September 12, 2022

"The British and US governments have played down suggestions that Joe Biden could be banned from using a helicopter and obliged to travel by bus..."

"... when he and leaders from around the world congregate in London for the Queen’s funeral next week. Speculation over the travel arrangements for foreign dignitaries expected to attend the service next Monday intensified on Sunday after government documents emerged saying foreign heads of state would have to ride en masse in a bus to Westminster Abbey rather than using private cars. The guidance, seen by the Guardian and first reported by Politico, set out strict rules for the dozens of presidents, kings, queens and prime ministers expected to attend the funeral, urging them to travel by commercial flights to avoid putting too much strain on London’s airports."

From "'Biden would never ride a bus': UK and US play down strict rules for Queen’s funeral" (The Guardian).

The quote "Biden would never ride a bus" doesn't appear in the article. The closest we get, from a former Secret Service agent, is: "The bottom line is the president of the United States would never fly commercial and/or ride on a bus."

61 comments:

Buckwheathikes said...

Joe Biden isn't going to the Queen's funeral.

He would be EVISCERATED by the black community on Twitter. Are you fucking kidding me? Is nobody paying attention to what the elite Negro Twitterati has been saying ever since the Queen died?

Black people have received their marching orders: NOBODY is to pay homage to the Queen of England. NOBODY.

Biden isn't going anywhere.

JK Brown said...

What the hell kind of security would put that many prime targets on a bus? One vehicle to strike to a major blow. No way the Secret Service would ever permit the POTUS to join such a folly.

Oh Yea said...

Come on. You could have at least given me credit for my comment about this in the discussion below about the funeral.

Leland said...

That's a congested area of London on any day but will be crazy full with mourners lining the roads. Biden's security detail is why he nor Harris should go. The US has a special relationship to the UK. The President (any of the living) don't have a special or close relationship to the Queen or Royal Family. While a Head of State attendance to the funeral shows proper deference to the Queen; the silliness that is a US President security and media detail is absurd for such a solemn event. Video record a speech (preferably not in front of Marines and blood red background) giving your condolences and pass it alone with the UK Ambassador to attend.

Humperdink said...

"The bottom line is the president of the United States would never fly commercial and/or ride on a bus."

Of course not. Not enough room to administer the IV.

rhhardin said...

Wait a minute, there was a movie about this. Um. Funeral and leaders and everything. Ah. London Has Fallen (2016). Great shots. Leaders arrived by limo. President a helicopter but would probably have to switch to a limo at some point. Just a heads up.

Jamie said...

If Biden were a good guy, need announce that he wasn't going to attend out of both his humble desire to keep the focus squarely on the loss of Britain's longest-serving monarch, and his understanding that US security requirements for a sitting president would put undue pressure on Britain's own security arrangements for all these dignitaries.

He could send our ambassador. That would be both fully appropriate and far less disruptive.

Of course, I'm not going to say, "Trump wouldn't have insisted on going," because I think he would have.

Spiros Pappas said...

Why not? Trump is a narcissist who gets treated like a rock star everywhere he goes. Biden is dull, corrupt and out of it. But this is Biden's chance to finally outshine his predecessor -- just by showing humility.

rhhardin said...

London hasn't been this important since science fiction writer Fred Hoyle had leading minds converge on London to solve some existential earth crisis.

Howard said...

Let Joe ride the Pope Mobile

Big Mike said...

If Joe Biden is allowed to come by Air Force 1 then an awful lot of other presidents, prime ministers, and monarchs will insist on being treated similarly. What’s wrong with allowing world leaders to fly their official aircraft to an RAF base and then move the plane to some distant site where it can be guarded and available later for the return home?

Michael K said...

Does Brandon even know he's going ? Was he even invited ?

rcocean said...

In the 1910 funeral, TR was put in the back of the line of carriages, because he was "only" a President and Commoner. Seems everyone was quite upset if they were forced to ride with a lower status king/prince and who got to be 1st in line of the procession was fought over.

As for Senile Biden, he's assassination proof. So the secret service don't have to worry about a bus ride. How can you kill a man with no brain, and no heart?

Godot said...

Wow! Talk about a target-rich environment.
This is NOT a good idea.

n.n said...

A bus powered by a clean, green, renewable one-gerbil power wheel, right?

retail lawyer said...

