Close encounters of the Bush kind

I was telling someone the other day that I don't hate George Bush. I didn't hate him in 2000 and I don't hate him now.

Perhaps worse than hate, I pity him. I see him as a fool. I believe that everything he did in his eight, horrible years as president was orchestrated by Dick Cheney and those around Dick Cheney. I'm certain George was stupid enough to think he was in charge, that he was POTUS and master and commander of all he ruled over. He was not. Thus, the pity.

In the early Eighties, I'm pretty sure I 'met' George Bush. I was a bartender at The Petroleum Club of New Orleans. One night, a Club member came in late with a couple of gentlemen. It was Mr. Killian. I knew it would be a much later night than I had figured on.

The Club was a unique bartending experience for me. It was a private club which really was only open for lunch and Club related banquets in the evening. A regular bunch of members played gin in a private room in the evenings and often deep into the next morning. I wasn't allowed to kick them out- no closing time- but, since they didn't really drink a whole lot, we did arrange to let them serve themselves on the honor system so myself and the manager could get on with our lives after ten pm. But, if there were members in the bar area, we had to stay until they were done.

Killian was one of those drunks that always asked for 'just one more'. After a bartender hears that from a guy, he knows knows that 'just one more' is code for, "I'm a drunk! I'll never leave! But, I want you to think I will!" Usually those types are trouble. They want to see how far they can push you. In later venues, seeing trouble on the rise and hearing those promissory words I'd take the wind out of a guys sails by cutting him off. Stunned, they generally turned to begging, pleading for just one more- like they really, really meant it this time...just one more...

When the cocaine came out, I knew it would be a long night. As I approached with just one more round of drinks, I noticed the lines on the table. Killian's guest, looked at me as if to say, "Duh". If he spoke to me, I don't recall. I'll just never forget that stupid, 'what-me-worry' look on his face....I would see it again, later in life, many, many times when a certain president was explaining stuff to us like wars and finances and shit he had just been informed of and we were the dumbasses just now being told.

Honestly, I don't know that it was him. We were never introduced. His daddy was Vice President of The United States at the time but, that never came up. I was young an nowhere near as politically astute as I am now. He was just some anonymous friend of Killian's, drinking, snorting coke and keeping me from going out and doing my own partying. But, it fit. Private club for oilmen. Bush was an oilman. He was known to party...monkey look on face..the eighties....I don't know....

One of the truly great things about New Orleans is strip clubs and hookers. Those were my saving grace that night. The Club was a nice place to booze it up on a tab and maybe do a little blow with no one around but a young, bored bartender but, if you want to show a Texas oilman a good time, Bourbon Street is better choice. Sooner rather than later, they were gone.

A brush with fame? Maybe. I might have caught him at a bad time and, again, it might not have been him. But, with the way he 'ran' the country, did we all catch him at a bad time? Before he became president, George cleaned up his act and quit the booze and coke. Good for him. Can you imagine the mischief he could have gotten into in the White House if he was jacked up on coke and booze? Yikes.

Maybe I don't hate the guy because I might have seen him once being a regular guy. Lot's of people say he was the kind of president you could have a beer with. Well, if he hadn't fucked up and become an alcoholic, that is. He had that 'regular knucklehead' thing going for him.

That's why I don't hate the guy despite his war and financial  crimes. He's an idiot but never has been an in-control idiot. Mitt Rmoney is an in-control idiot. And an asshole. Win or lose, I hate that fucker. I wouldn't even serve that fuckin' prick a cup of coffee.

I think that life after the White House has forced Bush to look back on his two terms, with that deer in the headlights look from reading "My Pet Goat" after 9/11 and caused him to wonder what the hell happened as he sat, stunned, waiting to be told what to do. The defining moment of his presidency.

I'm sure Bush is glad he's out of the spotlight. Glad that, except for a mention by his brother, they do not speak of him at conventions they won't even invite him to. That might hurt a bit but, he must secretly be glad to be left alone. However, he's alone to ponder his eight years and how they affected an entire nation whether he knew it at the time or not. Who knows if he cares? He's not talking. Well, except for a speaking engagement in the Cayman's (where Rmoney keeps his loot) and he'll be addressing rich men whom he likely made richer...

Sheesh, maybe I should hate the sumbitch. Anyway, I'm way ahead on hating Rmoney!