Re; Dove feathers in the President's mouth etc

[Paul Nightingale]

I think what I was getting at was precisely Bush's image as a cowboy with no
class as seen by the Eastern establishment. As a colonial (we're no longer
even the 51st state) I have an outsider's perception of the north-south
divide in the US. Bush reminds me a little of the kind of guy Johnny Dowd
sings about, working-class no-hopers for whom casual violence is the norm.
You can keep your handgun, but check the American Dream at the door. There
has to be a reason why Bush kept the image consultants at bay, or hired a
different set of image consultants altogether. Fom the 60s on, the Hollywood
Western became more critical of 'the past'; it was part of Reagan's job to
restore the traditional image sullied by Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid or
Heavan's Gate, or the liberal culture such films represented; and Bush has
simply carried on the same job. On one level he must be reassuring because
he manages to suggest, somehow, that the 60s and 70s didn't happen.

If I return briefly to John Prescott, it's to note the way working-class
language/accents operate in Britain. They're okay in their place; lots of
'educated' (= been to university, or even Oxbridge, which doesn't mean
intelligent by any means) people either keep or rediscover a working-class
accent because it signifies some kind of home-based authenticity, a sense of
place. Television personalities like Michael Parkinson are professional
northerners: Parky, as he likes to be known, interviews celebrities and
always, without fail, asks them about their ordinary upbringing (I can't
wait to see Bush on the show). This cuddly working-class image equates with
Bush's Texan appeal. However, such accents are ridiculed when the speaker
somehow threatens the established order (Prescott's nickname at Westminster
is 'Two-Cars' - it's a longish and pointless story). So how does Bush
threaten the establishment?