NBC correspondent to Bush: Become a diplomat

[babylonsister]

Bravo to Richard Engel for having the cojones to say this to the dim one; it apparently went right over his head.


NBC correspondent to Bush: Become a diplomat
Posted June 7, 2008 9:40 AM
The Swamp

by Aamer Madhani


One of the most interesting anecdotes in NBC Iraq correspondent Richard Engel's new book didn't take place on the streets of Baghdad but in the Oval Office.

In February 2007, weeks after President Bush announced his plans for the troop buildup in Iraq, Engel, one of the longest serving Western correspondents in Iraq, received an out-of-the-blue invitation to sit down with President Bush, Engel writes in the recently published "War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq."

snip//

But perhaps Engel's most striking comment to Bush was some brash advice.

"Sir, you need to become a diplomat," Engel recalls he told Bush. "Since you have been in office, you have focused on war. I think now you need to have a peace process and put the region back together. You have been a war president. You need to become a diplomat."

Engel's meeting with Bush is particularly interesting considering some of the harsh criticism the network's news division has endured recently from the GOP.

Last month, the White House accused NBC News of selectively editing an interview of Bush by Engel that was conducted during the president's recent trip to the Middle East. The White House also seems to be irked by some of the more liberal commentators on the NBC-affiliated cable news channel MSNBC.

more...

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/06/nbc_correspondent_to_bush_beco.html

[izquierdista]

1. What is he smoking?

Bush would be more convincing in a tutu dancing Swan Lake than he would be as a diplomat. At least ballerinas keep their mouths shut while they work.

[babylonsister]

4. Now there's a vision.

:crazy:

[Vidar]

9. Aww, come on, Garrett Morris' hilarious "tutued" rendition has already

ruined Swan Lake sufficiently for me.

[annabanana]

2. Was this the interview when Engel said that things weren't

going so well in Iraq and B*sh responded that they were.. "according to the Iraqis I spoke to"

[babylonsister]

3. No. That was from this year, I think. This interview was from 2007. nt

[tomreedtoon]

5. Do practicing Muslims want to have a beer with Bush?

As I recall, they consider alcohol consumption a sin. I'm imagining him bringing a case of cold Buds into a mosque.

[NC_Nurse]

6. Sadly not possible.

The man is a war monger - not a diplomat. He has NO empathy, no tact, no sensitivity.

[hisownpetard]

7. The only reason Bush would want to become a diplomat is to get diplomatic immunity

and not have to pay his parking tickets.

[Canuckistanian]

8. There would be mass riots in whatever country he went to

Unless it was in Myanmar or Uzbekistan or China.