I agree with The Rude Pundit 100% -- aside from his demonstrable lack of curiosity and intellectual rigor, probably the most annoying tics about George W. Bush are on a more personal, perceptual level, which he shares with us by what he says and how he says it.
His abusive one-upmanship of subordinates and media lackeys is inexcusable; I grew up busting balls with buddies on the street corner, and even I think it's bullshit. His gratingly palsy-walsy habit of calling other leaders by their first names, even as they stare through him and hew to protocol, is an embarrassment.
And as RP points out, his harping on people who have actually done something with their lives before they hit forty says a hell of a lot more about him than it does about them. It's not indicative of what a superb country this is that a thirty-eight-year-old reporter is covering a preznitential press conference; it is, however, indicative of what an indulgently forgiving country this is that this weird, useless man hasn't already been run out of town, with all his mommy and daddy issues and his pack o' shameless lies and fuck-ups in tow, to hole up at the tumbleweed farm for the duration.
I remember hearing back in 2000 how character mattered, and how we needed to have "the adults" back in charge. This is what we got -- a smartass, towel-snapping frat-boy who still thinks he's branding Deke pledges, whether they're Scotsman Gordon Brown (and Jesus H. Christ, is there a reason Bush is prancing around talking about Scotsmen like they're exotic zoo animals?) or some hapless reporter getting in the way of his funny. You got yer question, Baldy, now bow down and tell 'merka how glad you are to kiss my ass on-camera. Or something. It's unsettling to watch and to read, and it will be nice to eventually pull someone from a pool of non-galoots to clean up the place.
Because, as some would-be village poobah once said, it's not his place.
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