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I regret the photo. Or at least the fact that I had to see it.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Gunther on April 26, 2005 12:04 PM

Why should this photo suprise anyone? The Bush family has been in bed with the Saudis since the beginning of time. Check your history on the Bush family.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Nellie on April 26, 2005 12:17 PM

Jeff, Will Bush regret this photo because it shows him cozying up to a Saudi Prince? Or is it because you believe people will make hay over Bush holding another mans hand? I assure you Bush is man enough to be seen in this genuinely warm pose, which shows to me friendship and understanding. TONYwinam of nelly furtado Posted by: tonynoboloney on April 26, 2005 12:19 PM

Tony, you took the words right out of my mouth. winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Dan on April 26, 2005 12:34 PM

Jeff My reaction exactly...winam of nelly furtado

and reminds me of the old song "Tiptoe Thru The Tulips"winam of nelly furtado Posted by: JEH on April 26, 2005 12:58 PM

I see no problem with him holding hands with an Arab given that's their form of expressing friendship (man, imagine being so sexually insecure as to get upset about this - Sean Hannity where are you?).
I just wish he wouldn't coddle this corrupt treacherous Saudi royal family. winam of nelly furtado Posted by: franky on April 26, 2005 01:02 PM

yeah I didn't even notice the hand holding at first. I see the body language, and Bush likes body language. Bush is comfortable with this man. It would be interesting to compare to prewar pictures. We are now in control of large oil fields. Does Bush feel he is now a Saud equal? It pretty obvious there is no human rights friction here. From looking at this picture do we think Bush will chastise this man for human rights abuses or chuckle politely with him over oil futures while tossing back a few crumpets.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: tb on April 26, 2005 01:36 PM

tb, exactly. And it speaks volumes to how hopeless the Democrats are that they haven't succeeded in making hay of Bush's coddling of the House of Saud, and the threat it poses to this nation's security, never mind the moral dimension.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Eric on April 26, 2005 01:42 PM

Jay Leno already did a piece where he put the video of them to music. That was last night. Tonight he has Laura Bush on.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: AlphaPatriot on April 26, 2005 01:43 PM

wow...nine comments, and no one has mentioned Bush's "mandate" yet?winam of nelly furtado Posted by: paul_lukasiak on April 26, 2005 02:17 PM

Yeah, right, like no other administration ever coddled the Saudis. Sure.winam of nelly furtado

Did any of you notice the caption that went with the photo?
"World oil prices fell following comments from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia that it could increase output in the face of higher global demand."winam of nelly furtado

I call that effective diplomacy.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Yehudit on April 26, 2005 02:30 PM

Plenty of administrations have coddled the Saudis. But only Bush's administration saw 9/11 - mostly the product of Saudi ideology, Saudi money, and Saudi terrorists - happen on its time. I don't blame Bush in particular for 9/11 (Republicans and Democrats alike were asleep at the switch), but he does have a responsibility to face up to the root causes that made it happen. And the primary root cause is a totalitarian ideology born in, and being propogated from (through oil dollars), the sands of Arabia.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Eric on April 26, 2005 03:05 PM

I yearn for the day when a President meets with a Saudi leader to talk about "issues" they actually talk about human rights instead of oil.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Gregg on April 26, 2005 03:23 PM

Yeah, right, like no other administration ever coddled the Saudis. Sure.winam of nelly furtado

That ain't the point. Bush has staked his foreign policy legacy on "spreading freedom" and "ending tyranny." Making nice and holding hands with the Saudis, who have one of the most oppressive and brutal regimes in the world, undermines his credibility.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Brad R. on April 26, 2005 03:42 PM

It ran on the front page (@ bottom) of today's L.A. Times. Double-take-worthy, and I wondered at the contrast between that and, say, the Cuban American in the national guard who said "USA trusted me in Iraq, but won't trust me to let me go to Cuba to visit my children." Not that there's a direct connection between the two, but both were part of today's paper and they make quite the juxtoposition.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Susan Kitchens on April 26, 2005 03:48 PM

