read his lips

Oh no! How do we account for this?

According to CNN, six in ten Americans think George H.W. Bush (that’s “41″) is a better president than Dubya (that’s “43″):

 Six in 10 said the elder Bush, who served one term from 1989-1993, did a better job in office, according to a poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation.

Poppy isn’t having any of it, though. In Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, George Herbert Walker Bush took on his son’s Arab critics. Took them on face-to-face:

“We do not respect your son. We do not respect what he’s doing all over the world,” a woman in the audience bluntly told Bush after his speech.

Bush, 82, appeared stunned as others in the audience whooped and whistled in approval.

A college student told Bush his belief that U.S. wars were aimed at opening markets for American companies and said globalization was contrived for America’s benefit at the expense of the rest of the world. Bush was having none of it.

“I think that’s weird and it’s nuts,” Bush said. “To suggest that everything we do is because we’re hungry for money, I think that’s crazy. I think you need to go back to school.“

For what it’s worth, I agree with Poppy: it is weird and nuts. It’s also, however, what they learn in school.

Not to mention from the American press and American Bush critics. But, hey, who’s paying attention?