June 01, 2004
PELOSI PARROTS BUSH
Remember when Paul Krugman became all agitated about George W. Bush’s interview with Tim Russert? Here’s what the paranoid economist told Australian television:
There was actually a kind of revealing moment recently - Bush gave an interview, was more or less dragooned into an interview on Meet The Press and the interviewer said: "Well, what if you lose the election?" And he said: "I'm not going to lose the election."
And the interviewer said: "But what if you do lose?" He said: "I'm not going lose the election." The possibility that they just would not regard it as a legitimate thing if someone else were to take power.
Hmmm. It'll be interesting to see what Krugman has to say about House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi:
Appearing on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press," Ms. Pelosi, a California Democrat, predicted the outcome of the race for the White House with Broadway Joe-style certainty.
"I will guarantee you that John Kerry will be president of the United States," Ms. Pelosi told the program's host, Tim Russert ...
It’s possible that Pelosi would not regard it as a legitimate thing if someone else were to take power. Meanwhile, Krugman’s fellow NYT columnist Maureen Dowd has discovered the secret to enjoying Memorial Day weekend -- treat the veterans as gorgeous little mall accessories:
I was one of the snobs who hated the design of the World War II memorial. As a native Washingtonian, I felt sad to see L'Enfant's empty, perfect stretch of mall, elegantly anchored by the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, broken up.
But when I went Friday and saw all the adorable World War II veterans rolling in wheelchairs, walking slowly with canes or on their own, sitting on the benches that encircle the fountains, taking pictures with children and grandchildren, meeting up with their old buddies, the memorial was suddenly a lovely place to be.
Thrilled with their moment in the sun in their usual humble way, inspecting the memorial they earned 60 years after D-Day, they looked in that setting as shining and valuable as jewels in a Tiffany's window.
Patronising cow. Donnah at Florida Cracker has Dowd beat on military matters; hit the link and scroll. Also: gators!
Posted by Tim Blair at June 1, 2004 07:34 PMWe had an alligator in a tub out in the backyard when I was a kid. My dad brought it home from the water plant where he worked. They'd come in through the big pipes sometimes. I was feeding the gator a hotdog one day and it bit me good. I looked in its alligator eyes and realized that I and it were never going to connect. So it went to live on the farm.
Maureen Dowd has a swell, comfortable life. It must be nice.
If I had some friends who persuaded me to be blindfolded, and put into a car and driven to a mysterious, unknown destination, and then I was taken from the auto and guided into a motel room, and the blindfold removed to reveal a naked, aroused Maureen Dowd ready and beckoning to me from the bed, well...
I would turn and walk back out of the room, and my ex-friends would have fat lips and busted noses, and ever after would talk about the time they got me into a motel room with Naked Maureen Dowd, and how that was the end of our friendship.
Posted by: Mike James at June 1, 2004 at 08:23 PMThat alligator sounds like a good metaphor for Islamic fanatics.
"I looked in its alligator eyes and realized that I and it were never going to connect."
...or possibly Democrats.
Ah, yes, those adorable WWII vets in their wheelchairs.
I wish we could reenact Iwo Jima with Maureen. Bitch.
Posted by: ushie at June 1, 2004 at 09:55 PMI don't usually bother with Maureen ``I'm-the-coolest-kid-in-junior-high'' Dowd, but I followed the link today because I could not believe that she used the word ``adorable'' for the WWII vets. But I read it - and there it was. It left me speechless. I'm glad Tim came up with ``patronizing cow'' because it saves me the trouble of coming up with something that won't get me banned for foul language.
Equally unbelievable was this:
``World War II had such stark moral clarity in history that it's almost irrelevant in providing lessons about conflict in a grayer time. The Japanese bombed us; they didn't have putatively threatening "weapons of mass destruction...''
The woman has forgotten about those planes flying into the WTC and the Pentagon. Or she doesn't think they count, somehow.
On the flip side, thanks for the link to Donnah. There's a gal I'm going to visit more often.
Posted by: Annalucia at June 1, 2004 at 10:49 PMSo Pelosi guarantees a Kerry win, eh? Will she kill herself if Bush wins? Or, will she resign from Congress and move to France?
