First there was WaPo's Dana Milbank - that paragon of objective journalism - who on Countdown twisted W's good-natured gesture of inviting onto the podium press people who shared the same birthday into a metaphor of presidential lonelieness and isolation. Milbank also used the occasion to allude to Bush's allegedly dissolute youth. And for good measure, the 'reporter' even managed to revive allegations regarding Bush's National Guard service. How old are you now, Dana?
Today it was the Los Angeles Times' turn, spewing an ill-tempered editorial to commemorate W's 60th. The headline set the tone: 'The president who would not grow up'. You could imagine where this one was heading, and you'd have been right:
The LAT seemed downright peeved that people were paying so much attention to the occasion: "why was there so much fascination with George W. Bush's attainment of three-score years?" it demanded to know.
In a particularly condescending swerve, the editorial went on to impugn the president's intelligence. The Times smirked over the 'simple math problems' and easy tasks such as counting people going in and out of a house posed by a 'Brain Age' game that Nintendo had presented as a present.
The Times predictably invoked the president's 'frat boy' persona and, stamping its feet, demanded to know whether that will change "now that President Bush has embarked on his seventh decade."
The Times' editorialist should be careful. They say chronic distemper can prematurely age a person.
