Uh, oh, the PC (Politically Correct) Police — those who decry how plastic politicians are but leap all over them when they speak in everyday language — will be all over this one:
It wasn’t meant to be overheard. Private luncheon conversations among world leaders, picked up by a microphone, provided a rare window into both banter and substance — including President Bush cursing Hezbollah’s attacks against Israel.
Bush expressed his frustration with the United Nations and his disgust with the militant Islamic group and its backers in Syria as he talked to British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the closing lunch at the Group of Eight summit.
“See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s— and it’s over,” Bush told Blair as he chewed on a buttered roll.
He told Blair he felt like telling U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who visited the gathered leaders, to get on the phone with Syrian President Bashar Assad to “make something happen.” He suggested Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might visit the region soon.
The unscripted comments came during a photo opportunity at the lunch. The leaders clearly did not realize that a live microphone was picking up their discussion.
So the AP wouldn’t use the four-letter “s” word…but CNN’s story did:
An open microphone caught President Bush in an unguarded moment Monday as the escalating crisis in the Middle East prompted him to use an expletive in a conversation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Bush and Blair were unaware that an event at the Group of Eight summit was a photo opportunity, with media representatives present. Blair later turned off the microphone.
The president was expressing frustration at the United Nations’ stance on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon. (Watch Bush use the ‘s’ word during a chat with Blair — 1:31)
Apparently not expecting an open mike to pick up his remarks, Bush told Blair: “See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it’s over.”
Actually, although it isn’t nice diplomacy, it’s refreshing to see this because (a) it does cut out all of the buzzwords and niceties and (b) it is NOT any different from what Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or State Department bigwigs have said. Only they’ve said it for public consumption a bit more elegantly.
However, expect there to be some fuss stirred up on some fronts about the vividness of the language.
The news coverage isn’t exactly “tsk-tsk” but it’s indicative of the priorities of journalism in 21st-Century America: the STYLE trumps the SUBSTANCE. It’s a story a reporter could get in trouble for not covering. And if you’ve been in a newsroom, you know that “s” word is used once in a while (which no reporter would deny). But this will be a news-bite that’ll take up time from other factoids that could be reported about the high-stakes turmoil in the Middle East.
(Read our co-blogger Michael van der Galien’s post on this on his own blog HERE)
HERE ARE SOME OTHER VIEWS ON THIS STORY:
If I were crafting a parody of the political media’s decline, I could hardly construct a better set piece than today’s reportage. A live mic at the G8 Summit caught Tony Blair and George Bush talking privately about the conflict in Lebanon. Given the relative opacity of Bush’s thoughts on the situation, the frank discussion offered a fair amount of insight and a couple nuggets of news…
…This is your press corps. The President has a potty mouth is a more pressing story than the President believe sufficient pressure on the sovereign nation of Syria could be the key to ending an intensely volatile war in the Middle East. What a proud day for my profession.
–Crooks and Liars has THE VIDEO.
It’s hardly the first time, but I think the media is missing the point about today’s big political story. Right now, the lead political AP item is, “Bush utters expletive on Hezbollah attacks.” The top headline on CNN is, “Open mic catches Bush expletive on Mideast.” The Washington Post’s story mentions in its second sentence that a live microphone caught Bush “talking in tough, occasionally profane terms.”
….Indeed, Bush’s unplugged moment today included some of the most surprisingly newsworthy remarks from the president in a very long time. We got a glimpse into how the British Prime Minister is pressing Bush on the Middle East. We heard a little about how the president would like to see the crisis resolved. We learned that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might be traveling to the region, presumably to apply diplomatic pressure and invest the U.S. in the crisis. And for those interested in Bush’s persona, we learned that Bush is perhaps even more unsophisticated and clumsy in private than his fiercest critics had feared.
—The Democratic Daily points to some of the other remarks caught by the microphone as well:
Bush even went so far as to complain that some of the speakers at the meeting had the tendency to be long-winded, showing his utter distaste for the job engaging with other world leaders and his true sense of priorities…
…The full transcript is available at Sky News. It certainly has been an eventful little excursion into foreign policy for our fearless leader — too bad he spent so much time showing the world what a putz he is.
Of all the cockamamie stories for the Big Media to focus on, this is about the last one I would have picked…Please. The Middle East is going to hell in a handbasket. The chances of escalation to include Syria and Iran, which would drag the United States into the mix as Iran attempts to cross Iraq, are pretty good. Hezbollah will not give in, the Lebanese government is too weak (which is not meant as a slur, just as an observation), and Israel has had enough. But “Bush, Blair: Candid, open, uncensored” is apprently THE story. It might be for the Democratic Underground, but, not for the real news.
—Jeanette’s Space: “The only thing I like about President Bush is how sometimes he just says things and is oblivious to who is listening. Like a year or so ago when he and Cheney were somewhere and he called a guy an a hole not realizing his mic was still on. Well, he has done it again LOL…”
—Freakgirl: “Politicians! They’re just like us! They curse! They complain! They say weird things when they think nobody’s listening!”
I don’t know about you, but the last thing we need is George W. Bush speaking extemporaneously. With the Middle East in flames, Bush needs to be put on script, especially since he’s sure it’s Syria to blame for everything. The man has no imagination. He also, evidently, can’t see the Israeli’s through his presidential myopia.
Contrary to what some might say, it’s not just his unscripted moments…that are revealing. It’s that they reveal such a shallow thinker. I still can’t fathom why President Bush doesn’t believe Hezbollah is capable of all this mischief on their own. That’s especially true when they have a gullible partner in Israel.
—Sister Toldjah: “Hopefully the statements he made to Tony Blair that I quoted will provide some reassurances to those who believe he’s looked too ‘middle of the road’ on this issue.”
Since Israel is just being provoked and has no ambitions of its own, in this reading, it is useless to begin with a ceasefire. That treats the two sides as both provoking one another. Here, only Hizbullah matters, so you lean on Syria to lean on it, and, presto, peace breaks out. It is a little window into the superficial, one-sided mind of the man, who has for six years been way out of his depth. I come away from it shaken and trembling.
It seems that the President of the United States needs a visit from Emily Post. While munching on a roll, George Bush had a conversation with Tony Blair about Hizbollah cutting out their “shit.” So much for that born-again veneer…this deciderating and Presidenting is hard work. (And the fact that the curtain gets lifted from the “moral majority” act for public consumption is just a side bonus, I suppose, since neither Bush nor Blair knew the microphone was on. And we continue now in the “do as I say, not as I do” Administration…)
Don’t be so quick to think that Bush didn’t know exactly what he was doing. You see, diplomatically he would have never made that comment in front of the press corp. Yet this is a man who says what he believes. It’s obvious he wants Syria to get it together and control Hezbollah. Perhaps this microphone malfunction wasn’t really a ‘slip’ at all?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.