Posted by: Tom at June 1, 2004 at 11:08 PMI am thinking of a word that rhyms with Runt.
That Dowd bitch has some freaking nerve to be so patronising and condacending to the WW2 vets and to add insult to injury carp on about the striking moral clarity of WW2, it seems that for all the bitching about it today the propoganda of the 40's worked perfectly. The Germans and Japs were all evil and every single Australian, American, British and Russian was totally innocent. WW2 was bloodshed on unimaginable scale and to have some dimwit "I wouldnt fight for my life" idiot say that it had stark moral clarity benumbs me.
Where is the moral clarity in allying with the Soviet Union Maureen? How about having to liberate innocents from concentration camps but not feeding them too much because they would die otherwise? Dropping an atomic bomb on Japan and the Firebombing of German cities they were both obviously easy choices?
These were decisions and actions that had to be taken, they were difficult and in a way there was no right way to do it, the difficulty of the decision is what makes it right in the long run.
It sickens me to think that we live in a world where every memorial to those that have died fighting for freedom against tyranny becomes a monument to appeasement and inaction. That sacrifice of past, present and future is totally pointless if the societies protected by it are no longer willing to fight for whats right.
Posted by: J. B. B. at June 2, 2004 at 12:31 AMIn another era, I'm sure Maureen would have just died if presented with some of those darling lampshades by Ilse Koche.
Or even earlier, to have had some of those adorable picanninies as her own personal fashion accessory. Much like Michael Moore.
Possibly not. Possibly she is merely having a Bad day, and is devoid of taste. But somehow, I think not: her desire to score political points with a sneer no matter what she cheapens is ... inhuman. Completely lacking empathy. The type who would give points for style for people diving off the WTC, so many for a backflip, extra for being on fire, and additional points for an artistic bounce and Jackson-Pollack bloodspatter. While feeling... nothing : other than a gratifying smugness in her own wit and ability to see it all in perspective.
Here's a link from Florida Cracker to NPR. It's very interesting, from a Goldstar Mother.
NPR
If I may add to your list JBB, what was so moral about leaving Poland, whose soldiers fought with Allies on the Western Front, including Battle for Britain, and whose underground resistance was involved in cracking the Enigma code, in the loving embrace of Soviet Union? Eastern part of the country literally annexed by the Soviets, western part in the, oh so benevolent "sphere of influence"?
It was political, but hardly moral, decision. It was perhaps necessary, though one can argue that after demonstrating the will of using nukes on Japanese cities, better leadership in the US could have blackmailed Uncle Joe into leaving Poland free...
Posted by: Katherine at June 2, 2004 at 03:16 AMHave you seen Pelosi? Check out the bulging eyes, the flabby chicken-neck, and the unending squawks of impotent rage.
The woman is an Ostrich.
Posted by: mojo at June 2, 2004 at 03:31 AMThe really scary thing is that Pelosi will probably live to be 100, and they'll keep electing her. Can you imagine what she'll look like in 30-40 years?
Posted by: JorgXMcKie at June 2, 2004 at 07:02 AMIs it just me or do Nancy Pelosi & Joan Rivers look like twin sisters--maybe separated at birth? Poor li'l thangs . . .
Posted by: chris at June 2, 2004 at 08:38 AM"the memorial they earned 60 years after D-Day"
No, Maureen. They received the memorial now; they earned it then.
Posted by: m at June 2, 2004 at 09:01 AM"Thrilled with their moment in the sun"
dear, sweet, little people, I'd just like to say that we, the important poeple (who LIVE in the spotlight), would like to...hey, what are you doing? HEY!! DO NOT STAND SO CLOSE!!...didn't my P.A tell you about the 'no physical contact rule'??
O.K then, no harm done, but just remember in future,celebrities like me are different to you little people, we NEED our personal space to soar and shine like the eagles we are. Now, where was I? oh thats right...we would like to thank you for your invaluable service to the country and therefore I hereby bestow upon you a few minutes of national attention.
There I've said it...CAN WE GO NOW??
Maybe we do just copy everything American after all, to me it seems like Margo Kingston is just a unwashed version of Ms Dowd.
Posted by: J at June 2, 2004 at 09:31 AM