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The UK Telegraph caused a stir this week, quoting a Mitt Romney advisor arguing that the Republican would improve American-British relations because of Romney's "Anglo-Saxon heritage." But the same article included another tidbit: two Romney advisors told the reporter the candidate would "reinstate the Churchill bust displayed in the Oval Office by George W. Bush."
At his London fundraiser with financiers last night, Romney brought this up, too.
As he pulled in checks from at least 250 attendees, Mr. Romney also inserted himself into British politics by saying he would return the bust of Winston Churchill to the White House. When President Barack Obama had it removed in 2009 it caused a minor kerfuffle in the U.K.
"It tugs at the heart strings to remember the kind of example" that Churchill set, Mr. Romney said, "and I'm looking forward to the bust of Winston Churchill being in the Oval Office again."
The Churchill bust has long been a strange point of interest to conservatives. President Obama, like all presidents, chose pieces to decorate the Oval Office after his inauguration. He selected busts of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., and returned the Churchill bust, which had been on loan from the U.K.
For the right, this is apparently proof of ... something nefarious. Glenn Beck started telling his followers a couple of years ago the bust swap is evidence of Obama seeking symbolic revenge for his Kenyan grandfather. Mike Huckabee start pushing a similar theory a year later.
Late last year, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), responding to far-right chatter, intervened, introducing a resolution asking for the bust to be moved to the U.S. Capitol.
What on earth are these people talking about? Well, it's an odd story, actually.
Simon Maloy set the record straight in a piece a year ago.
Let's talk about Winston Churchill.
Specifically, let's talk about a bust of Winston Churchill that, during the George W. Bush administration, sat in the Oval Office after it was lent to the former president by the British. At the end of Bush's second term (according to the White House curator) the bust was scheduled to be returned to the Brits, and now sits in the British ambassador's residence*. The British Embassy confirmed this, saying that it "was uniquely lent to a foreign head of state, President George W Bush." Obama put in its place a bust of Abraham Lincoln, and the Oval Office still boasts some prominent items of British manufacture, including the presidential desk (made from the timbers of the HMS Resolute) and a wooden pen holder that sits atop it (made from the timbers of the HMS Gannet).
Admittedly, this is all very boring.
Yes, but there's Mitt Romney, still talking about the strange side issue Republicans actually seem to care about.
Update: Wait, it turns out the Churchill bust didn't leave the White House after all. After Charles Krauthammer complained in his column this morning about the bust, Dan Pfeiffer posted a fact-checking item: "The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room."
So reports that Obama gave the Churchill bust back to British officials were mistaken; it was simply moved from one room in the White House to a different room in the White House. This has been the subject of three years of complaints from the right, including Romney yesterday and Krauthammer today.
Second Update: Apparently, according to ABC, there are two different Churchill busts. The one that was loaned to Bush was returned, as was expected. The other, a gift to the White House from the British Embassy during the Nixon administration, is still in the White House. Bottom line: the preoccupation about this by Krauthammer, Romney, Beck, Huckabee, and others is just silly.
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This is what really scares me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KrC2pFaaR70
I really liked that. Great summary. It would especially great if there was a version with nameplates user each name, since I didn't recognize some of the less public figures.
That's what I'd like to see in Democratic ads. People would wake up if they saw stuff like that. No end to the possibilities for economic policy, social policy, etc.
Best. Use. Of. Youtube. Ever.
I agree the best use of You Tube!
If Obama had kept the bust of Churchill in the Oval Office the Right would have complained about Obama having a statue of a "Foreign Leader" in the Oval Office. What a tempest in a tea pot!
Do the British even want to 'lend' it out again? And if they don't is Romney going to steal it?
smb1970 - Rmoney won't steal it. He'll acquire Britain in an LBO and then outsource it.
So, the GOP would prefer a statue of some (admittedly awesome) foreigner in a place of prominence in the oval office rather than a statute of the most awesome (and a republican) president in our entire history? Wow, who cares how the president decorates the oval office, really as long as he's getting the job done right.
Considering that Obama is obviously more concerned with the scourge of slavery, than facism, his choices seem appropriate. I'm guessing he doesn't have a bust of Mohamed only because that sort of image isn't allowed. Whew, dodged a bullet there.
