Those were George Bush's words of welcome, this week, to Turkey's President Abdullah Gul.In decades past, a Turkish leader might have been received at the White House with cordial remarks about his country's growing prosperity or its contribution to NATO.
By this time, Iran's diplomatic charm offensive was in full swing, with Iran's Arab-speaking Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi repeatedly exchanging cordial remarks with Egypt's representatives, starting with then-Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil El-Arabi, who stated that Egypt was "turning over a new leaf with all countries, including Iran".
The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, emphasized in his remarks that cordial relations between the countries depended on "peace and tranquillity on our borders," and said he and his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, had "agreed that this must continue to be preserved".
But the mood was more jovial on Thursday as the three lobbed gentle barbs at one another and remarked on how cordial their negotiations had been.
The Salesgirl was most cordial, winding up the transaction with the remark: "I hope you will find a nice oil mine in your back yard, sir".
An official present when Trump made the demand said that "the room was aghast," even though Trump was actually more cordial in private than in his public remarks.
The cordial spirit in which we chatted caused some to remark what a fine friendly feeling prevailed between President and Janitor of the same institution, after more than thirty years of separation". Crowell wrote that he considered Wall's death a personal loss.
Unlike President Obama, however, Clinton maintained a reasonably cordial relationship with Netanyahu, and that was reflected in her supportive remarks to Goldberg.
Obama, who had a cordial but not warm relationship with Reid, immediately headed for his office, remarking to his press secretary Robert Gibbs, "I wonder what we screwed up".
