COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Buchenwald - Auschwitz, Germany - Poland, Barack Fails History and Geography.


MSM and the Examination of Obama

Remember when the Left and the Democrats were all lathered up by Bush and his geography challenge. In case you forgot, read this from 1999 Slate:

Bush gets an F in foreign affairs
The Texas governor who would be president can't identify the leaders of Chechnya, Pakistan or India. Has he been taking lessons from Dan Quayle?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By David Corn

Nov. 5, 1999 | WASHINGTON -- Have you ever gone to class unprepared and been surprised by a pop quiz, and then scored only 25 percent? Imagine if that embarrassing performance made the front pages.

When Andy Hiller, the political correspondent for WHDH-TV in Boston, had George W. Bush in front of a camera on Wednesday, he asked the Texas governor if he could name the president of Chechnya. Bush could not. Nor could he name the general who recently took power in Pakistan or the new prime minister of India. Bush only answered one of the four questions correctly when he identified the president of Taiwan as "Lee."

What made the Q&A worse for Bush was that he responded to the questions with petulance. Rather than explaining that he is a big-picture guy and calmly providing a strategic vision of U.S. foreign policy concerning these areas, he shot back at the reporter.

"Can you name the foreign minister of Mexico?" Bush asked, apparently proud that he knew the answer. Hiller reasonably replied that he was not the one running for president.

Bush's session with Hiller reinforced the notion that he is not ready for prime time. He may not even be ready for a debate. And his campaign staff seemed to be in a similar position. When Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes attempted to defend her boss following the Hiller interview, she said that neither the Bush campaign's senior foreign policy advisor, Josh Bolton, nor foreign policy advisor Joel Shinn could name all four of these world leaders.


Now for a slightly different tone when the report is about the visionary messiah Obama. Keep in mind, Barack is about judgement, change you can believe him. His qualifications obviously do not include history of his own family, of WWII or European geography. Still he is uniquely qualified to redirect US foreign policy, probably based on his community organization skills:

Obama misspoke on name of death camp, campaign says


By Christi Parsons | Washington Bureau
7:41 PM CDT, May 27, 2008

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama misspoke when he told a group of veterans that his uncle was among the troops who liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp, aides to the Democratic presidential candidate said Tuesday.

In fact, Obama's great-uncle took part in the liberation of one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald, spokesman Bill Burton said.

Obama "mistakenly referred to Auschwitz instead of Buchenwald in telling of his personal experience of a soldier in his family who served heroically," Burton said.

The Illinois senator made the mistake on Memorial Day while speaking to veterans in Las Cruces, N.M.

According to news accounts of Monday's event, Obama told of an uncle who was one of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate prisoners there. A video posted on YouTube also records the account, in which Obama goes on to say, "The story in our family was that when he came home, he just went up into the attic and he didn't leave the house for six months."


15 comments:

  1. And got confused about his own family tree. I may get confused about Austria and Australia, but I know my uncles. Austria is where the kangaroos and Sam are.

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  2. Pop quiz--How many states are there in the Union?

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  3. :)

    Don't forget the snapadiles.

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  4. Can't fault the point about needing more help for vets whom might need it though. Some have seen and been through way too much.

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  5. Unlike Sen. Barack Obama’s speech on the University of Denver campus four months ago, Sen. John McCain’s speech on the same campus yesterday was filled with protests both inside and outside the Cable Center. The Republican didn’t make it 10 minutes into his speech before he was interrupted by several protesters.

    ...

    McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, also met resistance from Colorado Veterans for America who say the senator let them down when he failed to support expanding educational benefits under the GI Bill. “We’re just outraged he failed to vote for the increased funding,” said Jim Hudson, spokesman for Colorado Veterans for America.

    ...

    Meanwhile, Colorado Democrats said yesterday that McCain’s approach to foreign policy would only result in greater economic woes for America, similar to the past eight years with President Bush. “We already knew that George W. Bush and John McCain’s idea of foreign policy is an endless war in Iraq that has made America less safe,” said Congressman Ed Perlmutter, D-Lakewood.


    Not all Cheers

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  6. O Canada! O Ash!--

    This case in BC,(he's talking about the put the duct tape over Mark Steyn's mouth case)is not a court case but an administrative hearing (big difference, not in power but procedure) where some context may be helpful.

