The uncouthness of Churchill

Citing Winston Churchill as a way of disparaging contemporary leaders is common enough, but what rankles is that it is so often done by people with the sparsest of knowledge of Churchill. People with only a vague sense of the man use their own preferences and prejudices to fill the gaps in their knowledge, and use their imaginary Churchill as a bludgeon against whatever it is they're trying to discredit.

This time the offender was a panelist on Fox News' Red Eye, which is much more cutting-edge and entertaining than one would imagine a news channel comedy show to be. President Bush has given a series of interviews for a new book, excerpts of which were published recently. Apparently Bush was interviewed with his feet on his desk, eating low-fat hot dogs (which I happen to enjoy myself, incidentally), and chomping an unlit cigar. A panelist offered that this was quite unstatesmanlike, remarking that he couldn't picture Winston Churchill giving an interview in such an unbecoming state. The only humor in the line was the unintended irony: Churchill would have been as uncouth as Bush and worse.

Churchill regularly dictated even great speeches while soaking naked in his tub, smoking cigars, and drinking. He once famously met President Roosevelt in a state of undress. So criticize a president all you want for putting his feet up or eating hot dogs during an interview, but don't say it's un-Churchill-like.