beautifully mannered

This article, by Andrew Roberts, is a wonderfully bonkers bit of writing, and well worth a read. Titled 'History will show that George W Bush was right', it's an incredible, fawning tribute to the outgoing President, by a historian whose reactionary ideas have been well-documented. It's no surprise to find him so keen on Bush, and the arguments he makes in the first few paragraphs are familiar, even plausible in places, although I fundamentally disagree with most of his conclusions. Whatever, the article only really flies off into the stratosphere when Roberts describes Bush as a:

"charming, interesting, beautifully mannered history buff who, were he not the most powerful man in the world, would be a fine person to have as a pal".

Extraordinary.