Catching Up: Welch Hearts Bush?

Whew! It's been a busy week for the staff at WW, and consequently we have been able to offer few updates on what has been an equally busy week for ole' Welchie.

First there was a great op-ed piece by Welch in last Sunday's Burlington Free Press, in which he spelled out all of the great things that the "first 100 hours" agenda had accomplished. You can see it here. It's also covered by the Reformer here. Nice.

Then, of course, the big story was the State of the Union address, or as it has apparently come to be called the "SOTU." Not to be confused with sudoku, which is a super-fun numbers game. We'll get to that later.

Then there was a great story on the opening of Welch's district office on Vermont's own WCAX, in which he spelled out a program whereby he will "set up a table" in various towns so that people can meet with him and he can "answer their questions." Cool.

And then, of course, there was all that votin' and legislatin.' All in all, a wild week, to say the least.

At the centerpiece of it all, however, and at the center of what can only be described as a media maelstrom, was the SOTU. Man, what a speech, and what a circus that surrounded it. We at WW actually didn't see it live, but had DVR'd the event to so as to really bask in all of the glory that is this speech. This way we could relive the excitement, the energy, the whack-a-mole bobbing of Speaker Pelosi and the VP...all of it, over and over again. And that's exactly what we did.

The coverage of it thus far, we think, has been exhaustive enough that we don't need to recap what went down. However, there was an interesting portion at the end. You know, that part where the POTUS is walking out, getting all smooched and what not by various politicians, shakin' hands, gettin' props. All of that.

But what?! Who was that we saw at the end getting all country club chummy with Bush? That's right: ole' Welchie himself. Vermont's left wing firebrand, the anti-war, pro-labor, hero of the working class who took over for big Bernie, shaking hands with the Pres and grinning like a fool. Pretty different from his reaction to the SOTU last year, eh? Okay, mondaymorningclacker scooped us on it here (bravo), but we at least wanted to have some fun with the commentary part. And, in terms of this at least, the fun's just begun.

The big story coming out of Vermont's fourth estate on Welchie's new found affection for Bush? Nada. That's right. There is none. Weird, right? Especially considering the way it all went down last Summer, what with Martha Rainville all attached to Bush, the scarlet R, and all of that stuff. There were even efforts to plaster a picture of Rainville shaking hands with Bush all over the state, just to show how close the two of them were. It certainly took roots with the lefty blog crew, who couldn't get enough of the connection between Bush and Rainville. Bah! They all said, she's a closet-SoCo, who would rubber stamp the Bush agenda! Turns out that the only stamp around is the one that Welchie left on Bush's hand. By gripping it so hard. Ok, not the best turn of phrase, but you get the point.

This should be enough to seriously worry all of the folks who carried Welchie's banner through those long Summer weekends, and who rallied him as the next real-deal in Vermont's more progressive circles. Of course, Welchie was seen glowering at Bush's remarks during the speech, but after the speech was over...well, go here and watch it again, under the headline "this Republican really really likes George Bush," if you're keen. It gets better every time.

So, to recap, not only are Vermont's leftiest left with a Congressperson who does not support their anti-war effort, votes with the Speaker 100% of the time, and doesn't listen to his own supporters when they tell him they want him to live up to his campaign promises and end the war asap, but now they have one who positions himself in a strategic spot, angling through the crowds, waiting late, dodging other members, just so he can get his copy of the speech signed and shake the hand that shook the world. Let us pose this question to our left-leaning readers: is this the man you thought you were voting for?

Regardless, at least for the next two years, let us be the first to say it:

Welcome to Welchdom.