Huh, talking about reputation preceding someone - this story just showed up on our newswires from the UK:
In reply to:
A cartoon television commercial which shows George W Bush mistaking a toaster for a video recorder has been banned in Britain for ridiculing the US president.
An advertising watchdog said today that the advert, for a satirical cartoon show, was offensive. The clip shows a grinning Bush setting fire to a toaster as he tries to play a video at the White House
I wouldn't mind seeing that commercial - any UK residents here got a video clip of this?
I'm sure if the cartoon ad showed Bin Laden or other "terrorist" (say Saddam) doing a similar thing it (like blowing themselves up by say shooting their AK47 at the TV to change the channel or something equally stupid) and it wouldn't be banned - so why is the US President treated so specially?
I also note this from the same story:
In reply to:
It also features Tony Blair fetching a ball tossed by Bush -- a reference to the British prime minister's reputation among critics as Bush's unquestioning poodle in world affairs.
"We found that ... President Bush might find the portrayal not to his liking and therefore offensive," Uisdean Maclean, director of the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC), an industry-funded body which vets TV ads in Britain, told Reuters.
So, its ok to lampoon Tony Blair as a lap poodle, (as no mention was made that Blair might be offended) - but not Bush?
Something is rotten in the BACC.