[Newspoetry] Aznar and Bush Swap Lies

[Newton Bigelow]

Good afternoon newspoets,

I didn't write this, but I thought it instructive:

Spanish Leader Tells Bush Tall Tale 

By DANIEL WOOLLS 
Associated Press Writer 

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MADRID, Spain (AP) — They were just a couple of guys sitting on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, bragging about their athletic prowess. 
Except these two guys were President Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, and Aznar apparently told a Texas-sized tall tale about his fleetness of foot. Now, his political opposition and the press have taken the satirical baton and run with it. 
The couch conference occurred Saturday while Bush and Aznar were attending the G-8 summit in Canada — Bush because the United States is a member, Aznar as a representative of the European Union of which he held the rotating presidency. Spain is not a G-8 member. 
Spanish newspapers have run photographs of rest breaks at the summit, and in one of them Aznar and Bush are sitting on a sofa with their feet propped up on a coffee table. The leaders of France, Germany and Japan are with them, although their feet firmly on the ground. 
To hear Aznar tell it, he and Bush engaged in a bit of Texas-style braggadocio. 
``First, Bush puts his feet up on the table, turns to me and says, 'I can run four kilometers (about 2.5 miles) in 6 minutes and 45 seconds,''' Aznar said Thursday at the presentation of a book written by his personal trainer, the newspaper El Mundo reported. 
``So I raise my feet, put them on the table as well, turn and answer: 'Well, I do 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in 5 minutes and 20 seconds.''' 
``This is the first time we have beat the United States at something.'' 
One problem, though: the speed claimed by the 49-year-old Aznar would be about five times faster than the world record for 10,000 meters and would equal 73 mph. 
Aznar's office said Friday the prime minister had misspoken. What he meant to say was he ran 10 kilometers a day at 5 minutes, 20 seconds per kilometer, the Moncloa Palace said. 
Similarly, Aznar meant to quote Bush as saying he ran four kilometers a day at 6 minutes, 45 seconds each. Aznar's original report had Bush running at a 23 mph pace. 
Spain's opposition party and political cartoonists feasted on the gaff. 
Socialist lawmaker Carmen Chacon said Aznar must have been timed by the same aides who counted heads at a general strike last month. 
At the time, unions said 84 percent of Spain's workers took part. The government said 17 percent. 
El Mundo also ran a Friday vignette of Aznar, who says he will not seek re-election in 2004, picking a successor by seeing which party heavyweight looks best slouched back in a couch, smoking a cigar with his feet on a coffee table. 


As you can see, the US isn't the only place where the leadership has something less than a firm grasp on the facts.

Best regards,

Newton

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