By Manifesto Joe
The day after Independence Day is as good as any to breach this subject: Where the hell are the Republicans finding all these political/historical illiterates to parade before the public in high positions?
Michael Steele
Forget for just a moment what your personal views are regarding the Afghanistan war. I will grant that it's looking more and more like a stupid quagmire that can't be won, but just put that aside for a moment.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was caught on video Thursday, at a fundraiser, saying, "This was a war of Obama’s choosing. This is not something the United States has actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in." Here's a link.
Um, where the hell was Michael Steele in 2001, when the (Republican) Bush administration decided to invade Afghanistan? And where the hell was he for seven-plus years after that, while the same administration neglected the pressing problems in Afghanistan while deciding to skin Saddam Hussein's scruffy ass?
This is comparable to a scenario in which some leading Democrat, in 1970, had blamed Richard Nixon for escalating the Vietnam War after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Historically, it is illiterate. Makes absolutely no sense.
So, where did the Republicans find this guy? Well, he's a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, and has a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. I always assumed you would have to have a first-rate intellect to have made it that far in life. Silly me.
And youthful error can't explain it, either. The man's 51.
Turns out that Mr. Steele has at least one prominent defender: U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, Republican and erstwhile Libertarian from my home state of Texas, where we've seen for countless decades that anybody can conceivably be elected to anything. I can't say I disagree much with Mr. Paul for challenging the wisdom of pursuing what is looking more and more like a futile, stupid war.
But I noticed that Mr. Paul had no comment about the historical absurdity of Mr. Steele's statement. But then, judging from Mr. Paul's views and congressional voting record, I never got the impression that he possesses a sense of the absurd.
Sarah Palin
Youthful error might explain some of this gaffe. Sarah Palin is, quite manifestly, 46 going on 19, at least intellectually. And a very, very shallow 19 at that. I think she's still trying to get that platform speech for the Miss Alaska pageant right.
Her list of gaffes is growing long. But the latest one was a topper -- it was about a Republican hero, and one not himself known for intellectual prowess.
During a recent fundraiser at California State University, Stanislaus, Ms. Palin spoke gushingly about President Reagan being a graduate of Eureka College in California.
Reagan did indeed graduate from Eureka College, in 1932. But it was in Illinois. It was described that he took "the gut course" in economics. Eureka College isn't overly well-regarded, but Ronald Reagan could boast of this: He's the most prominent economist that the college ever produced.
But, of course, it would have been wise for Sarah Palin to check on this before including it in a speech. There is a Eureka, Calif., but there's no college of that name anywhere around there.
By the way, according to Politics Daily, Ms. Palin was paid $75,000 for her speech.
Man. I wish I could be paid that well for f**king up.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
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7 comments:
Well, the Dems have also said a lot of stupid things over the years, as well.
Remember when John Kerry claimed to have won all those medals in Vietnam? He was proven to be a fraud and the American people re-elected President Bush.
You Liberals who live in glass houses should'nt throw stones.
Thanks for confirming how abysmally stupid right-wingers often are. Here's a passage on John Kerry's military service, from Wikipedia:
During the night of Dec. 2, 1968 and early morning of Dec. 3, 1968, Kerry was in charge of a small boat operating near a peninsula north of Cam Ranh Bay together with a Swift boat (PCF-60). According to Kerry and the two crewmen who accompanied him that night, Patrick Runyon and William Zaladonis, they surprised a group of men unloading sampans at a river crossing, who began running and failed to obey an order to stop. As the men fled, Kerry and his crew opened fire on the sampans and destroyed them, then rapidly left. During this encounter, Kerry received a minor wound in the left arm above the elbow. It was for this injury that Kerry received his first Purple Heart.[25]
Kerry received his second Purple Heart for a wound received in action on the Bo De River on February 20, 1969. The plan had been for the Swift boats to be accompanied by support helicopters. On the way up the Bo De, however, the helicopters were attacked. They returned to their base to refuel and were unable to return to the mission for several hours.
As the Swift boats reached the Cua Lon River, Kerry's boat was hit by a RPG round, and a piece of shrapnel hit Kerry's left leg, wounding him. Thereafter, they had no more trouble, and reached the Gulf of Thailand safely. Kerry still has shrapnel in his left thigh because the doctors tending to him decided to remove the damaged tissue and close the wound with sutures rather than make a wide opening to remove the shrapnel.[26] Kerry received his second Purple Heart for this injury, but like several others wounded earlier that day, he did not lose any time off from duty.[27][28]
Eight days later, on February 28, 1969, came the events for which Kerry was awarded his Silver Star. On this occasion, Kerry was in tactical command of his Swift boat and two others in an eight boat formation. Their mission on the Duong Keo river included bringing a demolition team and dozens of South Vietnamese Marines to destroy enemy sampans, structures and bunkers as described in the story The Death Of PCF 43.[29] Running into an ambush, Kerry "directed the boats to turn to the beach and charge the Viet Cong positions" and he "expertly directed" his boat's fire and coordinated the deployment of the South Vietnamese troops, according to the original medal citation (signed by Admiral Zumwalt). Going a short distance farther, Kerry's boat was the target of an RPG round; as the boat beached at the site, a VC with a rocket launcher jumped and ran from a spider hole. While the boat's gunner opened fire, wounding the VC on the leg, and while the other boats approached and offered cover fire, Kerry jumped from the boat and chased the VC and killed him, capturing a loaded rocket launcher.[30][31][31]
Kerry's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander George Elliott, joked to Douglas Brinkley in 2003 that he didn't know whether to court-martial Kerry for beaching the boat without orders or give him a medal for saving the crew. Elliott recommended Kerry for the Silver Star, and Zumwalt flew into An Thoi to personally award medals to Kerry and the rest of the sailors involved in the mission. The Navy's account of Kerry's actions is presented in the original medal citation signed by Zumwalt. The engagement was documented in an after-action report, a press release written on March 1, 1969, and a historical summary dated March 17, 1969.[32]
Joe again.
Now then, let's see: three Purple Hearts, the Silver Star and the Bronze Star. How was he "proven to be a fraud"? My recollection is that he had a bunch of toxic right-wingers cast aspersions on him, about the same as the ones who attacked former Sen. Max Cleland, who left three limbs in Vietnam.
You really are an idiot, aren't you?
John Kerry won 3 Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star. Here's a Wikipedia article address that details the actions leading up to these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerry
Thanks for stopping by and demonstrating, once more, how utterly and abysmally stupid right-wingers can be.
Kerry's attackers had earlier target practice on a man like former Sen. Max Cleland, who left three limbs in Vietnam. They questioned his patriotism, too. People like you are either irredeemably stupid or utterly lacking in any sort of moral decency.
Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo! If the three you posted about here weren't so far behind the times, I would say all belong in a clock.
I read that when the Swift Boat liars began their smear campaign in 2004, the Kerry team was slow to react, which, in hindsight, was a fatal tactical error.
The Dems simply couldn't believe that the Bush people would attack Kerry's distinguished military service, of all issues, especially when Chimpy himself was an AWOL coward who never went to 'Nam.
After debating what to do, the Kerry team decided to ignore the Swift Boat attacks for the first few weeks. It turned out to be crucial mistake.
When the Kerry people finally hit back, it was too late.
It's a shame: I think Kerry is an honorable, decent man who would have made a fine president.
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