Rotten Fruit

Well, well well. Looks like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I was reminded of that quasi biblical-sounding adage while watching Jenna Bush last night on 20/20. The younger, “ditzier” Bush twin, ersatz authoress and recently engaged 25 year old was pimping her new book, Ana’s Story for Diane Sawyer--her first sit down interview, like, ever!

But nobody really gives a shit about Jenna's narcissistic endeavors here. Dedicating an hour to the foray outside of "Bush World," to borrow a Maureen Dowdism, entailed grappling with a great deal of ineloquence and of course, evasiveness. For those who do care, Jenna traveled to the Caribbean and Latin America, where she spent time talking to young women and children suffering from HIV and AIDS. Jenna brought Diane and Co. down to Jamaica to, I don't know, "re-enact" her experiences there?

Unfortunately, Jenna's trip abroad simply came across as self-serving, indulgent even, kind of like one of those "spiritual journeys" whereby enlightenment comes from realizing how much it must suck never to be able to leave such god forsaken places and go home to the good ol' U.S. of A... and then write a book about it.

Jenna has a habit of narrowing her already beady eyes when faced with questions she doesn't want to answer. Diane wasn't exactly softballing it here, but anything that didn't pertain to the book clearly made her uncomfortable. And, like her father, she gets a little petulant when prodded. Iraq was clearly a sore topic. Diane graciously showed the clip of Matt Damon's infamous Hardball spot, where he effectively asked whether the twins shouldn't also be fighting overseas like so many poor and working-class Americans. What did she think of it? Jenna's response could have come straight from her doofy Dad: "Obviously I understand that question and see what, what the point of that question is, for sure." Uh huh.

My favorite part of the whole interview/pr campaign was Jenna's "covert" infiltration of a Kingston slum. Having found an AIDS-afflicted woman willing to speak on camera, Jenna listened solemnly, nodding blankly. The woman told Jenna that she likely wouldn't find decent work anytime soon. "You can still get a good job. You can still get a great job," she reassured her. Right.

Then, Diane told the woman who Jenna actually was: The President's Daughter. Her eyes widened. Visibly flummoxed, the woman didn't know whether to believe them. "But you’re so simple," she said. Turning to the cameras, smiling now, "she’s so simple."