February 6, 2003
WHAT, NO ROLLERSKATING TRAINS?:
British Audiences Laugh at Play Mocking Bush (Andrew Cawthorne, Feb 5, 2003, Reuters)British theater-goers are flocking to a new farce that mocks President Bush as a pajama-wearing buffoon cuddling a teddy bear while his crazed military chiefs order nuclear strikes on Iraq."The Madness of George Dubya" -- which mercilessly satirizes British Prime Minister Tony Blair as well as Bush -- has proved such a success at a fringe theater in London that it is moving to a larger venue next week for an extended run.
"As war comes closer, the mood among audiences has changed," actor Nicholas Burns, who plays Blair, said after a performance this week. "The audience is actually laughing more, but the tension behind their laughs has grown. People are scared." [...]
Amid the humor, a dignified speech by the Iraqi ambassador to a panicked Blair is the seminal political moment of the play. Audience laughter fell to a hush on a recent night as the actor offered a withering critique of Western hypocrisy toward Iraq.
While criticizing President Saddam Hussein as a "butcher" -- "We hate him, but we hate you more," he tells the U.S. and American officials -- he also hails the Iraqi leader as an "Arab Robin Hood, the only one to give Uncle Sam the finger."
Here's an exercise that might have proven helpful to the playwright: imagine that Robin Hood lived in Iraq--would he hail or hunt Saddam? Posted by Orrin Judd at February 6, 2003 12:14 AM
We are now at rubber hitting road time. And we will indeed find out if "they hate him, but they hate us more". (Gee, ya think maybe the WRITER "hates him, but hates us more"? Nahhhh.)
And when we find out our answer... if they do indeed hate us more than they love their own liberty, then it will be time for the US to indeed be humble, but to defend our borders, build missile defenses, and let whole swaths of this planet stand or fall on their own two feet.
For the Left, it will be a triumph, and a situation, on the order of our beating and occupying North Korea right now. We will then say to the international Left essentially, "Hey, you were right, you have won a big battle, ideologically at least. You now have a planet in terrible terrible shape to bring to order, with all that inherently socialist wisdom of yours, not to mention your powerful militaries. Good luck with all that. Let us know how it's going. Paks and Indians racing to the border? Get over there, France. Syria building long range missiles? All yours, boys, have fun. Germany getting weird again? Whew, glad they aren't our neighbors. Tell you what. Just because we are REAL NICE (unlike certain others), we won't pile contempt upon you and throw sand in the gears every step of the way as you try to deal with these horrors. We'll just keep our powder dry and say 'Good Luck'. (Would that many of you did only that today, we would be ecstatic)"
So that's a real charming little future you folks are out to build for yourselves... and us.
Conversely, if WE are proved right in the aftermath, it is contingent upon us to buy millions of dollars worth of full page ads, and TV, in Europe, to hammer them, again and again and again and again, relentlessly and without mercy, with their own words, including this very play here.
And THAT I will dearly love to see, and if money is needed to do it, I'll get my checkbook.
Here's another helpful exercise: imagine what would happen if the real Iraqi ambassador called Saddam Hussein a hated butcher. Gee, I wonder why he hasn't.
Posted by: David Cohen at February 6, 2003 12:29 PMOn the other hand, it is therapeutic; so maybe they should use every opportunity they have to laugh.
While they still can.
I am old enough to remember, but too
old to remember the name of, a play
that packed 'em in in London lampooning
LBJ.
Some things never change.
Harry:
Except that they were right about LBJ.