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BS: Bush Has Left the White House...
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Subject: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Bobert Date: 18 Jan 09 - 07:15 PM Okay, he may have two days left but he's outta the White House forever... Hooray!!! B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Amos Date: 18 Jan 09 - 07:20 PM Oh, excellent. I never thought I would see the day!! A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Amos Date: 18 Jan 09 - 07:30 PM Um, Bobez, man, this is from the Washington Times: "Moving presidents in and out of the White House is a ritual akin to the inaugural ceremony itself - except the action occurs out of sight. What takes most families days to accomplish happens within a few hours. Between noon, when the incoming president takes the oath of office, and 5 p.m., which is roughly when the inaugural parade ends, the furnishings and personal effects of two families will have been moved out and moved into the six-floor 132-room mansion - a scripted transformation done with the precision of a military maneuver. Around 10 a.m., the outgoing president and family gather in the State Dining Room with the White House resident staff to exchange farewells and presents. It's an emotional scene, relates former chief curator Betty C. Monkman, "saying goodbye and wondering what the future will be." A tradition begun under former chief usher Gary Walters' watch is to give the outgoing president two flags: the one flying over the White House when he took the oath of office and the one flying on inaugural morning. These are boxed in wood from the original building - renovated during President Truman's time - and at least one usually ends up in a future presidential library. Next, the outgoing president receives the incoming president as well as the Congressional Escort Committee - a bipartisan group - which will formally escort both men to the Capitol. The outgoing and incoming vice president and their spouses arrive, and all go to the Blue Room for coffee and pastries for what will be the outgoing chief executive's last "taste" of the house he has called home for the past eight years. "Until President Bush and his family depart from the North Portico, the house is theirs," Mr. Walters says. "Sometimes family members - guests - are slow to depart, but only after they leave does the transformation occur." By the time the inaugural ceremony ends at the Capitol, moving vans will have made their way through traffic to the White House South Portico out of view of the cheering crowds lining the streets on the north and west sides. The vans are chosen by the incoming family and paid for by them. When the new presidential family and their guests finish watching festivities from an elaborately constructed reviewing stand, they retire to eat, relax and mingle with friends and relatives prior to the evening's succession of formal balls. Only when the Obamas enter the North Portico after the parade does the mansion officially become their home. The packing boxes will be gone and everything will have been put away." What are they smoking that they don't know what you know?? A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Jan 09 - 07:30 PM Too late for getting an autograph, then? Dang! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Bobert Date: 18 Jan 09 - 07:39 PM Well, Amos... Word on the street is that he's gonna ride out his last two days in Camp David... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: kendall Date: 18 Jan 09 - 07:43 PM Again? he was there 189 times already! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Bobert Date: 18 Jan 09 - 07:48 PM Glad he ain't goin' back... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: GUEST,bankley Date: 18 Jan 09 - 09:20 PM He'd look good in Gitmo in orange |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: DougR Date: 18 Jan 09 - 10:02 PM No, Kendall, I think you are not correct. I think he spent more weekends there than that. DougR |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Alice Date: 18 Jan 09 - 10:08 PM Finally. Good riddance. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Jan 09 - 11:11 PM What an incredible fuss it all is! I mean the entire thing Americans do in regards to their presidency. The primaries, the campaign itself, the inauguration, the White House and all that goes with it, absolutely extraordinary amount of fuss. It's not like that in most other countries, if in any. Perhaps it is like that in certain bizarre dictatorships such as North Korea or China (the amount of procedural and ceremonial fuss over "the leader", I mean), but not anywhere else except the USA. It's way over the top. Trouble is, if you live there and are used to it...well, then you take it as "normal". ;-) It's the great imperial presidency of the world. Nothing else comes even close. You would have to live in Canada and see how low key a matter a change of government is here...and then you'd get what I mean. We do not think our prime minister is the Father of the nation. We think he's just another politician in a suit...strictly temporary...not that big a deal, really. Small potatoes. Most Canadians don't even know what the official residence of the prime minister of Canada looks like and they don't care. What does it look like? Well, it looks like a house. A nice house on a nice piece of property, on a residential street with some trees, period. It does not look like the Acropolis, the Taj Mahal, or the White House. No wonder your elections are so long and overblown...after all, you're electing "God" for the next four years, right? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: katlaughing Date: 19 Jan 09 - 12:10 AM I, too, heard on the news that he was decamping to Camp David. I also read that Obama's schedule on Inauguration Day includes "having coffee" with Bush, as noted above. I think it's a sorry employer who doesn't help with moving expenses, though!:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Jan 09 - 12:24 AM Interesting move, that the chief usher put into place with the flags. A nice touch, for whomever is president. For those of us who never supported Bush, who opposed him even in his home state of Texas when he (and Rove) started his political career by playing dirty tricks to unseat the very popular Ann Richards, he has been a troll inhabiting the Nation's House. Marking time and trashing our government and our reputation. The new resident is the complete opposite, an intellectual, a scholar, a poet, filled with grace. The hopes of Americans today may be too much for any one person to accomplish, but to simply see the back of Bush will be enough for this week. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: michaelr Date: 19 Jan 09 - 12:47 AM Little Hawk, I could not agree more. Having just watched most of the hours-long wank fest at the Mall, all I can say is Obama better get serious tomorrow. Pomp and circumstance and Pete Seeger don't mix. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Barry Finn Date: 19 Jan 09 - 01:03 AM Hopefully once he's gone he'll be seen & heard from as often as Elvis. "The ex has left the building", don't let the door slap you on the ass on your way out"! Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Ebbie Date: 19 Jan 09 - 03:37 AM Little Hawk, how is the incoming/outgoing transition handled? In the US they have made it an art. In the approximately five hours they have available they pack and haul out one set of tenants and haul in and unpack the other, down to the last box. The new tenant comes 'home' that night to an orderly house. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: GUEST,Al Date: 19 Jan 09 - 03:49 AM Well George, thanks for everything. You made the world a much safer place. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Geoff the Duck Date: 19 Jan 09 - 05:37 AM One I don't understand is, if they can move everything out and a new set in within 5 hours, why couldn't hey do it all on the morning after the votes were counted? Why do you wait a couple of months during which the unwanted President still keeps full power to do damage to your economy and World peace? As a Brit, I say "good Riddance to Bush" and "Welcome Obama" and wish it could all have happened years earlier. Quack! GtD. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: SINSULL Date: 19 Jan 09 - 08:36 AM I hope someone took an inventory of national treasures. No telling what he and cronies will help themselves to next. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 19 Jan 09 - 09:11 AM I don't understand how that flag thing is supposed to work. If each ex gets the flag from BOTH ends of his tenure, presumably the next incumbent doesn't get his inaugural flag because his predecessor got it upon his departure. Or, alternatively, he doesn't get his going-away flag because his successor has to get it. Have I missed something? Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: SINSULL Date: 19 Jan 09 - 09:40 AM You guys inflict your royalty on us all the time. We can inflict our election on you once every four years. Diana alone was worth 3 bush tenures. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: SINSULL Date: 19 Jan 09 - 09:40 AM and look what harry is up to! LOL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Bill D Date: 19 Jan 09 - 10:53 AM The UK does the coronation of a King or Queen with WAY more ceremony than this! Not as often, perhaps..... The ceremony here is supposed to show the common folks sharing the day with the winner of the election... and sure, they 'could' move boxes the day after...but the appointments wouldn't be ready and plans for changover take time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Mr Red Date: 19 Jan 09 - 11:11 AM Is it say to come out to play now? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 19 Jan 09 - 11:20 AM I imagine they'd they change flags at the time the new bloke swears in. Presumably he isn't actually president until that happens, so the day starts with one president and ends with another. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: kendall Date: 19 Jan 09 - 11:52 AM He's off to Camp David for his 189th visit. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Skivee Date: 19 Jan 09 - 11:57 AM Dave, running ceremonial flags up and down poles is a time-honored tradition in our little capital city. There are folks at the Capital building who do nothing but run flags up and down all day long. They generally are distributed through the offices of senators and representatives. It would take scant seconds to replace the flag that Bush will be getting tomorrow |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Alice Date: 19 Jan 09 - 12:10 PM Geoff, the popular vote counting is not the end of the election process. The electoral votes are certified by Congress in January. