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For a visiting North American, there was something terribly sad about London last week. Everything had been prepared for a glorious celebration of Anglo-American friendship. The flags had been massed, the backdrop was beautiful - but the stage was empty. I felt that I had wandered into Miss Havisham's bedroom: everything had been readied for an event that never quite took place. The protests themselves were not so impressive: they felt much less energetic and purposeful than the last anti-war protest I attended in London, the October 2002 march on Hyde Park. What was most disturbing was not the vehement...

Fri 21 Nov 2003 2:10pm (UK) Real Bush 'At Odds with Media Caricature' By Chris Moncrieff, PA News US President George Bush is “totally at odds” with his media image, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said today. Mr Campbell, an opponent of the war with Iraq, spoke out on the ePolitix website about his discussions with the President during the state visit. He said that they discussed directly issues such as Iraq, the Middle East, Guantanamo Bay, Kyoto and trade sanctions. “He is personally extremely engaging. He has a well-developed sense of humour, is self-deprecating and when he...

<p>LONDON - President Bush's state visit to Britain was a chance to peek behind the scenes at Buckingham Palace, where even First Lady Laura Bush 'fessed up to feeling "intimidated."</p> <p>Reporters were invited in to view the gilded table set for the queen's state dinner after walking through a marble hall full of priceless paintings - one of George III who ruled during the American Revolution.</p>

President Bush and the First Lady are back home from London after a State Visit and a warm welcome from Prime Minister Blair and the Queen. There are lots of pictures tonight, so get that left clicking finger ready :-)Enjoy your visit to the "Dose"

<p>This ain't no way to win hearts and minds in Euroweenieland!</p> <p>We were told Bush, in his speech, would defend his decision to take military action in Iraq. That his address to a group dignitaries and academics Wednesday at London's Banqueting House would take pains to puncture misconceptions, in Britain and elsewhere, on the reasons for going to war. That Bush, marking the first full day of his state visit, would seek to answer critics, bend over backwards to moot perception of him as unilateralist, 'go-it-alone,' 'my-way-or-the-highway' cowboy from Texas. This will be a fence-mending speech, said keen observers. Bush, "stung" by criticism across the globe of fracturing old alliances, would try to pay tribute to multilateralism and consensus-building, stressing the "need" to work closely together, to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, holding up the French as paragons of humility. One thing's for sure, said brilliant pundits: Bush won't dare even mutter the word 'evil' from that podium. Certainly not in his first major speech of his 3 1/2-day visit as Britain's guest. Not on a continent so morally superior to the U.S. it gave birth to darling boys Hitler and Stalin.</p>

I´m beginning to feel toward the naysayers of the world a bit like Eliza Doolittle in the movie, My Fair Lady — “Just you wait Henry Higgins, just you wait!” I really do believe in my heart of hearts there´s a “great day comin´” when we´re all going to stand up and shout, “BUSH WAS RIGHT . . . Hallelujah!” With all the condemnations thrown at George Bush, and all of you who have threatened to make it your life´s mission to thwart any remote possibility of his re-election, isn´t it strange that the Queen of England finds such favor...

George W Bush's Whitehall address yesterday represented the boldest challenge to the conventional wisdom of the British and European elites since Woodrow Wilson preached the rights of self-determination of smaller nations after the First World War. A summary of that wisdom would go like this: (a) terrorism cannot be defeated in the long run, its perpetrators sooner or later have to be treated with, and their legitimate demands met in some form or other; (b) the Muslim world, and specifically the Arab portion of it, is culturally unsuited to freedom and democracy; (c) the Arab-Israeli dispute lies at the heart...

