The Webb/Bush controversy reminds me of Francis Ford Coppola's classic film The Conversation. Remember how one line -- "He'd kill us if he had the chance" -- took on a completely new meaning by the film's end?
In a similar fashion, Bush's comment to Webb takes on new meaning now that we know the backstory. A short while before this encounter, Webb's son was involved in a nasty firefight in which three Marines died. Bush knew this.
At the White House ceremony, Webb (like many Republicans) did not want to be photographed with the president and thus took pains to avoid him. Miffed, Dubya came up to the new senator-elect and asked:
"How's your boy?"
Let's take this story out of a political context.
Let's say you're watching a film about a crusading D.A. who has targeted a seemingly untouchable crime kingpin. The D.A. has a son who works in a garage. One night, a mysterious explosion destroys this garage. Although no-one is harmed, nerves are frazzled.
Soon after, the D.A. and the kingpin meet at a fancy social function. The fat crime boss, dressed in a resplendent three-piece suit, approaches the crusading prosecutor. The crime lord takes a puff on his cigar, flashes a dazzling grin, and asks:
"How's your boy?"
Everyone in the audience would understand the subtext.
When Webb expressed the hope that his son would return home soon (a perfectly reasonable response; Lincoln must have heard similar comments), Bush spat: "That's not what I asked you. How's your boy?"
Get it?
"He'd kill us if he had the chance..."
3 comments:
Great analogy, Joe. The intelligence and insight people have when they watch a crime thriller seems not to be applied when they look at the everyday political realm for some reason. Not very many commentators remarked about the veiled threat implied by Bush's remarks. I have to admit, I did not quite get it either until I read a post by Wayne Madsen and became fully conscious of what must have gone on between them. One needs to read very carefully between the lines of what was reportedly said to catch the drift. No MSM news source put the firefight into the story to give it context. That little extra bit of information is extremely useful.
I thought of the "implied threat" as soon as I read about this even though I didn't know about the recent firefight!
This pantie waste, chicken/hawk, right-wing hand puppet George F. Will weights in on the Webb issue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901267.html
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G.F. Will has been pounded by public comments in regards to his Webb/How's your boy? - oped piece.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/comments/display?contentID=AR2006112901267
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