Time to promote bicycles!

Scotty, beam me up... said...

Packing a bus with only world leaders to be transported to the funeral location at Westminster Abbey provides a juicy target for a terrorist group or even a rogue nation like Iran. The British Army has the know how to handle the logistics of getting world leaders from a secure staging area to Westminster Abbey in their own vehicles with their own security details. The problem with Biden’s situation is that he probably has the largest entourage, including his security detail, of any of the wold leaders coming, as compared to other world leaders.

boatbuilder said...

It's the Guardian, so who knows; but I'm with Biden on this one.

Michael said...

The bottom line is he will ride in the bus If he wants to go.

Mary Beth said...

I want to hear the administration explain why Biden should not have to follow the same rules everyone else must. Is he afraid Macron is gonna shank him?

(I actually do understand why the US president doesn't travel in groups like this. I still want to hear them explain it.)

rhhardin said...

Biden could bicycle in.

Joe Smith said...

The bus is a terrible idea.

One big target instead of many smaller ones...

Readering said...

The Times of London reports the Bidens get a car. No mention on the helo front. I wonder if it will be the beast or a britmobile. In case he feels the urge to grab the wheel.

Ted said...

Plus, those double-decker London buses are no fun if you can't climb the stairs.

Narr said...

Will there be a short bus just for FJB?

gilbar said...

saying foreign heads of state would have to ride en masse in a bus

can you Say 'tempting target, for the bad people of earth'??
Isn't THIS, why we Have a Vice President?

ga6 said...

I thought he is the plain spoken guy from Scranton, the 40 year rider of the commuter train. Besides no reason any Brit would assault him.

Come
on Joe man up and join the rest of us who have had to ride the dog sometime in our lives.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Aw! C'mon, man! I'm visualizing a party bus! Trudeau could black up for the dance numbers and Biden could go around sniffing and rubbing all the women.

Better yet! Go Green! Get one of those things you pedal around while you drink!

Buckwheathikes said...

And not for nothing, but why is Joe Biden trying to upstage the Queen lying in state by announcing that he's going to cure cancer? Like some demented 80-year-old who can barely read a teleprompter is going to cure cancer.

Have some respect you fucking trailer park trash man. Sit down and shut the fuck up for 10 minutes while your better has the stage.

Mikey NTH said...

No campaign bus? Sounds extreme to me.

Fredrick said...

JK Brown is correct. And not just for Biden.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Take the train. He took Amtrack as a Senator, right?

Humperdink said...

"Time to promote bicycles!"

Biden tried that. He did a face plant .... well actually a knee plant.

Ann Althouse said...

Old record-album title flashes to mind: "I think we're all bozos on this bus."

Drago said...

Readering: "The Times of London reports the Bidens get a car. No mention on the helo front. I wonder if it will be the beast or a britmobile. In case he feels the urge to grab the wheel."

The idea of Biden's Earpiece grabbing the wheel of the Beast is every bit as moronic as when you were lying about Trump doing it.

I would think that after you were embarrassed by the obvious stupidity of that lie that you would avoid any references to it lest others recall that you actually fell for that one.

But then again, stupid is as stupid does.

Buckwheathikes said...

"Wow! Talk about a target-rich environment."

One has to wonder if Vladimir Putin is paying attention to this.

This would truly be a once in a lifetime opportunity for a battered Russia. It's ridiculous for the leadership of the free world (which excludes Biden, btw) to gather in the same city. Doesn't even require a whole nuke to take them all out.

Beasts of England said...

How about a double decker ‘No Malarky’ bus? It’s a win-win!!

madAsHell said...

It's almost like they don't want Biden there!!!

Lurker21 said...

This is just so much ecobullshit to make it seem like BritGov is being ecologically responsible. World leaders will do what they always do.

I note that US presidents don't usually attend the funerals of foreign monarchs or other foreign state funerals. Theodore Roosevelt went to Edward VII's funeral and Dwight Eisenhower went to Winston Churchill's but neither was president at the time. US presidents and ex-presidents did attend Pope John Paul's and Nelson Mandela's funerals, so maybe a new precedent has begun, but Westminster Abbey isn't big enough to fit everyone who would like to come.

Still, the heads of government bus sounds like a great idea. For a sitcom, certainly. Maybe an episode of Veep. Some of the Scandinavian/Baltic girlbosses seem to be quite frisky and Biden would like that.

