Sunday, December 17, 2006

Monkey in red


No, it’s not the new single by Chris de Burgh. It’s Lech Kaczynski’s least favourite Brussels correspondent.

The Sunday political talk shows are still going on about a comment President Kaczynski made Thursday when he was in Brussels on EU business.

As his previous answer towards the end of a press conference was being translated into English – and seemingly unaware that the microphone in front of him was still live – the following exchange was clearly heard between Kaczynski and his Under Secretary of State Anndrzej Krawczyk:

Krawczyk: Do you want to take another question?

Kaczynski: One more question – but not from that monkey in red [referring to TVN 24 journalist Inga Rosińska – photo above]

Krawczyk: Pardon?

Kaczynski: Not that in red.

For obvious reasons TVN 24 is not this government’s favourite TV channel.

Journalists have been outraged by this here, and are still banging on about it three days later. But I am sure Inga has thicker skin than that.

The incident brings to mind when George W. Bush was on the campaign trail before the 2000 presidential elections in the US when, once again in front of a live mic that he thought was turned off, he turned to Dick Chaney and said:

“"There's [liberal New York Times journalist] Adam Clymer - major league asshole…”

What’s interesting is that both Kaczynski and Bush refused to apologize for the boobs, complaining that they were sorry that a private remark had been made public.

But words in front of an open microphone at a public press conference do NOT a ‘private conversation’ make, Mr. Presidents…

In his non-apology Kaczynski did emphasis that his use of the word ‘monkey’ was not meant to be a comment on the way the TVN journalist looks, who, he said with chivalry, “Is a very attractive women.”

So maybe if Kaczynski does fancy making a quick cover of the old Chris de Burgh...er...classic,…then he could just get it into the shops before Christmas.

I've never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight
I've never seen you shine so bright
I have never seen that dress you're wearing
Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes
I have been blind

The monkey in red
Is dancing with me
Cheek to cheek……

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well that was certainly rude and un-chivalrous in a social context. Lets start by overlooking TVN24’s reputation of being a nest of closet commies. I took an applied science approach and used a morphing program to transition Inga’s face to that of a monkey and was surprised by the result. Inga’s transition took far fewer iterations than the average face. Could we be dealing with an honest mistake?

President Kaczynski should take the high ground, sent her a gift basket of bananas and a free pass to the Warsaw Zoo.

michael farris said...

I think the high ground for a Kaczynski supporter is to say as little about issues of personal attractiveness as possible...

That said, I've heard małpa used in contexts where it wouldn't show up in English (including as a pickup line) and I have the impression it often suggests exasperating behavior of the part of the person so addressed so I'm willing to believe he was either signalling a typical politician's irritation with a troublesome journalist ... or he's crushing on her and too shy to make the first move.

Anonymous said...

What a halfwit. Not being his supporter, I can't help feeling slight Schadenfreude but this situation affects Poland's standing in Europe. I wonder if the foreign media took note of the 'compliment'.

beatroot said...

I have been thinking what other songs Lech could cover in a new career as a vocalist.

How about this little ditty called ‘Prayer for a duck’?

His breath has ebbed, his pulse is low
His feet are webbed, but even so
You must know
That although our tears are poised to burst
We've kept our faith warm through the worst
We haven't cursed our luck or run amuck
To prayer we've stuck
Please reward our pluck
And save this duck!

beatroot said...

I think it about time that bloggers told spammers to FUCK PFF!

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