One sunny day in January, 2009 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine looked at the man and said, “Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The old man said “Okay”, and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The man thanked him and again just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U.S. Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I’ve told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you understand?”

The old man looked at the Marine and said, “Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.”

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow, Sir.”

Via Bob Garlitz.

Sometimes the answer isn’t as interesting as the question. Consider this note from Yahoo Buzz:

On Sunday, the day before the nomination became official, [searches for] Alito sprang up a sudden 320%.

Did searches for Alito spike on tips White House staffers, or were White House Staffers vetting their nominee via the search engines?

tags: buzz, google, judge alito, nomination, nominee, samuel alito, search, search engines, spike, supreme court, supreme court nominee, web search, white house, white house staffers, yahoo, yahoo search

Don’t worry. I’m right on top of whatever happens in Pravda, the leading newspaper of the Russian Federation. Or, at least, I’m right on top of whatever they report in their English language version. The thing that had me choking on my onion and boursin cheese bagel this morning was the story headlined FBI arrests another spy in the White House, ‘prevents’ Philippine revolution. The whole Philippine thing is entertaining and laughable on its own, but further down in the story the reader will find so many layers of irony and amusement as to spray their breakfast cereal about the room.

Both the US and Russia have had their McCarthies, their purges, and spies, so a harkening back to McCarthyism might be chuckle-worthy. But then the author, Ivan Shmelev, drops the hammer. Here it is:

The CIA’s and FBI’s “success” in the struggle against spies can probably be interpreted as an attempt of the services to put a good face on things against the harsh criticism of unprofessional work in connection with the investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. More and more reports about the background of the horrendous attacks surface in the USA, casting doubts on the official version of the tragedy. One shall assume that American special services are trying to display vigilance looking for spies in the White House.

If nothing else, I like Pravda as a guage of how the rest of the world sees us. Their glasses don’t have the same rosy lenses favored by American media.

tags: america, american, boursin cheese, cia, espionage, fbi, fbi arrests, mccarthyism, philippine revolution, politics, pravda, russia, spies, spy, terrorist attacks, usa, white house

Two items from the blogosphere about Rove’s Leak-and-Covergate at Tikun Olam and AlterNet.

tags: alternet, bush, coverup, george bush, george w bush, karl rove, rove, tikun olam, w, white house

First Lady Laura Bush speaking at the White House Correspondents Association gala noted:

George’s answer to any problem at the ranch is to cut it down with a chain saw. Which, I think, is why he and Cheney and Rumsfeld get along so well.

The quote is all over the net now, but I found it in the August issue of Vanity Fair.

tags: chain saw, cheny, cut it down, dick cheney, donald rumsfeld, first lady, george, george bush, george w bush, laura bush, president, problem management, rumsfeld, vanity fair, w, white house, white house correspondents association