From last night’s SOTU speech:
“[T]he Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities…”
He couldn’t really have said that, right? I mean, that’s something Bill Maher or someone on Saturday Night Live would say in a parody of
our poor bumbling president. Could a presidential speechwriter in all seriousness compose such mealy-mouthed meaningless jargon? And if so, was the speechwriter not making some wicked joke, secretly laughing at his own audacity? I can’t believe Bush really said it. Amazing.
Link via Atrios, who’s equally amazed.
1
By adri
I can’t believe it either.
Some things change, but most things don’t.
January 22, 2004 @ 1:47 am | Comment
2
By Adam Morris
We shouldn’t be surprised that Bush said that … what we should be surprised about is that the newspapers let him slide on it. It’s really incredulous.
January 22, 2004 @ 1:14 pm | Comment
3
By citanon
I guess some people wouldn’t call it WMD activity until it started vaporizing their neighbors. The rest of us are glad that we caught him at a stage where he doesn’t have anthrax to spray on our troops.
Let’s look at the facts. He was building long range missles and drones expressedly prohibited under cease fire agreements. He had the ready expertise in making all sorts of chemical and biological weapons, which can be manufactured by equipment found in any pharmaceutical facility, biology department, or heck, brewery. The big barrier for Saddam having deliverable WMD’s was a delivery vehicle, several variants of which he was clearly working on. Some people can split hairs and say that, no, that’s not a WMD project. Others have taken a second to imagine what those rockets and drones would have meant for the region, and realize that that distinction is academic.
January 22, 2004 @ 3:02 pm | Comment
4
By richard
Citanon, I think you missed my point. I wasn’t saying we shouldn’t have ousted Saddam from power and that he wasn’t a dangerous man. What’s bizarre is the gobbledygook drivelly language Bush uses.
“…weapons of mass destruction-related program activities” could mean friggin’ anything. First its watered down with “related,” then it’s further watered down by “program” (after all, a program could be in someone’s mind, it’s not specific, it’s not tangible) and then it’s not even that they have some program, but “program activities! That could mean a Tupperware party for all we know. It is pure drivel, a string of words designed to mean as little as possible so no once can go back later and call Bush on it. If he said what you did in your comment I’d have more respect for him. But talking down to Americans with legalese phraseology like this is amazing — it makes Bush look like he has absolutely nothing of substance to say, only more amorphous charges that he’s using to spook gullible listeners.
January 22, 2004 @ 4:41 pm | Comment
5
By Sol
Exactly Richard, he is supposed to be the head of the most powerfull country on earth and here he is looking like a bumbling idiot. I’ll bet his screen writer moonlights as a Dave Letterman impersonator.
It’s strange huh?? Either he really trusts his writers or his perception is screwed. Congrats Mr. President!!!
January 23, 2004 @ 12:30 am | Comment
6
By online bingo mom
I think Bush should not be president and I do not trust Cheney and Rumsfeld. I don’t know about Kerry, but I think i will vote against bush. These people give me a really bad feeling
April 30, 2004 @ 4:35 pm | Comment
7
By online bingo mom
I think Bush should not be president and I do not trust Cheney and Rumsfeld. I don’t know about Kerry, but I think i will vote against bush. These people give me a really bad feeling
April 30, 2004 @ 4:39 pm | Comment