November 28, 2003
ONLY IN AMERICA (OR BAGHDAD) [via Best of the Web]:
Can You Keep a Secret? Hop On (Edwin Chen and Maura Reynolds, November 28, 2003, LA Times)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the president was sneaking past his own Secret Service detail, wearing a baseball cap and riding in an unmarked van with darkened windows. He was without his customary motorcade and, during the 45-minute drive, experienced rush hour and red lights for the first time since he became president."The president encountered and witnessed traffic for the first time in three years on the way to the airport," Bartlett said. "That was a little amusing to those who were riding with him."
National security advisor Condoleezza Rice rode with him in the van, also with a baseball cap pulled low over her face.
"We looked like a normal couple," Bush recounted later. [...]
As the plane sped toward Andrews at 665 mph, an incredulous Bloomberg reporter, Richard Keil, leaned out of his seat and declared to the rest of the press cabin: "The president of the United States is AWOL, and we're with him. The ultimate road trip."
Reporters felt the plane land two hours and 40 minutes later but were not allowed to look outside until the plane rolled to a stop inside a top-secret hangar at Andrews. Under the hangar's bright lights, they descended from one presidential 747 and boarded another — both are designated Air Force One whenever the president is aboard.
The pool reporters got their first glimpse of the president during the switch. Bush, wearing jeans, a work shirt and a baseball cap, appeared in a good mood as he caught sight of the entourage. Over the noise of the aircraft engines, he raised his hand to his ear in a gesture mimicking the use of a cellphone, then waved his arms and drew his finger across his throat and mouthed the words, "No calls, got it?"
"The president's manner was that of a stern father reprimanding his children, but in good humor," Allen said.
The wisecrack about him and Condi Rice speaks volumes about the man. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 28, 2003 2:34 PM
Think the Bob Jones folks will take issue with it?
Posted by: Timothy at November 28, 2003 4:05 PMYes it does. All of it good.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at November 28, 2003 4:42 PMMy perspective is a bit skewed because I live in a state where way more than half of all marriages are across ethnic lines, but the wisecrack is getting truer all the time.
Bush understands what Billy Carter understood.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at November 28, 2003 5:22 PMActually, who wants to bet his/her life that were such a hypothetical paring to occur the Bob Jones side of American prejudice would outpoint the "Condelezza the skeeza (however that infamous slur is spelled)". The latter prejudice exists; in abundance; is just not polite to talk about it....
Posted by: MG at November 28, 2003 5:56 PM