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| ierxium |
Spain's king has message for Bush
By Scott Lindlaw
The Associated Press
CRAWFORD, Texas — Spain's king brought President Bush a message of goodwill yesterday from Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, whose vocal opposition to the Iraq war has chilled U.S.-Spanish relations.
Zapatero, the head of the Spanish government, has written and called Bush to congratulate him on his re-election, but he can't get past the White House switchboard. Bush sent him a note earlier this month thanking him.
By contrast, King Juan Carlos, who holds no political power, was flown to Bush's ranch aboard a Marine Corps helicopter bearing the U.S. presidential seal. The king was accompanied by his wife, Queen Sofia, for the one-hour, 20-minute stay.
Bush drove his white pickup to the landing site, accompanied by his wife, Laura, and his father, former President George H.W. Bush. After a handshake and a pose for pictures, Bush held the pickup's passenger door open for the king, who rode shotgun during a tour of the 1,600-acre ranch, with the wives in the back seats.
Asked what signal he intended to send by welcoming the king, Bush replied, "Spain is a great country and good friend."
Later they sat down for a lunch of turkey, bass, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.
The president has spoken recently of building new bridges to Europe to ease the tensions over the Iraq war, and he plans an outreach tour of the continent in February. But he has made no move to patch up the rift with Zapatero, who angered the administration by withdrawing troops from Iraq after taking office in April.
Bush recently welcomed his predecessor, José María Aznar, to the White House. Aznar was a chief Bush ally in the Iraq war.
Zapatero's office said the king went to Crawford bearing a message from Zapatero. Officials in Spain did not reveal its contents, and White House officials declined to comment.
>>source
80 minutes with Bush! That was a long stay by the King of Spain. I wonder why Bush kicked him out of his house so quickly. It's known Spain doesn't like Bush, generally speaking, I mean many wanted Kerry to win the election. And I know Bush is not happy about Zapatero pulling his men out of war when he took office. I wonder what the king told Bush in the name of Zapatero. But 80 minutes, that can't be good.
King Juan Carlos already met with Zapatero. But it's not known what they talked about either. Why the secrecy? Maybe they just talked about Laura's bad cooking. And that is why the king Juan left. Who knows.
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| PhloTron |
Most political visits are short like this, unless their is a full blown summit or "scheduled" meetings...those are on average a business day venture.
I'm guessing the intended message was delivered (short sweet to the point), and that the rest of the time was spent on tour and eating lunch...I don't see why it needed to be any longer...These types of meetings go on all the time and last between 10 minutes and a couple hours between all nations (not just the US). I don't think any of us realistically believe they needed to have a slumber party or anything. Then again, I know the way some people think. :p:thepirate |
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| ierxium |
| quote: | Originally posted by PhloTron
Most political visits are short like this, unless their is a full blown summit or "scheduled" meetings...those are on average a business day venture.
I'm guessing the intended message was delivered (short sweet to the point), and that the rest of the time was spent on tour and eating lunch...I don't see why it needed to be any longer...These types of meetings go on all the time and last between 10 minutes and a couple hours between all nations (not just the US). I don't think any of us realistically believe they needed to have a slumber party or anything. Then again, I know the way some people think. :p:thepirate |
I still think it had something to do with Laura's cooking.
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| töbias |
| Thats pretty poor treatment, Australia's Prime Minister John Howard at least gets a blow job when he visits Georgey Bush. |
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