The Bust of Winston Churchill

[snopes]

Lately, there’s been a rumor swirling around about the current location of the bust of Winston Churchill. Some have claimed that President Obama removed the bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office and sent it back to the British Embassy.

Now, normally we wouldn’t address a rumor that’s so patently false, but just this morning the Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer repeated this ridiculous claim in his column. He said President Obama “started his Presidency by returning to the British Embassy the bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office.”

This is 100% false. The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/...ston-churchill

[snopes]

Dan Pfeiffer, a White House spokesman, had to apologize to Charles Krauthammer, the columnist, for what was either a point of interior decorating or international diplomacy or outright perfidy on the part of the Obama Administration.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...hurchills.html

[Brad from Georgia]

What a script for the Sherlock series! "The Adventure of the Two Churchills." I hereby register the idea and if they make it, I want my cut.

[ganzfeld]

I knew something was up when Scooby and Shaggy walked by the bust and its eyes started following them. Zoiks!

[Richard W]

Excellent, I see a way for the rest of the world to sabotage the Republicans (or whichever party doesn't get in next at least).

At the start of the next presidency, simply loan the President or his party a variety of somewhat meaningful symbolic objects - preferably not all that meaningful, to allow for plenty of interpretation - for the term of the presidency, or for as long as the party is in office. At the end of the term, the Republicans move in, the loan expires, and the Republicans are screwed whatever they do. If they keep them, they're basically stealing them, and if they give them back because the loan has expired, it's a huge insult! Fantastic!

I think I could stretch to a set of Dickens novels... anybody else want to chip in and bring down a future US government?

[Don Enrico]

The must be a bust of Adenauer available somewhere... ah, here. And it's only €4.99 at the moment.

[Pinecone]

You know, one of—one of my heroes was a man who had an extraordinary turn of phrase…. And this man, Winston Churchill, used to have his bust in the Oval Office. And if I’m president of the United States, it’ll be there again.

Considering how he's talked about us, I don't know what makes him think we'd let him borrow it...

[BringTheNoise]

I'm presuming Romney admires Churchill for a different reason to most of the rest of the world, since he credits Britain not getting invaded to the Channel, rather than any actions Churchill took.

[Richard W]

Perhaps he admires his journalism during the Boer war? I can't find any examples in a quick search, but Romney is surely better read than I am, and has access to better resources.

Or his daring prison escape later in the war? Surely daring prison escapes should inspire us all...

[queen of the caramels]

Or the fact Churchill was opposed to femail sufferage..

[Chloe]

I wonder how Ann Romney's tad felt about Churchill. Or her tad-gu, who had black lung.

[firefighter_raven]

Maybe he's a fan of failed amphibious operations.

[lavender blue]

I feel like someone should do a spoof of Poe's The Raven replacing the bust of Pallas with that of Churchill, but I'm a scientist, not an English major, and my poetry sucks.

[lord_feldon]

You know, one of—one of my heroes was a man who had an extraordinary turn of phrase…. And this man, Winston Churchill, used to have his bust in the Oval Office. And if I’m president of the United States, it’ll be there again.

His hero is a conservative politician who did nothing to overturn the previous government's major healthcare legislation?

[ganzfeld]

Don't be silly. I think what Mittens means is that he admires a strong supporter of big government social welfare programs intended to redistribute wealth.

[NobodyAtAll]

"You'll be a bust, be a bust, be a bust in the hall of fame!"