with no substance. I hope you stick to the Hangout forum.
Click to expand...

Let me guess: you don't read this forum very often, do you??

Yea, a smilie would help.

#3 Manny Ramirez, Mar 19, 2004
SamFisher Member

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Originally posted by Jeff Gundy
Sam Fisher-

I'm very disappointed in your starting of liberal threads, with no substance. I hope you stick to the Hangout forum.
Click to expand...

you forgot the " ", unless you were going for making a bit of performance art with the theme of "Irony"

#4 SamFisher, Mar 19, 2004
SamFisher Member

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Originally posted by Jeff Gundy
Sam Fisher-

I'm very disappointed in your starting of liberal threads, with no substance. I hope you stick to the Hangout forum.
Click to expand...

"Who cares what you think?"

#5 SamFisher, Mar 19, 2004
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I think it's funny

"Mr. President, I'm very disappointed in your work so far. I hope you only serve four years."

"Who cares what you think?"
Click to expand...

LOL

#6 KaiSeR SoZe, Mar 19, 2004
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Originally posted by SamFisher
"Who cares what you think?"
Click to expand...

great response

#7 KaiSeR SoZe, Mar 19, 2004

ima_drummer2k Member

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Originally posted by KaiSeR SoZe
great response
Click to expand...

Oh come on. That was a Jose Lima hanging curve ball...at Enron Field.

#8 ima_drummer2k, Mar 19, 2004
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Originally posted by SamFisher
you forgot the " ", unless you were going for making a bit of performance art with the theme of "Irony"
Click to expand...

It was just a test to see how you would react when put in that situation. You performed well in the midst of a loaded opinion.

... and you win NOTHING

#9 Jeff Gundy, Mar 19, 2004
SamFisher Member

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Originally posted by ima_drummer2k
Oh come on. That was a Jose Lima hanging curve ball...at Enron Field.
Click to expand...

I know, it took me two swings to get it too....very disappointing!

#10 SamFisher, Mar 19, 2004
SamFisher Member

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Originally posted by Jeff Gundy
It was just a test to see how you would react when put in that situation. You performed well in the midst of a loaded opinion.

... and you win NOTHING
Click to expand...

Heh, actually, I am far too rude and opinionated to ever be president.

#11 SamFisher, Mar 19, 2004
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You know, I hate Bush as President, but what exactly did the author expect when he told him, "I hope you only serve four years." If he had said, "Mr. President - - my family has been negatively affected by your policy on (Issue X) and think you should reconsider" and the President then said "Who cares what you think," then he'd have a real story here.

#12 subtomic, Mar 19, 2004
ima_drummer2k Member

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Maybe he should have said I feel your pain?

#13 ima_drummer2k, Mar 19, 2004

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This is a non story.

Everyone already knows that the only person whose opinion matters to Dubya is Karl Rove!

#14 RocketMan Tex, Mar 19, 2004
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You'd think the leader of the free world would be able to take a bit of criticism. Must be insecure about something...

#15 GreenVegan76, Mar 19, 2004
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One has to wonder if Rove actually cares what GWB thinks. I would bet not.

#16 No Worries, Mar 19, 2004
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IMAGE REMOVED

#17 ckahlich001, Mar 19, 2004
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001-

That is one of the most pathetic things I have ever come across on these debate & discussion forums.

It really is sickening, and if you want to bring that level of trash to this thread in particular then I would expect you to at least articulate why you feel that way.

#18 Jeff Gundy, Mar 19, 2004

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Dear Bush,

my husband and some of my close friends died in 911.
i dont appreciate you putting 911 images behind your political message in your tv ads. i think its disgusting and revolting that you did that. i cried.

Bush: "who cares what you think?"

#19 ckahlich001, Mar 19, 2004
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Originally posted by ckahlich001
Dear Bush,

my husband and some of my close friends died in 911.
i dont appreciate you putting 911 images behind your political message in your tv ads. i think its disgusting and revolting that you did that. i cried.

Bush: "who cares what you think?"
Click to expand...

Great point you got there.

But to have a picture (of George W Bush's face with a smirk no doubt), and the WTC Towers on fire in the background?

Do you think the President was laughing at the September 11th attacks cause that is how it comes off in the picture. The President was a great leader during that time, no matter how you want to spin it.

This picture you have inserted is disgusting. You need to really take a step back and get out of your extremist bubble.

#20 Jeff Gundy, Mar 19, 2004

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