by matttbastard
“So, uh, George, my shoulders are a bit tight atm…”
First it was “Steve.” Now it’s “Yo, Harper.”
U.S. President George W. Bush’s penchant for slangy speech was always apparent from the nicknames he bestows on reporters, and it doesn’t stop with other leaders.
Yesterday, as leaders of the G8 chatted with the heads of seven African nations, a televised feed of their summit in Japan picked up some of the chit-chat before a closed-door meeting, including Mr. Bush’s casual style of address with the Prime Minister of Canada.
Mr. Bush slung a casual arm over Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua for a chat, until he caught sight of Stephen Harper. “Yo, Harper!” he called, bringing him over for an introduction.
Sorry, Tony — there’s a new poodle in town.
h/t Chet
bastard.logic 
“New” BFF?
Really – “new”?
;-)
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Touche.
;)
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Was Bush a little tipsy?
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I’m stunned they didn’t do a ‘terrorist bump’. If it was an informal moment, I’m inclined to cringe more about the fact El Prezly was leaning all over another head of state who might have cultural problems with being hugged up like that and yet not wanting to squirm away like the feline objet d’amore in a Pepe Le Pew cartoon because the grappler is POTUS. Hard to avoid the inherent dominance and entitlement in the body language dynamics.
The yo just means Harper is G-Bo’s crew, a loyal soldier. I warm myself on the idea Steverino has assiduously fought that underling image playing back home with the rubes, only to have the whitewash script tossed out the window on a world stage. But hey, the attitude fits seamlessly with Harper’s ‘screwed’ commentary.
These big boys are down with the plebes, talking their walk. Better to have street cred than oh, I don’t know, actually governing solutions to world crises.
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I think G.W. spends too much time watching MTV…
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