Where'd Aunty's Bush gaffes go?

The time was where barely a month went past without a Bush gaffe heavily publicised on the BBC. Those however were the heady days when media 'giants' like the Guardian thought they could influence the US general election by writing condescending messages of 'we know best, rebels', recommending the Boston Brahmin to the benighted untouchables of Clark county.

This week there have been two Bush 'gaffes' and it seems there's not much enthusiasm for them at the BBC anymore. Yes they covered the so-called gaffe of Bush's accidentally recorded conversation with Tony Blair- the 'Yo, Blair... if if the Syrians would only tell Hezbullah to stop this shit' conversation- but somehow without the gusto of yore. They preferred to leave it to others. Then there's the latest, the Merkel big brother massage, which seems somehow off the radar at the moment.

I would say there's more to this than just being stung by their lack of ability to harm Bush in the past, the sense that really not every right-minded person agrees that Bush's so-called gaffes indicate a man out of his depth, a hick in power. I think it's that often Bush's gaffes show how straight he is, how actually focussed he is on the things that matter such that trivia and etiquette sometimes escape him [and actually I don't think he cares awfully when they do]. Surely no-one articulated better than Bush the common man's intuition about Syria's role with Hezbullah and the rocket attacks. This is not simplistic; rather it is so well grounded it tends, like historical facts, to lack nuance. No, no, it couldn't be: Bush's gaffes help Bush. The horror, the horror.

Then there is the Merkel massage, where the lady is very comically surprised. It's a lot more tasteful and friendly than Berlusconi's attempt to machismo is way to re-relection. In fact it's so much more natural it makes you think that Bush is a person capable of restoring some humanity to politics, as well as honour. The Beeb, having been too leaden to effectively lampoon him, are now too po-faced to entertain his energetic presence. Funny that. Heaven forbid his approval ratings rise again like the phoenix.

Speaking of returning honour and humanity to politics, here's what Jacques Chirac's been up to recently- along with Vilepin that is, a fetching Muttley to Chirac's Dick Dastardly. Get that pigeon!

Update: Blame Bush investigates French initiative.