You're absolutely right, Jeff. He has no chance in 2008 now.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Laurence Simon on April 26, 2005 03:58 PM

Bush is going to regret this photo.winam of nelly furtado

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hand-holding is an Arab expression of friendship, respect and trust. winam of nelly furtado

Do you mean Bush is going to regret showing this much "respect and trust" in Prince Abdullah, or that he will regret holding another man's hand?winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Michael Zimmer on April 26, 2005 04:49 PM

What it comes down to, as I mentioned over at Oliver Willis' site, where it's being suggested that Bush simply tell the Saudis to "screw themselves" is that, like it or no, the United States has an energy problem that will not be solved by demanding instantaneous, magical "alternatives" be invented overnight.winam of nelly furtado

Like it or no, the price of gas in the United States has been skyrocketing, of late.winam of nelly furtado

Like it or no, the House of Saud happens to sit right on top of a vast amount of oil.winam of nelly furtado

So, like it or no, all of this puffery about telling the Saudis off is short-sighted and foolish. winam of nelly furtado

We need energy alternatives, but they can't be conjured out of thin air. So in the meantime, we simply cannot afford to destroy our relations with Saudi Arabia. Maybe in a decade or two. But not now.winam of nelly furtado

It's a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Vincent on April 26, 2005 05:26 PM

I don't care that Bush holds another man's hand. I frankly don't even care if he dresses up in a pink tutu and dances to "Swan Lake" on the south lawn.winam of nelly furtado

But I do care about what he does in regard to his job. I do care about his multitude of failed policies. I do care about his failed "War on Terrorism". This afternoon, it's been reported that the number of significant terrors attacks in 2004 have increased from 165 in 2003, to 650 in 2004. Even if you removed 300 of the 650, which was concentrated in Kashmir, the rate has still more than doubled.winam of nelly furtado

So much for invading Iraq to combat wordwide terrorism. Every year since the invasion, the number of terrorist attacks has increased.winam of nelly furtado

And while we're at it, what went virtually unnoticed in the press last week, the results of much-touted local Saudi elections (in which women were not allowed to participate) were announced. Virtually all the races were won by hard-line Islamic fundamentalists. Just the folks that we want to wield more influence in S.A., right?winam of nelly furtado

I believe I'd been hearing from the neo-cons who had been pushing for "Democracy by Hook or by Crook" in the middle east reasoning that more democracy would foster more moderation. It sure ain't working out that way.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Linda Edwards on April 26, 2005 05:55 PM

A picture worth a thousand words. And here are four of them: Bush is a girlyman.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: SloppyDawg on April 26, 2005 06:09 PM

Linda,winam of nelly furtado

It seems that you've missed the most important part of the story of the supposedly tripled number of terror attacks: the greater resources being used to track numbers.winam of nelly furtado

It is not "the number of terror attacks" that has necessarily increased (although I'd guess that it probably has), but rather the number of terror attacks that have been counted and documented in the last year.winam of nelly furtado

It's completely disingenuous to claim that the number of actual attacks has tripled when, in fact, it's clear that we have very little reliable data from previous years upon which to base that claim.winam of nelly furtado

Sure, it's politically helpful to pull the actual story out of context and ignore what's actually being reported, but it's entirely dishonest.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Vincent on April 26, 2005 07:08 PM

I really don't see why President Bush should regret this photo at all.winam of nelly furtado

After all, his task in this instance was to make the case to the world's largest oil producer that the world economy requires greater oil production.winam of nelly furtado

It would seem that establishing a proper level of civility is appropriate to the circumstances.winam of nelly furtado

Shoot, I'm paying $50 a week just to get back and forth to my job. I'll hold the freakin' guys hand if he can do something about that.winam of nelly furtado

Oh, before all you whiners kick in, I'm 100% in favor of an Apollo type program to move us rapidly toward energy autonomy. winam of nelly furtado Posted by: John on April 26, 2005 07:35 PM