It's all the Republicans have: drummed up, stupidly-manufactured lies and phony issues. The Republican/Romney campaign is simply down to unclever editing of Obama's statements. Nothing more, nothing less.
What else have they got?
It is the faux nooze outrage model . If you subject yourself to any viewing period it is easy to determine the Obama Outrage of the Day .
Spread across the days programming from Faux and Fiends in the am to O'reilly and Hannity at night , they will all touch on it dissecting it and using it to explain to us why Obama hates America.
This is why you cannot have a civil conversation with a regular Faux nooze viewer . This gets blasted into every brain cell over and over all day and night
It doesn't matter......
If Obama has done the reverse (replacing bust of Churchill in place of Abraham Lincoln) Shooter's comment will just be:
"Considering that Obama is obviously [in love with his European socialism and hates everything American], his choices seem appropriate. I'm guessing he doesn't have a bust of Mohamed only because that sort of image isn't allowed. Whew, dodged a bullet there."
Don't mention a troll's name. It gives them sexual pleasure.
lol...but creeeepy!
Shooter and the rest of the Fauxettes do not stop to ask the real question: What in hell was wrong with George W. Bush? Couldn't he find any worthy iconic Americans to place in the Oval Office? British Desk, Bust of British nobleman and Prime Minster; was the plan all along to hand the country back to the Crown and it was only derailed by 9/11? Look at the evidence! Decide for yourself!
Today's modern-day Republicans (the traitor descendants of the southern traitors Lincoln defeated) don't really recognize him anymore.
I've never been able to understand the GOP fascination with the Churchill bust. If it was on loan & scheduled to be returned when Bush left office, then where is the problem?
The problem is that, in Mitt Land -- in fact, in all of GOP World -- anything President Obama does is wrong.
So, if the President had not returned the bust, Mitt would have accused him of stealing it and then vowed to return it to the British people - i.e., his fellow Anglo-Saxons.
damskippy is exactly right:
As much as the Republican demonize the Chinese nowadays, they sure love to exercise their Chinese Acrobat Flip-Flop
Well I never understood their pride in Reagan and Nixon or their defense of Oliver North or their applause at the death of JFK.But I ain't a republican.
I'm sorry to repeat myself, but the greatest irony about Gov. Romney's attempt to keep the bust story alive is the fact that his campaign book, No Apology, contains this statement: " [I]f England hadn't been separated from the continent by water, it almost certainly would have been lost to Hitler's ambitions."
In other words, Gov. Romney wrote that it was not Churchill, not the resolve of the British people, not the heroism of the RAF, but the English Channel that preserved Britain during the Second World War. His message to Winston Churchill is, "You didn't save that!"
My favourite thing about that No Apology quote is that, in the same paragraph, he says "England is an island". No, Mitt, GREAT BRITAIN is an island. Confusing England and Britain as being the same thing is pretty much How to Annoy British People 101.
Re: #5
I agree with the statement (has a ring to it):
I would like to add that the English Channel was "infrastructure" that was a crucial barrier blocking the German tanks. It was this barrier that gave the British an advantage and time to mount the defense and counter-offensive.
Here's the thing- to a man who treats his dog like furniture, makes himself rich by destroying other peoples' lives, contradicts himself three times daily about...well, everything... and claims a horse as a tax write-off- to such a man, Furniture Matters. Possibly more than anything else.
"two Romney advisors told the reporter the candidate would "reinstate the Churchill bust displayed in the Oval Office"
I guess two heads are better than one, and this way at least one of them has the faintest hope of entertaining a rational thought.
Willard is no Churchill. I think he has proved that from this foray abroad, starting on day one, and in the quoted statement from his novella.
It's a little more simple, Churchill was a Conservative. Dun dun daaaaan.
He was also a Liberal for awhile too. In fact it was as a Liberal he first came to political prominence.
Churchill was a REAL conservative, not the pale form of fascist that pretends to the title of conservative here in the States.
Rush Limbaugh's bust will be available when Mitt runs for mayor of Salt Lake City.
Or as the British prefer to call it, The Middle of Nowhere.
