{"article":{"id":8733,"heading":"A True Story From A Friend About Our President","author":"\"Bill Hangley, Jr.\"","created":"2001-07-20 12:20:53","modified":"2001-07-20 18:10:08","last_modified":"Sat, 21 Jul 2001 01:10:08","article":"<p>So when the President was here on July 4, I  had the opportunity to shake <br>  <br> his hand.  I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not but I did it <br>  <br> anyway, and said to him, \"Mr. President, I hope you only serve four <br>  <br> years.  I'm very disappointed in your work so far.\" <br><br> He kept smiling and shaking my hand but answered, \"Who cares what you <br>  <br> think?\"  His face stayed photo-op perfect but his eyes gave me a look <br>  <br> that said, if we'd been drinking in some frat house in Texas, he'd of <br>  <br> happily answered, \"Let's take it outside.\"  A nasty little gleam.  But he <br>  <br> was (fortunately) constrained by Presidential propriety. <br><br> But that was the end of it, until I turned away and started scribbling <br>  <br> the quote down in my notepad, so as to remember \"The Gift\" forever. When <br>  <br> he saw me do that he got excited and craned his neck over the <br>  <br> rubberneckers to shout at me, \"Who are you with? Who are you with?\" <br>  <br> People started looking, so he made a joke: \"Make sure you get it right.\" <br>  <br> But he kept at it:  \"Who do you write for?\"  I told him I wasn't \"with\" <br>  <br> anybody and pointed to one of his staff  people, who knows me a little, <br>  <br> and said, \"Ask him, he'll tell you.\"  Then I split. <br><br> Half an hour later, my boss (who had helped organize the event we were <br>  <br> at) came up to me and said, \"Did you really tell the President that he <br>  <br> was doing a 'lousy f*cking job'?\"  \"No way,\" I said.  \"I was very polite, <br>  <br> I just told him what I thought.\"  Fortunately, he believed me.  He wasn't <br>  <br> happy with me, but he believed me. <br><br> But anyway, if you ever wondered if the Prez really is kind of a jerk, <br>  <br> I'm here to tell you, he is, and I got \"The Gift\" to prove it.  I'm <br>  <br> thinking of <br>  <br> making up T-shirts so we can share \"The Gift\" with everyone: <br><br> \"Who cares what you think?\"  --President George W. Bush, July 4, 2001 <br><br> --bh <br>  <br> --  <br>  <br> \"Those who lead the country into the abyss <br>  <br>     Call ruling too difficult <br>  <br>     For ordinary men.\"..........Bertolt Brecht<\/p>\n","contact":"billhang@email.msn.com","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"So when the President was here on July 4, I  had the opportunity to shake\r\nhis hand.  I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not but I did it\r\nanyway, and said to him, \"Mr. President, I hope you only serve four\r\nyears.  I'm very disappointed in your work so far.\"","numcomment":1,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2001\/07\/8733.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":8738,"heading":"The People's Tribunnal will have their say","article":"When the Criminal Investigation brings criminal fraud and conspiracy against shrub, there will be certain someone at the proceeding who will ask the Nazi: 'Who cares what you think?' as befitting the central character who overthrew the US government in the 2000 'selection'.","author":"Impeach ment","parent_id":8733,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-07-20 18:10:08","modified":"2001-07-20 18:39:30","fileurl":""}]}