<p>Stand clear, now. The British press is in full cry — sniping, griping and whining about President Bush's state visit to London.</p> <p>Much of the Bush-bashing recycled tired, rude baggage.</p> <p>"This cross-eyed thief of democracy can exploit the people of Britain as bit players in his campaign to win a second term in the White House," proclaimed Daily Mirror columnist Paul Routledge yesterday.</p>

On November 19-21, President George W. Bush will visit London as a guest of the British government. It will be the first ever State Visit by a U.S. president to the United Kingdom. The visit has huge symbolic significance, as well as being a critical meeting for both President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair. The visit should solidify the Anglo-American nexus, which is of primary importance to both countries. The U.S.-British alliance is a strikingly successful partnership of two great nations built on the solid foundations of a common heritage, culture, and vision. The two nations have fought alongside...

<p>Some across the ocean might have been surprised by the grace with which President Bush opened yesterday's address at Whitehall Palace in London — praising the hospitality of his British hosts, while joking about the fact that some of his harshest critics in London would prefer to see him dangling in a box over the Thames River. But when Mr. Bush got down to business, he provided a sober and strategic assessment of how democracies decide when it becomes necessary to use force to repel an aggressor.</p>

There are numerous letters, positive and negative, that can be read at the URL at the top of this post. However, Mr. Forsyth shows that he still has the gift of making every word count. Dear Mr President, Today you arrive in my country for the first state visit by an American president for many decades, and I bid you welcome. You will find yourself assailed on every hand by some pretty pretentious characters collectively known as the British left. They traditionally believe they have a monopoly on morality and that your recent actions preclude you from the club. You...

The First Couple and assorted officials were given the royal reception in London today, where President Bush made an historic speech regarding the war on terror. link to text There are lots of photos today. Enjoy your daily Dose of W and welcome back to Sanity Island!

President Bush's "Three Pillars" speech at Whitehall Palace today may have been the most significant of his presidency. What's more, he was almost as eloquent as Tony Blair. It must be something in the British water — or tea. Politically, his message was bad news for the neo-isolationist Right and the post-humanitarian Left. Bush made it clear that he believes freedom is the predicate for peace. He said plainly that he will not shy away from using "force when necessary in the defense of freedom." He added: [W]e cannot turn a blind eye to oppression just because the oppression is...

On FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC, the State Dinner

<p>President Bush marked the first full day of his state visit to Britain with a key speech Wednesday defending the invasion of Iraq.</p> <p>Meanwhile, protesters took to the streets of London to protest U.S. actions in the Middle East country.</p>

<p>Thank you all. Thank you very much.</p> <p>Secretary Straw and Secretary Hoon, Admiral Colbold (ph) and Dr. Shipman (ph), distinguished guests, I want to thank you for your very kind welcome that you've given to me and to Laura. I also thank the groups hosting this event, the Royal United Services Institute and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.</p>

President Bush made a dramatic arrival in his heavily-armoured Cadillac deVille

See the ICM poll in full (pdf) (My next post) A majority of Labour voters welcome President George Bush's state visit to Britain which starts today, according to November's Guardian/ICM opinion poll. The survey shows that public opinion in Britain is overwhelmingly pro-American with 62% of voters believing that the US is "generally speaking a force for good, not evil, in the world". It explodes the conventional political wisdom at Westminster that Mr Bush's visit will prove damaging to Tony Blair. Only 15% of British voters agree with the idea that America is the "evil empire" in the world. Mr...

President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush departed from the White House today for a four day visit to the United Kingdom, America's staunchest ally in the war in Iraq. I will check after work for any additional photos that might be released later today and add any that I find. Enjoy your Daily Dose of Dubya!

Bush, Ambushed Maybe this whole State visit idea was the brain-child of Michael Moore's book agent. The cover-image of Moore's latest book, "Dude, Where's My Country?" features a photo-shop image of a statue of president Bush being toppled just as Saddam's was laid low earlier this year in Baghdad. And next week exactly such a re-enactment is promised by the anti-war forces set to protest president George W. Bush's visit to Britain in Trafalgar Square. Call it a product tie-in. Or maybe it's a secret plot by the State Department to subject George W. Bush to such public relations horror...