Klassy with a capital K

So nice to see Dubya is helping new British PM Gordon Brown sell the idea of maintaining the closest possible ties the United States to British voters by downplaying his reputation as an irresponsible cowboy leading a team of amateurs:

Britain's Brown kindles chemistry with Bush

Reuters

Tuesday, 31 July, 2007

Wearing a dark blue tie and an air of formality, Britain's Gordon Brown brought stiff protocol to his first US summit with President George W Bush, doing little to prove he will kindle the warm chemistry his predecessor shared with the US chief.

During two days of discussions at the Camp David retreat in Maryland, the British leader shared a roast beef dinner and a cheeseburger lunch with his new ally, but gave few signals they can strike the same bond Tony Blair built with Bush.

I'll go out on a limb here and bet that "Whuddy'all want on yer cheeseburger Mr. Prime Minister" was not a phrase Gordon Brown expected to hear after he finally rose to pinnacle of British politics

Aides said the leaders' four hours of talks Sunday and Monday were businesslike and, a few gentle news conference jokes aside, the men displayed little of the repartee that previously marked relations between Washington and London.

For Blair, it was casual clothes, broad grins and an instant spark amid the snowfall of his first Camp David talks with Bush in Feb. 2001. Blair, wearing a sweater, and Bush, in a bomber jacker, chatted and joked as they strolled with a dog through the Maryland woodland.

Not so for Brown, who smiled as he was greeted by Bush and a guard of honour Sunday, but scheduled no other photo calls with his counterpart. Only Bush's playful 360-degree manoeuvre as he whisked Brown to dinner in a golf cart lifted the mood.

Did Bush think maybe Brown, being in the British governmnet had run across "them Dukes of Hazzard fellers" in the House of Lords?

Brown, who later headed to New York for talks at the United Nations, even wore a shirt and tie to dinner at Camp David's Laurel cabin, British officials said.

But Bush heaped praise on his counterpart, telling reporters Brown was "a glass half full guy," and claiming not all world leaders shared the Briton's optimism, or desire to tackle international problems.
The men talked about Bush's childhood visit to Scotland and their shared passion for rugby – a sport both leaders played at school, officials said. Bush aides told the British chief how they searched Google to learn about his personal history, at one point confusing him for an ex-British sportsman also called Gordon Brown.

Google? They had to use Google to find out the background of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, their closest ally and BFF? How did they find out about the WMD in Iraq? Wikipedia? Did they "ask Jeeves"?

Brown told reporters ties to the US were Britain's foreign policy priority and thanked Bush for his "very compassionate" tributes. But he gave little indication of his first impressions of Bush, who he referred to in a news conference as Mr President. Blair and Bush, in contrast, were instantly on first name terms.

"Yee-Haw, Brownie! Here, have one a these here jello shooters Laura made. After vittles, we're a gonna watch the rasslin' and maybe clear some brush or hunt varmints! If it gits hot after Bible study, we kin go swimmin' in the ceement pond!"

crossposted from the Woodshed