The unintentional humor of 'A Charge to Keep'
By Steve Benen Friday Jan 25, 2008 7:13am
As president, George W. Bush loves to talk to those who visit the Oval Office about the rug on the floor. (He claims to have tasked Laura Bush with helping come up with a design that communicated “optimistic person” to those who saw it.)
But as governor, Bush wasn’t excited about his carpet; he was excited about a painting: “A Charge to Keep.” In 1995, he issued a memo to his Texas staff, describing the painting, by W.H.D. Koerner in 1916, which he kept on his office wall. Bush told his aides:
The reason I bring this up is that the painting is based upon the Charles Wesley hymn “A Charge to Keep I Have”. I am particularly impressed by the second verse of this hymn. The second verse goes like this: “To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill; O may it all my powers engage to do my Master’s will”
This is our mission. This verse captures our spirit. […]
When you come into my office, please take a look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us. What adds complete life to the painting for me is the message of Charles Wesley that we serve One greater than ourselves.
When one looks at the painting, you see a man on horseback — who actually looks a little like Bush — apparently leading a group of missionaries. It worked for Bush on a couple of levels: the title comes from one of the president’s favorite Methodist hymns, the man in the picture looks like him, and he related to the missionary work depicted in the painting.
He liked all of this so much, Bush used the title for his autobiography (which he admittedly did not write). He even brought the picture with him to Washington upon taking office.
The funny part is the truth about the painting: "Bush’s inspiring, proselytizing Methodist is in fact a silver-tongued horse thief fleeing from a lynch mob."
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Is there a sequel to that painting? (If paintings do have sequels or some equivilent) Depicting what that lynch mob did when they finally got their man?
This really is priceless. How emblematic of this administration. Shhhh! Don't spread this around to the wingnuts. Maybe shrub will hang this picture in his "library" right near his reference section of Classics Illustrated comic books. This now my most favorite sight gag!
The Irony........The Irony..............
FTA:
"The illustration depicts the thief fleeing his captors. In the magazine, the illustration bears the caption: “Had His Start Been Fifteen Minutes Longer He Would Not Have Been Caught.”
So it looks like they do get their man in the end :)
Bush clueless about something? Well, I never. ;)
Is he rewriting art too?
Ride faster mob! Faster! Faster!
He only likes the pretty horsey picture because he looks like the guy in the saddle.
Vanity, thy name is Chimpy McHorsetheif
"Cuz when you think about lynch mobs, you think of George Bush"
If I hadn't known the true meaning of the picture, I would have given it a different meaning altogether: everyone in the painting is running away from some great ill in the valley behind them. The horseman is the leader of the group and, befitting his leadership status, he got the horse to guide his people better. But the great ill in the valley was created by the leader, although the people don't know it yet. They trust him with their lives. Halfway up the mountain the horseman is gripped by such fear that the crowd may realize that he is the reason that ill has befallen them and stirs his horse into a gallop. He leaves his shocked, helpless, poor people behind to fall prey to the evil he created while he abuses their trust and the horse they provided him to escape unscathed.
To understand that the guy was running from a lynching mob would take deep thought - at least too deep for Dubya. He better not even look at M.C. Escher's artwork.
Is there no bottom to this man's foolishness?
This one is tops. Sent it to my rightwing relatives.
BTW, Hillary wants her Michigan delegates. Surprise!
Whenever I think Clinton I think NAFTA.
Oh, man. That's priceless.
Heading off to vote for Edwards! Go John. Saw him at a local barbeque place yesterday. The food at that place sucks, too sweet. Hope John didn't eat any of that swill.
When will the Bush clan and their moronic followers realize you can't disguise stupidity?
NEVER
I dunno. Kinda looks like a terrist planning on riding his horsey into a covered wagon.
beautiful.
hey Keith - can we have a Special Comment on this one please? PLEASE?!?! :-D
Fleeing from a lynch mob. The pres better be careful what he wishes for.
....the man in the picture looks like him.....
....fleeing a lynch mob....
Oops. I think I just came.
