His popularity waning, George W. Bush decides to hire Paris Hilton
By Philip Maddocks
GateHouse News Service
Thu Jun 21, 2007, 04:40 PM EDT
Framingham -
George W Bush announced yesterday that he has hired Paris Hilton to help
bolster his sagging popularity that now affects his standing even in his
own Republican Party.
The president, whose approval rating has dipped to 29 percent, told a
group of reporters gathered in the White House Rose Garden that hiring
Hilton as a personal consultant marked a spiritual awakening for him.
"My spirit or soul did not like the way I was being seen and that is why I
was sent to Paris," Bush said.
The president said he is used to being unpopular with the electorate. But
losing the support of the rightwingers in his party, he said, had been
particularly trying - and costly.
In the run-up to the last two election campaigns, eager Republicans lined
their party's coffers by paying up to $25,000 to pose for a picture with
Bush at fundraising events. Last summer, as his popularity dwindled, the
party was forced to cut the price to $10,000. And now, in advance of the
2008 elections, you pose with the 43rd president for a mere $5,000.
To put that in perspective, wildly unpopular and uncharismatic
presidential adviser Karl Rove can still fetch $1,000 for a photo op, and
even vice-president ***** Cheney is level pegging with the president. (A
Kodak moment with Laura Bush, the first lady, is reported to go for
$10,000.)
Recalling the initial humiliation of seeing his photo-op price plummet,
Bush told reporters: "I was not eating or sleeping. I was severely
depressed and felt as if I was in a cage. It was a horrible experience."
But redemption was at hand. "God has released me. I feel that the purpose
of my life is to be where I am, with Paris," he said, adding: "I feel as
if I'm a different person. I've dropped any hope of regaining my appeal. I
don't want to cause any more problems."
Some Republican leaders hailed the president's "boldness" and "leadership"
in seeking Hilton's guidance.
Fred Thompson, who is expected to enter the presidential race as Arthur
Branch at any moment, described Hilton as woman of vision and courage who
was welcomed on the set of "Law and Order" any time.
"I have great affection for her and what she did and her partnership with
America," Mr. Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, said. "I think she
played a big part in that and I admire her and respect her for that, and
for my part I want to go by and pay those respects."
He said he was glad to see the president "finally leave that bubble of his
and get out into the real world of Hollywood and celebrity."
One notable dissenter in the Hilton lovefest was Robert Bork, the judge
that Ronald Reagan nominated and the Senate rejected for the U.S. supreme
court in 1987. It seems the judge has - literally - fallen on hard times
lately. Recently, Judge Bork slipped and fell while giving a speech at the
Yale Club and is now suing the club for all manner of negligence.
The judge thinks hiring Hilton is a waste of time and money. He wants Mr.
Bush to sue his own party for negligence.
"Your well-being has nothing to do with it, no should it," he said. "Look
at me. Despite being able to get up and deliver my speech after the fall,
I am still claiming not only $1 million in actual damages, but also
attorney fees and the rarely-awarded punitive damages. It's time the
president showed a little more backbone and sense of entitlement."
Speaking by phone from her prison cell in a Los Angeles jail, where she
still has at least three more days to serve on her sentence, Hilton said,
"I know now that I can make a difference, that I have the power to do
that. I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am
out of here. I have become much more spiritual. God and George W. Bush
have given me this new chance."
Hilton said the president was no longer superficial, that he wanted to
work with sick children and that he had not looked in a mirror since she -
Hilton - had entered his lifer.
Speaking to the veteran television anchorwoman Barbara Walters by phone,
Hilton revealed herself to be an acute critic of Mr. Bush's former
persona. "But he is not the same person he was," she said. "He used to act
dumb. It was an act. He is 60 years old, and that act is no longer cute.
It is not who he is, nor does he want to be that person for the young
Republicans who looked up to him."
Hilton said the president is hoping for early release from the
responsibilities of leading the country. "Usually with a situation like
his, the person only spends about 10 percent of their time on the job in
their last two years, and most of that is handing out pardons during the
final days in office. But Hilton said Mr. Bush is already spending 30
percent of his time working at fundraisers, which has turned into a
thankless and almost profitless chore for the president.
"I hope if there is overcrowding at a few of these functions so he would
be let out," said Hilton.
She said she and the president had spent most of their time playing table
tennis, reading children's books, the Bible and self-help books such as
"The Power of Now."
The privations of White House life, she added, had enriched her, given her
a new outlook on personal responsibility. Echoing the sentiments of
presidents who have walked the halls there, Hilton said: "I haven't looked
in the mirror since I got here."
http://www.townonline.com/framingham/opinion/x1991074982
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