January 17, 2005
BONO LOSES THE EDGE:
Corridors of Power: US and Spain (Roland Flamini, 1/15/05, UPI)
Shortly after the U.S. presidential elections, George Bush Sr. was in Spain on a hunting trip with friends.Spanish Minister of Defense Jose Bono asked to see him and, according to a well-informed Madrid source, was very persistent. When the former president agreed, Bono arrived for the meeting with a lavish gift of a pair of hand-made Spanish hunting rifles. His purpose was to ask the elder Bush to persuade newly re-elected President George W. Bush to agree to speak to Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, at least on the phone.
G.H.W. Bush telephoned his son at the White House, but the president's reaction was, "tough, rough, and loud," the source said. Sorry, Bush Sr. told Bono, the president was not interested in personal contact with Zapatero at this time.
Send peacekeepers, not guns. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 17, 2005 10:43 AM
The U2 reference in the headline gave me vertigo. I'm imagining the conversation went something like this:
"Hello, hello."
"Hola!"
"Son, please call Zapatero."
"No mas."
"He's been a bit of a pain, I know, but he gave me somethin' I can hunt with."
"Hunt with?"
"Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah . . ."
Not just Bono but his guitarist too? All in one headline. oj, I'm impressed...
Posted by: Bartman at January 17, 2005 6:29 PMI say we stone Zapatero until next year when the Iraq war is in the mop-up phase.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at January 17, 2005 11:29 PM