Jeb Bush "unleashes" his "mystical warrior" friend

[jimtron]

The Gainseville Sun (http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050918/COLUMNS/50917061/1096/editorials) has the delicous story:

After more than an hour of solemn ceremony naming Rep. Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, as the 2007-08 House speaker, Gov. Jeb Bush stepped to the podium in the House chamber last week and told a short story about "unleashing Chang," his "mystical warrior" friend.

Here are Bush's words, spoken before hundreds of lawmakers and politicians:
''Chang is a mystical warrior. Chang is somebody who believes in conservative principles, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism, believes in moral values that underpin a free society.

''I rely on Chang with great regularity in my public life. He has been by my side and sometimes I let him down. But Chang, this mystical warrior, has never let me down.''

(snip)

In a 1989 Washington Post article on the politics of tennis, former President George Bush was quoted as threatening to ''unleash Chang'' as a means of intimidating other players.

The saying was apparently quite popular with Gov. Bush's father, and referred to a legendary warrior named Chang who was called upon to settle political disputes in Chinese dynasties of yore.

The phrase has evolved, under Gov. Jeb Bush's use, to mean the need to fix conflicts or disagreements over an issue. Faced with a stalemate, the governor apparently "unleashes Chang" as a rhetorical device, signaling it's time to stop arguing and start agreeing.

[Rob Lister]

I'm unsure why you think the link is delicous or even postworthy. 'Unleashing Chiang' is a fairly common rhetorical saying, at least in the military. I hear it in business occasionally also.

[jimtron]

What about the "mystical warrior" part?

[Rob Lister]

Originally posted by jimtron
What about the "mystical warrior" part?

What about it? Chiang is a mystical warrior. What else you gonna call him? The only thing I can figure is that you figure that Bush figures that Chiang is real being and not just a philosophy or stratagy tool. I doubt that is the case. Jesus, probably. Chiang, unlikely.

[jimtron]

No, but I'm skeptical about the "mystical warrior" part. I wonder if Jeb sometimes relies on mysticism in his governing, as his brother George apparently does (constulting to a "higher father," etc.).

[Rob Lister]

Originally posted by jimtron
No, but I'm skeptical about the "mystical warrior" part. I wonder if Jeb sometimes relies on mysticism in his governing, as his brother George apparently does (constulting to a "higher father," etc.).

Wonder no more.

Well, assuming you are of the same religious bent as me -- meaning you define god/Jesus as mystical -- then yes, Jeb does that, or at least claims to do that. Of course, most all presidents have done that at one time or another, even if only invoking the name to achieve a political goal. It's a fairly common practice.

[jimtron]

I don't necessarily have a problem with mysticism or belief in god, as long as it doesn't get near government. In my opinion, the House chamber is not the place for a governor to be discussing his "mystical warrior" amigos.

[c4ts]

I know it's just rhetoric, but it sounds like he has a mole in the Chinese government.

[Nex]

Originally posted by c4ts
I know it's just rhetoric, but it sounds like he has a mole in the Chinese government.
Or he's a mole from the Chinese government.


...we're onto you, Jeb... :D

[delphi_ote]

Jeb Bush "unleashes" his "mystical warrior" friend

The ladies always love it when I unleash my mystical warrior friend.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Somehow I have managed to miss any references to the great Chang, unless perhaps I'm forgetting. Perhaps I need to Changify my memory.

~~ Paul