There will be a lot of contrived "Shock and Awe" from the Democratic Spin Masters between now and November. Everything will be phrased as "How could he do that to us." Fortunately the ploy is fairly transparent to me, I hope others will see it for what it is as well.

Perhaps because America has become so war-driven and is becoming insensitive????

It sounds like some people think it's OK to make jokes _about_ the president, but it's not OK for the President himself to make jokes, even about himself. I remember how hysterical they were when President Reagan made a joke about nuclear war.

And, no, I'm not an admirer of President Bush, and, no, Steven Malcolm Anderson has no sense of humor (except sarcastic, sadistic, or stupid and shitty).

But, I've had it with this "any stick is good enough to beat him with" crap, especially when that stick is a boomerang (as G. K. Chesterton noted). As Ayn Rand said, a half-battle is worse than none because it only hastens the victory of your enemies.

Yes, Nan, that must be it.

I'm war-driven and insensitive. Proudly.

I don't really like Bush and I live in a country that was generally against the Iraq invasion. Bush's joke has actually given me a whole lot more respect for him as an individual and a leader. The nature of someone that would choose to make that particular joke doesn't gel at all with the angry trigger-happy bully portrayed in local political commentary. To me it suggests that while he stands by his actions, he is willing to acknowledge that some issues could have been handled better, and I think that kind of balance is honourable.

Count how many of those who thought his jokes were actually funny are still serving for him or have served him. Of course, you won't speak badly about your current or former boss.

Wrong. Count how many anonymous gripes showed up in lettercols from active duty personnel during A Certain Prior Administration.

Sure, they can Article 15 your butt if they catch you disrespecting the Commander-In-Chief (or for that matter, Ensign Dumbjohn)... but that's why got invented the word 'anonymous'.

Ummm, Chuckg? If they are anonymous how do you know they were from active duty personnel?

"But, I've had it with this "any stick is good enough to beat him with" crap, especially when that stick is a boomerang."

Watch your head, craps a flying:

"I don't know who I'm going to vote for, then. Right now, I hate (yes, hate) Bush, that psalm-singing, sanctiminious, hypocritical bastard with all his "fag"-and-"dyke"-hating "Sanctimony of Marriage" crap. Gutless, finger-to-the-wind, caving in to the most rancid rats and putrid scum that ever crawled on the surface of this planet. Big phony, lying, cowardly draft-dodging, coke-snorting, drunk-driving, pampered daddy's boy, posturing in his fake flight suit as a "war hero" while betraying everything our Flag stands for and every word of his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States AGAINST ALL ENEMIES foreign AND DOMESTIC. Sorry, but I'm in a really, really, _really_, _really!_ pissy mood today about that FUCKing Federal Anti-Marriage Amendment and its supporters."

Steven Malcolm Anderson

He was wearing a fake flight suit? Looked real to me.

To 'anonymous'...

Some of them, because they mentioned service branch and service status, even if they left their name out. (And before you go 'How do they know they were telling the truth?', well, you could make the same claim about letters to the editor that *are* signed, so if you want to go down that road, I hope you never cite any yourself.)

And for some others, because I knew the guys who were sending them.

*rolleyes*

Isn't that easy?

Steven Malcolm :
"I remember how hysterical they were when President Reagan made a joke about nuclear war."

So do I and I still have the button with RR howling in laughter and a mushroom cloud behind his head. (Really, I do, somewhere around here) Says something like "The USSR is declared an outlaw nation. We begin bombing at midnight."

That was an "off mike" ad lib too. Classic. Awsome sense of humor when he wasn't napping. Much funnier than Kerry's "...these guys are the biggest bunch of liers...." or the Bush/Cheney Bomb, "...yep, a class A asshole." Ronnie's slip probably wouldn't have been quite as funny if it had been made during a highly contentious shootingwar.

Good Grief. You just know that Bush's "nope, not here either." bumper sticker will soon be a classic.

Church Lady:

Yes, that was the infamous comment that launched the infamous Instalanche on Eric Scheie's Classical Values. If you had bothered to scroll down that long comment thread, you would have read my subsequent comments where I qualified that rant and clarified my position.

Hmmm.... I don't quite recall, but, somehow, I seem to remember you posting something here before, something also not quite intellectually honest.

I don't have a dog in your fight, Steven Malcolm Anderson, but when someone quotes you and you own up to the quote, I'm not so sure I'd view that individual's quote of your very own words as being "intellectually dishonest."

You either wrote it or you didn't, later damage control notwithstanding. We all might want to think about that—because we're all guilty—the next time we excoriate a public figure for changing positions.

Here's the post where I wrote that comment:
http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/2004_02.html#000792

What was "Church Lady's" purpose in posting that quote here, at this time, and without saying where she found it?

What was "Church Lady's" purpose in posting that quote here, at this time, and without saying where she found it?

Because it's the Official Leftist Argument Against Everything™. Consider yourself blessed, you Lesbian-worshipping gun-loving selfish aesthete: this mean you're a "Republican", for all intents and purposes.

I believe it was:
"My fellow Americans, I have signed legislation that will outlaw the Soviet Union forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

I thought it was great and I was surprised to see Reagan's critics using it. As if it were BAD or something.

Humor is important because no politician can admit failure. Humor tells you he doesn't see himself as perfect. In W's case, you could always tell he never considered himself to be an Extremely Important Person, which is a positive in my eyes.
Using humor is also helping Bush defuse potential attacks by Kerry without using the messy counterattacks he used on Clarke. Even Bush critics ought to appreciate that.

"What was "Church Lady's" purpose in posting that quote here"

Simply to point out the irony of the two conflicting statements by same writer. One defends Bush the other attacks him. One says, ...I've had it with this "any stick...etc and the other is a long anti-Bush rant.

A little humor, a little sarcasm, a little irony

But Church Lady, that has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion. Steven Malcom Anderson made some good observations, and you come back with, "Oh yeah? Well you said bad things about Bush once!"

By the way, doesn't that make him more credible in this instance? Obviously he isn't just a mindless Bush zealot, a yes man, right?

dowingba,

One is free to read into my few comments however one wishes. I actually like Steven's statements but I sometimes come across what I think are conflicting views. That's all. I don't think, I'm attacking him when I quote his own words.
Both statements were about Bush. The subject matter was humor, and I found irony. By and large
Steve's observations are very (dare I say) objective. Now just where are those WMDs when I need a few ?

Hokay! Church Lady, I was about to set you down as some malicious troll, but you've come back and explained yourself and I think we're square now. I have to agree that that that post you quoted does serve as an object lesson in the folly of bringing in irrelevancies when one should be zeroing in on the main point.