Vanity Fair: "My Dinners with Dubya" ....Friend of Bush Daughter Reveals All!

[KoKo]

his Yale Degree, his broken down car...and how he shared movies and dinners with the President of the USA...Dog Farts, Chicken Pie, Tours through the WH...and many nights alone with Bush...watching movies..the first one with a "joint" in his pocket.



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My Dinners with Dubya
When a college drinking buddy invited C. Brian Smith to hang out with her parents, he tried not to sweat the fact that they lived in the White House. He even had fun—until 9/11 made watching bad movies with the president feel like a guilty pleasure America couldn’t afford.

by C. Brian Smith WEB EXCLUSIVE January 13, 2009

It’s June 2001. I’m 22 years old and have been sitting at the intersection of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., for 15 minutes. It’s raining, hard. I’m in the first car I’ve ever owned, a navy-blue Jeep Cherokee with more than 200,000 miles on it. There’s less than a quarter tank of gas left and it needs to last until Friday, because my entire net worth is rattling around the sticky change holder next to the emergency brake.

Yesterday the tailgate window mysteriously dislodged itself, and through the rearview mirror I notice rain pouring inside—proof that duct tape can’t solve everything.

I can also hear the front fender rocking back and forth in the back seat. I’ve intended to fix it ever since someone found it on Christmas morning near the 18th green at a country club in Connecticut. I have also intended to cure myself of a propensity for driving my car into stationary objects while intoxicated.

The dashboard clock clicks from 5:58 to 5:59, which means it’s actually 5:46, which means it’s time to leave the intersection of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. I take a deep breath, flick my cigarette out into the rain, and turn left. Toward the east entrance of the White House.

Last month I graduated from Yale and moved to Washington, D.C., to start a band with my best friend, Jeff. Other than Jeff, the only person I know in this city is Barbara Bush, daughter of George W. and Laura Bush. As it turns out, I’m one of the few people Barbara knows here, since her family recently relocated from Austin, Texas, after her father was elected the president of the United States of America.

Barbara and I met about a year ago at a party in my apartment in New Haven. We had a similar fondness for drinking alcohol and eating Kit-Kats and quickly became friends. We also both enjoyed watching Ally McBeal, which saved me the trouble of telling her I was gay.

More of a very interesting read, "Movies With Bush," here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/01/dubya-and-me200901

[tabatha]

1. Wow.

He writes extremely well.

A not unexpected portrait of GWB.

[madmom]

12. That was my first thought too...WOW! I've seen this thread on DU for a while and was

determined I wasn't going to read a puff piece by some lapdog reporter, boy was I surprised!:thumbsup:

[chill_wind]

52. Mine, too.

Pretty sophisticated for 22. If he wants to write for a living, I'm thinking he's off to a impressive start.

[Skink]

2. Wht kind of drinking games did they play?

[Stevenmarc]

19. W's favorite.... Dead Bug

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. Yummy.....

I have my issue right here, and I've been waiting until I did the onerous daily chores before I rewarded myself by diving into its pages. VF is consistently one of the best magazines out there today - politics, the arts, science, fashion, economics, gossip - and really great ads, too.

Thanks for the heads-up.

:yourock:

[targetpractice]

4. Ouch!

That last line made me wince.

[Shardik]

5. Great read! Recommended and suggest folks read the entire article. n/t

[JohnnyLib2]

6. Painfully revealing.

And this is probably the first in a tidal wave of tell-alls.

[blaze]

7. Great read! Thanks! n/t

[renate]

8. many things struck me about that essay

And one thing that seems minor really isn't, I think. Even at casual family dinners, when Bush is finished eating (and he eats quickly), everyone's finished. That, to me, is not normal behavior. It's regal--something from the days of Queen Victoria, whose family also had to put their knives and forks down the moment she was done. But we don't have kings and queens in the United States.

His poor family. Suddenly I have a lot of sympathy for Barbara and even for Jenna.

[AZBlue]

20. Actually, it's still a rule in England.

Once the highest member of the royal family in attendance stops eating, everyone else must stop as well.

I'm guessing, however, that even the Queen herself waives this rule at casual family dinners.

