The Palin Phone Call Prank

An Associated Press article came out yesterday, with a transcript of much of the prank phone call to Sarah Palin from a Quebec radio station's "President Nicolas Sarkozy of France." Jump here to read the article. It's pretty good.

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"Palin praises Sarkozy throughout the call and also mentions his wife, Carla, a model-turned-songwriter.

"You know, I look forward to working with you and getting to meet you personally and your beautiful wife," Palin says. "Oh my goodness, you've added a lot of energy to your country with that beautiful family of
yours."

The Sarkozy impersonator tells Palin his wife is "so hot in bed" and then informs her that Bruni has written a song for her about Joe the Plumber entitled "Du rouge à lèvres sur une cochonne" - which translates as "lipstick on a pig."

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Poem: a pod of sea lions

I hear a pod of sea lions barking
Down the hill at Golden Gardens
And I wonder what brings them in tonight.

Is it a run of chum or tuna
Sneaking through Puget Sound,
And the glutted sea lions

Crawl on the sand and rocks
To take a break between feeding?
Is a cranky fisherman

In a smoke-belching motor ketch on Elliott Bay
Taking pot shots at the bandits
For eating fish he thinks are rightfully his?

Or did they just stop for the night
En route From Vancouver Island
And discover a banquet all around them?
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POTUS 38 - President Gerald R. Ford: "Pardon me!"

Click to enlarge. A picture I have always found kind of moving. I believe it was taken at the Clinton Library opening. It captures the essence of both these Presidents. Ford had to be 90 years old when this was taken.


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President Gerald R. Ford was another short-time President, serving the remainder of President Nixon's term when he was run from office in disgrace. He was the first person appointed as vice-president under the terms of the 25th Amendment, and became President upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974.

Gerald Ford is also the first President I ever saw in person. He came to Swedish Hospital/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, where I was an orderly. The next day in San Francisco, the first assassination attempt on him occurred.

Ford was the fifth POTUS never to have been elected to the position, and the only one who won any national election. He was also the longest-lived president in U.S. history, until he died at the age of 93, less than two years ago.

When Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned following a scandal (well, actually, charges of money laundry and tax evasion), Ford was vaulted from Congress into the Vice-presidency, and soon, the Oval Office itself. He was Vice President less than a year in the Watergate-scandal rocked White House. In his short time as President, he was the victim of two assassination attempts. Interestingly, Ford was also a member of the Warren Commission that investigated the JFK assassination. Not only was he a member, but he also leaked information to the FBI of the internal workings of the Commission.

There are many reasons why he lost the '76 election to POTUS 39, James Earl Carter; chief among them was the divisive pardon he granted to the former president for all crimes and misdemeanors committed while he was in office.

My favorite photo of Gerald Ford was taken the night he lost the election to Jimmy Carter. He was in the White House with his good friend Joe Garagiola, who is clearly anguished, while Ford looks almost sanguine.


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See also: "Gerald Ford heads of for the nineteenth hole" on All This Is That.
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POTUS 36 - President Lyndon B. Johnson, originator of The Johnson Treatment

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I've written many times about Lyndon Johnson, the civil rights hero, and Lyndon Johnson, the paranoid and bellicose monster. When I did my series on Heroes And Villains, I considered using a picture of him as both the hero and the villain. I don't subscribe to the theory he was one of the JFK assassination conspirators (if there was indeed a conspiracy to begin with).

LBJ had a unique style of coercion and persuasion. It is known as the Johnson Treatment. Check out this link for dozens of photos and stories on The Treatment:

Some of my favorite political books have been Lyndon Johnson biographies and studies. Recently, the movie Fog of War was an fascinating rehash of LBJ, the unwitting inheritor of an unwinnable (as he seemed to know from the get-go) war.

If you get a chance, the LBJ museum in Austin, TX, is worth an afternoon visit.

If you want to hear an audio tape of LBJ in action jump here.