"And the primary root cause is a totalitarian ideology born in, and being propogated from (through oil dollars), the sands of Arabia."winam of nelly furtado

Indeed, the extreme fundamentalist Wahhabi sect partnered with the Saud dynasty in order for them both to attain power, a couple hundred years ago.winam of nelly furtado

I mean, hell, the Wahhabis even pissed off other Arabs. They went around destroying monuments at Muslim holy sites, knocking down buildings and mosques, leaving nothing but a minimal marker. They also interfered with the Hajj to Mecca at some points.winam of nelly furtado

So the Saud dynasty is largely responsible for protecting and endorsing and supporting and encouraging, over centuries, the kind of religious extremism that is now such a problem for us.
winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Jon H on April 26, 2005 09:18 PM

"Oh, before all you whiners kick in, I'm 100% in favor of an Apollo type program to move us rapidly toward energy autonomy."winam of nelly furtado

Unfortunately, Bush has shown support only for programs that would not help. Hydrogen wouldn't help, because the hydrogen would likely come from oil, anyway. And even if it did, it's years away.winam of nelly furtado

One thing that'd help would be if Congress dictated that all cars sold in the US, by 2010, should be available with a hybrid option, with 'hybrid' being defined in such a way as to make it meaningful. (Otherwise, on many models, car makers would just stick on a solar-powered battery to run the A/C fans and the radio.)winam of nelly furtado

That'd help bring down the price for hybrid technology. And if we ever do switch to hydgrogen, it'd make sense for all those cars to be hybrids, to decrease the need for hydrogen, and thus the use of fossil fuels. (And if hydrogen-equipped stations are few and far between, it would be useful to have technology that lets you get more miles between fill-ups.)
winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Jon H on April 26, 2005 09:23 PM

Vincent - yeah, they used to have 7 analysts, now they have 10. That is supposed to have made all the difference in the world. Phony!!winam of nelly furtado

Funny, but that wasn't the main point of the article. That was only the spin that some White House Administrators were putting on itwinam of nelly furtado Posted by: Linda Edwards on April 26, 2005 10:04 PM

Not as much as Arnold and Rudy will regret these photos...winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Jon on April 26, 2005 10:34 PM

Jeff - I'm hoping you'll join this conversation because I'm curious as to why you think this photo is regrettable.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Michael Zimmer on April 26, 2005 11:17 PM

Only as a liberal can you get away with this, Jeff. Were you a conservative, they would call it "closet homophobia." winam of nelly furtado Posted by: David R. Block on April 26, 2005 11:19 PM

Looks downright fruity to me. Yeccccch Bush holding hands with a mustached woman.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Kat on April 26, 2005 11:20 PM

The photo is just that. So he gives comfort to a old man. Those who are biased need to helped. The unbiased, make a differnece. Freedom is leaving AMERICA. Just like NTIA is taking .us domains away from you. So why pick on a picture? Let us have a real discussion about why we allow such usurption of govenment towards the common and take a picture of that and see how many of you hold hands with another.
winam of nelly furtado Posted by: CHARLES BEX on April 26, 2005 11:28 PM

No, Linda. They used to have three. Now they have ten. Please try to keep up.winam of nelly furtado

You can find this information here.winam of nelly furtado

In fact, since you seem singularly unable to cull the necessary information on your own, I will do you the favor of quoting the pertinent passage:winam of nelly furtado

Congressional aides said about 10 full-time employees worked on the 2004 count, up from about three in past years, and that this produced a more complete count.winam of nelly furtado

See how easy getting the facts is, when you're not spending your time trying to push a political agenda?winam of nelly furtado

And please, I'd like to see some actual proof that terror attacks have trebled in the past year, since the article does not support that assertion, claiming merely that the count has increased by that amount over the past year, a phenomenon easily explained by the fact that the number of people whose full time job it is to track these numbers has increased by more than three times.winam of nelly furtado