It's ok, they've got nothing but time on their hands after getting all that work done in the house and senate. (excuse the drips... that's sarcasm)
Where are the jobs?
The Boehner economy of 2012 is a scandal and is what the country gets with a GOTea House obstructing every attempt to solve the problems 30+ years of failed conservative ideas and policies have caused. Just like Boehner and McConnell wanted it. Republican obstruction at funding the public sector is costing 2 percentage points in employment. It's a scandal that's too huge to fathom in terms of human misery.
Boehner's obstruction => Boehner's economy and unemployment of 2012.
No doubt he was a great man and 'saved England', but he was only half American by birth. Oh dear,where are the birthers on this? The bust was on LOAN, not a GIFT, and should be returned. If you believe the stories he was also a heavy cigar smoker, made lots of secret deals with Stalin and was something of a nudist.
Oh, I forgot, he was also a cousin of that damn Democrat, FDR!
I find hard to fathom what the conservatives would be saying,this rubish,was comming from the left.
I am sure they'd be chastised as unpatriotic,and foreign for wanting a former colonial master bust in the white.
Yep. The press would need smelling salts.
Can't we keep Churchill's head and send them Romney's instead? Mittens isn't using it anyway.
I dunno Mitt. This seems awfully "foreign" to me. Very European. Oh wait...didn't you just a few weeks ago call out President Obama for appeasing the Europeans? Oh never mind. I can't keep up with your flip-flops. It's like trying to keep your eye on a ping pong ball during a game.
I just find it so ironic that. The Right Wing can condemn Pres. Obama. For returning something that didn't belong to us in the first place. And secondly. With Mitt on this whole "It's/He's Foreign" trip. One would think that arguing over a bust. Of an actual Foreign Leader. Would seem I don't know. Just a tad bit Ironic and well Stupid.
I just find it so ironic that. The Right Wing can condemn Pres. Obama. For returning something that didn't belong to us in the first place. And secondly. With Mitt on this whole "It's/He's Foreign" trip. One would think that arguing over a bust. Of an actual Foreign Leader. Would seem I don't know. Just a tad bit Ironic and well Stupid.
I think it is appropriate for the Oval Office to have prominent US citizen's figures or busts displayed. I doubt any other heads of state pay homage to foreign dignitaries in their presidential offices. I'm all for alliances and global partnering, however, we need to maintain a national identity that starts with our President. US citizens are looking to the President to make decisions that promote our cultural identity. We the People!
lets send mitts bust to england so they can use it as a paper weight.
Paper weights require ... substance ... to be effective.
Sorry that airhead is too lightweight!
The Churchill bust has long been a strange point of interest to conservatives. President Obama, like all presidents, chose pieces to decorate the Oval Office after his inauguration. He selected busts of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., and returned the Churchill bust,
there is the problem for the GOP.
The bust wouldn't be Mitt's to reinstate. As mentioned, it belongs to the British embassy and was specifically lent to Bush. And after Mitt's tour of England this week, it seems unlikely the Brits would be inclined to favor him with it.
I'm surprised they aren't asking to exchange the bust if Churchill for one of Queen Victoria. After all Outsourcing is the new colonialism.
What "Everyone" here seems to forget, is, "This is America" and it follows that any "Other" reference to or "Not" American symbols should not be granted any special favoritism when it relates to being "Displayed" in what we refer to as "Our" White House" or "American" House.
Britain or any other country can have "Their" stuff displayed in another designated location along with all of the "History" (both good and bad) so everyone will know the real truth and make their own decision regarding that symbol or display(s).
When I read this article, referring to Romney, I felt that he was "Crawling" on his hands and knees begging to be accepted by "The British", as being, "One of them" so please like me. What a loser. We Americans don't "Separate" into categories of who we are but what "WE All" stand for. I think there is still a long way to go when every "American" regardless what their origins, finally decide that they either are "Truly" American or are not, but instead are posing as one. r
More yadayadayada from Mitt. It beats talking about anything substantive, like jobs.
We must, we must, return the bust!
Until of course, our "legislative" antics eventually cause the country to go bust!
- John "12 Screwdrivers at 6:00 AM" Boner