Top is George Bush in characteristic cowboy pose. Left is Nicolas Sarkozy, the publicity-savvy city-slicker French president, whose supporters sometimes referred to him as the "man on the white horse" during his campaign.
As I have said here before, that ain't no horse Sarkozy is on. It is a pony. And Cowboy Nic -- as is clear in the video from which this still is taken (sorry, no link available) -- is barely able to stay mounted at a slow canter, and yanks on the poor pony's mouth to boot.
Still, at least M. Sarkozy isn't afraid to get on a pony, even if it's little more than the bravado a kid would show if his parents arranged for pony rides at his 8th birthday party.
President George Bush likes to style himself as a cowboy. He has the hat and the fancy boots and the belt and that gol-durn Texas twang. We see by his outfit that he wants to be a cowboy.
But as has also been said here before, the man can't ride a horse, which is the absolutely first thing that a real cowboy, by definition, must do. He is afraid of horses. He rides a bike instead.
We have word from the former Mexican president, Vincente Fox, who once tried to get Cowboy George on a horse during a visit. Bush is a "windshield cowboy" who's afraid of horses, Fox says in his new book.
Incidentally, can we please stop referring derisively to things like "cowboy diplomacy" or snorting about "cowboys" like Bush.
According to Gene Autry's code, that man ain't no cowboy.
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