[seabeyond]

21. i eat so slooooow, and family chats while i finish. i can be not even half way thru

before my three guys are done, but we sit and enjoy each other.

i think that is one reason my eating has gotten slower and slower over the years

to see exact opposite is odd.

big joke in my whole family and friends when they come over

[Jazzgirl]

9. Wow.

That was a very well written article and very insightful. It fits everything I ever thought about him. His reaction to 9/11 wasn't much different from his reaction to Katrina or any other disaster. He really doesn't care. The young man wrote a very good article.

[merh]

11. Does it remind you of the article about the night after the 9/11 attacks

when Laura and George laughed themselves to sleep. :(

that's what it reminds me of

[catzies]

33. Yes, and remember he said 2001 was "A fabulous year for Laura & me."

I clearly remember he used "fabulous."

[merh]

10. He went into the White House as a "good boy"

he left it for the last time as a man.

What a tremendous perspective - what a wonderful writer.

:toast: to the god awful truth :toast:

I am so glad that soon the occupants will provide a different perspective, they just have to.

[GardeningGal]

13. Good read - especially the last sentence. n/t

[Spazito]

14. A very interesting read!

There was nothing in it that surprised me regarding bush's behavior, etc, but it does reinforce the picture of him most DUers already have. An immature, boorish, incurious little man.

Thanks for posting this.

Recommended.

[glitch]

15. I truly hope this makes all the people who gave him a pass squirm.

How "charming" is he now, smarmbots?

[Patsy Stone]

16. Send more!

K&R

[JDPriestly]

17. Wonderful article. Interesting detail about Barbara Bush II. Surrounds

herself with gay friends. Both she and Jenna seem surprisingly independent at times. I've always been curious about Barabara (II). She doesn't seem to make the gossip columns as often as her sister, as far as I can tell. Have we ever heard of her having a boyfriend?

[galaxy21]

35. Oh, please let Barbara be gay!

The irony would be terrific!

I've heard the twins have been to at least one gay wedding. Dad wasn't pleased.

[JDPriestly]

18. One question about this article --

I thought that Jenna and Barbara started their first years in college/university in fall 2000. Am I wrong about this? Sounds like this young man had already graduated by that time, or am I miscalculating somehow?

[KoKo]

44. Seems Barbara met this guy "in a bar" ....latched onto him as a Yalie..and

went from there? :shrug: I see no one else answered you...but what does that say? Not many DU'ers, that I've seen have access to "Yale Politics," alumni Associations and "Classmate Blogs" so that the BOND IS SO THICK with LEGACY that you can't cut through it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Harvard and Yale have an "old bodies thingy" that means it's a cult of "SUCCESS/ACCESS." John Kerry, George Bush, Bill & Hillary all had access to "Harvard/Yale" Experience. AND...THEY RUN our COUNTRY...that "place called America."

I don't know if it's a "Good Thing...or a Bad Thing" but I DO KNOW...it "IS WHAT IT IS" and we are going to be dealing with the ELITISTS that OBAMA managed to get into for more decades.

:shrug: Don't know what else to say.

[libnnc]

22. Wow, what an amazing piece

It honestly gave me chills.

K&R :kick:

[fizzgig]

23. that was wonderfully written

[cynthia]

24. Excellent article

a MUST READ! click on the link to read the whole three page article.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

25. Interesting but it left me with a bad taste

The guy was not unwillingly subjected to the Bushes under circumstances he could not control. He went there as a guest a number of times,and was admitted into the most private of settings , under the particular invitation of a daughter who seems to try to keep a low profile.

From the article I learned that:

Bush gives out nicknames ( I already knew that)
Barney farts (although, was it REALLY Barney? a mystery just offhandedly alluded to)
He found Laura charming
The movies were lacking

None of his insights are earth shattering. I'm not sure why he has his big revelation at the end since the facts have always been out there and you would think that a Yale grad might have been able to draw the same conclusion sooner. But he seems like the kind of guy who would go to a celebrity's house for dinner and then surreptitiously clean out their hairbrush and then try to sell the hairball on Ebay.