How about this. A couple years ago I attended the destination wedding of a cousin. It was being held at a fancy desert resort in Palm Springs, in the "Presidential Suite," which, the management was fond of pointing out, had actually recently been occupied by W and was just as it was when he was in it. On the wall near the grand piano were some very nice prints with a Middle Eastern military theme. I read the inscriptions. Priceless. They were about the disastrous First Afghan War fought by the British in the 1840's. The central print was "General Elphinstone's Disastrous Retreat From Kabul." Wonder if Mr. Curious even noticed?
Sidney Blumenthals piece from Salon is a much more detailed history of the picture that still captures Bush policy perfectly. The picture had been used twice before the story Bush recounts (the first was "The Slipper Tongue) before being sold for use in his Methodist story. He simply based the history of the picture on the story he liked out of several choices that were more factual, but didn't fit the narrative he liked. Much like the intelligence for Iraq used to take us to war.
It fits, the man, and I say that loosely, has been so egregiously wrong on everything...him being born again, he of course thinks he's heading off to heben, considering his trak record, the delicious irony is that he will head in the other direction where he can cut brush & burn fires for a long time, yeah uh huh! He could even meet up with a hoss theif or two.
Of course in any story told, speech given, or policy pushed Bush and his administration have never let the facts get in the way. Some times I waver on whether I believe if they believe what they are saying. It all seems so easy to punch holes through and that they can't really think they are telling the truth. Then a story like this comes along and you think "maybe they do".
So Bush wants to do 'His' Masters will?
His Master must be Satan then. I mean come on,
just look at all the love his actions have wrought.
HA! The horse thief fleeing an angry lynch mob. If only it were prophetic and not just another symbol is his incredible lack of curiosity or anything even resembling human intelligence.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to wake some morning to hear that shrub and cheney had high tailed it out of town in the dark of night to an unknown location and are now wanted criminals. Reward. Dead or alive.
Yes... if only.
lucid fiction @ 22:
Have you read the old testament? Kill em all in the name of the Lord is THE theme.
Then take their land.
Because God is great.
This painting example gives great insight into how Bush sees himself and how he makes decision with regards to what's best for our country. It's all about the "truth" as Bush sees it whether it's accurate or not.
Haven't we established he's a dumbass by now? Now what would be interesting is a post where Bush actually shows some intelligence. Will that happen? If you believe in miracles ...
Ironic? or pathological? take your pick.
Horse Thief, yep, that's our bush. But instead of 15 minutes he's had 7 years. It's time we brought him to justice.
We don't forgive him for what he has done to America ... Maybe his god will.
NAW!
The painting is fitting actually. Most Republicans think crooks and thieves are great guys until they are caught anyway.
I'll bet Bush imagines himself in that painting somewhere
cutting down some brush.
Two words: Springsteen's Born in the USA
thanks for this I linked to it...
Maybe Bush knows the real meaning behind this painting and pictures himself running from a lynch mob. If his Administration keeps up its criminal actions he may just see that painting become a reality.
lucid fiction Says: I’ll bet Bush imagines himself in that painting somewhere cutting down some brush.
EXCELLENT!
Well, if that IS true (source?)...then it all the better fit's his comment that "This is us"!
The ironic part is that he KNEW about the real meaning of the picture and was putting one over on everybody else....
“I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound—with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world."
Stephen Colbert, just a few feet away from George W. Bush, on Saturday, April 29, 2006, at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C.
OOPS...no apostrophe in fits...
On top of his myriad faults, we can add philistine to the Boy Blunder's portfolio. I'm sure he's more proud of his collection of card-playing dog paintings.
A picture is worth a thousand words , I can think of 3 FUCK THAT IDIOT !!
Rimmer's Clone @ 1:
Methinks this one portrays shrub at the end of his 8 yr. long trail.
Be kind to animals...please.
priceless. i wish MSM would pick this one up.
Bush the Re-Writer
Awesome post! I just love irony, don't you?
