Rolling Stone moves Bush

You know, it's hard out here for the Prez. George Bush is moulting into lame-duck status faster than any second-term president in modern times. But if you're looking for a sign of just how bad it's gotten for President Bush, you can pretty much skip the nonstop plummeting polls from AP-Ipsos and Pew, Washington Post and ABC News and all the rest. The administration isn't reading them and, in all probability, neither are you.

Just file this item in the back of your mind: Mick Jagger, lead singer of the You Know Whos, refused to roll over and accede to a request from the President of the United States.

Turns out that the president will attend a summit meeting in Vienna, in June, a meeting for which the president's aides tried to secure the Royal Suite at the luxury Imperial Hotel. Turns out two that Jagger, whose little band will be playing in Vienna the same month, already reserved for a tidy $6,500 (£3,600) a night.

Apparently, entreaties from the White House were rejected. A source close to Jagger: “White House officials had wanted to reserve the suite and all the other rooms on the first floor. ... Bush’s people seemed to be under the impression that they would just hand over the suites but there was no way Mick was going to do that.”


You might think being president hasn't got the clout it used to have. But remember, Mick's been an outspoken critic of this war (check out "Sweet Neocon" on "A Bigger Bang") and the last one in the Gulf ("Highwire" on the "Flashpoint" collection). But frankly, all that aside: When what's at stake is said to be among the best 100 hotel rooms in the world, first-come-first-served is Law. And there's just a natural ... rightness about it. If anyone on this planet knows a thing or two about hotel rooms, it's Mick Jagger.

Not to worry for the Prez; rest assured he will not represent the United States squirreled up in an Austrian dive on the edge of town; Vienna is a city of grand historic architecture, a beneficiary of six hundred years of the Habsburg dynasty. Some of that architecture is evident in hotels -- places no doubt eager to accommodate the commander-in-chief.

But sorry, Dubya -- a man of wealth and taste nailed down the Imperial Hotel Royal Suite in June.

"Can't get no"?

Oh, yes you can. Just ask Mick.
-----
Image credit: KF (Public domain), through Wikipedia

Comments

Popular Posts