The man who came to dinner – screwing up traffic, causing infuriating delays, and further metastasizing the unconscionable mess he’s making everywhere

So I was on the Madison Avenue bus on my way home last night and nothing, nothing, nothing whatsoever was moving faster than two miles an hour. Despite noise ordinances, it was Honk-Yer - #@!!**! - Horn-City. There was a traffic jam ahead as far as the eye could see.

After a while I looked out of the window. Ah hah!

There were vastly too many brand new, black SUV’s parked in no-parking zones. And lots of big guys, in dark suits, with identical funny lapel pins, were standing around, shifting from foot to foot, trying to look inconspicuous. If they were carrying huge Dayglo signs saying “Cop” it couldn’t have been more obvious.

George Bush was in town.

Part of the reason for the President coming to New York was to visit the UN, a legitimate Presidential function. Another part was to lay a wreath on the 9/11 site, which was either a legitimate show of concern, or a crass political act by a politician in deep political doo-doo, depending on your degree of cynicism.

But streets were blocked off into the low East 70’s, while the UN is in the East 40s and Ground Zero is so far downtown that the streets there aren’t even numbered. So what was going on?

Turns out, some rich contributor had invited George to dinner on the Upper East Side. When a rich contributor not only forks over bundles of cash but also feeds the president, you can bet he wants some special dispensation that you and I couldn’t even afford to think about.

But why should the people of New York, who were stiffed after 9/11 and continue to get stiffed by George Bush, have to pay for his security when he visits New York to raise money for himself and his political cronies? Why don't we tell him to provide his own security at his own expense, and not to block traffic or we'll ticket every Secret Service vehicle in town?

I’ve already had a few things to say about this. See "Security detail? We don't got no stinking security detail" at
http://thenewyorkcrank.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_
thenewyorkcrank_archive.html

I wonder if Michael Bloomberg, who’s reportedly is toying with the idea of a Presidential run on the Republican ticket, enjoys shafting the citizens who voted for him by delaying us from getting home so Bush can raise money to use against our interests?

Is this Bloomberg’s way of sucking up to George? Was Bloomberg perhaps a co-host of this toadying dinner? I have no idea. Full and frank disclosure is not part of the MO of either of these politicians, so your guess is as good as mine. But I welcome your guess anyway, if it's printable.