The good news is that W. is afraid of large animals and doesn't know how to ride a horse (some friggin' cowboy), so when the lynch mob is after him he won't be able to get away.
Marty @ 9:
She probably wants all those delegates who voted "uncommitted" too, because she's entitled to them in some way that relates to her last name.
The WashTimes printed an editorial on the 24th suggesting that the five redacted pages of the Barrett Report (redacted by Kerry, etc.) can be unredacted by any Congressman. One Republican has already tried, but got quieted. There's another Clinton scandal waiting to be unearthed and the theory goes that the Republicans are waiting for her to get the nomination before they destroy her with it. (or at least try) Fact or fiction? I don't know...but i'm not sure that i want to even find out.
typical.......
Proving once again Bush is "The Buffoon in Chief "
What a moron - I guess this is what snorting coke in the 70s did to people.
Since the horse thief resembles Dubya does that mean the two guys behind him resemble Waxman and Conyers? Now they do have a "charge to keep".
“Bush’s inspiring, proselytizing Methodist is in fact a silver-tongued horse thief fleeing from a lynch mob.”
Perfect metaphor for this administration. For once, Bush unwittingly found the true expression of his term in office.
Hmmm...Would that this painting had a tone of the prophetic to it, namely Dubya trying to escape the country to escape the international justice he so richly deserves.
Yhat is genuinely funny. May be the first time something Bush did made me laugh since his wrestling match with a "pretzel."
If only there was a democratic congress on his tail.
There is nothing to say except...
Rolling on the floor laughing my a$$ off!!!
Irony is precious, isn't it? *giggles*
PEOPLE! Do you not realize we have a drunk running this country.
Do you think any of his staff are going to mention this to him?
I thought they were fox hunting.
Necadawg Says @ 55:
I wish he would drink again. He could fall down flat on his face at the State of the Union Address and they would have to get rid of him. (I know, an assbackwards set of morals if ever there was one.)
Bush is a child.
jackpine savage @ 44:
He'd take his Segway......
WONDER WHERE LARUA
STUCK JEFF GUCKERT/GANNON
IN THAT ROOM?
Bonus Points if you can guess where!
Of course Bush conveniently forgot to tell us who his Master is, the god of hubris, greed, and deception. I'm sure he prays to this despicable deity on an hourly basis.
Bush is actually very timid around Horses in real life. Hence the nickname "windshield cowboy" by Mexican President Vincente Fox.
How prophetic.
Bush falls in love with his own image.... the horse thief.
And he builds a house of cards stack of lies to support a fantasy about it.
He owns it, he won't give it up... and he insists on keeping the myth alive.
How prophetic.
LMAO! Not just verbal gaff's, now he makes an ironic art gaff
Hilarious, but factually incorrect. Bu$h, the Coward from Crawford, is scared of horses. I doubt he'd have the balls to steal a horse, and even if he did, he doesn't have the wits about him to pull it off.
I'm not suprised booshes favorite pic is of a thief escaping justice..
They should rename his painting "The Charge of the Light Headed Brigade."
I hope the "lynch mob" comes to represent the America people in the near future. We've been had by a bunch of thieves and murderers.
“Bush’s inspiring, proselytizing Methodist is in fact a silver-tongued horse thief fleeing from a lynch mob.”
That's probably why the horse is running, I would guess . . . . .
well, agree to disagree
Bush displays a large amount of the stupid. If he got an AOL account I think he would behave like a guy I knew years ago.
This guy shortly after getting his first online account excitedly showed me some the racy emails and photos he had been receiving.
You see he had the brilliant idea of declaring in his profile that he was a lesbian and wanted to "communicate" with other lesbians.
After looking at some of what he showed me I told him that it appeared that most of his new friends were also men pretending to be lesbians.
Dude was stoned when he came up with that. Bush smokes weed. Always has, always will. Think about it. It explains alot. Being a stoner myself, I've been around alot of dumbasses who get even dumber when they smoke weed. Bush smokes the chronic. I guarantee it.
A tip o' the hat to W.H.D. Koerner, who, in 1916, was so amazingly prescient as to paint a metaphorical portrait of the current miscreant occupant of the White House.
