I lierally had to wait until I was finished laughing to start this post. The headline at the wingnut propaganda outlet Washington Free Beacon — “Greatest Living President is Also Fantastic Painter” — was just so over the top that you wonder if the writer got his start writing for the North Korean government. No really, they are absolutely serious.
In writing about self-portaits done by Dubya and revealed by hacked email, a post credited to the entire Beacon staff swoons:
The paintings demonstrate a command of line and color that is rarely seen in the modern-day “art” world. Former President George W. Bush appears to be influenced by such painters as Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet. The portraits also clearly capture the personality of their subject.
I don’t want to get too down on Bush’s art, since he’s not the one who put them out there. But no. Not at all. They are not Degas and Manet. They’re the work of an older guy trying to figure out if painting’s a fun way to while away the hours of retirement.
The Bacon also reminds us that “Winston Churchill also painted.” Which I guess means that Bush is like Churchill kinda if you squint.
I don’t have a lot more to say about this, other than to point out that there are a lot of people on the right who’ll eat this crap up, just like they consume all rightwing propaganda completely uncritically. If you can take Fox & Friends seriously, you can take anything seriously. This is a glimpse of the world they live in. It’d be a little sad, if it weren’t so hilariously stupid.
