The Albanian Idol of the BananaRepublic

His latest moniker on the front page of The New York Times print edition did not make the paper's Web site, except here, where the text type is so small it's unreadable. So I offer it now as a public service: "American President, Albanian Idol." It's the caption head on the photo -- above the fold, no less.

Did the news editors of The Times believe the implied satirical content needed to be eliminated for the Web? I didn't ask. Maybe the newly installed public editor will.

But at least the following exchange in the story itself -- a great snapshot by Sheryl Gay Stolberg -- was allowed to stand:

On Saturday in Rome, the president agreed that there should be a deadline to end the United Nations talks [about independence for Kosovo], saying: "In terms of a deadline, there needs to be one. It needs to happen."

But on Sunday, Mr. Bush tried to backtrack when asked when that deadline might be. "First of all, I don't think I called for a deadline," Mr. Bush said, during a press appearance with [Albanian Prime Minister] Berisha in the courtyard of a government ministry building. He was reminded that he had.

"I did?" he asked, sounding surprised. "What exactly did I say? I said deadline? O.K., yes, then I meant what I said." The reporters laughed.

He's so laughable it tempts me to change my term for him from the President With His Head Up His Ass to, yes, the BananaRepublic's "Albanian Idol."

Postscript: A friend writes: "For folks w/ a long history of being fucked over, wot a superb cherce!"

PPS: Stolberg is on the case again today (Tuesday, June 12). She quotes another of the idol's brilliant remarks: "We're proud to stand with you in NATO," he told Bulgaria's president. "These are big achievements for this country, and the people of Bulgaria ought to be proud of the achievements that they have achieved."

June 11, 2007 8:39 AM |

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Me Elsewhere

'WILD SIDE' STILL ROCKS 

Nelson Algren was one of the great American authors of the 20th century, it is no exaggeration to say, and among the most neglected. Consider his underrated classic, "A Walk on the Wild Side." The title -- popularized and co-opted as an idiomatic phrase by Hollywood and Madison Avenue (institutions Algren loathed) -- is familiar to most anyone who speaks English or knows Lou Reed's lyrics. But the novel itself? Hardly.

BUSTER KEATON REVISITED 
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THE STARS ACCORDING TO BOGDANOVICH 
Peter Bogdanovich's superb collection of movie-star profiles and interviews -- a sequel to Who the Devil Made It, his interviews of top film directors -- begins with an affectionate tale about Orson Welles that reminds us just how intimate the author's connection to Hollywood's greatest has been. But contrary to what we've come to expect from dime-a-dozen celebrities and celebrity interviews not worth two cents, the tale avoids bromidic egotism and journalistic platitudes.
HERMAN WOUK'S LATEST 
It's hard to say which comes off worse in Herman Wouk's latest novel, his first in a decade: the U.S. Congress or the American press. "A Hole in Texas" offers the choice between two emblematic stereotypes: a red-faced opportunist who heads the House Armed Services Committee and a mustachioed investigative reporter for the Washington Post.
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This page contains a single entry by Straight Up | published on June 11, 2007 8:39 AM.

Where Have All the Coffins Gone? was the previous entry in this blog.

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