The president who can't be mistaken

[Bullypulpit]

<center><h2><a href=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/10/13/the_president_who_cant_be_mistaken?mode=PF>The president who can't be mistaken</a></h2></center>

<blockquote>By Ellen Goodman,

Globe Columnist | October 13, 2004

NOW THAT her 15 minutes of fame are over, may I tip my hat to Linda Grabel? It isn't easy to give the president of the United States a pop quiz. But at the second debate, the 63-year-old legal secretary asked: "Please give three instances in which you came to realize you had made a wrong decision and what you did to correct it."

By now it's well known that the president couldn't come up with a single mistake except, shucks, maybe an appointment or two. The question, as he restated it, was, "Did you make a mistake going into Iraq?" And his answer was: "Absolutely not."

Was anyone really surprised? George W. Bush is now officially The Man Who Wouldn't Ask Directions. This candidate doesn't do windows or introspection. He's running on an alchemy platform as the politician who transforms inflexibility into strength.</blockquote>

Inflexible...? Indeed, but it goes far beyond that . It is a philosophical and epistemological rigidity that makes the hardest steel look positively mushy. But the harder the steel, the more brittle it is...The more easily it breaks. Lacking the flexibility to bend and then spring back, it snaps at the point of stress. And so it will be with Bush...His mental rigidity will lead him to break at the point of greatest stress. Can we really afford that in our president?

 

[CSM]

<center><h2><a href=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/10/13/the_president_who_cant_be_mistaken?mode=PF>The president who can't be mistaken</a></h2></center>

<blockquote>By Ellen Goodman,

Globe Columnist | October 13, 2004

NOW THAT her 15 minutes of fame are over, may I tip my hat to Linda Grabel? It isn't easy to give the president of the United States a pop quiz. But at the second debate, the 63-year-old legal secretary asked: "Please give three instances in which you came to realize you had made a wrong decision and what you did to correct it."

By now it's well known that the president couldn't come up with a single mistake except, shucks, maybe an appointment or two. The question, as he restated it, was, "Did you make a mistake going into Iraq?" And his answer was: "Absolutely not."

Was anyone really surprised? George W. Bush is now officially The Man Who Wouldn't Ask Directions. This candidate doesn't do windows or introspection. He's running on an alchemy platform as the politician who transforms inflexibility into strength.</blockquote>

Inflexible...? Indeed, but it goes far beyond that . It is a philosophical and epistemological rigidity that makes the hardest steel look positively mushy. But the harder the steel, the more brittle it is...The more easily it breaks. Lacking the flexibility to bend and then spring back, it snaps at the point of stress. And so it will be with Bush...His mental rigidity will lead him to break at the point of greatest stress. Can we really afford that in our president?

Yeah, he broke all up over 9/11.

 

[Bullypulpit]

Yeah, he broke all up over 9/11.

Yep...He sat there for seven minutes waiting his turn to read from "My Pet Goat" with that "deer in the headlights look" he gets so often. He cracked then...Next time, he'll shatter.

 

[CSM]

Yep...He sat there for seven minutes waiting his turn to read from "My Pet Goat" with that "deer in the headlights look" he gets so often. He cracked then...Next time, he'll shatter.

What did you want him to do, rush to war? Please tell me what he should have or could have done during that 7 minutes that would have made a difference?

 

[5stringJeff]

Yep...He sat there for seven minutes waiting his turn to read from "My Pet Goat" with that "deer in the headlights look" he gets so often. He cracked then...Next time, he'll shatter.

And John Kerry, by his own admission, sat there for 40 minutes and "couldn't think," until the plane hit the Pentagon, at which point he chose to get up from where he was and seek safety.

So what's your point?

 

[CSM]

And John Kerry, by his own admission, sat there for 40 minutes and "couldn't think," until the plane hit the Pentagon, at which point he chose to get up from where he was and seek safety.

So what's your point?

The point is that Bully is a troll; likes to come in here and spread a few grenades then leave. I just like to feed a troll now and then. They are an endangered species on this board, ya know.

 

[MtnBiker]

The point is that Bully is a troll; likes to come in here and spread a few grenades then leave. I just like to feed a troll now and then. They are an endangered species on this board, ya know.

Thanks to Sir Evil, he is head troll killer!!

 

[dilloduck]

Yep...He sat there for seven minutes waiting his turn to read from "My Pet Goat" with that "deer in the headlights look" he gets so often. He cracked then...Next time, he'll shatter.

See FahrenHYPE 9/11 Bully---it will staighten out the facts that MM screwed up. Some how I don't think you really want to see the other side do you?

*looks for a chicken smilie*

 

[insein]

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

And John Kerry, by his own admission, sat there for 40 minutes and "couldn't think," until the plane hit the Pentagon, at which point he chose to get up from where he was and seek safety.