ConradBibby said...

It's hard for me to believe anyone on either side of the pond really cares whether or not Biden attends. If he goes, everyone will just think it was the normal, expected thing for a country like the U.S. to send its president to the funeral when someone of the queen's stature dies. If he doesn't attend, people will just accept that it probably wasn't practical for him to go because of the logistical demands. My sense is that most people in this country sincerely appreciate the queen and lament her passing, but they certainly aren't counting on Biden as the medium to express those sentiments.

gilbar said...

Seriously, If the Vice President would Do Her Job, this would all work out in the wash
Of course, the Last Time, that Kamela actually DID her job, it was a blowjob

ken in tx said...

Teddy Roosevelt was accused of wanting to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. I don't know if that was related to the 1910 funeral mentioned above.

tim in vermont said...

The emperor must be accommodated and his status acknowledged.

tim in vermont said...

What could be done with any of those man portable weapons floating around Europe these days?

MalaiseLongue said...

I think President Biden would be warmly welcomed, if only because on his last visit to London he demonstrated his ability to power a bus with methane.

Gk1 said...

Given Biden's fragile state of health its best he hangs back anyway. He shit his pants last time he met the Pope so it sounds like his handlers are gambling on an optional event if he goes. We are talking FDR at Yalta levels of health concerns.

Static Ping said...

Sounds like a rejected script for London Has Fallen.

Josephbleau said...

I think having them all on the same bus is fine. They get to look humble. If they get taken out it would do no damage to any of the countries and allow the US to start another 20 year war against someone. A win for the deep state now that Ukraine is winding down.

Bob Boyd said...

They're trying to give Alzheimer Hitler cover. "Oh the Secret Service won't let him go."

Horse feathers. The guy doesn't have a trip like that in him. And he would be too exposed. Too many people would try to talk to him and realize they're talking to a fucking rutabaga with a mean streak.

MikeD said...

I love how The Gruaniad segued into Trump followed by a defamation of the Brazilian President.

Readering said...

Reading that leaders down under talking of sharing a plane to UK given the formidable logistics. Perhaps Biden could offer same for western hemisphere. Harder to imagine Biden giving a lift to Maduro than Clinton to newt?

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Mrs NorthOfTheOneOhOne just pointed out how this has the potential for disaster written all over it. The "bigs"; Biden, Trudeau, Albanese, Macron, and a few others will get cars. Meanwhile we'll all get to see a bus pull up and disgorge the African heads of state. Should be a hoot!

Michael said...

Some years ago a PM (Blair?) took a first class BA flight to NY with entourage occupying the cabin. Why in the world do our presidents have to be treated like African royalty. Good ole Joe would be a hero to all if he UBERED TO Dulles and took a flight to the Uk.

TaeJohnDo said...

If Heel's Up goes and talks..."We are here on the shores of Britain, London, England, in Britain, to pay our living respect to the dead Queen, Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth, of England and other far off lands like Australia and Canada and Hong Kong, to pay our respects to the dead Queen, Elizabeth, of England and the United Kingdoms. Queen Elizabeth. Who is now Dead. Long live the new Queen, Kamala. (Cackle) I'm kidding! Camille. And her first husband, Charles. Well, (cackle) really her second husband, but now he's the first man. Or King. Of The Great Briton.

Another old lawyer said...

It only took the assassination of a single archduke riding in a car to spark WWI.

Now let's imagine a bus of world leaders and dignitaries not reaching its destination but each rider reaching his or hers.

Talk about hurrying along The Great Reset.

Butkus51 said...

Im sure riding on the short yellow bus will bring back memories for Joe.

Butkus51 said...

Im sure riding on the short yellow bus will bring back memories for Joe.

Rusty said...

Just remember to have his name and his mittens pinned to his jacket.

Narayanan said...

They're trying to give Alzheimer Hitler cover. "Oh the Secret Service won't let him go."
============
isn't this same excuse used to stop l'Orange Trump going to Capitol on Jan6?

veni vidi vici said...

"Wow! Talk about a target-rich environment."

The opportunity to fully realize "The Great Reset" in a way few have considered to date.

Browndog said...

Obama destroyed 400 yr. old grass with his multiple helicopters.

You may have forgotten, they have not.