What could be more fitting than the posse after the thief? If only.............
"He liked all of this so much, Bush used the title for his autobiography (which he admittedly did not write). He even brought the picture with him to Washington upon taking office. The funny part is"
The real funny part is that this asshole thinks anyone will actually read his bullshit book. And funnier still is his artists rendition of mini me on a horsey!
Bush is the horse thief, the horse is a number of things (the U.S. Treasury, America's reputation, purity, and dignity) and the mob chasing Bushy are the American people.
Vincennes @ 27:
I think that's kinda a cool challenge. Can anyone think of a story on something good that George Bush has done in his presidency? I haven't thought of one yet and I tried real hard so it must be difficult.
The only one that comes close is the prin$ipled stance he took on racism towards middle easterners in America by awarding port security to a firm in Dubai.
.
.
.
LOL! That is beautiful! It fits this "criminal in chief" in so many ways.
Hey -- isn't chuckle-nuts afraid of horses as well? This is like him bragging about reading 3 Shakespears a couple of summers ago.
What. an. embarrassment.
.
.
.
Teh immortalZ @ 74:
When you smoke does it make you feel like going out a killing half a million people for no reason? And blame it on God for telling you to do it?
I don't think George smokes anymore.
Has he told anyone what his impression of Camus' "The Stranger" was? I'd like to see George's book report on that one.
This is Yale material folks. Don't ever let your children go there!
UNCANNY!
I only hope the original caption is true -- the mob catches him and JUSTICE is delivered!!!
(whata a fucking delusional idiot ... and... wah fucking delusional idiots who believed his senselessness)
In fairness to Bush, he is a afraid of horses, so he probably never looked closely enough to notice.
Really? A thief on the run?
I would have expected it to be a still image from "Birth Of A Nation".
curtilingus @ 79:
I think it all depends on your social context. If you belong to the upper echelons and people directly related to the oil and industrial military cartels, then George W. Bush has done lots of neat things... in fact he may be one of the most successful presidencies according to their interests.
If you belong to the 95% remainder of the population, chances are that his presidency has been a succession of calamities regarding your interests. Yet, that did not stop 1/3 of the population recently polled to say that he is doing a "heck of a job."
In the end me thinks that we have in the white house exactly what we deserve. How after 8 years of this, 30% of the polled people still approve of his job is beyond pathetic.... and frankly makes me ashamed.
So, will Bush change the name of his ghost-written autobiography to "Silver-Tongued Horse Thief Flees Lynch Mob"? That certainly sounds like his legacy at this point.
The painting is very appropriate -- Bush fleeing Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2009.
What I find it ironic, is that this idiot's favourite poem is from a religious wacko. Further, the favourite portion of such poem is the one which has nothing to do or say about Jesus' supposed message of love and respect for each of your fellow men (and women), but rather one that talks about duty and submission. I am like Ghandi on this one "I have no problem with Christ, is the Christians that I don't like... they are so unlike their Christ."
This jackass is so intellectually lazy, that he couldn't bother to spend 5 minutes trying to learn about his supposedly favourite painting. And then he justifies it with some sort of pseudo fascist babbling about duty. All while half of the midwest and most of the bible belt eat all his shit thinking that this man is the best thing since sliced bread.
This is the stuff of nightmares...
curtilingus @ 82:
Don't blame Yale totally. Remember Bush had a famous daddy and what professor was going to risk his job by giving him less than a C grade.
Harvard Business School wrote about Bush version of the painting back in 2003 as if it were true. Brilliant school!
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3745.html
Ha! No surprise there. Remember this is the President that brought you: Mission Accomplished, No Child Left Behind, Healthy Forests, and on and on. Let's hope the American people finally coalesce
into a lynch mob and run his ass to prison.
Sadly the lynch mob was headed by Harry Reid who only stopped the horse thief in order to make sure he had a full canteen of water and a loaded pistol to fight off any other lynch mobs.
Perhaps this is why Bush likes to play dress-up so often.
