Analysts: Bush's cowboy image waning; world still wary...

[Imagevision]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- When President Bush addresses world leaders at the United Nations this week, he will have fewer options and lower expectations on almost every major foreign policy front than a year ago.

The United States is relying more readily on international institutions and alliances for help in Iran, Lebanon, North Korea, Sudan and elsewhere. Yet, according to analysts, the Bush administration has less room to maneuver.

Bush and his foreign policy advisers have tried with some success to dispel the caricature of Bush abroad as a Texas cowboy riding alone and herding the U.S. into an unpopular war in Iraq.

But the war, now in its fourth year, devours resources and energy for other global objectives and feeds mistrust about U.S. intentions, experts say.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/16/bush.un.expectations.ap/index.html

Bush with no more power is going to be a treat for cowboy geordge...

[soothsayer]

1. My hairdresser just returned from Portugal, and he's still a cowboy

to them

[Imagevision]

2. George cocaine cowboy going the lame ducky route...

[ShaneGR]

3. Calling for more "moderate" leadership???

That caught my eye in that article. What exactly is moderate about his foreign policy?

[pepperbear]

4. I always thought it funny...

those fucks have a history of that bullshit:









What are you going to do, sell Marlboros or run a country?

[bperci108]

6. To paraphrase George Carlin...

...why do some people feel the need to dress up like mythical heros?

I mean, you don't see me walking down the street in a fucking pirate costume, do you? :wtf:

It's nothing more than slick marketing for the terminally stupid; Duhbya is no more a "cowboy" (same for Reagan) than I'm a ballerina. He was born in New England, for pete's sake.:rofl:

The way he pretends to be a "Texan" with the fake drawl and the swagger is utterly hilarious. At least Ronnie was a legitimate actor with a SAG card; Boy George hasn't had a real job his entire life. :eyes:

[driver8]

8. I love George Carlin...

He speaks for me in this instance. I hate watching this false hero swagger and talk like he just came off of the ranch.
One of the main reasons that I cannot stand to watch him is that phony Texas accent he uses. (I also hate being lied to.)
George Bush is a fucking joke...and a bad one at that.


Look at this douche-bag...how can anyone take him seriously??

[ChicagoRonin]

5. Random thought on Cowboys

Can someone explain to me exactly how the "cowboy" image translates into an image of effective leadership?
I'm playing naive here for the sake of discussion, but I do have some valid questions. Can anyone explain the history behind this.
After all, aren't "cowboys" by definition merely ranchers or ranch-hands? (Hence the "cow" in "cowboy.") Not that real cowboys aren't hard-working, diligent gents, but where does this come from. Plus, it seems to me that W (and Reagan) aren't acting like cowboys but like gunslingers or gunfighters from a John Wayne movie: the whole macho swagger, shoot-from-the-hip BS. Just to put this in context: my parents didn't grow up in the US, and I didn't like Westerns as a kid. I only recently got hooked onto Clint Eastwood's oevre, so I'm trying to figure out this cowboy thing.

[Missy M]

7. The cowboy as defined in American movies is......

tough, moral, ethical and gets the job done by himself. He always does the right thing in the end. He takes on whole gangs of the bad guys and always wins. He also wears a white cowboy hat (the bad guys wear black hats). Notice the two cowboys in the above photos have white hats. Of course, this image was created by Hollywood and is pure FICTION just as the two cowboys in the above photos.