On Bush’s Trip, a Name Unspoken and a Surprising Phrase - New York Times

An entertaining Notebook featuring vignettes from that poor, retarded man's trip through LatAm, including his absolute refusal to say the C-word (hint: he's the blockhead president of Venezuela whom no-one would give the time of day were he not sitting on 78 billion barrels of oil...black gold...Caracas coffee) and Brazilian president Lula's (best known for his 1967 hit, "To Sir, with Love) use of the "G-spot" as a metaphor in describing bilateral relations and how the poor, retarded man kept talking about food: when he was going to eat, what he was about to eat, what he'd just eaten.

The article is topped by a picture of the poor, retarded man joining a "musical performance at a youth community center in São Paulo" wherein he is shown playing what appears to be a mineiro...you know...one of those metal cylindrical shakers. Actually, he looks to be playing the cocktail shaker but we know that couldn't possibly be. At any rate, whatever he's playing, he looks like the slow child who can't quite hack a melodic instrument, so teacher gives him something to do, you know, so he won't feel left out.

All of which brings me to my question regarding the poor, retarded man who leads our country: is he actually as cretinous as his public words and actions might lead a disinterested observer to believe, or is he Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects: halting of speech and step but actually a criminal mastermind?

Is George W. Bush actually Keyser Söze?

Mes chers frères, n'oubliez jamais, quand vous entendrez vanter le progrès des lumières, que la plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas.
-Charles Baudelaire, "Le joueur généreux"

politics international affairs