September 09, 2004
Rodent Death From Above
I'm gonna check the effect of G-forces on my hamster, Superdude.
You know, I said before that I wouldn't bring this stuff up, but I do remember the grotesque authoritarian swooning over the aircraft carrier stunt (leading to the most depressing of all embarrassments, blaming carrier personnel for the "Mission Accomplished" sign). So when I see something that says "On this date I ordered that 1st Lt. Bush be suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to USAF/TxANG and failure to meet annual physical examination (flight) as ordered"... well... you don't have that sort of high-quality ironic juxtaposition fall in your lap everyday. (UPDATE: In fact, I'm so blinded by self-satisfaction and gleeful-yet-shrill partisanship that I'll go ahead and put this out there despite a plethora of internet forgery investigations). So let's go back in time...
Bush said he did take a turn at piloting the craft. "Yes, I flew it. Yeah, of course, I liked it," said Bush, who was an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard after graduating from Yale University in 1968.
Which, of course, led to numerous photo-op ejaculations from our friends in the lunatic asylum:
-- He sure looks like a guy that knows how to carry his flight gear.
-- Like one commentator just pointed out, he looks like he "belongs" flying a jet onto an aircraft carrier under way.
-- Oh my goodness, this president inspires me. He is amazing. I'm so proud of him.
-- W is a natural warrior!
-- I love the fact that the pictures make it clear that President Bush does not need the secret service for this trip.
-- You really have to fall in love with the guy. Talk about "Be All You Can Be!!"
-- Both Bushes earned their pilot's wings.
And that was just a partial list, in that I filtered out the Presidential fan-fiction, the thinly veiled crotch-bulge innuendoes from hot suburban housewives (hopefully not a popular Google search), the 198 requisite favorable comparisons to Clinton, the prudes who thought the female personnel were overly friendly with the President, and, of course, the numerous requests that the enemies of the Administration, both real and imagined, suck on something or other.