Bush mistakenly compares himself to a horse bandit.

[kpete]

Bush mistakenly compares himself to a horse bandit. As Texas governor, President Bush admired a 1916 painting by W.H.D. Koehner hanging in his office. In 1995, Bush wrote a memo to his Texas staff describing the artwork:



The painting is based upon the Charles Wesley hymn “A Charge to Keep I Have”. I am particularly impressed by the second verse of this hymn. The second verse goes like this: “To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill; O may it all my powers engage to do my Master’s will.” <…>

When you come into my office, please take a look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us.

But in his new book, The Bush Tragedy, Jacob Weisberg explains that the painting has nothing to do with the hymn and “circuit-riders who spread Methodism across the Alleghenies in the nineteenth century.” It actually depicts a horse bandit:

The artist, W.H.D. Koerner, executed it to illustrate a Western short story entitled “The Slipper Tongue,” published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1916. The story is about a smooth-talking horse thief who is caught, and then escapes a lynch mob in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. The illustration depicts the thief fleeing his captors.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/25/bush-compares-himself-to-a-horse-bandit/

[villager]

1. Mistakenly?

Seems unusually forthcoming for Li'l Bush, actually...

[sakabatou]

2. Or maybe he was being correct....

[LiberalFighter]

3. He chose the right painting and story!! No doubt about it.

[bdamomma]

4. isn't george afraid to get on horses, so if he tried to run up that hill

he would be caught.

[niyad]

5. you mean he finally got something right?

[Supersedeas]

6. another example of Dimson not doing his homework!!

[Fresh_Start]

7. horse bandit running away from lynching sounds

like he's modeled himself on the painting

[rasputin1952]

8. I don't know where in NE the artist got his notion from...

but that doesn't look like the Sand Hills to me!...:D

Anyway....somehow the truth behind the picture far outweighs what bush thought it was about, and I cannot fathom bush having a "poetic soul" or the intellectual depth to even contemplate such things.

[Bluestar]

9. How about a horse's ass?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Poor horse. Trying to run with Joe Lieberman's face between it's cheeks.

[ixion]

10. since bush is afraid of horses, he'll have to find another way to flee to paraguay

when the time comes.

[malaise]

11. I think his lecturers gave him extra grades

He is a genuine D student. This is perfect - does he check anything?

The horse thief who is afraid of horses- Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

[DCKit]

12. Fleeing, but did he ultimately get away????

If Dumbya is only going to get ONE thing right in his entire life....

[momster]

14. He Believed It To Be True

so it is true. Once you get that, you've come to understand GWB. I don't know if he was scared by the Tooth Fairy as a kid or if they told him about Santa too soon, but "I do believe, I do believe" has been his mantra for years. He could persuade himself of anything...the sagebrush is cotton candy, Cheney's the best guy for VP, Saddam had WMDs. That's why he spends all that time 'clearing brush' at his ranch...but they don't take the pictures of him eating it with every sign of enjoyment!

[Beausoleil]

15. Bandit? That's what I thought

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=770385#771449

'It's a group of bandits after they ripped off the stage and are high-tailing it for Paraguay. The one in front had his hat blasted off his head while making his escape. He's obviously the decider of the group. His saddlebags are just bristling with loot. The colors are muted because they are making their getaway in the dark of night. The one bringing up the rear is called "Poppy". I think they winged him.'