Embarrassing Children of Famous Leaders, Part MCMXIIV

This may not rise to the height of parental political humiliation achieved by Patti Davis by posing for Playboy, but the unfolding saga of Margaret Thatcher's son is not bad.

Mark Thatcher, described sometimes as a 51-year-old "race car driver" (is that some sort of Eurotrash shorthand for bum or male prostitute?), has been arrested for "allegedly aiding a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea," according to Bloomberg News. Whole story here.

Somewhere, somehow on a conserative Web site, I suspect someone is analyzing this tawdry tale as a latter-day version of Rebel Without a Cause, with young Mark's acting out the predictable result of a household in which the mother calls all the shots and the Jim Backus-like dad (i.e., Denis Thatcher) wears an apron.

In any case, here's looking forward to seeing Mark Thatcher on the next politically tinged season of Surreal Life, maybe as a housemate of Roger Clinton, Neil Bush, and Wes Edwards (Cain to Sen. John Edwards' Abel).

Comments

[Overlord]

Wasn't he lost and then found in the Sahara during the Thatcher government?

[rick laredo]

MCMXIIV
1,000 = M
900 = CM
11 = XI or 12 = XII
4 = IV or 5 = V

Got me.

[PapayaSF]

Gee, considering all the cynicism that I usually find on this board, it's odd that nobody has considered what seems to me to be a likely possibility: that Thatcher was arrested for domestic South African political reasons. "Look, we caught a Thatcher! Everybody cheer and forget about the incompetence of the government!" In the NY Times report on this topic, they quote one of the arms dealers involved (Nick du Toit) as saying Thatcher wanted to buy helicopters for a mining operation in Sudan and wasn't involved in the coup plot.

[esco]

let us not forget Carter's bro

[Mo]

Just drink a case of Billy Beer while you watch the Surreal Life episodes esco.

[Eric II]

That's a shame. Given the human rights abuses that Equitorial Guinea's government has been accused of (the US doesn't care, of course, as long as the oil doesn't run out), a government partially led by a Eurotrash "bum or male prostitute" would have probably been an improvement, not to mention quite amusing to watch. Frank Hoenikker from "Cat's Cradle" comes to mind.

[Call me snake]

Just before 10AM and Gillespie is launching preemptive strikes on a potential Thatcher defense that's somewhere, somehow probably brewing on a conservative website.

Give him a few weeks and he'll be fully embracing the Bush doctrine.

Hey, what do you mean, "bum or male prostitute?" I thought Elvis was cool in "Spinout."

[joe]

I can't imagine a conservative website saying anything negative about Margaret Thatcher.

[Ron]

Conservatives speaking negatively about Thatcher's son would be as unlikely as conservatives speaking negatively about Reagan's son. And we know that's never happened.

[Peter K.]

Nick --

The first thing I noticed in the headline is that it is obvious that you did not study your Roman numerals.

No more than one I should precede a V. What number were you trying to express?

[Miner]

Lets show some Christian compassion towards this poor, frightened man. After all , he is facing the consequences of fifteen years in prison.
It won't only be his coat and shoes that get taken when his fellow criminals learn who he is. They'll remember his Mummy obdurately refusing to impose sanctions on South Africa, thereby prolonging that odious apartheid regime and they will surely conclude it is pay-back time.
With that in mind, I suggest we take up a collection to allow him to buy a goodly supply of Vaseline, he's surely going to need it.
Remember Mummy 'Batting for Britain'?
This time it will be Mark being 'Buggered for Britain'. Grit your teeth and take it like the true Brit you are Mark

[Miner]

Lets show some Christian compassion towards this poor, frightened man. After all , he is facing the consequences of fifteen years in prison.
It won't only be his coat and shoes that get taken when his fellow criminals learn who he is. They'll remember his Mummy obdurately refusing to impose sanctions on South Africa, thereby prolonging that odious apartheid regime and they will surely conclude it is pay-back time.
With that in mind, I suggest we take up a collection to allow him to buy a goodly supply of Vaseline, he's surely going to need it.
Remember Mummy 'Batting for Britain'?
This time it will be Mark being 'Buggered for Britain'. Grit your teeth and take it like the true Brit you are Mark

[Miner]

Lets show some Christian compassion towards this poor, frightened man. After all , he is facing the consequences of fifteen years in prison.
It won't only be his coat and shoes that get taken when his fellow criminals learn who he is. They'll remember his Mummy obdurately refusing to impose sanctions on South Africa, thereby prolonging that odious apartheid regime and they will surely conclude it is pay-back time.
With that in mind, I suggest we take up a collection to allow him to buy a goodly supply of Vaseline, he's surely going to need it.
Remember Mummy 'Batting for Britain'?
This time it will be Mark being 'Buggered for Britain'. Grit your teeth and take it like the true Brit you are Mark

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