Thinking About Harry Taylor

By now, everyone has seen the video of Harry Taylor scolding the worst president ever.

My reaction to the video is more about Bush's reaction than Taylor's words. I mean, Taylor seems like a pretty standard "Bush hater," a term that applies to many, with pride. But watch Bush in the video. He seems bound and determined--hell, resolute, to stare this guy down, so to speak. He even does a little "Al Gore" move, walking toward the speaker to close the distance. He mocks the guy with his "not your favorite guy" crack. Bush gets credit from some corners--not here--for telling the crowd that they should let Taylor finish. But the point of Bush's reaction is a pseudo-tough guy, "go ahead and dish it out, I can take anything you want to say to me, little man," reaction. It's the reaction of a bully.

But the reaction of a nervous bully. He squirms, he shifts around, he tried to shield his eyes from the lights.

So instead of Clint Eastwood, we get what we usually get with Bush: a guy acting tough, trying to keep it cool, while visibly behind the facade, the desperation that his audience is accepting the facade. Taylor demonstrated that when Bush's audience rejects the facade as bluster, Bush really loses it.