Earlier articles on LBJ appearing on All This Is That:

The Johnson Treatment
LBJ and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King meet up
LBJ howls like a dog
Another good LBJ photo
And another. . .
One of the heroes and villains paintings
LBJ In A Characteristic Pose
Running Mates: Senators Lyndon Johnson And JFK
The Johnson Treatment, Part 6: The Hump and Senator Russell get the treatment
The Johnson Treatment, Part 5: Senator Richard Russell (Dem., Georgia) Undergoes The Treatment
The Johnson Treatment, Part 4: President Johnson Gives The Treatment To Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas
The Johnson Treatment, Part 3: LBJ Gives Eartha Kitt The Treatment
The Johnson Treatment, Part 2: Richard M. Nixon, Republican Presidential Front-runner Gets The Treatment
He's Not Close Enough To Give Him The Johnson Treatment, But LBJ Appears To Be Answering A Pointed Question From Dan Rather
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POTUS 37 - President Richard M. Nixon, or, Tricky Dick And The Comedy Of Errors

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When I lived in NYC, we used to visit The Ex-President's house (All This Is That, December 8, 2004).

President Nixon was actually the last of the liberal Republican presidents--social spending was at an all-time high under The Nixon Administration. The country, however, seemed to visibly crumble under the domestic spying, break-ins, misinformation campaigns, Kent State, prosecution of the Chicago 7, massive anti-war demonstrations, the bombing of Cambodia, hardhats and Hell's Angels attacking peace marchers. . .and all the other outrages committed and encouraged by Nixon's henchmen, a band of misanthropic thugs. President Nixon's long smoldering resentments, doubts about his own self-worth, and his paranoia about The Kennedys would eventually sink his presidency.

The war against North Vietnam raged on with increased troop levels, saturation bombing, napalm napalm napalm, and massive body counts. The body count became a feature of every nightly news broadcast. On the plus side of the ledger, President Nixon reached out to both Russia and China, and set the stage for the later upheavals in Russia, up to and including the fall of communism. He opened China up to diplomacy and trade and sat with Mao Zedong.

After resigning in disgrace in August, 1974, Nixon hid out in California a couple of years, and then moved to NYC. He went on to write numerous books on foreign policy, and unofficially (with no public fanfare) advise every President until the day he died.

If you want a fascinating read on Richard Nixon, check out Chris Matthew's book Kennedy And Nixon. I've read many books about Richard Nixon, and I probably enjoyed this one the most. But the Watergate Transcripts, and the Woodward Bernstein books are also excellent, as is the great Hunter Thompson book, Fear and Loathing On The Campaign Trail 1972.
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Assemblage: The Anti-Rushmore: Presidents Eisenhower, Coolidge, Nixon, Taft, and Johnson

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POTUS 35 - President John F. "Jack" Kennedy: Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye

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President John F. "Jack" Kennedy was only President for 1,000 days. He got into two hairy situations with Cuba. He was another President who liked to party, and despite having a good looking, intelligent wife, he had numerous girlfriends, including Judith Exner, Angie Dickinson, and Marilyn Monroe.



JFK was killed under still mysterious circumstances in November, 1963. Five years later, his brother (Attorney General, and for all intents and purposes Chief of Staff, Chief Domestic and Foreign Policy Advisor, and Secretary of Defense and State), Bobby underwent an incredible transformation, and would surely have been elected President in 1968, had he, too, not been murdered by a deranged assassin. His younger brother Teddy made a couple of runs at the White House, but never got the traction he needed, and went on to become one of the longest-serving Senators of all time.
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POTUS 34 - President Dwight D.Eisenhower

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Ike was essentially the CEO of World War II. He rose from being a mere Lieutenant Colonel in 1941 to a five-star general in 1945. As supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, he commanded the most powerful army, navy, and air force ever assembled on this great green sphere. He commanded the assault on Nazi-occupied France that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany. In peacetime he commanded the NATO forces. He ran for President, and stomped Adlai Stevenson. Twice.

He was unable to duplicate his battlefield victories in the oval office. Ike had a congressional majority for only two years of his presidency, and truth be told, not a lot was accomplished in those eight years. Ike, in particular, turned his back on the great racial divide that would soon fracture the country once again.

There is a large body of scholarship and innuendo to suggest that President Eisenhower, like many of his presidential brethren, catted around and around and around on his wife, Mamie. Kay Summersby, his British driver, is often mentioned as the booty call.

