See? He doesn't have horns and a tail after all!
Real Bush 'At Odds with Media Caricature'
By Chris Moncrieff, PA News "The Scotsman"
US President George Bush is “totally at odds” with his media image, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said today.
Mr Campbell, an opponent of the war with Iraq, spoke out on the ePolitix website about his discussions with the President during the state visit.
He said that they discussed directly issues such as Iraq, the Middle East, Guantanamo Bay, Kyoto and trade sanctions.
“He is personally extremely engaging. He has a well-developed sense of humour, is self-deprecating and when he engages in a discussion with you he is warm and concentrates directly on you.
“He looks you straight in the eye and tells you exactly what he thinks.”
Mr Campbell, stressing that the President was “totally at odds” with his media image, went on: “I was not persuaded by what he said, but I was most certainly surprised at the extent to which the caricature of him was inaccurate.”
He believed that the President’s talks with him and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy was the only time during the visit that Mr Bush actually encountered major criticism.
“I suspect we were the only group of politicians in Britain that he met who were challenging his political views.
“He met the Cabinet, Michael Howard and Michael Ancram (shadow foreign secretary).
“I think the Liberal Democrats proved to be a stimulating alternative.”
Mr Campbell said that both Mr Bush and Tony Blair obviously shared very strong views about how to deal with the issue of terrorism.
“My anxiety is that there is too much evangelism in their approach,” he said.
“I think the Prime Minister and the President, although neither of them used the word, nonetheless gave the impression of being on something of a crusade. It is a word that causes great offence in the Middle East.
“You have to be very careful about language in these things. Otherwise it is too easy for the supporters of terrorism to present these things as if it were a Christian West against a Muslim East.”
Mr Campbell doubted whether the visit had been of any real value to the Prime Minister.
“The visit was worthwhile to President Bush. He got the desirable news pictures of himself with the Queen and Mr Blair.
“But if you do a profit and loss account from the view of Number 10 Downing Street, they would be hard pushed to say they were in the black.”
Asked whether he thought the President had been under siege, Mr Campbell said: “When President Clinton came to visit Britain, the problem was keeping the President away from the crowds.
“This time round, the problem has been keeping the crowds away from the President.”
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