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: ClaireBear Date: 19 Jan 09 - 12:21 PM Another reason for not installing the new president immediately is that the newly elected president needs time to assemble (and get approved by Congress) an advisory staff and get up to speed on intelligence and other information that is not available to a candidate, but IS available to an elected president. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Ebbie Date: 19 Jan 09 - 12:51 PM Originally, the new president was installed in March.. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Wesley S Date: 19 Jan 09 - 01:34 PM On a recent PBS documentary about Groucho Marx they asked him about Richard Nixon moving into his neighborhood. His reply was - better he lives here than in the White House. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Amos Date: 19 Jan 09 - 04:30 PM " WASHINGTON (CNN) -- On Inauguration Day, there's one scene at the White House that won't be playing out exactly as it has during past transitions: the traditional moving of the outgoing first family's belongings. President Bush walks out of the White House Oval Office on January 10. President Bush walks out of the White House Oval Office on January 10. Anita McBride, chief of staff to first lady Laura Bush, tells CNN that the Bushes have moved almost all of their belongings out of the White House ahead of schedule. "There won't be ... the moving trucks for the Bushes coming here," McBride said, adding, "The only things really left for President and Mrs. Bush are their personal belongings and luggage that they'll take that day." McBride said Mrs. Bush directed residence staff early -- in the summer of 2008 -- to prepare the White House for the personal transition. "It's probably the librarian in her," McBride said of Mrs. Bush, a former librarian. "Maybe we've got a bit of a Dewey Decimal system of move-out process, but that certainly made it easier for the residence staff, and they very much appreciate it," McBride said. The actual clearing out of the Bushes' belongings began over the summer, McBride says, when many items were packed and taken to Crawford, Texas. Then, during the Christmas holiday, the Bushes moved their personal things out of Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, according to McBride. That means on Inauguration Day, while President Bush and Mrs. Bush, along with President-elect Obama and his family, are at the Capitol, staff in the White House residence will have more time to unpack and prepare the Obamas' personal belongings...." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: katlaughing Date: 19 Jan 09 - 06:13 PM GOOD!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Cool Beans Date: 19 Jan 09 - 07:23 PM Good riddance! Obama feels like the president of all the Americans. Bush felt like president of only the morono-Americans. It's been the closest I ever hope to feel I'm living under a dictatorship. Yes, I was free to think and say and write whatever I wanted but the country was going to hell deliberately and millions of us were powerless to stop it--until last November. Hee hee. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: katlaughing Date: 19 Jan 09 - 07:39 PM Just for historical record, I would like to post a link to the very first Bushwhacked Thread. It seems odd to me, now, to realise the majority of our time on Mudcat has been during the realm of George the Idiot. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Amos Date: 19 Jan 09 - 09:05 PM Amazing to go back eight years and see how clearly people saw right through him. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Peace Date: 19 Jan 09 - 09:10 PM I felt much the same as most of you when I finally got rid of the crabs! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Jeri Date: 19 Jan 09 - 09:19 PM Your crabs never got anybody killed. Maybe close, I don't know. I think there will be a lot of happy people tomorrow night, many folks with a wait-and-see skepticism and a few pissed off untra-conservatives and racist assholes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Art Thieme Date: 19 Jan 09 - 09:55 PM 2 bushes leaving the white house doesn't quite rival burnham forest coming to dunsinane -- but it'll have to do... ... I'm sure it is for the best--and an eventuality devoutly to be wished!!!!!!!!! Art Thieme |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Beer Date: 19 Jan 09 - 10:26 PM J.F.Kennedy,M.L.King, and now Obama. Three great speakers. Two of which have passed on but could make you feel proud. And I'm not an American. Obama has this gift of the gab. As a proud Canadian I wish him strength, health and a lot of luck. He is coming into a situation that most recent Presidents have not had to handle. The most recent president(deliberate small "p",administration including)can be blamed for. I'm not a praying man, use to be, but I think I will say a little one tonight for Obama. Adrien |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Bill D Date: 19 Jan 09 - 10:50 PM My gracious! That "Bushwhacked" thread makes me feel like a prophet! