Stating It
A couple of weeks ago, the White House held a State Dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to the US. The guest list, which included all the major Republican cronies (and idiot of the moment, Elisabeth Hasselbeck) also included my boy, Peyton Manning.
I was really disappointed to hear that Peyton Manning would break bread with George Bush. Why anyone with the sense that God gave a monkey would support the Bush administration after all that we know now (as opposed to just astute speculation for the previous six years) is beyond me.
But then I thought, I don’t know what Peyton Manning’s politics are. He doesn’t talk about them, he just talks about football. For all I know, he just might have the same feelings that I do about “W.”
So, I wondered…WWID? What would I do? What would I do if I was invited to a State Dinner at the White House? Would I go?
Yeah, I probably would.
Don’t get me wrong. I am angry, disappointed, appalled, and embarrassed (and any number of other adjectives) about six years of lying (blatant and by omission); disregard for the human condition (at home and abroad); propaganda, and sociological bait-and-switch. But, the way I look at it, the White House may be where the President lays his head at night (even if he stole the pillow) but the White House belongs to the people of this country. Otherwise we would not have the opportunity to serve an eviction notice every four years.
To look at a state dinner as Bush’s party - to focus on him - would be making the man bigger than the office. No president, even the greatest–especially the greatest–is bigger than the office. And George Bush is the smallest of presidents, the smallest of men. He is barely bigger than a bread box.
A friend of mine called me patriotic the other day. I never really considered it before, but I guess I am. I still believe in my country and what it is meant to represent. Yeah, we have been driven way off course, but if we throw the baby out with the bathwater, we will never get back on track again.
So, that’s why I would attend the dinner. It may be only a subtle gesture in helping our country put its best foot forward. But any small step toward a greater good has no less value than a big one.
Now, if I was to get an invite to a barbecue down in Crawford, that’s a whole other thing. But, I would do the right thing and send a proper RSVP:
June 1st, 2007 at 9:38 am
I dunno. I would go just to meet the Queen. I don’t think that an ordinary civilian having dinner at the White House means anything about their politics. Though I have to agree with you on the Crawford BBQ thang.
June 1st, 2007 at 9:45 am
id kiss your ass.
and id probably go to the white house. and hope i had the opportunity to put visine in the commander in chiefs beverage.
June 1st, 2007 at 10:58 am
i’ll go in a couple of years, when President Obama or Clinton is in residence. The current occupant is an unacceptable host.
June 1st, 2007 at 6:20 pm
I do appreciate Mr. Manning keeping his political opinions to himself. Just because he is a good quarterback, that doesn’t mean he knows anything special about world events.
I think this dinner might be a good time to protest, though. The Queen is reputed to have a great deal of influence on the governance of her country. Maybe, just maybe, if England had told W to go to hell, rather than signing up as an accomplice, we would not have the mess in Babylon.
June 1st, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Peyton made the guest list because he is a Republican contributor. Corker was one of the beneficiaries. He was also the largest donor to some Knoxville area candidate(I think he was a former auto dealer). Anyway, you’re a better man than I if you would suspend your disgust to attend.
June 2nd, 2007 at 1:14 pm
So many cognitive thoughts rush through my head as I prepare to respond, but I’m stopped by one salient thought…
NONE OF US would make it past the vetting process required to receive an invitation. They remain un-opposed because no one with a thought process separate from theirs is ever allowed close enough to speak.
And I’m a registered republican, so there.
June 2nd, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I’m with you Tony. I’d go if I got the inviation. I too am patriotic, (not brain dead) and even work for the Feds. I represent the US abroad quite often, and it is hard when we have someone like the current occupant of the White House in power. But the White House is about the American people, not George Bush. He is just a ’small’, albeit important right now, part of the equation. My oath is to the Constitution, not George Bush. Yea, I’d go.
June 3rd, 2007 at 8:52 am
I’d rather go to Dairy Queen with Tony.
June 3rd, 2007 at 3:59 pm
I would go. Like you said, it’s about being an American and not necessarily a Bush supporter. I would go just to meet the Queen, which I think would be cool.
We could go together as the pretend taboo couple that we are and REALLY set things off in there! hehe
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I was having this discussion w/someone i work with - now that I’ve been spending lots of time in DC for my job. This man said he would probably go to the White House - even though he is very opposed to Shrub and Co. He would like to see the workings and thinks he can separate the man from the office.
He’s a bigger man than I am. I’ve been to the White House and had the opportunity to meet Clinton twice (once he was just former Gov. Clinton - pre-president). So, where the White House is cool, I would gleefully decline any audience w/Bush.
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:14 pm
I would not have gone. I would have RSVP’d batk that I’d be busy for the next 2 years. Chances are high, if I had gone, I’d end up arrested for mouthing off to that schmuck.
June 3rd, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I’d have gone for the sake of shear entertainment…trust me I’d find a way to make it if the President wasn’t finding a way to make an “arse” of himself. LOL
June 4th, 2007 at 12:56 am
An interesting aside: During the Johnson years, at the height of the Viet Nam war, Eartha Kitt was invited to a celebrity ladies’ luncheon at the White House hosted by Lady Bird. She was, at the time, in her most popular role as an actress (as Catwoman in the final season of Batman), and she was probably at the peak of her U.S. singing and recording career. Many were surprised that Kitt accepted the invitation; many others were outraged when she used the opportunity to speak up publicly against LBJ and the effect the Viet Nam war was having on the poor– who were the ones most likely to be unable to avoid the draft with student deferments and the like. Her outspokenness caused her to be blackballed from U.S. performing venues and she moved to Europe for more than ten years.
Attendance at a function is not always an endorsement of the function or the person or group hosting it. Sometimes it’s a chance to speak up and be heard.
June 4th, 2007 at 4:19 am
It would be worth going just to have a gander at the inside of the place. Plus, as others have mentioned, to watch and see if dubya manages to make a complete ass of himself in front of The Queen. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the royal suite, just to hear the conversation between The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh after the dinner was over. Especially with a room full of republican hacks all doing their sycophantic best to nod in agreement with everything some administration dweeb happened to utter.
Interesting thought on the mention of LBJ, there was a documentary a few years back on Air Force One, and the retired pilot of the old plane mentioned how when they flew LBJ and his entourage home, they stripped the plane of all the goodies and handouts. And Victor Borge had a good line about visiting the White House to perform for LBJ, where he said, “he picked me up by the ears and pronounced me a great Dane!” LOL
It would have been interesting to go and visit during the Clinton era, and go for a cigar after dinner and hear the funny stories told. I would have loved to have been able to visit during JFK’s time in the White House, just to see the level of elegance at state dinners.