He was succeeded as President by Jack Kennedy in 1961 (not averse to a little catting around himself), who narrowly beat Richard M. Nixon, Ike's barely tolerated Vice-President.
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Paintings of Dean Ericksen and Mary Curran

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POTUS 33 - President Harry S. Truman

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Harry Truman did not want to be vice president, and he didn't have to be for long. He was VPOTUS 83 days before FDR died in his fourth term of office.

He hoped to play the piano for a living, but opened a haberdashery with a fellow army buddy that went bust. Harry refused to declare bankruptcy and worked his entire life to pay the debts from the business. He got into politics.

In his bid for re-election in 1948, he was dubbed the loser to Thomas Dewey as newspaper headlines read DEWEY WINS when in fact Truman was the winner. You've seen the famous photograph of Harry holding the 'paper declaring Dewey the winner.

When bad reviews appeared in the press following his daughter Margaret's singing debut in NYC, he threatened to punch the reviewer in the nose.


click to enlarge. This photo with Lauren Bacall got Harry
into hot water with Bess. I can see why.

The President never removed his suit jacket while working in the Oval Office. Harry was not a shirt-sleeve guy.

When Japan refused to surrender in World War II, he made the decision to drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two cities devoted to war work. He may have ended the war, but he let the genie out of the bottle, and we've never been able to put the genie back.

In June 1950, when the Communist government of North Korea attacked South Korea, Truman again went to war: "There was no suggestion from anyone that either the United Nations or the United States could back away from it." A brutal struggle ensued as U.N. forces held a line above the old border of South Korea. Truman kept the war a limited one, and avoided engaging either China or Russia.

He retired in early 1953, succeeded by President Eisenhower.
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Poem: What color is water?

Water comes in many colors

Because of the items suspended

In the water.

Water absorbs red and green

And reflects back the blue

When the water is pure.

Puget Sound is green

Because the water is alive

With thousands of critters.

The Aegean is blue

Because it's not so alive.

Now you're thinking "this is hokum,"

"What about this glass of water

In my hand?

It is crystal-clear and it sparkles."

It does look clear.

But if you made that glass

Of water as large

As the Empire State Building,

It would be dark blue.

If you don't believe me, try it.

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POTUS 32: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt - The Man In The Wheelchair Who Lifted The Country On His Shoulders; The Only POTUS To Win Four Terms

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FDR admired his distant cousin Teddy Roosevelt, and set out to emulate him (but as a Democrat!). He was in the New York Senate, and was an assistant Navy Secretary under President Wilson. He was the democratic candidate for VPOTUS in 1920.

In 1921, he was stricken with polio. He fought to regain the use of his legs and at the 1924 Democratic Convention he dramatically appeared on crutches to nominate Alfred E. Smith as "the Happy Warrior." In 1928 Roosevelt was elected Governor of New York. The crutches were used mainly for photo ops and he was confined to his wheelchair.

FDR became President in 1932, succeeding Herbert Hoover. He helped the American people regain faith. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and in the very pit of the depression, told America in his Inaugural Address:

"The only thing we have to fear is fear
itself. "

Two years into his first term as President, the Nation began a slow recovery. But the fat cats turned against Roosevelt's New Deal. They feared his social experiments, and his removing the nation from the gold standard. And they feared the deficits he was running up (which Republicans now pile up at the greatest rate ever).

Roosevelt's response to the fat cats: a new program of reform: Social Security, heavier taxes on the wealthy, new controls over banks and public utilities, and an enormous work relief program for the unemployed.

In 1936 (and in 1940 and in 1944) he was re-elected by huge margins. And he blew it for a bit. Sure that his mandate in '36 gave him carte blanche, he sought to pack the Supreme Court (which had invalidated numerous New Deal programs) by increasing the number of justices (all of whom would be his nominees). He lost that battle, but now the government itself could and did regulate the economy.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt led us into a global war and worked closely with England and Russia and their leaders Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin to take out the Axis.

President Roosevelt felt the future of the world depended on relations between the Americans and Russians, and he devoted much thought to the planning of a United Nations organization.

As war drew to a close, Roosevelt's health declined, and on April 12, 1945, while at Warm Springs, Georgia, he died of a brain hemorrhage, reportedly while he was hanging out with his girlfriend.
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