January 23, 2004

THE ORDINARY HULK

Mark Steyn on Squeaky Dean:

Then he made a monster-type noise — ‘EEEAAARRGHRRR!!!!!!!’ — such as the Hulk makes when he picks up a tank, rips off its turret, and tosses what’s left over a distant mountain range. But the berserker howl was pitched somewhere in Charlotte Church’s upper register and it was hard not to notice that he hadn’t exploded into a big green monster. If anything, he seemed to be shrinking.

Read the whole, hilarious piece. Dean is now attempting damage control:

"The context was 3,500 kids waving American flags who'd worked their hearts out for us for three weeks, and I really felt I owed them an uplifting speech, so, I don't know what it looked like on television," he said in the interviews. "But I understand the audience wasn't shown, which is really too bad because it was really a terrific rallying cry."

Yes. For the Republicans. Speaking of whom, George W. Bush turned up yesterday in Roswell, New Mexico, to order ribs at the Nuthin’ Fancy restaurant and mock reporters:

You've got plenty of money in your pocket, and when you spend it, it drives the economy forward. So what would you like to eat?

Posted by Tim Blair at January 23, 2004 11:16 AM
Comments

I seriously think that if Howard Dean was president on 9/11, he would have flattened Saudi Arabia. HULK smash!!

Posted by: rainier at January 23, 2004 at 11:33 AM

President Bush:

"Put some of your high-priced money right here to try to help the local economy"

"High-priced money"? You mean they paid more than face value?

Posted by: Mork at January 23, 2004 at 11:36 AM

Do you think he feels his humiliation? Or is he in such a bubble of support that he doesn't notice? Will it hit him later?

Posted by: Anne Cunningham at January 23, 2004 at 11:57 AM

"......Bush turned up yesterday in Roswell, New Mexico, to order ribs at the Nuthin’ Fancy restaurant..."

Actually, he spoke in Mesa, AZ then later turned up at the TeePee Restaurant in Phoenix where he hung out with a few old sports celebs like Joe Garagiola (and they probably did give the reporters a hard time). I got caught in the traffic tie up caused by his motorcade shutting down I-10 on my way home from work. I'm not complaining though. I'll put up with a little inconvenience for GWB. I just wish I'd been able to hear him speak in person.

Posted by: Jonathan at January 23, 2004 at 12:12 PM

Mmmmmmmm - Ribs, cornbread, and buttermilk pie (you can keep the fried okra). What a great meal!

Posted by: Polly at January 23, 2004 at 12:35 PM

Read the last bit. Bush called the reporters a bunch of cheap bastids....

I can't wait to vote for him.

Posted by: Carl in N.H. at January 23, 2004 at 12:35 PM

Howard is trying to recast his tantrum as his "I Have A Scream" speech.

Posted by: Frank at January 23, 2004 at 12:45 PM

Props to GWB for eating real food! Ribs. Messy, barbequed ribs. Not that tasteless vegetarian shit that The Hulk and his followers eat.

And I love the way he tells the reporters to "fuck off".

"You've got plenty of money in your pocket, and when you spend it, it drives the economy forward. So what would you like to eat?"

Awesome. All this talk about ribs has made me hungry. Time to go fill up on some economy boosting barbeque. :)

Posted by: Oktober at January 23, 2004 at 12:50 PM

It's all about LUNCH!

Posted by: tim at January 23, 2004 at 01:18 PM

Bush Lied! No bar be que sauce for OIL!! What this isn't Indymedia? My bad.

Posted by: hen at January 23, 2004 at 02:04 PM

Crikey! There's a website with over a dozen Dean remixes!

Posted by: EvilPundit at January 23, 2004 at 02:23 PM

Bush Lied, Some Cows Died

Posted by: Quentin George at January 23, 2004 at 03:46 PM

Bush lied & Cows died
Okra, fried, Sauce on the side

Posted by: Carl H. at January 23, 2004 at 05:17 PM

Living in a state that abuts NH (Massachusetts), I always love to read about Steyn's take on things. No offense to my NH neighbors, but they can be very weird and unpredictable.

Looking forward to seeing who the NH folks vote for. (If there were a picture in the dictionary of independent in a stubborn way ... it would show the folks of NH.)

Folks I work with who live in NH were NOT impressed by Dean's "wild man" performance.

Posted by: Chris Josephson at January 23, 2004 at 06:49 PM

Cows? real ribs come from PIGS. Dont argue with me i am Serbian.

Posted by: Drago Milovechek at January 23, 2004 at 07:03 PM

The serb is right. True BBQ ribs, Texas style, should be pork ribs. Mmmmm, Pokey Joe's in Austin. It's 8 in the morning and my mouth is watering for pork ribs.

Posted by: Matt at January 23, 2004 at 11:24 PM

Edward Zabala, the employee of the restaurant who took the president's money, said he paid $39.30.

Zabala said the bill should have been $42.95 but he charged the president less because he was "caught up in the moment."

Hail to the thief indeed...
/sarcasm

Posted by: madne0 at January 23, 2004 at 11:51 PM

I love Roswell. Nice quiet little place, only part of it festooned with alien greys.

Damn. All this lunch talk has got me wishing someone would ask me the New Mexico State Question.

Posted by: Bruce at January 24, 2004 at 12:35 AM

Dean was on David Letterman last night, trying to act like a regular guy by poking fun at himself. I suppose that was a better strategy than accusing the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy and all those conservative media outlets of staging his
meltdown to discredit him.

Posted by: AK at January 24, 2004 at 03:06 AM

Paul Krugman: Those ribs are made of plastic! The president LIED!!!

Posted by: HTY at January 24, 2004 at 04:08 AM

Okay, Bruce, what is the New Mexico State Question? :-)

Posted by: Mary in LA at January 24, 2004 at 04:45 AM

Edward Zabala, the employee of the restaurant who took the president's money, said he paid $39.30.

Zabala said the bill should have been $42.95 but he charged the president less because he was "caught up in the moment."

Hail to the thief indeed...
/sarcasm

No, Bush didn't pay the three dollars he wasn't asked for! How can I live?

Bush lied, Zabala cried, Brett Lee bowled it wide

Posted by: Quentin George at January 24, 2004 at 06:48 AM

Red or Green?

Posted by: Doyle at January 24, 2004 at 07:28 AM

Definitely "Red or Green?".

Posted by: LabRat at January 24, 2004 at 08:21 AM

Mmmmmmmmm ! Fried Okra. Okra any other way is just slimy.

Posted by: Alien Grey's for Hailburton at January 24, 2004 at 11:58 AM

By the way, the correct answer is "green."

Posted by: Bruce at January 24, 2004 at 02:42 PM

As an avid reader of Mark Steyn I would have to say that is his best piece for some time. It had me holding my sides chuckling.

But reading the comments turned out to be dangerous to my health as I almost collapsed in paroxysms of laughter when I read Frank's comment above - "I have a scream". Beautiful work Frank.

Posted by: Michael Gill at January 24, 2004 at 02:56 PM

That Steyn piece was nuthin' but pure, unadulterated literary genius. I almost shat myself reading it.

Read his responses to some of the emails he gets on his letters page. Out-mothafuckin'-standing!

Posted by: vlad at January 25, 2004 at 08:47 AM