Bush walks tightrope on 4-nation Asian visit

[emad]

By David E. Sanger The New York Times

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2005


KYOTO, Japan The first time President George W. Bush visited Asia as president, just two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, he had little time or patience for a summit meeting that traditionally focused on trade and globalization.

He talked only about terrorism and insisted everyone else follow his lead.

But when Bush arrived in this ancient Japanese capital Tuesday night, his first stop on a four-country tour, he began a trip that sounded like those of his father's presidency and former president Bill Clinton's.

"The president is traveling to Asia to advance the interests of American workers, businesses and entrepreneurs," his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, told reporters last week.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/15/news/bush.php

[Punkingal]

1. What a visual...

Bush on a tightrope????? :rofl:

[ewagner]

2. I can't even imagine

Dubya tackling issues as complex as Trade Agreements and Labor....that takes real knowledge, skill and concentration....none of which he possesses.

My suspicion is that he has been handed some "one-liners" symbolizing various issues and will use them over-and-over.

Anxious to see how he spins this...when he's not trashing Democrats, he is flat, bored, disinterested in his own speeches.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. "to advance the interests of American workers, businesses & entrepreneurs"

I'm not even going to get STARTED on Bush's "Tax Advisory Panel" recommendations, but "American workers, businesses & entrepreneurs"...PARTICULARLY small business owners...are in danger of REALLY taking it in the shorts.

Don't worry, though...the big corporations will be getting a break (IF Junior's plan goes through) and as we all know, they take that profit and use it to create new jobs and stimulate the economy!

Maybe Bush can go AWOL on his presidency...just STAY in Japan. Grow a beard and eat sushi and just get high in the shadow of Mount Fuji all day, listening to trippy kodo music.

Just a thought.

[emad]

4. Nasty business brewing re Hong Kong based HSBC bank :

fraud and terrorism funding related to Poodle's 1998 Good Friday Agreement with the IRA,... and Ken Lay's current predicament.

One story I have heard here relates to offshore companies controlled by Lay and Clifford Baxter that were lent money by HSBC between 1997 and 2000 in full knowledge that the accounts involved were controlled by Russian organised crime.