[PEN-L:27274] Bush at bay

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bush at bay
Facing mid-term elections, the President's squabbling team has never looked
so vulnerable.
http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4446690,00.html
Ed Vulliamy
Sunday June 23, 2002
The Observer

The invitation arrived at the White House a few days before last week's
historic World Cup victory by the United States over Mexico.

It was from the Mexican President Vincente Fox, suggesting that President
George Bush and he watch the game together, as a gesture of friendship
between neighbouring nations. The reply came, from a member of Bush's staff:
the President would be asleep at that hour of the night.

It mattered little, since most of his nation was likewise in slumber - but
the rebuff spoke volumes to columnists and Washington DC observers about the
clueless, crassly selfish quality of a President and a presidency which are
suddenly lurching, rather than governing, at the apex of American power.
(...)
Crucially, Rove is tireless in his work with core Republican and Bush
supporters, endlessly working the governors' mansions, the industrial and
commercial interests that back the President financially and politically,
and groups such as the National Rifle Association.

In the parlance of Washington, the Republicans have a word for this
constituency, which slips off the tongue without regard to what it has come
to mean given recent events. They call it 'The Base', which in Arabic
translates as 'al-Qaeda'.