[KT2000]

27. Context

he is Barbara's friend too, which is what put him in the position to evaluate in a broader perspective.
Life is full of dilemmas like that.

[Hannah Bell]

30. ditto. you don't accept a friend's invitation & then diss her dad. not to other friends,

let alone the whole country.

nice breezy writing, but really poor taste.

[roamer65]

26. Sounds to me like Bu$h had a crush on this guy.

"but before long I’m once again seated next to the president in the White House Movie Theater."

[DeltaLitProf]

28. Something tells me the movie theater in the Obama White House

. . . won't get nearly as much use.

[Hannah Bell]

29. weird. the writer looks like a young gwb.

[progressoid]

31. Another good one from Vanity Fair

They make up for their obsession with celebrity glamour by publishing some good articles.

[tom_paine]

32. That poor, poor man. That's all I can say. To endure close contact with Bushler like that. The

contempt dripping from him. The pat on the cheek, "You're a good boy," (hint, he probably thinks of you as subhuman, subconsciously at the very least, and thus was speaking to you like you would a dog)

This poor man, who through his suffering experiences paints a potrait of a disnconnected Nero, which is about as expected.

Bushler doesn't do the heavy lifting. Uncle Dick and Karl do.

Our nation is a smouldering and punctured safe.

Nero Bushler will give speeches for $1,000,000 a pop.

Uncle Dick and Karl will continue to maneuver things from the shadows, using the usual media-induced fantasiews, even as Obama begins the herculean task of undoing the thousands of things they've done to undermine and de-Bushify the government.

[SammyWinstonJack]

34. Who would pay that much for the poo flinger to repeat 9/11 over and over and over again?

:shrug:

[galaxy21]

36. He does echo what a lot of people say about Bush: he is personally very likable

In a 'aw shucks' type of way. Jon Stewart's guests always seem to bring that up as well.

Bush is a lot like Huckabee: probably nice to talk to (although not neccessarily a nice person) but a complete disaster as president. Or in Huckabee's case, would be.

These guys are meant to be soccer coaches not president.

[sweetpotato]

38. And Ted Bundy was a charmer, too.

The author of the bio about Bundy worked with him on a suicide hotline and thought he was the nicest young man.

Its part of the pathology to be *charming* but there really are no real friendly feelings that go along with it. One is merely basking in the reflected glow of the narcissist.

[NJCher]

41. yes, that's true

To get by in life, they learn to mimic emotions.

They learn to be "likable" as a tool to get what they want.

When people say george bush is "likable," what they are really commenting on is his skill at being a sociopath.



Cher

[Mnemosyne]

47. Almost twins.

[Mnemosyne]

46. .

[CrazyLate]

40. Ever see that skit on SNL with Joe Montana?

Where the two SNL stars would say something nice, and then a voice over with their insidious thoughts would happen? And then Joe would say something, and the voice over with the words he just said would happen?

Bush is Joe. I don't think Bush has the intellect for subterfuge. That's the Cheney/Rove game.

[helderheid]

37. rec 33

[Poll_Blind]

39. That was fascinating- thank you for posting it!

PB

[lumberjack_jeff]

42. Fascinating. Thank you for that. K&R

[KoKo]

43. it's hard to know what to make of it...but the writer does have a "breezy style"

that's "catchy." :shrug:

[PM Martin]

45. revealing.

[Political_Junkie]

48. Powerful stuff! n/t

[Canuckistanian]

49. The man seems to know his history

He seemed to be awestruck with seeing the various parts of the White House and recounting their role in history.

Too bad that such an amoral asshat had to occupy it for 8 years.

[proud2BlibKansan]

50. Amazing

Great read.

[Auggie]

51. Verrrrrry interesting...

[kestrel91316]

53. Nothing in that piece surprises me in the least. And yes, there is a writer

with a bright future.

[KoKo]

54. Still...his "breezy writing style" (as one DU'er put it) does leave some room

to wonder. :shrug:

[shadowknows69]

55. Here cometh the flood

Of "Tell-all" books. I won't spend a dime on one of them.

[UTUSN]

56. Too late for another Andrew SULLIVAN Shrub-supporter-past n/t