A horse thief eh? Do I really believe he doen't know that? No.
*
That's the most hilarious painting I've seen since the one in "WKRP in Cincinnati" hanging over Mrs. Carlson's fireplace.
If Bush didn’t write his AUTO-biography than it is just a biography.
curtilingus @ 82:
Yeah, I had also read that he read "The Stranger" by Camus over the summer in 2006. Apparently he thinks that most Americans as foolish enough to believe that is the type of reading he does. He won't even read a synopsis of legislation unless his staff keeps it under a page.
This is rich-folks affirmative action at Yale at work. They get their not-so-bright sons and daughters in, and that degree gives them a lifetime of opportunity that bright, hardworking kids all over America would love to have.
Tyler: "In the end me thinks that we have in the white house exactly what we deserve. How after 8 years of this, 30% of the polled people still approve of his job is beyond pathetic…. and frankly makes me ashamed"
Tyler, I couldn't have said it any better. I tell people all the time that we get the type of government we deserve. I have the worst U.S. Representative anywhere,Todd Akin R-MO. I am not even sure he's still alive, he does so little. Yet the folks keep sending him back.
Then I am torn when I look at Bush and think that NO country deserved this.
douche bag sez what ?
john doe @ 96:
That is the Bush concept of autobiography . Come over here and do this hard task for me and I'll take the credit. The only part he wrote the title was fucked up
Twig will just change the story of the picture to: “This painting is about the importance of fighting islomofascism and spreadin’ democracy. That’s Bin Laden being chased into Tora Bora right before Saddam stopped us. Because my attitude is, er, that you can’t help spread liberty without, uh…is that you fight the struggle… suiciders hate freedom.”
gerald @ 91:
Yeah. I love how they call the work in question a "portrait."
To be fair, the illustration was in fact in a story called "A Charge to Keep." It was resold after its original appearance in "The Slipper Tongue." The point still stands that Bush identified so much with a painting that was originally commissioned to depict a thief, but he didn't pull the inspirational interpretation out of his own ass.
Considering all the hate Bush has generated for Americans the only way he could get group of Methodist missionaries to follow him would be if there was a chance they could hang him.
RancidVenison @ 32:
Indeed, Raygun the asshole that he was... wanting to use that song as his re-election anthem. The idiot obviously was deaf or unable to comprehend lyrics. Yet, the GOP wants us to believa that his senile ass was able to defeat the "evil empire."
Fuck the lot of them... I don't know who is more stupid. The slew of politicians who seem to have an IQ inversely proportional to their greed index, or us for tolerating their bullshit and not run them out of town in tar and feathers :-)
Keep in mind, we may some day actually see Bush himself, on horseback, fleeing an angry American lynch mob.
gerald @ 91:
Holy Smokes! David Gergen wrote that article! My sides hurt from laughing. Look at this article and tell me if this isn't a perfect allegory.
Altogether fitting for this punk. Now is the time for us to take up our pitchforks and torches to oust W and his ilk once and for all, for the good of our nation's soul.
I love it - a silver tongued thief fleeing a lynch mob!!
For the past 8 years, I have more than a little sick and tired of Bush constantly claiming association/membership of the Methodist faith. Methodists (I grew up as one) are the most passive, peace-minded, non-judgemental people I had ever met. Growing up in the 60's and being very close to my church on many levels, I saw a lot of progressives thrive in this church - and not once did they ever feel joyous over bashing gays or non-religious people. It was a very strengthening and empowering experience. I mostly credit my experience to those progressives I was surrounded by. I've become a pagan since then, but still look fondly back on my youth with Methodists.
Ginger Winchester @ 108:
You seem like the kind the UMC would be glad to have rejoin the Church at any time.
If the word 'apt' didn't exist we'd have had to invent it for this anecdote.
Whatever religion Bush is, certainly isn't claiming him. Thought the parents were Episcopalians. He seems to be some sort of fundamentalist and I thought that Methodists were a little bit more mainstream. What do I know, though? I'm just some sort of quasi-Catholic.
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