    The BC government passed a bill last year that gave status as persons to municipalities. The net result is that if you criticize vigorously a municipal political decision, such as a bumper sticker calling into question the honesty of a politician with regard to a development, you can be hauled into court for libel. This is happening in quite a few cities in the province. Political debate is now constrained.

    The BC government is currently trying to pass a bill that in the first iteration banned 3rd party advocacy advertising for 120 days before calling of an election. In the parliamentary system, an election is called by dissolving parliament, and the campaigns are 28 days (I think). The amounts they can spend before then is severely limited. There was an uproar, so today they amended the bill to 60 days. Compromise canadian style.

    The RCMP, long respected as a competent police force tazered an immigrant in Vancouver airport. He didn't speak english, was tied up in some immigration snafu, was a bit agitated after 8 hours or so of no one helping him, so they tazered him until he stopped struggling. He did that. Stopped struggling I mean. He died.

    In Kamloops there was an 81 year old man that had pneumonia, was delirious and as they say, non-compliant. The RCMP and hospital security tazered him to settle him down. He survived.

    All this nonsense happening all the while marijuana cultivation is the largest industry in the province. Illegal and underground of course.

    Steyn knows he will lose. I agree with him. This place is getting nuts.

    Derek

    5/27/2008 08:39:00 PM

    at B.C.

    And we fear the police here.

    There is something lacking in the Canadian DNA.

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  7. All this nonsense happening all the while marijuana cultivation is the largest industry in the province. Illegal and underground of course.

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  8. As Michelle said, "Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual; uninvolved, uninformed."

    When the messiah gives the people a parable, the details of who, what, where and when are not to be questioned. That is unimportant.

    We are only to know that soldiers go to the attic after war unless we give them a free ride to college after 3 years service. After all, being immersed in an American university is theraputic and will fix our broken souls.

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  9. The double standards and hypocrisy are rife and it seems the MSM is certainly in the tank for Obama but the problem with the brouhaha over Obama's gaffe is that it fixes a slide towards candidates who never veer off script.

    We will never know who the Presidential candidate really is unless he forgets to maintain the act. Only the best actors will be suitable and electable. No more real people.

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  10. A minor slight towards his female competitor, and a phony tear by Miss Hillary, turned the election in New Hampshire. How can we claim to be a serious electorate?

    Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual; uninvolved is a good reason to vote against anyone, in this hermit's view.

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  11. We entered the era of stage show politics when Nixon lost the debate to Kennedy for not having shaved in the afternoon.

    Five o'clock shadow

    A five o'clock shadow is beard growth visible late in the day on a man whose face was clean-shaven in the morning. The term comes from the traditional nine-to-five workday hours.

    from Wiki--

    During the 1980s, inspired largely by the then-popular television series Miami Vice and its unshaven lead character, James "Sonny" Crockett (Don Johnson), two-day stubble gained not only social acceptance, but even popularity. This is also known as designer stubble, particularly if it is groomed, shaped, and maintained as a regular beard would be.

    The most famous politician in history to sport a five o'clock shadow, at a time when it was still considered a faux pas, was U.S. vice- president Richard Nixon, who is said to have lost the 1960 presidential election in part due to his unfortunate stubbled appearance during the televised United States presidential election debates with John F. Kennedy.

    Another famous media figure with this facial look is Homer Simpson from the cartoon series The Simpsons.

    In Playboy magazine (2007-08; pg. 23), citing Women's Health magazine: 86 % of women think that a five o'clock shadow is "not hot"

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  12. Well, no, come to think of it, FDR did a pretty good job of not being photographed in that wheelchair.

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  13. Lug said, "We are only to know that soldiers go to the attic after war unless we give them a free ride to college after 3 years service."

    This isn't a partisan issue, it's an American issue. Think of it as a cost of war, like paying for bullets. Right now we've got men and women who are coming home with arms and legs blown off for Texaco's bottom line but they can't afford a head start in life with college, a GOP nominee and Vietnam vet who was missing in action during the GI Bill vote (so he can raise money for himself, not veterans), and Dubya who's about to become the first sitting President in history to veto veterans benefits during war time.

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