So since you're absolutely certain that, in fact, the raw number of terrorist attacks has increased by three times over past years for which we have only incomplete data, please share it with the rest of us. I'm sure there are some people in the government who would be most interested in your data gathering techniques as well.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Vincent on April 26, 2005 11:30 PM

Why will Bush regret it?winam of nelly furtado

Will there be political fallout? From whom?winam of nelly furtado

Gays?
Democrats?
Republicans?
Christians?winam of nelly furtado

If gays and Democrats make a big deal out of this, it shows complete double standards of conduct. They can do it, but Republicans can't.winam of nelly furtado

If Republicans and Christians make a big deal out of it, it will be consistent with their stereotype of being reactionaries. winam of nelly furtado

Who will they take the bait? It appears that you did and it didn't work.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: tim wg on April 26, 2005 11:58 PM

Yes Vincent, you are right, I misread, it's up from 3, not by 3. However, from the same article:winam of nelly furtado

Debate about what the numbers mean
“What it effectively means is that the Bush administration and the CIA haven’t been putting the staff resources necessary and have missed 80 percent of the world’s terrorist incidents” in past years, said a Democratic congressional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. “How can you have an effective counterterrorism policy from that?” winam of nelly furtado

Keep in mind Vincent, these figures came from the Bush State Dept, not from me. So if you question their authenticity, check in with them.
winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Linda Edwards on April 27, 2005 12:14 AM

So, if 80% of all terrorist incidents were missed in "past years," how can we possibly gauge how much terrorism has increased in 2004?winam of nelly furtado

And, on a side note, do you think that this institutional ignorance of terrorism worldwide started in 2000 with the election of the Bush Administration?winam of nelly furtado

If anything, it seems as if the Bush Administration is taking the steps necessary to properly track these statistics, steps which were not taken during his first Administration and, likely, not taken during the Clinton years either. Shouldn't we be praising these efforts, however late in coming, rather than reflexively attacking him over these findings?winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Vincent on April 27, 2005 12:50 AM

It's a great photo. It says a lot about what Bush really thinks about democracy.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Name Withheld on April 27, 2005 04:30 AM

Vincent and Linda E:winam of nelly furtado

Please see WaPo this a.m. about terrorist incidents increasing 3-fold. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content//article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601623.htmlwinam of nelly furtado

As to holding hands, I understand they were walking on uneven ground and the prince is over 80. Maybe a fall would have not been a good sign. But we didn't get any energy concessions out of any degree of hand-holding, so today we're going to hear from the administration about its new energy suggestions including instituting refineries on out of service military installations - federally run.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Ruth on April 27, 2005 07:50 AM

Great layout of the picture in a Texas paper.winam of nelly furtado

So you're linking this hand-holding to homosexuality? Is this your perception, Jeff, or are you saying he'll regret it only becuase some people will see it this way?winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Michael Zimmer on April 27, 2005 08:31 AM

Michael,winam of nelly furtado

I can't speak for Jeff of course, but I can tell you why I think it's a great layout: Because above the photo of the U.S. President coddling an anti-democratic despot, runs the headline "Bush, Saudi prince talk oil".winam of nelly furtado

Personally, I don't think it has anything to do with homosexuality, but whattaya say we ask James Dobson? I mean, if a fictional character like SpongeBob Squarepants is a homosexual for holding hands with another cartoon character, what does that make Bush?winam of nelly furtado Posted by: SloppyDawg on April 27, 2005 02:12 PM

Ummm .... Arab men hold hands in public quite regularly without any sexual overtones.winam of nelly furtado

Whatever else you want to say about the visit, this photo shows Bush acting in accordance with the culture of his guest.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Robin Burk on April 27, 2005 03:30 PM

Ummm .... Arab men hold hands in public quite regularly without any sexual overtones.winam of nelly furtado

Whatever else you want to say about the visit, this photo shows Bush acting in accordance with the culture of his guest.winam of nelly furtado

Wanna make a bet that Bush doesn't hold hands with every Arab man he has to meet with?winam of nelly furtado Posted by: SloppyDawg on April 27, 2005 03:47 PM