So what's your point?

Kerry's comments on this and a few other interesting bits.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0407/08/lkl.00.html

KING: Where were you on 9/11?

HEINZ KERRY: You know, it's very interesting. I landed at National Airport less than 12 hours before, coming from Pennsylvania, where I was doing a prescription drugs thing -- meeting. And I came in from Pittsburgh, landed at National, and that's the last time I landed at National for quite a while.

KING: How'd you hear about it?

HEINZ KERRY: I was at home in Washington. I had just come in and I got a call...

KERRY: I think I called.

HEINZ KERRY: And they said, look at the TV. I looked at the TV and I couldn't believe it.

KING: Where were you?

KERRY: I was in the Capitol. We'd just had a meeting -- we'd just come into a leadership meeting in Tom Daschle's office, looking out at the Capitol. And as I came in, Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid were standing there, and we watched the second plane come in to the building. And we shortly thereafter sat down at the table and then we just realized nobody could think, and then boom, right behind us, we saw the cloud of explosion at the Pentagon. And then word came from the White House, they were evacuating, and we were to evacuate, and so we immediately began the evacuation.

HEINZ KERRY: You walked out with John McCain, didn't you?

KERRY: Yes.

KING: You and what?

HEINZ KERRY: He and John walked out together.

KING: He and John McCain walked out -- what did you think?

Did you think...

(CROSSTALK)

KERRY: I knew instantaneously...

KING: Clinton said he though bin Laden.

KERRY: I knew instantaneously with the first. I'm a pilot, and I looked at the weather, and it's what we call in pilot lingo CAVU, ceiling and visibility unlimited. And I knew that that plane did not fly into that building accidentally, as people were speculating. It just doesn't happen, could not, under those circumstances. So I knew it was deliberate, whether it was suicide, whether it was something -- I couldn't tell. When the second plane hit, it was obvious to the world.

And as we went out of the building, my immediately feeling was, we're at war. I mean, that was the sense, that we are under attack. People are attacking the United States of America and we needed to respond.

 

[nakedemperor]

Bully you make a good point. There are a couple of questions when asked point blank that Bush simply hasn't answered, over and over. "What mistakes have you made" has been responded to with "Its hard work!" or "The only mistakes I can think of are appointing people who make mistakes." C'mon George.

The other is "Will you support/appoint judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade?"..."I will not have a litmus test! Kerry will! Litmus!!"

If anyone can link me to where he's said yes, no, or maybe, you can PM or somethin'.

 

[Gem]

While I can think of numerous mistakes the President has made...I think you are all being intellectually dishonest if you can't see that the "3 mistake" question was a completely bullshit question.

If Bush had named three mistakes, no matter how trivial or relelvant, he would not have won a single vote for it, no one would have said, "Wow...how great...he finally named some mistakes," they would have said, "Uh, what about this this and that..." or "So he's admitting now that he messed everything up???"...the three mistakes would have been ceased upon by the Kerry campaign and used in his next 800 negative campaign ads...people would have picked apart his answers, finding faults within the faults, etc. etc. etc.

So knowing that he was damned if he did damned if he didn't Bush chose what was behind door number 2...saying "Yep, I've made some bad calls...but I'm sticking by my record." Why?

Because the whole "Bush won't admit he's wrong...Bush won't ask for directions" line is old...its tired...and frankly, no one but the Bush-Haters are really paying attention to it anymore...much like Kerry's Vietnam Record and the questions swarming around it...the only people who care are the people who aren't voting for Kerry anyway...

Its better to go with the negative you know then the negative you don't know...Bush knew that if he didn't answer he would catch some shit for it...but not nearly as much as he would have caught if he had answered the bullshit question...welcome to the wonderful world of politics.

(Oh, and I just realized I didn't specify it was bullshit...because the a) it was the last question of the debate and b) Kerry didn't have to answer the same question. If you were in a tight race for a job you were qualified for and REALLY wanted...and your competiton and you were called in for one final interview...and as you were leaving your potential boss said..."Oh, one last thing...give me one reason why I shouldn't hire you." You hem and haw...not really wanting to answer, but he insists...so you finally pony up something silly...like you tend to be a perfectionist and you hope that your drive to get it right doesn't drive your collegues nuts...and youre pleased with that answer...and then the boss turns to your competition and says, "Ok...tell me a few reasons why I shouldn't hire HIM" and points at you...and your competition rips you a new one...you expect that maybe you would get an equal opportunity to explain why your boss shouldn't hire your competition, but no, he excuses you both, and its over. Thats what happened...Bush was asked to tell the world how he had fucked up...and then Kerry was given the opportunity to tell the world how Bush had fucked up....it was ridiculous, blatantly partisan and total bullshit)