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: robomatic Date: 19 Jan 09 - 11:12 PM I think the guy did his best, but I still have a guilty wish........ that the door hit him in the ass on his way out! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Barry Finn Date: 20 Jan 09 - 02:40 AM With Bush gone the comedians will now be out of work too. Their job source is being "sourced out", their fodder is now being canned, their insperation has aspired, their co-sponser is being disponded. I'm laughing out loud to myself as I write this, finally the joke is him! They (the comediaans) can now join the rest of US, out of a job, it ain't an easy thought to swallow but that's what it took to get Georgie de-employed. He was going anyway, I know, but couldn't we have deployed him yrs ago, to hell, it would've made things so much more liveable. Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 20 Jan 09 - 03:07 AM one of our best political parodists & songwriters felt very low when his favourite target left political life in 1987, but he soon found other targets, as did our cartoonists when Little Johnny (aka Bush's lapdog or Deputy Sheriff) was thrown out in 2007! I'm sure the US comedians will soon find good targets for their commentary. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Charley Noble Date: 20 Jan 09 - 08:12 AM One of our Maine activists led more than 200 protesters to the White House yesterday where they flung shoes at the fence in their own farewell gesture to Bush. The protest, in dubious taste, resulted in no injuries or arrests. Kennebunkport organizer Jamilla El-Shafei was quite pleased with the results of her act, honoring the Iraqi journalist Mutander Al-Zaidi who succeeded in throwing two of his own shoes at Bush a few weeks ago. Do you suppose the Secret Service is doing some sole-searching today? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Amos Date: 20 Jan 09 - 08:31 AM An awful pun, Charlie, but under the circumstances... A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Rapparee Date: 20 Jan 09 - 09:01 AM Overhead this morning: Laura: George, wake up. We have to go now. George: Don' wanna. L: George! You know we have to go. Now put down Teddy and change out of your jammies. G: Don' wanna. L: Are you looking for another spanking? G: Please??? (A loud thud, like a body being rolled out of the bed and onto the floor.) L: Now get dressed. The Obamas will be here in a few hours. And we're going back to Texas! G: Really? Can I ride my pony and be a cowboy? L: (sighing) Yes, of course. G: Oh BOY! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Wesley S Date: 20 Jan 09 - 09:38 AM Miss Manners: 'Mr. President' was good enough for Washington Miss Manners by Judith Martin United Feature Syndicate, Inc. Posted: 01/19/2009 12:10:00 AM PST WHEN THE Founding Fathers came up with the title "Mr. President," they thought they had devised the ultimate in casual forms of official address. In contrast to the sycophantic titles used toward European monarchs, which they considered unbefitting a republic of equals, this would give the person holding the highest office no grander an honorific than any ordinary citizen. George Washington had a different approach. "His High and Mightiness" had rather a nice ring to it, he ventured to suggest. However, ridicule carried the day, as Miss Manners notices that it so often does. And when the first president left office, he made a concession to the American taste for simplicity by decreeing that he would henceforth no longer carry the title of president, not even as a mere courtesy. He chose his former title, General Washington. Only a few decades ago, calling nonintimates by their first names was intended as a slight. African-Americans and subordinate employees, particularly servants but including female employees in professional life, were so addressed, even in such formal situations as courtrooms. When replying, they were expected to use "Mr." or professional titles with surnames. But apparently we have also been growing more pompous. We now have four living former presidents addressing one another as Mr. President, and a citizenry worried that it would be disrespectful to follow George Washington's rule. It is true that the first president's wife was known, in her day, as Lady Washington. Over the years, this evolved into the moniker first lady. But there is no such official title. By our law, the president's wife is a private citizen, although she is given precedence by courtesy. The sitting president should be addressed as Mr. President. His wife is addressed, both in writing and in speaking, as Mrs. Obama. No first name, neither his nor hers, is used. The former president is correctly addressed as Gov. Bush. His wife, who was THE Mrs. Bush when he was president, reverts to being Mrs. George W. Bush, as her mother-in-law became again Mrs. George H. W. Bush after her husband's administration. Similarly, the sitting vice president is the only Mr. Vice President, and his wife is simply Mrs. (or Dr.) Biden. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: kendall Date: 20 Jan 09 - 09:38 AM If I had known in time that this shoe thing was going to happen, I would have donated a pair of mine to the cause. Charlie, "heels" don't do any "sole" searching. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Bush Has Left the White House... From: Amos Date: 20 Jan 09 - 09:49 AM Especially when the fence has their tongues. A |
