funny of the day

an unintentionally funny misspelling leads to headline: Gov. Bush & his mystical buddy

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.''

Bush then unsheathed a golden sword and gave it to Rubio as a gift.

''I'm going to bestow to you the sword of a great conservative warrior,'' he said, as the crowd roared.

"chang" is actually "chiang." as in chiang kai-shek. wonkette explains.

It's not a porny-sounding family in-joke, it's a Cold War-era family in-joke! And it's not "chang," it's "Chiang," as in Chiang Kai-Shek -- the plea to "unleash Chiang" was a rallying cry for those who thought the U.S. should allow Chiang's Nationalist forces to invade mainland China and drive the Communists from power.

It was also George H.W. Bush's secret horseshoes-winning chant. Correspondents seem to assume H.W. was mocking Chinese hardliners with the slogan, though we note that Jeb seems to take it sort of seriously, proving that the last generation's irony is this generation's earnest mi.

i think he was unleashed, but he um, lost. if "unleash chiang" is the bush clan's rallying cry, then maybe all of them will end up retreating to puerto rico in a crushing defeat. so yeah! UNLEASH CHIANG! UNLEASH CHIANG!