I am geting a bit queezy posting this but it may be of interest for some of you to know that it is 8:00am on Tuesday,June 12th and Sr. "Jorge Arbusto" (George Bush) is about to land (crash?) at a military airport in the south of Madrid. While here he will meet the King and Queen (Juan Carlos I and Reina Sofia) and the President of Spain (Jos� Mar�a "Chemazo" Aznar). Bush has brought along with him no less than 800 of his closest "amigos" and employees as well as a few of his own limousines and has rented out over 100 rooms in the Plaza Hotel here in Madrid (the most luxurious of course!). Am I the only one who thinks this is a bit overboard? Stop the world, I'm getting off!
jer...
p.s. by the way, NO I won't be covering the visit on multimadrid.

Not being a huge fan of our prez the Shrub, I am not at all surprised by the entourage of 800 of those who are. I refer to him as our "selected" rather than "elected" president... It's embarrassing to have him bragging about being a "C" student at Yale!
We need some dignity at the helm---even Mr. Rhodes scholar Bill Clinton had zipper problems! It makes us look stupid as a nation! Hope Bush doesn't try his bad Spanish out on the royalty....

Tell me more about the Spanish president. I get the Chema part, but any time I see "-zo"
on the end of a word, I wonder about what it adds. Reckon there's a book of just prefixes and suffixes out there? I know the basic diminutives and the -uelo/a. How about a nice little lesson in the language area?

Hi Sue and al interested in the Spanish language and it's "ito", "ete", "iko" etc. suffixes. I have continued this post in the Spanish Language Help forum, so JUST CLICK HERE TO GO TO IT!.
jer...

Sue- I can't believe you talk about dignity then wax nostalgic about our perjerous and philandering ex-pres!

Anyway- the 'excessive' entourage is really not out of the ordinary for a US pres. on a multi-nation trip. The Pres. has custom made bomb-proof limosines, too (considering the number of bombs that go off in Madrid these days, not a bad idea). Remember, this isn't just a trip to Sapin, its a NATO and EU summit, as well as a first meeting with Russian Priemer Vlad Putin, so having alot of staff along is important.

And I don't expect our President to wash dishes at a hostel for his room and board. The plaza is fine by me.

Hi Kurt, seems we have Baby Bush fan in ya huh? I beg to differ with you on this one. I do agree that the limo was perhaps a neccessary expense but he also brought along 5, YES 5 of the finest US Military hellicopters. So far he has used them only once, to transport him and "Laurita" from Madrid to Toledo and back after lunching there with Pres. Aznar who Bush so eloquently calls "Presidente Anzo". Is the name "Aznar" really that hard to pronounce? I guess it is when you have your foot perpetually in your mouth! Would the 1 hour car drive from Madrid to Toledo have killed him? And why 5 hellicopters? All a show of Military might if you ask me and up to par for Baby Bush! I agree that the staff is neccesary for such an important trip but there were no less than 1,200 security agents (American and Spanish combined) protecting Bushy and Aznar, give me a break! One last note, the Palace Hotel would have pleased me or any other normal human being (even a self respecting Head of State) but guess where the arrogant little "miedica" (scardycat) slept on his 1 night in Madrid? THE F#@%ING AMERICAN EMBASSY!!! That's right you read correctly, woused out and was afraid to sleep at the Palace on his 4 floors surrounded by his 600+ secret service agents. Retort possible here in his defense?
jer...

Kurt! I did not "wax nostalgic"! I was lamenting that Bill messed up!

Jer! You gotta be kidding! If our image in the EU isn't "world bully" by now....FIVE helicopters???? Those are my tax dollars out there!

Dubyah didn't do his homework(again) I can't believe he mispronounced Aznar's name! I wouldn't have been surprised if he had said
"Ass-nahr" instead of "Ahth-nahr", but good grief!!

I shake my head in dismay.

I used to work in downtown Chicago, at the top of one of the higher skyscrapers in town. I could see for miles and miles out west towards O'Hare airport. When Pres. Clinton came to town for fund-raisers for the DNC (which was literally every other month), Air Force One would fly into O'Hare, and then the Prez and his entourage would fly into Meigs Field ( a small, commuter-style airport on Lake Michigan, right next to downtown) in no less than a half-dozen helicopters. I would watch them fly in over downtown like it was a scene from 'Apocolypse Now'! Either that, or he would block off the whole of the Kennedy Expressway all the way into town for his fourty-car motorcade. And all this for mere domestic fund-raising trips.I'm not making this up.

My point is that this is the way Presidents have become accustomed to travelling, and personal attacks on Bush for it are uncalled for, no matter what your political affiliation. As for him being "scared" to sleep at the hotel, I am absolutely certain that decision was made by the Secret Service security team.

And Sue, I realize I misread your post. My apologies for the misunderstanding and I hope no offense was taken.

Now lets talk about something Spanish again!

From the sound of things, it would appear that the old saying "safety in numbers" was taken to extremes in both cases. Or, could it be that, several presidents have been asassinated in the last century, had something to do with it? Anyway on a lighter note, I wish I could have stayed at the Palace Hotel, I would have loved to have been greeted by that nice chap in his top hat and tails.

Hi Kurt and all, you are soooo right, we have definitely gone astray in our posts. Back to what is important, SPAIN! I should make a no politics rule fotr this board!
Saludos,
jer..

Oh, I wouldn't go that far, Jer. Politics is always an interesting conversation point. And its something we all deal with everyday, in some form or another, whether we're sitting in a skyscrapper, gazing out the window in overcast Chicago or gazing out the window over sunny Plaza Mayor. I think you know my feelings as to whose got the better deal here, Jer!

Ok, Kurt. I used to live in suburban Long Island before I made the jump to Madrid. Sometimes I look out my balcony window over the Plaza and all it's glory and miss the view from my old semi basement apartment in NY (which also costs more than what we pay here for rent) . I have only been to Chicago once, on the way to ski country in Colorado and I never made it out of the bus station but I'm sure the views from your skyscraper are semi cool as well.
Saludos,
jer...
p.s. You are right about the politics being "importante", just joking about outlawing it as a topic on the board