The Power of Alcohol

As we 're inundated with quotes from Robert Draper's revealing book on Bush, I kind of enjoyed this one, on drinking:

Discussing his past battles with alcohol, he says he would never be able to make decision on war if he was still drinking.

"Exercise helps. And I think prayer helps," he says. "I wouldn't be President if I kept drinking. You can get sloppy, can't make decisions. It clouds your reason, absolutely."

Wasn't the War on Terror modeled after the struggle against Nazism? And didn't Sir Winston Churchill make a resounding re-entry in the daily lexicon after the events of 9/11? What would the world have looked like if Sir Winston had applied the same rigor to his alcohol consumption as GWB? Here's a clue:

His drinking habits were admirably fetishistic - preferably Pol Roger, served at precisely the right temperature (he was delighted when the gift of a refrigerator from Beaverbrook in 1926 obviated the need to dilute it with ice) and interspersed with much brandy and port.

The papers of Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt's lend-lease administrator, contain several good examples of the war leader's zealous interest in his own consumption. For instance, Hopkins describes finding Churchill in January 1943 'in bed in his customary pink robe, and having, of all things, a bottle of wine for breakfast'. Viscount Alanbrooke made the same observation, and Eden's diary mentions Churchill taking a 'stiff whiskey and soda, at 8.45 a.m'.

A Foreign Office official described a dinner with Churchill as ,a varied and noble procession of wines with which I could not keep pace - champagne, port, brandy, Cointreau: Winston drank a good deal of all, and ended with two glasses of whisky and soda.'

Cheers.

UPDATE: A lively discussion about this post is taking place in the comments section at The Gazette where it was posted originally.