Aren't we proud..

You must read this Sidney Blumenthal article in Salon detailing *'s activities at the opening of the Clinton library.

Sen. John Kerry entered to take his front-row seat to defiant cheering from the crowd. Then, when the presidents were announced, Bush tried to push his way past Clinton at the library door to be first in line, against the already accepted protocol for the event, as though the walk to the platform was a contest for alpha male.

Are any of you Jane Austen fans? Not in any way to pollute her name by proximity to *, but the scene reminded me of this one from Pride and Prejudice, where the disgraced but nevertheless married Lydia elbows her respectable but still unmarried older sister Jane aside on the way in to dinner.

Elizabeth could bear it no longer. She got up, and ran out of the room; and returned no more, till she heard them passing through the hall to the dining parlour. She then joined them soon enough to see Lydia, with anxious parade, walk up to her mother's right hand, and hear her say to her eldest sister, ``Ah! Jane, I take your place now, and you must go lower, because I am a married woman.''

But, to return to the scene at the Clinton library, apparently that was just the beginning. Here's a great "say what???" moment:

On his tour Bush appeared distracted and glanced repeatedly at his watch. When he stopped to gaze at the river, where Secret Service agents were stationed in boats, the guide said, "Usually, you might see some bass fishermen out there." Bush replied: "A submarine could take this place out."...

...Was his apparent non sequitur a reflection of his inner logic about American politics in a fog of war, where little is discernible in the miasma but fear? Or was this simply his way of saying he wouldn't build his library near water? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, a submarine just a submarine.

And, I'm outta here:

At the private luncheon afterwards, in a heated tent pitched behind the library, Shimon Peres delivered a heartfelt toast to Clinton's perseverance in pursuing the Middle East peace process. Upon entering the tent, Bush, according to an eyewitness, told an aide: "One gulp and we're out of here." He had informed the Clintons he would stay through the lunch, but by the time Peres arose with wine glass in hand the president was gone.

I give you the leader of the free world. A class act.