41 Speaks

Forty-One's interview in July's Texas Monthly is worth a read. Some excerpts:

Hylarious:

...FLFW, as Mr. Bush is known in shorthand, seems to have no place special to be. (The meaning of that abbreviation? Frechette says that when the staff had to set up the Internet domain name for the office, someone waggishly suggested "flfw.com," as in "former leader of the free world." Mr. Bush liked it, and it stuck.)

Also funny:

"Mr. President," Platon says in his full-on British accent, "I'm going to have to explain some of my English phrases to you. When I say you're 'wicked,' I don't want you to take offense. It means 'cool.'"

"I'm just getting used to 'cool,'" Mr. Bush replies. A few seconds go by. "Would you say Brad Pitt is wicked?"

Mr. Bush patiently mugs for fifteen minutes--standing, sitting, grinning, flashing a victory sign at Platon's request--and then starts to leave. It's time for our interview. But as we head back to his office, he turns to me and motions to a few framed photos on a table in the corner. "Did you see that picture of me and Jacques Chirac?" he asks slyly. "I just want to be sure you mention that."

Interesting (and amusing):

What's interesting, I think, is that the press takes your silence as an indication of differences between you and the president. The fact that you're not speaking out supposedly says something. When a friend of mine like Jimmy Baker or Brent Scowcroft says, "Well, we ought to do more about the Middle East," the press says, "It looks to us like they're reflecting what president number forty-one really feels but doesn't want to say," which is all bullshit, if you'll excuse the expression.

We can edit that out.

You can print it. At this stage in my life, I don't care.

Posted by Steven Taylor at July 22, 2024 05:07 PM | TrackBack