Bush does seem to have some kind of fetish involving touching the heads of bald guys...winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Name Withheld on April 27, 2005 03:52 PM

Jeff Jarvis (to Bush): People are becoming a bit confused by the way you and the Saudi prince are... well... constantly holding hands. winam of nelly furtado

George Bush: We are merely exchanging long protein strings. If you can think of a simpler way, I'd like to hear it.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Jeff on April 27, 2005 04:38 PM

On December 7, 1941, thousands of Americans were slaughtered in a surprise attack that was sponsored by a brutal totalitarian regime.winam of nelly furtado

In response, our president at the time said "No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory."winam of nelly furtado

The American people supported him. No one whined about oil prices or the economy. winam of nelly furtado

Things are different now. We're dhimmis and wimps. And that fact has nothing to do with the silly hand-holding. Clinton, who accepted millions of dollars of donations from the Saudis, would have done the same thing. winam of nelly furtado Posted by: mary on April 27, 2005 08:23 PM

Re: Clinton, who accepted millions of dollars of donations from the Saudis, winam of nelly furtado

A quote from an old issue of the Wall Street Underground..by Nick Guarinowinam of nelly furtado

(Nick's writing style was never boring.)winam of nelly furtado

"They thought they could use the oil weapon against us and, with a series of precisely timed terrorist strikes, bring American to her knees. Wrong!winam of nelly furtado

Under somebody like Bill Clinton, it might have worked. But the Arabs did not count on a six-shooting, long-tall Texan who says what he means, and means what he says - and who can't be brow-beaten into doing what the U.N. Says. That is something brand-new for a politician, I admit.winam of nelly furtado

So you can understand how they miscalculated. They were used to dealing with people like Clinton, the best President money can buy. (And cheap, too.)winam of nelly furtado

But Bush is not like Clinton. He may not be an Oxford-educated law professor, like Clinton, but he has balls. In the brutal world we live in, made up of killers, charlatans and thieves, balls count.winam of nelly furtado

They pissed Bush off big time. He did not like the fact that the World Trade Center came down in a pile of rubble. He did not like the fact that the Arabs were funding terrorists with oil money while pretending to be our friends.winam of nelly furtado

So he decided to do something about it - ....."winam of nelly furtado

And, more than likely, Bush still does know what he is doing.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Lynn on April 28, 2005 02:24 AM

Mary and Lynn, I could use that old worn out phrase '9/11 changed everything', but instead I say this, if Clinton had been president now and he still had sucked up to the Saudi I would have critized him. I don't blindly follow the president just because I voted for him.winam of nelly furtado Posted by: Name Withheld on April 28, 2005 05:09 AM

Name Withheld - Bush is sucking up to the Saudis for the same reason that Clinton does. That's what most of the American people want him to do.winam of nelly furtado

90% of the Saudi population supports bin Laden, Saudi support and Saudi paramilitaries are responsible for 9/11, the Bali bombings, the tragedy at Beslan and just about every other Islamist-related terrorist attack in the world, including the genocide in Darfur and the insurgency in Iraq. Their government and their laws make Nazi germany look enlightened, they're spreading hate speech in our schools, our universities and in American mosques. winam of nelly furtado

What do the American people demand that our president do in response? Guarantee a stable economy and lower gas prices. winam of nelly furtado

We praise the president's Blixian elegant diplomacy when he begs the Saudis for favors. Can you imagine how the American people would have reacted if Roosevelt had invited Hitler to the US and begged him for favors? He would have been impeached.winam of nelly furtado

Bush is only doing what most Americans, Democrat and Republican, want him to do. I don't agree with what he's doing, I'm just pointing out that a Democrat would have done the same thing. winam of nelly furtado

We're not the same nation, or the same people, that we were in 1941. What are we actively doing to discourage our government's appeasement of the Saudis? The same thing we've always done, absolutely nothing. winam of nelly furtado Posted by: mary on April 28, 2005 11:51 AM