or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
April 15, 2006
I'm Too Tired; Make Up Your Own Joke
While the week began with the White House trying to tamp down speculation about military strikes in Iran, reported by The Washington Post and by journalist Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker, it was becoming clear the Bush administration was growing impatient with a diplomatic effort that is not working with Tehran...Posted at April 15, 2006 07:38 PM | TrackBackThe bluntest assessment of diplomatic success came from Karl Rove, U.S. President George W. Bush's political adviser and deputy chief of staff, who told a Houston audience Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was "not a rational human being."
"We are engaged in a diplomatic process with our European partners and the United Nations to keep (Iran) from developing such a weapon," Rove said. "It's going to be tough because they are led by ideologues who have a weird sense of history."
"Uh, I'm sorry...I was just looking down at the toes of my highly polished shoes."
Posted by: Mike of Rugoren at April 15, 2006 08:23 PM"It's going to be tough because they are led by ideologues who have a weird sense of history."
...they think it moves forward?
and by diplomacy karl rove of course means not bombing the living shit out of them right this moment
Posted by: almostinfamous at April 15, 2006 10:52 PMVariations on
ideologues who have a weird sense of history
are all the rage in the current wingnut debate playbook. Like all good bolsheviks, they're amazed by the evildoers' resistance to historical forces and history's lessons. The lesser wingnuts ape the style of the bull goose wingnuts like Rove, which is why it's easy to mistake an internets personality wingnut for a cranky Leninist. They would be more interesting if their idea of history didn't mean "the wisdom of doing as I say or else I'll kill you". Posted by: J. Alva Scruggs at April 16, 2006 02:20 AM
That old line again:
Pot, meet kettle.
Posted by: En Ming Hee at April 16, 2006 09:28 AMSuggested replacement hed for this post: "He said, smirking."
Posted by: Colin at April 16, 2006 12:39 PMI think what he meant was that having any sense of history strikes him as weird.
Read it again. It makes perfect sense this way.
It also explains why Chimpus Maximus et al can seem to be pretending that what they said on Tuesday never came out of their mouths by Wednesday. Because by Wednesday, to these people, Tuesday never happened.
The very idea is weird to them.
Posted by: Bob Harris at April 16, 2006 02:53 PMSorry....what "diplomatic effort"?????
My dictionary defines diplomacy as the art or practice of conducting international relations, as in negotiating alliances, treaties and agreements.
Demands to "Stop" are not examples of negotiation. And artistic as day care work.
Posted by: alexis S at April 16, 2006 05:07 PMMy Neoconservative-English dictionary might help you understand this strange phrase.
When neocons say: "foreign leaders who have a weird sense of history," they mean: "those crazies haven't yet realized that the US has gone back to its foreign policy circa 1898, only with nuclear weapons instead of Rough Riders."
Posted by: Whistler Blue at April 17, 2006 01:19 PM"It's going to be tough because they are led by ideologues who have a weird sense of history."
Translation: They were around before the US was discovered, they intend to be around after the US fragments into several successor nations, and they don't see any reason to assume the US is God Incarnate.
Posted by: Phoenician in a time of Romans at April 20, 2006 05:12 PM
